They Laugh at my accent....

Week 2 at the group home has thus far been going quite well. Last week in the process of making flash cards with my group they would teach me the Cantanese word and then I would teach them the English word... Wow Cantanese is a difficult language... Now let me preface this by saying when I entered Calvin I had to take a Spanish Placement test- I didn't place in any of the classes( and that's not because I was soooo far ahead of everyone) now that was a fairly basic language and somewhat close to English in the sense that some of the words are similar etc. Anyway, it ended with the 2 girls in my group splitting a gut with laughter after listening to me struggle for about 5 minutes over the Cantanese word for passport... This is a language with tons of highs and lows and short and long sounds theres basically 6 different inflections ( i'm not sure if that's the proper technical word but whatever)

In an effort to at least learn some Cantanese in our time here ( mainly so that my students don't bust a gut every time I attempt to pronounce something and so we spend more time on their English than my Cantanese) I purchased a learning Cantanese guide and CD it is a pocket book with phrases with English and Cantanese translation. Tonight the 4 of us sat around my lap top as it played words and oddly repeted the sounds and then laughed histarically at ourselves.... It was quite a site.... Well another week is coming to a close and the completion with one group of kids which is sort of sad. I'll try and do a total recap of this week later when I have a bit more time. Thankfully the scare of a typhoon is no longer level 3 and after a just a 4 day week ( wednesday was a public holiday and Thursday we had an outting) we're all feeling well rested ( slightly sunburned from our day at the beach on our day off) and ready for a weekend full of sight seeing! We plan to celebrate our patriotism on Friday with a trip to get some American food hopefully a steak or burger( we figure if we're in a place that doesn't celebrate the 4th of july then it probably isn't a huuuuge deal if we don't celebrate it exactly ON the 4th either.) Saturday we hope to head to Lantau Island to see the Giant Buddah, and Sunday we're hoping to visit a stilt village. Should be a busy but fun packed weekend! Hope everyone has a lovely and patriotic 4th of July. Happy Birthday Jilly Hutch! Hope you have a great day!

Cheers
Tina