My mother's date with the sea

In May 2012, we held a Women's Symposium on campus.  We asked the students from the World Academy to invite their mothers to attend.  My students were hesitant because their parents typically do not ever come to the campus, not even for graduation.  Many of my students quickly told me that their mothers would never attend for a variety of reasons: 

1. it's too expensive to come here just for a weekend;
2. they have to tend to the farm;
3. they dont know how to get here;
4. they have to take care of the grandchildren;
5. where would they stay;
6. it's too far away from their homes;
7. they don't like to leave the village:
8. they don't have an interest in women's issues;
9. they are uncomfortable around strangers;
10. its not the Chinese way;
11. she wouldn't leave my father;
12. they would feel embarrassed because they never went to school;
13. she will feel intimidated.

So after we all aired the excuses and came up with some solutions, we decided to order blank invitations and send them to the parents.  I thought we were going to mail these invitations to parents in April.  But as I spoke to my students, I learned that most of them had no intention of mailing the invitations to their parents because there is no postal service in their village and many of the parents can't read.

They were going to ask their parents to attend and those parents who attended were going to be given the invitations when they arrived at the symposium (sort of like a little thank you token).

Then, as we will filling out the invitations, the students concluded that I needed to hand write individual inviations to their mothers.  In China, a hand written note in English carries a lot of weight.  So I sat for hours and filled out those inviations. And in the end, 19 mothers and one father attended.  It was a great first showing.

One student, Gloria, was particularly certain that her mother would not show up.  It was too far.  She had to babysit.  She couldn't aford it.

But not only did her mother show up, but the two of them sang a duet at the Mothers' Reception. Regretfully, I was back in the USA at that time, so I missed all of the fun.

I just received this wonderful from Gloria this week:






RE: My Mother's date with the sea Hi, dear, you might like to share my happiness. Recently I went to

Shanghai with my mom and my big brother paid for us. Here we went to

the sea and Huangpu river, enjoying a relaxing and wonderful trip.

I appreciate our women's symposium which has broadened her horizon.

This time, I'm so glad that my mom can go out of home to really enjoy

a travel in such a beautiful city, Shanghai.

Life of women has been becoming better and brighter with all your

efforts. And I'm honored to be one of the team to make the world of

difference.

Here is the picture of my mom and sea!

Love you!

Ai Wei Wei- a movie recommendation

I just saw this movie at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute and it was fantastic.  It is a documentary film about  Ai Wei Wei, a Chinese artist, who is critical of the Chinese government. The film follows him for two or three years as his political life in China becomes more and more difficult for him.

I found it particularly interesting since I had several discussions with my Chinese students about the role of government in modern China.  From their point of view, the Communist Party is dead and no real part of their lives.  They do not see their government as oppressive.  They recognize that they do not have complete access to information on the Internet or other media.  But that does not seem to bother them.  They said they had to trust that the government officials know what is best for the collective good and the citizens should just  accept this censorship.  And as long as they lived within these perimeters, everything is fine.

I mentioned the movie to Selia but she did not express any interest in seeing it.

Ai Wei Wei

Kelly Long Nv

When I first came to China, I asked my students to give me a Chinese name and they said they would think abut it.  But after two weeks, no one had any suggestions.  So I approached the topic again. I told them that I wanted a name that had the world "Dragon" in it since it is the Year of the Dragon.  They didn't like the idea but the idea really grew on me.  I suggested that they call me "Dragon Lady" and that suggestion met with great horror.  In their opinion, it was too harsh, too unfeminine, too impolite.  "Dragon Girl" was offered as a compromise, it was not as straigth-forward or bold.  But I insisted that they translate Dragon Lady for me.  They protested and reluctantly translated my new name (Long Nv).  At first, none of them would address me as Long Nv but eventually, several of them told me, "That name fits you."

Dragon Lady- my nephew's response to my Chinese name

Kevin Staudt 3:59pm Jul 27 http://www.facebook.com/l/CAQEMeFG3AQE7XP7ZyFVFSIXmZqhRlmtIbziNdImEVLqWsg/www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dragon%2520lady Webster's give two definitions for "Dragon Lady." I wonder which one Selia meant. Dragon lady - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary www.merriam-webster.com Definition of dragon lady from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary with audio pronunciations, thes...

Carina's summer job

Hi,Bredget, it’s been a long time; how is your summer vocation? Anything interesting happened? And I have so many want to tell you about my summer vacation.

I am going to be a junior officially in September. This summer vocation I have two jobs. One is an assistant for an English summer camp, I love this job, before this, many people told me that being an assistant in a summer camp was hard and meaningless, it’s all about taking care of children. And before this job, I really just treated it as a job, I thought it’s just seven days and I would not have some feeling about it. But I was wrong. I have to say it is kind of hard, you know the children is energetic and naughty, they keep challenging our patience. But children are always children; you can’t blame them for their energy and naughty. They are pretty, frank and innocent. They made us laugh; they cared for us and comforted us when we were unhappy. Besides, during these days, all the students and teachers lived together, we were like a big family, we ate, slept, study, danced and had fun every day. I like working in team. It’s much more fun than working alone.

 During the seven days, I have learned my first complete dance and done a lot of funny things. We also played some games. Like we put a empty bottle on the ground near the dustbin and waited to see how many people would pass by before the bottle was picked up and thrown into the dustbin, then we shall clap our hands for the people who picked it up. Like we played death, one people in our team went to find a stranger and asked for help, then he take this person to the place we all stayed, when the person were taken there, we all pretended to pass out and see what reactions they would have. It’s very funny. I have some pictures for you, Carrol and Miriam. I feel so lucky to have this job; I spent a happy week and met some kind, funny people. This experience also makes me understand that you will never know something unless you get involved personally.

The other job is a translator for our school, but now I quit. Cause it’s not like it’s supposed to be. We were told it’s translation, that’s why so many people wanted to get this job, regardless it’s low payment. We also went through a very difficult test. But the people who get admitted now are doing something has nothing to do with translation. I feel hurt. I give up other opportunities to get this job, all I think is to do something related to my major, my major is business English, I am eager to find some translate jobs. Now I am going to post a resume online and hope that I could get a job to translate during the vacation and in the spare time when I become a junior.

This is all about my summer vocation.Now I have no job and plan to study for a major test next semester.Do you have something interesting? What is your plan this year?

Have a good day!!!

Carina

Olivia has a new summer job

Dear coffee mother ,

How are you this days ? so long time no hearing you ~~

By the way , I am in Shenzhen now ,and hunt for job , I would like tell you something about my new job ,the job is a part time job about sell the cosmetics using tellphone ,that is to say , I will make a deal with the boss who will sell the cosmetics form our firm ~~I know you know a lot of the marketing ,can you give me some suggestion or some sell skills please ?

I will appreciate that , thank you very much ~~

Have a great day

More love,

Olivia

Selia got her visa

Selia met with representatives from the USA embassy in Beijing, china. She will be coming to the east coast on July 20 and she will be leaving on August 30. We plan to drive from Virginia to Vermont. Any suggestions on what she should see or do?