Reversing Practical Applications

I SLEPT! It was glorious. I could practically hear the angels above singing hallelujah! Too much? It felt really good. Can’t lie. Actually, looking back on my post from yesterday made me laugh. I was talking to one of my coworkers. She has two small children so basically, I came to the realization very quickly that my lack of sleep doesn’t quite measure up. If I ever have children, I will have to remember to train them how to feed themselves early on. Yes, I said train. I also giggled thinking that if any child saw me sleeping yesterday they probably would have thought I was dead. I was kind of close... getting quite loopy by that point.

Tomorrow I have my sociology final. YAY! That’ll be three down! Tonight I was reviewing everything we learned and again, because it’s me, started to giggle. For being so cynical I really am pretty giggly. There’s a whole section talking about ethnicity and race being an important consideration in classrooms. Obviously, when dominant cultures and races fail to accommodate minorities, learning doesn’t go over so well. I’ve spent the last two years working in a Chinese food restaurant, with a Chinese family. It’s safe to say, I get that one. I’m very visual but I also learn by doing. I can’t just have verbal instructions. I used to get lots of verbal instruction and very little visual, unless I screwed up and they did the task for me. It took forever to catch on so I was demoted. I had more time to watch and try on quieter nights. To some extent, now that I’ve been there so long, I can get by with only verbal instructions. Because I know how my bosses work.

It’s kind of funny actually. You know how in daycares they cut out the shape of a pair of scissors then stick it on a shelf and forevermore, scissors go on that shelf in that spot? It’s like that at work. For instance, lotus leaves are kept in the walk in fridge on the second set of shelves on the left hand side. They’re on the right hand side of the top shelf. Cooking wine is only kept in the store room on the first set of shelves on the right. It’s on the bottom shelf against the wall. I can do that with any item in the kitchen. Which is why I’m always sent to find things. I have a mental inventory as well. Creeps me out.

And there is a language issue sometimes. They both speak excellent English. But they yell stuff in Chinese too. Anyway, one day there was this huge storm and a lightning bolt hit right outside the window where I was working. I thought something had blown up. Helen called upstairs (where they live, it’s amazing up there) and starting talking to Ed in Chinese. This is what it sounded like to me:

Ksajdljfl skdjfslkdjlf jslkdjflsakjdflksjdf sdjflsk skdfjlskd lskjdflskjfljdgh jsldkfjlskdsfasdf NO skajdlfkjsdlfohgowenlnf LAUREN! Lskdjfin ehfosadnweinc OKAY BYE!

Makes me laugh. I only know a few words in Chinese, most of which don’t come up in conversation (I know penis and fart), so essentially, if I can’t see the face of whoever is speaking, I have no clue what they’re saying. It’s interesting to me because I’m accustomed to understanding given that I speak both most the frequently used languages here.

All of that to say that while I’m white, really white, I also know what it’s like to be a cultural minority, which is weird considering where I live. I get called whitey (which I really don’t mind) and I’m stereotyped all the time (what food I’ll like, how hard I’ll work, what I’ll know how to do). The reason I’m stating this is because they’re things my prof suggests we avoid as teachers. So when I’m writing my exam tomorrow I’ll think of how I was taught at work and write down the opposite.

Off for another night of sleep. Hopefully.

Lauren.