My Chinese teacher has decided that she wants to try to get a job teaching in a university. In China, university teachers are civil servants, and so in order to get a job in the university, you have to pass a special civil service exam. She decided that she needs some time to prepare for this test, so she has quit her job in the language school.
Yesterday was my last Chinese lesson with my teacher. She has been amazingly patient with me over the past eight or nine months that I’ve been taking lessons from her. I used to joke that I have been learning Chinese longer than she has, which is actually true, because she is quite young.
Some months ago, we were talking about the unbuyable book that I had unsuccessfully tried to purchase. Yesterday, she presented me with a copy. She said that she was able to find it online. She told me that after I told her about the book, she became intrigued, and wanted to read it. She got a copy for herself, and one for me. I wonder if she got interested in the air pollution problem partly because of the articles about pollution that I chose as reading material for classes.
There is a saying in Chinese that students and teachers learn from each other æ•™å¸ç›¸é•·. I certainly learned a lot from her, and I suspect that he learned a thing or two from me as well.
Life goes on.
The unbuyable book!