Hi everyone! You may have noticed that I'm not doing my art anymore. Let me tell you why.
About three or so years ago, I became interested in Mandarin Chinese because I liked the way the language looked and sounded. It was way different from English!
Plus, there was a teacher at my school from China. Because I like politics, I kept bugging him about Tibet. He never gave me a good answer. His reason for the 1959 invasion was that, "China is Tibet's forefathers."
Whatever.
But I still liked the language a lot and he taught me my first words in Chinese, which are, "Ni hao." This means "hello." I was hooked. "You had me at ni hao."
This teacher left to go back to China, so I had to find another. One day, I saw a pretty Asian lady at a restaurant in Brattleboro. I followed her down the street and made my mother ask her if she was Chinese. She was! And, she was getting her master's degree at School for International Training.
My mother asked if she would consider tutoring me and she said, "yes." Tian and I became buddies and I am going to see her in China next week!
Yes, in three years, I became fluent in Chinese. It is my latest obsession. It has taken the place of art.
Then, last summer, I was in the local supermarket and there was a middle-aged Asian couple who couldn't make themselves understood. So, I asked if I could help translate for them. I asked in Mandarin.
Man, were they surprised! The dad, whose American name is Francis, told me he had a son going to school in Putney--a son who is my age and who is named Jefferson after Thomas Jefferson.
Wow! There's a politician's name for you!
So, there have it. Jefferson and I are best buddies and I am going to stay with the Hu family (who? the Hus!) for 10 days in Suzhou near Shanghai.
Here is a photo of me with Jefferson this spring, 2012.
