The Perfect Banana, Chinese Students, and The Letter T

1. I love bananas. No really, I love them. I eat a banana every day. My family nickname is becca-banana. Nothing better than a firm, tasty banana. And nowhere have I found better bananas than in China. Who knew China could be defined by its delicious bananas? I think they must get them from somewhere nearby, because they are always perfectly ripe, never too sweet or too soft. Here is a banana I was eating yesterday. Seriously, how great is this banana? Every bite was a joy. (And yes, I am eating a banana in bed.)

2. Learning to read and write Chinese has given me newfound respect for Chinese students. I know in the West we sometimes make fun of them for being little robots and not very creative, but try learning to write from memory 10,000 Chinese characters and see how far you get! Being literate in Chinese requires immense talent in the memorization of tiny details. No wonder they are memorizing machines. My hats off to them. (It is estimated that the average college graduate knows about 10,000 characters. I have read that it takes knowing anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 characters to read a newspaper. I know a bit over a 1,000 at this point. I can kind of make out simple newspaper articles. But I have a long way to go.)

3. This week I noticed I wrote my print letter 't' with the cross line first, then the vertical line. I was overjoyed! You see, when you write Chinese, you must write horizontally first, then vertically. It's an inflexible rule. This is somewhat backward from how I write alphabet letters. So the fact I changed my 't' without thinking about it means some of this Chinese writing is really sinking in . YAY! But still...a long way to go.

4. I had to go to Peace Corps headquarters this week to see the doctor. (I'm going to live! haha) The train ride from my city to PC headquarters is now only two hours long. 4 years ago, it was 8 hours long. Cutting down the time from 8 to 2 hours in four years is phenomenal. It's really incredible to see the progress China is making in its infrastructure. Daily life is changing so quickly here, and it's really incredible to see things happening firsthand. My students' lives are drastically different from their parents' lives in a way that my life and my parents' lives are not. I can only imagine what the next decade or two will bring to daily life in China. I hope I get the chance to see it.