Monday, November 25, 2013
Samuel: "One time, when I was really young, I scored a 80% on a math test, and my teacher made me take it home for my mom to sign. I was so ashamed, so humiliated, I couldn't show her the paper and I forged her signature."
"Wait. Did you say 80%? Like, '8' '0'?"
"Yeah. I was so ashamed, and my teacher was so disappointed with me. Everyone else had at 90%. I was pretty proud of how accurate the signature was though. I would have gotten away with it, had she not found the paper later."
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Andy: "Chinese grammar is much more difficult than English. It's very different."
"Like ending sentences with a verbs?"
"Yes, but more than that. In China, nothing is ever as it appears. An American can hold this pen and say, 'This is a pen. I like this pen.' In Chinese, if a man says, 'This is a pen. I like this pen,' that doesn't mean he's actually talking about a pen. He could be talking about anything. Something over there... one of his friends... anything. It's crazy! I don't know why we do that! But, it's also beautiful. If I took you to an ice festival in Beijing, you would look at the snow and say, 'Look at the beautiful snow.' I would say, 'That's not just snow. Look closer, it's in the shape of a sheep,' and you would say, 'Look at the beautiful sheep.' Then I would say, 'That's not just a sheep. That's a story.' And I could tell you the story that sheep represents. So, sometimes the complex is not just confusing. Sometimes, it's beautiful."
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