special things about this week

1. We bought 6 seasons of the Sopranos HBO tv series. I had never watched this show before, but they were selling all 6 seasons for about $3 at the supermarket, and with the scarcity of English movies here we bought it, hoping we'd like it and that it wasn't dubbed over in Mandarin. Luckily, it wasn't, and now every night we watch an episode of the Sopranos. We're hooked. It's well crafted, very Italian and full of mobster violence. I think they try to say the word f*** as many times as they can in a single episode. On my night off, I convinced Ned to watch 2 episodes in a row...the result was me having nightmares that night, and last night too I had nightmares about a group of men trying to kill me, and me jumping off ledges and running away. My mind is on violence overload.





2. A parcel arrived from Ned's neighbor Lori. From the day it was sent in Albuquerque, to today when it was placed in my hands by a student in class 4, it took 24 days. The people in the foreign language department have a fondness for making everything complicated. I called the Librarian assistant who is in charge of mail, and she told me Mr. Chin had the package, then Mr. Chin told me he gave Ms. Jin the package, then Ms. Jin told me she gave the package to Jack in class 4, who was told to give it to me tomorrow. phew!


At least it arrived. A copy of my favorite magazine of all time, The Sun, was enclosed. I bought myself a subscription that she kindly agreed to send to us once every month. My submission for this month's Reader's Write, "Blood" was not accepted, but I don't care because the other stories are awesome, as usual.

for anyone looking to read genuine, provocative non-fiction, and poetry check this baby out. All black and white photos, too. This Santa photo was taken in 1964? can you believe that?

3. My students finished their oral exams. They all did great! except they still can't pronounce -a endings.. Instead of calling China, ChinA... they say Chiner.. or instead of MongoliA, they say Mongolier, and some of them write my name Amander, instead of Amanda.

I also need to teach them next week, "Dinner is ready" not "Dinner is okay!" like they all say, and every other person still says, "I sink" instead of "I think."

Today during a presentation one girl called another "a stingy bastard" My mouth hung open. Clearly, they didn't know what they were saying. So I called them over during the break and explained to them what a bastard is..."a bastard is a child who's mom had sex with someone who she wasn't married to, and the baby doesn't have a father. It's a very strong word. People will get really angry if you say this to them." They were all embarrassed and shocked. "I thought it meant very mean.." Rebecca said. I think they watch too many movies. hilarious. It makes me happy that I get to define the word bastard as part of my job.

5. I finished writing my non-fiction piece, "Casa B." and I'm very happy about it.. I'm in post partem exuberance after birthing the memory and experience of this story. Post-writing bliss. ahhh.

This weekend: Hamburgers and French Fri dinner with our American buddies, Saturday lunch at my student John's in the country side, and besides that.... wide open space for me to nap, read, write, and be.