fun with English, English

E – Even when biking down the busy street, fellow riders, strangers, will pedal abreast and try to engage us in conversations: “Excuse me? Where are you going?”

N – Never a quiet moment alone when you find an empty patch of grass, pull out your book and have someone join you for a one-sided conversation in Chinese chasing around a single understanding: “My English is not very good.”

G – Gleefully they push their young children toward us encouraging them to say “hello.” The child nervously avoids all eye contact.

L – Listening to the English conversations of others is most unavoidable. If you can understand it, your ears inevitably seek it out.

I – I believe there are Chinese words to express what I want to say, however, my English is too good to waste, even if no one understands what I am saying.

S – Sympathetic campus workers in our dorm eagerly suggest an English-Chinese learning exchange, which so far has resulted in learning people’s names and the words for washing machine, hot pot and soap dish. ☺

H – “How many children do you have?”