charles from china

[for one of my Lang. classes i got to tutor a foreign student on campus once a week for an entire semester. pretty cool right? new experience for me at least.]

so when the teacher was assigning us all our students he paused on me what seemed like too long then told me i'd be working with "charles": 17 years old and has only lived in america for 1 year. english level = pretty good. "you'll have an interesting time with charles, that's about all i can say."

the first time i met with charles he rushed in and sat down at the desk. i introduced myself as his tutor and gave him a good handshake. i love getting to know people so i unintentionally pounded him with tons of questions. then asked him, "so how many siblings do you have?" he gave me a very unamused stare/glare and said, "none."

still not catching on i cheerfully said, "oh so you're an only child, that explains your nice phone and lap top."

he looked at me again and said, "no. no one in china has brothers or sisters. only one child per family, unless twins." then straightway opened his books.

i would like to apologize to america for making us look so ignorant.

but i really don't know a lot about china. i know my sister in law, mary, went there to lead her team in special olympics and brought back some scary chicken leg treats. i love fortune cookies. panda express is yummy. jackie chan is my favorite. the yellow river is in china, so is shanghai. i wore a chinese bridesmaid kimono dress for my friends wedding. and would love to one day walk the great wall. and that about sums up my knowledge about china.

well charles took a while to warm up to me. but i was adamant that he would. each week i'd ask him. "so what did you do this weekend?"

--"study"

"what? you studied all weekend, c'mon you had to do something else."

-- "no. just study."

"ok, so what are your plans for THIS weekend?"

-- (glare) "study."

"rexburg is a great place! there is so much to do, have you made friends with your roommates?"

-- i don't like utah. i don't like idaho. i don't like rexburg. food is bad."

"ok, i got an idea, you should join the Chinese Association. you'll meet tons of people and make some friends and they serve great food."

-- (double time glare) "why would i come to america from china to join a chinese club?"

and that's how it went for weeks, and weeks, and weeks.

finally, when i just about couldn't take it anymore i said in between our lecture of past participles, "charles, i'm setting you up on a date."

-- "no."

"yes, yes i am."

-- "no, i do not date. i study."

"you said that once youre 18 you can, and you just turned 18. consider it my birthday present to you. my brother is having a big group date with his roomies. they are all fun, easy going guys, and are all going with a girl. i told my brother you were going and he already has a girl set up for you. it's this saturday at 7pm, i will pay for you to buy her some ice cream or whatever you want, but youre going."

-- "really? (i loooove the way chinese people say really, and he says it alll the time!)

"yep. looks like you'll be doing some tye dye, all american kinda date!"

"what is tye dye?"

so we wikapediaed it and he grinned. that boy is so stubborn! i could tell he was excited but he would not let me see that he was.

that saturday we got him a shirt to tye dye and he met up with his cute little girl and out they all went on little charles' first date! (:

jordan (my brother) told me that charles had so much fun. everyone loved him, and thought he was a riot. but most importantly, HE loved it and had a good time.

[last tutoring session]

"so i heard you were great on your date!"

-- (rolls eyes) "ya."

"yeah? yeah? so it wasn't so bad was it? up for another one?"

-- "maybe.."

"ha! i knew you'd love it, i can't wait to plan another. how about this weekend?"

--" can't. i am dancing at the chinese association."

(gasp) "what! you joined it? i thought....

-- yes, i joined it. 2 months ago, i just didn't tell you. i'm performing my kung fu.

"you know kung fu! wow, charles!"

-- "yeah, but i'm not very good. i can only fight 5-6 people at once, not 9."

and there you have it. charles. my good fun chinese friend. great guy. great student, and apparently great kung fu master!