Phallic symbols

That reminds me of a class in Wuhan several years ago.

A lovely young lady in her mid to late 20s, named Daisy, was given a task by me to read off her order from a mock menu. She misread the part where it said:

Rosemary Pork loin chop in red wine sauce ...

and instead ordered a ...

Rosemary "porking loin" chop in red wine sauce!

Needless to say, I rolled into a corner in uncontrollable laughter; as much as I tried, I could not stop for about five minutes. The four students in the private class all laughed with Daisy and I, but probably never understood the moment. Daisy, being a close friend of mine in those days, came later to see me in private in the office --at my invitation pf course-- and asked for the literal translation, which I cautiously, yet discreetly, gave to her.

She was a great student who always made mistakes but never stopped being enthusiastic. She econsistently laughed, talked freely, interupted everyone, made blunders etc., but she wa an absolute joy to be around.

I wish I had a Daisy in every sphere of facilitating ESL, a little bit of laughter goes a long way.

Another day at the same Wuhan centre in 2005, I walked into a class room with four young Wuhanese ladies; immediately a sixteen year old said, ''we don't want to talk about the courseware''
I replied, ''What would you like to talk about?"
Her response was, ''We want to talk about you''
Her next addition to introduce her chosen topic was, ''Do you like Wuhanese girls?''
I replied,''Yes of course I do, my girlfriend [now my wife] is from Chongqing but has lived in Wuhan for most of her life.''
She repled, ''Wuhan girls are so hot.''
I cautiously did not bat an eyelid but repled,''Yes it is quite hot today!''
The remainder of the girls in the class replied, ''No Kim, that's not what she meant''
Sheepishly but wisely I replied, ''Oh!'' and changed the topic.

They are sometimes naive and walk where angels fear to tread, but it can be lots of fun up here.

By the way, a recent report stated that the Ministry of Education in Beijing is designing a sex education course for minors to be included in future curriculum at state primary schools.

Now where exactly do Chinese babies come from ... storks or cabbage leaves?