Friday, June 02, 2006
I don’t think my eyes look like that, nor do I talk like that
I spent a lot of time wondering how I could get out of the cursos diplomados this weekend. In principle, I would’ve liked to just say, when asked why I didn’t show up, “I just didn’t want to go.” I used this method of telling the blatant truth in a defiant way last time, when asked why I had evaluated the course as poor, and it didn’t turn out well. In one sense, it did, because I defied her authority in front of everyone (just as she scolded me in front of everyone). Some people have mentioned to me that they felt great when I did it, because they would’ve liked to say the same sort of thing to her—that the truth is that the courses are boring and I didn’t want to go. But when I did that the principal was angry with me for a couple days, and I with her.
After some thought and good advice from Luis, this defiant attitude seemed less and less feasible. She’s not the type of person to be dealt with easily. Having an excuse would be better. But I couldn’t think of anything good. If I said I was sick, she’d try to take me to the doctor. Rocio suggested that I just tell her that I still have medicine leftover from my last cold, so that I wouldn’t have to go to the doctor with her. But it was difficult to pretend to be sick.
So I went today, along with all the other teachers who said they wouldn’t go. It wasn’t easy to get out of the courses today, seeing as we were all at work only a couple hours before the courses started. We ate lunch in my apartment and we showed up half an hour late.
I don’t plan to go tomorrow, though, and neither do a few others, but who knows what will happen. We might all chicken out. But I am planning not to go. I don’t look like I have a cold, so I’ll just say I have a migraine. I haven’t had a migraine in years, but it’s better than saying I have a stomachache, because she could take me to the doctor for that, too.
It’s lucky for me that I can use another excuse that was provided today in the classes themselves. If she doesn’t think I really have a migraine, then I can just say that I was offended by the instructor’s activities. For the first, he started out by asking if we wanted to learn Chinese, because he was going to teach us some Chinese. Some of the teachers pointed at me, and he said, “Oh, she knows Chinese?” They said, “She can teach Chinese!” But he decided to go ahead with his stupid exercise of “teaching us Chinese” anyway.
We had to stand around in a circle and repeat after him in order to learn a song. The song went like this:
“Yo soy el chino Chin Fan-fun,
Que vino de la China,
Tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-fu
Tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-fa”
The first two lines translate as: “I am the Chinese Chin Fan-fun, who comes from China.” There were also actions to go along with each line. First line: use fingers to pull back the corners of your eyes (in order to emulate Asian facial features as they are understood here). Second line: wave your hand to indicate that China is far away. Third and fourth lines: hop around like an idiot while turning around in circles.
I was not amused. I did not sing along or do the actions. Everyone else did. I spent the next few minutes contemplating how I am to teach the students not to pull the corners of their eyes to pretend to be Asian, when all their teachers and their principal do it too. How do I convince them that in the United States, Mexicans face similar types of racism as this?
The principal got my attention after the activity and from her seat asked me if I liked the song, and I shook my head no, and she said, “But it was good!” and I shook my head again.
The next activity he did was to have us make two circles, one inside the other. After dancing around and singing another ridiculous song (but not racist this time), the people in the outside circle were to spank the people in the inside circle. Only half of the people did it, but I was still spanked quite hard. Then the people in the inside circle were to go around kneeing the people in the outside circle behind their left knees. I did this without thinking; I was only thinking of getting revenge at the people who spanked me hard. Only later did I realize it was stupid to participate in that, because some people might have knee problems, like Rocio does. Later she told me that it hurt her knee.
So I have another excuse: I was offended by the instructor’s stupid activities, one racist and the other a form of sexual harassment as well dangerous for those with injuries.
After some thought and good advice from Luis, this defiant attitude seemed less and less feasible. She’s not the type of person to be dealt with easily. Having an excuse would be better. But I couldn’t think of anything good. If I said I was sick, she’d try to take me to the doctor. Rocio suggested that I just tell her that I still have medicine leftover from my last cold, so that I wouldn’t have to go to the doctor with her. But it was difficult to pretend to be sick.
So I went today, along with all the other teachers who said they wouldn’t go. It wasn’t easy to get out of the courses today, seeing as we were all at work only a couple hours before the courses started. We ate lunch in my apartment and we showed up half an hour late.
I don’t plan to go tomorrow, though, and neither do a few others, but who knows what will happen. We might all chicken out. But I am planning not to go. I don’t look like I have a cold, so I’ll just say I have a migraine. I haven’t had a migraine in years, but it’s better than saying I have a stomachache, because she could take me to the doctor for that, too.
It’s lucky for me that I can use another excuse that was provided today in the classes themselves. If she doesn’t think I really have a migraine, then I can just say that I was offended by the instructor’s activities. For the first, he started out by asking if we wanted to learn Chinese, because he was going to teach us some Chinese. Some of the teachers pointed at me, and he said, “Oh, she knows Chinese?” They said, “She can teach Chinese!” But he decided to go ahead with his stupid exercise of “teaching us Chinese” anyway.
We had to stand around in a circle and repeat after him in order to learn a song. The song went like this:
“Yo soy el chino Chin Fan-fun,
Que vino de la China,
Tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-fu
Tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-tiqui-fa”
The first two lines translate as: “I am the Chinese Chin Fan-fun, who comes from China.” There were also actions to go along with each line. First line: use fingers to pull back the corners of your eyes (in order to emulate Asian facial features as they are understood here). Second line: wave your hand to indicate that China is far away. Third and fourth lines: hop around like an idiot while turning around in circles.
I was not amused. I did not sing along or do the actions. Everyone else did. I spent the next few minutes contemplating how I am to teach the students not to pull the corners of their eyes to pretend to be Asian, when all their teachers and their principal do it too. How do I convince them that in the United States, Mexicans face similar types of racism as this?
The principal got my attention after the activity and from her seat asked me if I liked the song, and I shook my head no, and she said, “But it was good!” and I shook my head again.
The next activity he did was to have us make two circles, one inside the other. After dancing around and singing another ridiculous song (but not racist this time), the people in the outside circle were to spank the people in the inside circle. Only half of the people did it, but I was still spanked quite hard. Then the people in the inside circle were to go around kneeing the people in the outside circle behind their left knees. I did this without thinking; I was only thinking of getting revenge at the people who spanked me hard. Only later did I realize it was stupid to participate in that, because some people might have knee problems, like Rocio does. Later she told me that it hurt her knee.
So I have another excuse: I was offended by the instructor’s stupid activities, one racist and the other a form of sexual harassment as well dangerous for those with injuries.
