Memory of an interesting 60-year-old aunt

While the adult English class was in progress, I was learning English contiguous reading when a strong voice floated into my ears:

"Is this an intermediate class? I'm still learning phonetic symbols!" Then I looked for it. Sit down at the front and take out your textbook, iPad, pencil case, and glasses in an organized manner. Everything is ready and we will soon enter the learning state.

The teacher said: "try to say these words and use linking speaking."

"catch it, come over, increase energy." The voice was particularly loud and the pronunciation was beautiful.

After class, I learned that the aunt wearing a pink hairband, pink silk scarf, bright sweater, and carrying a black backpack was called Christina. Her accent sounded like she was from Qingdao, Shandong, and her husband was from Shanghai. The daughter is married to an American and lives in the United States. She lives in the United States for half a year every year and then returns to China. I am eager to learn English for the purpose of immigrating.

This aunt is very interesting. She speaks with confidence. She talks like a teacher and a classmate. She doesn’t feel shy at all. She is sincere and frank. She just asks if she doesn’t understand and doesn’t care about other people’s opinions. Sit upright in class, be meticulous, concentrate, never look at your mobile phone, practice in class, complete it seriously, and never neglect learning.

When chatting between classes, I couldn’t stop talking:

“Teacher, are all the people in class today from outside the country? I think so, I was a Shanghainese at that time. The quality is very high, but the foreigners are particularly looked down upon.”

“We agree with the first point, but not the second one,” the two Shanghai students responded.

“At that time, my daughter was playing the piano. It was just around 10 o’clock when a Shanghainese from downstairs came up and spoke in Shanghainese. His voice was very loud. He probably thought that I was not from Shanghai and could not buy it. Let’s build a house. My daughter can speak Shanghainese, and she got into a fight with her neighbor that night. I remember this scene very well.”

I said it in front of two Shanghai students. Yes, the speaker is unintentional, but the listener may not care.

As for whether Shanghainese look down on outsiders, this question is not important. The beholder has different opinions, and the wise have wisdom. There are many different opinions, but how many people are in Qianfanguo? How can I still be honest with myself in the end? It's really interesting.

During lunch, I couldn’t stop talking:

“Children in Shanghai nowadays are very selfish. My daughter is in the United States and my daughter earns more than my son-in-law. Although he earns Not much, but he is very kind to my daughter. As a parent, I won’t say much, but every time the family eats together, I always feel uncomfortable, but I won’t show it. After all, as long as my daughter is doing well, Just fine.

House prices in the United States are almost the same as those in China, but my daughter always wants me to sell the house in Shanghai and help them pay the down payment in the United States. Later, I thought that the American family concept is not right in China. Just raise the children over there, and leave everything else alone. The children will have to decide whether to buy a house or not. I have worked hard all my life to buy a house for them. It’s so worthless.”

Cultural differences are actually not obvious and severe among the current generation of couples, but are extremely difficult to reconcile among the previous generation.

This aunt has a foreign son-in-law, and her family life is so interesting.

Before class in the afternoon, I hit the key points in a chat:

"Houses in Shenzhen are very valuable now. I came late to class today because I was planning to take a look at some of the houses around Shenzhen." I moved to Shenzhen for house replacement. The agent has been calling me because Shanghai is too cold. I want to go to Shenzhen in winter, but I didn’t expect that the housing prices have risen so fast and are even more expensive than Shanghai.

< p>These housing prices have crushed young people. Who still wants to go to work and work hard, but they can’t even afford a house. But young people shouldn’t always focus on houses in Shanghai. They should always focus on Shanghai. You can't buy it in your lifetime. You should travel more around Shanghai. The countryside surrounds the city. Buy a house in the surrounding cities first, and then wait a few years until the value of the house appreciates, and then come to Shanghai to pay a down payment.

I couldn't afford a house in Shanghai at that time, so I bought one in the center of Kunshan. I later sold it and made more than 200,000 yuan. At that time, my husband didn't agree to buy it, so I did his ideological work, because the loan required two people. loan.

I bought this house near Shenzhen in the same way. I was working in Shenzhen at that time, and later came to Shanghai. I worked in Shanghai for more than 20 years. ”

The difference between rich and poor is sometimes no accident. Vision and thinking determine how far you can go, how high you climb, and how widely you see.

This aunt studied mathematics in Japan For ten years, she worked as a translator in Shenzhen and returned to Shanghai to continue working on projects. She has done so many interesting things!

After the course was over, she still couldn’t stop talking:

"Teacher, your English sounds like an authentic New York accent, which gives the students great confidence in learning. Thank you so much. Did you know? Back then, my mother was a professor, and she let me learn whatever I wanted to learn. My English used to be very good, but then I went to Japan to study, and I didn’t use it for many years, so I forgot all about it.

I worked as a translator for Sanleng Club in Shenzhen, and learning Japanese provided me with great benefits in learning English. Just dare to say it, I am thick-skinned. My master once taught me that if you are afraid, you can only translate 40% at most, and if you are not afraid, you can translate 80%.

When I go to the Bank of America to withdraw money, I don’t go to the ATM but to the counter, just to practice my English. I know that withdrawing money is withdrawal and depositing money is depositing. After I speak English well, I don’t need my daughter to translate on the side, lest she say she doesn’t have time every time. ”

For teachers, how important it is to update and re-learn knowledge. For students, who doesn’t know that learning English requires more talk. Living and learning is not just a matter of time. It's a kind of ability, but more importantly, it's a kind of courage. It's easy to pretend to understand when you don't know, but it's hard to pretend to be confused when you don't know.

There will always be unexpected beauty in life. Meeting such an interesting aunt makes me feel that there are more choices and possibilities in life.