Cloudy in Beijing Blogging about my time in China

Questions

Being an American, I get some interesting questions from time to time.

"Are there really vampires in America?" one student asked me. This came after she saw the movie Twilight.

"Is Kobe Bryant Indian (Native American)?" she later asked. "Is the Bermuda Triangle real?"

About a month ago, a student I had met earlier in the year sent me an email with some good news: he had just been accepted to a university in America. But now his big worry was making sure he could fit in and adapt to his new life once he arrived in the States.

"Do you usually go to dancing parties?" he asked in an email. "I heard that there are many dancing parties on and off campus."

"If I want to join in the dancing party, what kind of dances should I dance? I can dance Viennese waltz only."

I told him not to worry. But one can only imagine what it would be like watching him do the waltz at a college house party.

I do receive a lot questions about life is like in America. But since I've been in Xi'an, the most surprising question I've gotten is one I loathe.

"Will you sing us a song?"

It's more of a request, but I hear this a lot, especially when I'm meeting some new students for the first time. I don't know why, maybe its because Karaoke is so popular here. "I want to hear a foreigner sing," I remember one of my students saying to me.

Whenever I'm asked of this, I always think to myself: do you understand how embarrassing this is? According to my students' excited faces, no.

Sigh.

I've gone through the Beatles, Michael Jackson, even some Coldplay and The Strokes. Makes me feel like a human jukebox. There's even been a few times where I've looked up the lyrics of a song, in case I get any requests.

At other times, I complain when they ask me the question. "Couldn't you have told me beforehand that you were going to ask me to sing? I didn't prepare."

I guess I just want to minimize the embarrassment, and put on a good show.

So yea, if you come to China and be a teacher, be prepared to sing.