"crazy english"

so the past week has not been full of the crazy and blog-worthy adventures of weeks past, but there are a few interesting tidbits i would like to relay . . .

first, during one of my regular lunches with my tailor friend (who has altered jeans, shirts, and will be making me some pants in the near future . . . i know, tough life), he showed me the book that he has been using to learn english entitled "crazy english". every lunch or dinner with him is filled with him feverishly writing down everything we say in english and him translating everything into chinese for us. well, upon looking through the book, i came across the following mantra of sorts:

i'm chinese.
i'm from the people's republic of china.
i love my country. i love my people.
our country has a history of 5000 years. i'm proud of it.
our motherland is going through changes now. i'm part of it.

i want to speak good english.
because english is an international language.
the japanese have to learn english.
the koreans have to learn english.
the french have to learn english.
the germans have to learn english.
all nations of the world are learning english now.
we chinese must learn english too.
because we need a common language to communicate!

i enjoy learning english!
i enjoy speaking english!
i enjoy making mistakes!
i enjoy losing face!

i'm crazy about speaking english.
i practice speaking english everyday.
i can speak good english!
i'm an international chinese!

i love chinese language too.
it's spoken by billions of people in the world.
it is a beautiful language!
more and more foreigners are starting to learn chinese now.
i hope to teach the whole world chinese when i grow up.
so i must study chinese well.

this is me.
a chinese high school student!
this is my dream!
to spread english throughout china and chinese throughout the world.
i want to share this dream with all of my friends all over the world.

let's make miracles together!
let's just do it!

hilarious? i think yes. from required military training to mantras about learning english, the chinese people will be well-outfitted to become the next super power both physically and psychologically. i guess it is good to know that they are "crazy about english" though. makes my job a whole lot easier.

the other little morsel just has to do with a certain student that diana named clay after yours truly. he had come into the office crying because he missed his mother. i talked to him, comforted him, and made him laugh as only an awkward funny looking american like myself can with a little chinese boy. his picture follows. he doesn't look too happy, but he carries my namesake. there will forever be a clay roaming the great land of china. with any luck, he will be speaking "crazy english" by the end of the year.