"Another day in..."

I often conclude this sentence cheerfully,  chirruping to my fellow teachers that "It's another beautiful China day" or "It's another day in paradise". Some days these cheerful responses are dripping with sarcasm and the slightest bit of contempt. Other days I actually mean it, whether or not it seems sarcastic. Just depends on the day. And the sarcasm often depends on if I'm marking Intro to Lit essays for my Grade 10 boys. Today, I'm invigilating exams and... marking Intro to Lit essays for my Grade 10 boys.

Because of this, I'm going to post a list of funny things that I don't know if I've ever discussed here. A few of my fellow China bloggers have done similar posts recently and since I seem to have stopped posting about random China stuff, here we go.

English names.

The kids at our school are all expected to adopt English names. Call it ethnocentric or imperialistic if you want, but it's policy. So the kids, knowing that they are in an environment which is pretty low on the judgment end of the spectrum (because they're all surrounded by fellow Asian kids and not the ruthless bullies of N. America) and because they've never had so much freedom in their lives, they get pretty creative and are happy to pay homage to their favourite things.

Example: The boys here LOVE basketball. What are some of my students' names? Iverson. McGrady. Lebron.

Example: The boys here LOVE soccer. What are some of their names? Messi. Villa. Davidvilla (all one word). Beckham. Dempsey.

Example: The students love fashion (although I generally find the Chinese population should predominantly star in "What Not to Wear"). What are their English names? Dolce. DG. LV. Prada, Louis, Sakun.

Example: The kids don't speak English well. What are some of their mistakenly written but maintained names? Danio (Daniel), Vicent (Vincent), Tadi (Teddy), Christom (Christian? Tom?), Augus (August?), Laski (?), 

Example: The kids love pop culture, especially popular singers and books. What are their names? Lucius, Sirius, Harry, Hermione, Avril, Bieber (TWO in one class),

Example: The kids like unique names or names that "Have Meaning", but sometimes they end up being nonsense. Or absurd. Or strange. What are these nonsensical endeavours? Far, Silence, Nice, Funny, Curry, Zero, Cloud, Amok, Jone (Jones?), Estate ("like the Italian way"), Dample (??), Tofick (??), Luffy (??), Freedom, Flint, Lamorak (I'm still trying to sort out if this is legit or if this kid hates me and is making fun of my name), Platinum Caliente (Yes, this is the ACTUAL name chosen by one of the BOYS on campus),

This is a strange world I inhabit. Much love from China, all.

T