A Teacher is a Person I can be Sincere with

     

      Today, in Carrie’s class, I learned something very important. We had already discussed the criteria of a good teacher a few days ago. We all agreed that enthusiasm, devotion, academic knowledge, psychology, and along with a lot of other qualities, are the criteria people use to evaluate a teacher.
      But today, while we were discussing something else, I realized another quality—a personality to be more specific—is also something a good teacher should have. During the class, Carrie recollected the years she was teaching in China. She described a rather distant and remote China, strange yet familiar to most of us. That China was poor, there weren’t  any machinery, people did everything with their hands. That China was also simple, everything was simple, relationships between people were simple, what people were working for was also simple, to live and be content. The young American teacher marveled at how hard her Chinese students were studying under difficult situations , the Chinese students treated their young American teacher with respect and admiration.
      It seems to us that Carrie’s voice or the language she used had a touch of magic, we were all attracted by her description. When Carrie said how she asked her mother not to let her come back to China no matter how she missed the people there, her eyes filled with tears. All of a sudden, I found myself trying to choke back my tears, and my classmates—Cherry, Cecilia, and Anna, they were either sobbing silently or choked up. Maybe people would say that Carrie revealed her vulnerability by shedding tears, it’s not something appropriate for a teacher to do in front of his or her students. But in my opinion, a good teacher ought not to conceal his or her true feelings in front of the students.
      We understood why Carrie shed tears, she asked her mother not to let her return to China because she was afraid the China she saw would be different from the China she used to know. Most importantly, it’s the people. Carrie did not want to find out what tremendous pressure her former students were under trying to make a living in a much changed China. But despite all this Carrie missed the country she had lived and worked when she was young, she missed her students she used to be friends with. We understand all this because deep down, we also miss the China when we were children, miss the time when were so happy, so carefree. We were also touched by Carrie, by her friendship with China, by her sacrifice of her youth when working in China.
      A lot of us have claimed to be the friends of our students, but sometimes we forgot what Emerson had said, “A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud.”

A Trip to Mark Twain's Former Residence

On July the 10th Yale University Summer Session arrange for us to visit the former residence of Mark Twain. Mark Twain is a very famous American writer, ever since I was little, I had read the Chinese version of his The Adventure of Tom Sawyer. And when I went to college, I knew Mark Twain actually shaped the American Literature. But on that day I learned a lot more about Mark Twain.

I am not going to write about Mark Twain’s life experience, everyone can find  those information on the internet.  I want to mention two things that I never would have known if not for the trip to Mark Twain’s former residence. The first thing is how Mark Twain had loved this house he himself had built. After the house was built, Mark Twain said, “It is a home - & the word never had so much meaning before.” According to the tour guide, Mark Twain and his family enjoyed what the author would later call the happiest and most productive years of his life in their Hartford home.

Another thing I learned from the trip is the relationship between Mark Twain and China. I had never thought that Mark Twain had had anything to do with China. But from the pictures displayed in the Mark Twain Museum, I learned that Mark Twain not only supported the cooperation between America and China (Qing Dynasty), but also opposed  American and European imperialism in China. Another thing is that Mark Twain had actually provided support for the Chinese Educational Mission, a Qing Dynasty Project based in Hartford.

Upon Arriving in America

When our plane landed on the Kennedy International airport, I looked outside the window, I realized I was now really  in the Untied Stated of America--the most powerful country in the world. Before I could have a moment to feel excited and thrilled, I had to go through the Custom, the lines were smooth and the officers at the Custom desk were really friendly.

I came to America along with several of my colleagues, so we hired a shuttle service to drive us to New Haven from the airport. The driver were already outside waiting for us, he helped us to put the luggages on the minibus and drove on.

After around two hours' driving, we arrived at New Haven. All of us felt rather excited, we are going to spent 6 weeks here. We were not sure whether we could adapt to the living here.

Since students were not supposed to check in to housing at Yale until the next day, those of us who had chosen to live on campus had to spend the first night in America at our colleague's rented apartment.

        The place our colleague had rented is 10-minute-walk from the campus, it is very beautiful, and also very quiet. We had very good sleep there.