So I have some unfortunate news to share, it looks as if I might be suffering from a stress fracture. Which means, that I will have to stop my running for at least a month. Although most websites said 6 to 8 weeks. Which means at the soonest I would be able to start running again, it would be too late for re-training for the Marathon. This was a pretty hard blow, considering I've been working towards it mentally and physically sense December and paid a ton of money to do it. But I'd rather slow it down then end up with a broken foot! Although there is some good news to it all! Well maybe not good news, but all right news. I should hopefully be able to do the half marathon, which is still 13.1 miles. I can keep riding my bike, which I will start doing more (although with that I will have to figure out a better way to protect my lungs) and I can keep strengthening other parts of my body. I'm pretty bumbed about the whole thing, but its not the end of the world.
So now with bad news over I want to share a couple funny story. I teach kids, usually 3 to 6 years old. In one of my classes there is a little boy who always tells me (in Chinese) I'm fat. "Natasha ni hen pang" (You are very fat), "Natasha ni hao pang" (a different variation of you are very fat), "Natasha ni fei cheng hao pang" (Natasha you are SO fat!). I think you get the picture. Well in class we have a no speaking in Chinese rule, but as you can imagine, its a bit hard to enforce all the time. So usually if a child says something in Chinese I teach them in English. But it just seems inherently wrong to teach this kid how to say "You are fat" in English. But I also can't really say "Don't say that". Mostly cause when he does say it we are in class and also because I wouldn't know how to say it. I could try. It would come out something like this "You can't speak, it so bad, Americans don't like, so stop" I feel it mind hinder me being respected as a teacher rather than helping me. So this same child (we will call him David) came up to me one day and asked (in Chinese) "Natasha, you are English, right?" So I said "No, American" He then stopped and looked very confused and said "Americans huai bu huai" Which at first I didn't understand. So I enlisted the help of another teacher (who is Chinese and we shall call her Emily). David then asked Emily the same thing, which I still didn't quite understand. Emily then responded so violently I was surprised, "Not true!! (^Y@&@*$%#(*E*NCBCJDE*E&EHDKCU!" (Random letters and symbols represent a ton of Chinese I didn't understand). Then she turned to me and said "Don't listen to him!!! He is just a child, he doesn't know what he's talking about!!!" Well as you know, now I really wanted to know what was happening, but Emily refused t tell me. So I asked another teacher, Lisa. Finally Lisa told me. David was confused about me being American because he thought all Americans were bad people. So when he found out I was American he had said, "Aren't Americans bad people?" So Emily was embarrassed, but Lisa told me what she told David, "America is a big place and some people are bad, but some people like Natasha are good." So hopefully this solves the dilemma and David can rest assured a mass murderer is not teaching him the devil's language.
In my class the kids like to play a game with me, like most things, it eventually went too far. The game is "No". It's my fault really, I taught them its ok to say no, I taught them to have a voice, to have an opinion. In fact I encouraged it with funny behavior. What can I say, there is a soft part in my heart for the rebels. But now that they all say it, I like the rebels who stand firm and say "yes". Now what do I mean by these "yes" and "no"'s? Example, "Do you like my hair?" "No!" "Do you like the sun?" "No!" "Do you like me?" "No!" So from here on, I had to start switching it up I started asking "Do you want?" Which means they have to say "yes". But they are smart, they now know the difference, and they still tell me they don't like my hair, or earring or shirt or shoes. But now that their English is getting better I get to teach them fun things like, "Sunny, say 'I'm sassy!'". So she copied me, snaps, attitude and all "I'm sassy". Now Sunny just don't tell your mom it was me :) Although, I spose who else would it be, I'm the only American there.
So now with bad news over I want to share a couple funny story. I teach kids, usually 3 to 6 years old. In one of my classes there is a little boy who always tells me (in Chinese) I'm fat. "Natasha ni hen pang" (You are very fat), "Natasha ni hao pang" (a different variation of you are very fat), "Natasha ni fei cheng hao pang" (Natasha you are SO fat!). I think you get the picture. Well in class we have a no speaking in Chinese rule, but as you can imagine, its a bit hard to enforce all the time. So usually if a child says something in Chinese I teach them in English. But it just seems inherently wrong to teach this kid how to say "You are fat" in English. But I also can't really say "Don't say that". Mostly cause when he does say it we are in class and also because I wouldn't know how to say it. I could try. It would come out something like this "You can't speak, it so bad, Americans don't like, so stop" I feel it mind hinder me being respected as a teacher rather than helping me. So this same child (we will call him David) came up to me one day and asked (in Chinese) "Natasha, you are English, right?" So I said "No, American" He then stopped and looked very confused and said "Americans huai bu huai" Which at first I didn't understand. So I enlisted the help of another teacher (who is Chinese and we shall call her Emily). David then asked Emily the same thing, which I still didn't quite understand. Emily then responded so violently I was surprised, "Not true!! (^Y@&@*$%#(*E*NCBCJDE*E&EHDKCU!" (Random letters and symbols represent a ton of Chinese I didn't understand). Then she turned to me and said "Don't listen to him!!! He is just a child, he doesn't know what he's talking about!!!" Well as you know, now I really wanted to know what was happening, but Emily refused t tell me. So I asked another teacher, Lisa. Finally Lisa told me. David was confused about me being American because he thought all Americans were bad people. So when he found out I was American he had said, "Aren't Americans bad people?" So Emily was embarrassed, but Lisa told me what she told David, "America is a big place and some people are bad, but some people like Natasha are good." So hopefully this solves the dilemma and David can rest assured a mass murderer is not teaching him the devil's language.
In my class the kids like to play a game with me, like most things, it eventually went too far. The game is "No". It's my fault really, I taught them its ok to say no, I taught them to have a voice, to have an opinion. In fact I encouraged it with funny behavior. What can I say, there is a soft part in my heart for the rebels. But now that they all say it, I like the rebels who stand firm and say "yes". Now what do I mean by these "yes" and "no"'s? Example, "Do you like my hair?" "No!" "Do you like the sun?" "No!" "Do you like me?" "No!" So from here on, I had to start switching it up I started asking "Do you want?" Which means they have to say "yes". But they are smart, they now know the difference, and they still tell me they don't like my hair, or earring or shirt or shoes. But now that their English is getting better I get to teach them fun things like, "Sunny, say 'I'm sassy!'". So she copied me, snaps, attitude and all "I'm sassy". Now Sunny just don't tell your mom it was me :) Although, I spose who else would it be, I'm the only American there.
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