On Friday night after dinner at the Korean restaurant, we all went to
the English corner again. Once we got there, I noticed that my coworkers and I
were, yet again, the only foreigners there.
I saw a few of the same people as last week, and they were surprised I
remembered their names. One of them, Michael, was so excited to see me again
that he brought his son over to meet me. I tried to talk with him, but he was
only 11, so his English was not very good.
I also met a number of new people. One of which that I feel I need to
mention. You see…she’s my twin. Yes, I have a twin. A twin who is not only
Asian, but also 8 years younger than me. Her name is Catherine. It all started
when she said “hello” to me, and told me that she was a student at one of the
private high schools studying music composition. We then started talking about
music. We quickly discovered that we liked all of the same composers. And the
same symphonies. And we disliked the same composers. And disliked the same
songs.
Then we started talking about other kinds of music. Turns out we had a
lot more in common than just music. We liked the same exact movies, the same
food, and the same books. Then, when I pulled out my camera to take a photo of
the two of us, she started laughing and said that she had the exact same one!
Anyways, Catherine was a lot of fun to talk with because her English
was so good. She had almost no accent, so I was surprised when she told me she
did not learn English abroad. She said that her school had a very competitive
English program.
She then excitedly asked if I would be back on Tuesday. Apparently,
English corner is on Fridays and Tuesdays.
This was news to me. I said that I couldn’t make it because it takes me so long
to get into town, and I already go to Chengdu every Thursday, Friday and
Sunday. Catherine said that I had to come back on Tuesdays because there is
this British guy who shows up on those days. She was very insistent that I meet
this guy, hinting that we should fall in love and get married. I laughed and
explained to her that if she knew me and my friends from back home, we would
all call her an “Emma.” She didn’t understand the reference, so I told her that
she had to go read Jane Austen’s Emma. She
promised she would.
I also met another incredible person with awesome English skills.
10-year-old Yuki amazed me with her very proper English, complete with her very
proper British accent. This little girl had the opportunity to live abroad for
a year. Lucky girl! She kept up with the conversations going on all around her,
and had interesting insights on every subject. Her English was easily ten times
better than anyone else in the group besides me and Catherine.
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