缘分is real.  None of your efforts up until now have been wasted; you have not and cannot fail.

You are on the road, and you are in community.

Carry your water, make your fire – do the work – climb your mountain.

        一树一树梨花开， 春在枝头， 更在心上。2023的春天，歌乐川外迎来新一批的国家公派出国留学高级英语培训班的学员们。师生共享自在开放的学习空间，时间如这春日暖阳，变得分外温暖。2月27日， 师生们共聚开班典礼，曾传芳院长、张泽民书记、张勇副院长、教师代表靳雪竹老师、加拿大教师Robin和贵州中医药大学学员代表蔡伊檬与其他任课教师和新学员们一起分享了歌乐川外故事和新学习旅途期待。

Robin老师深情回忆了她的中文学习旅程，这份执着是对全体新学员们的巨大激励。 这份文字里满满都是一位加拿大友人对中国文化的满腔热爱， 让我们一起细细品味这份用心。

Opening Remarks – February 27, 2023 / Robin E. MacKinnon              

...Last week, I thought about what to talk about this morning and couldn’t think of a thing. I was planning to dust off an old speech. I have written a few good bits for this occasion in the last 8 years, so –why not? Then, I got to thinking about a story to tell you that might be useful, so –this is that story:

In the summer of 2009, I took my first trip to China to spend a month in Chongqing. Freshly graduated from a language teacher training program, I was on a team to teach in an English language summer camp for middle school kids. I had about 10 words of Chinese to rub together when I arrived. We were given a two hour workshop in Toronto to learn how to say a few things and count with our hands. “你好” and “非常好吃! 谢谢您!” ...还有， “我是加拿大人...” 和- “我是英语老师... ” Out and about, especially over beer and food, I learned a little more... “不存在!... 要得!...要不得!” ...哦！还有一个呢 ... “服务员儿... 请您再来两瓶!!”... “冰啤酒有没有? – was picked up in real time on the steaming streets of Chongqing that summer – and it may have saved my life! I learned quite a few more colourful expressions that I am told are not for use in polished, formally gathered company such as this! I’ll spare you the worst of them – but forgive me for mentioning “锤子的很!” which captivated me entirely when I understood I was using the word hammer as an insult – not unlike I had done for years in English! I was hooked. I spent two long afternoons hiding from the heat in a cool dark teahouse where I met a remarkable woman. She and her friends made hours of traditional music while I hung on every note and marveled at their instruments. Later, they found me in the rain taking pictures after the crowds were gone, and they took me to eat with them. She picked all the tiny bones out of my fish with the precision of a surgeon. I had no Chinese and they no English, but we ate and laughed together, trading songs at the table. Many hours later, she said, “我是你的中国妈妈.” When I got home to Toronto, I went looking for a Chinese teacher. 洪老师 guided my first words and halting efforts to speak. “我叫麦菲兰. 认识您很高兴. 我真喜欢喝啤酒.”

I should warn you a little; when we are in the classroom together, you may forget where you are and switch to Chinese. Then, you will hear me bark like a dog from across the room, “ENGLISH! – NO CHINESE!” Please know that is the spirit of my beloved 洪老师 rising up to do for you what she did for me; I had the same problem once upon a time. A new team of English teachers from Toronto was organizing to go back to Chongqing for another English summer camp the following year, and I was determined to join them. I spent that fall, winter, and spring attending class once a week. I went to Chinese corner. I asked 洪老师 for advice; what gift should I bring to my 中国妈妈? “Fish oil...”, I was told. I had lost touch with 妈妈 during the year, but against all odds, in a city of millions and millions –I found her again. I went back to the place I’d met her the year before, but she and her friends were gone elsewhere by then. With my very bad beginner’s Chinese and a lot of hand gestures –somehow, I made myself understood to a kind and patient person who pointed me in a direction. I walked and walked, feeling hopeless about finding her. Then –I heard her. I followed her voice floating over the crowded street to another little teahouse. 我的中国妈妈说, “我们两有缘分.” I flew back to my lessons in Toronto with “缘分” written in mama’s hand on a piece of paper. I came back in September of 2011 to sign my first one year contract teaching junior 2 students. I spent lots of time with mama and her friends. I was tucked into mama’s family and welcomed, learning how to address every auntie, uncle, and cousin in it. My speaking was getting somewhere –a very 重庆话 kind of place– but bit by bit, my ear was getting sharper. Simple things were getting easier to do with the language I had. On holiday in Yunnan, I found a couple of good Chinese learning books. I struggled & copied & struggled & copied – & struggled – & copied – & copied – & struggled – for years – & years on end –on my own. I can’t quite explain why I didn’t find myself a teacher.

Looking back now, it just seems stupid. I thought, “I’m a language teacher and I have a little foundation... I can do this.” I struggled – & copied – & eventually –I gave up. I was embarrassed by all the effort that went nowhere. Once in a while, I flipped through the pages of my notebook. Crushed that I couldn’t read what I was looking at – it seemed as though it must have been written by someone else. I used my Chinese speaking skills, stalled and stunted as they were, to get by in life. I leaned heavily on my dictionary with 妈妈. “等一下妈妈，我需要词典!” In October of 2022, “缘分” struck again. A good sister friend of mine, from Wales, returned to Chongqing from a few years of teaching in Shanghai. She had also returned to her Chinese lessons with Jojo, whom I had met a few times over hotpot. After 5 years in China and 3 years of study with Jojo, Jenna’s Chinese is great. She has real confidence as a Chinese speaker. Meanwhile, my notebook was hidden away on a shelf – gathering dust. I had convinced myself my messy Chinese language skills had evolved as much as they ever would, but she said I should try studying with Jojo. So, I did... Our first lesson at my kitchen table –was terrifying. I was so embarrassed to show her that notebook, but –she was impressed. She asked me what I wanted to accomplish. I told her, “I want to read and write... to speak better and speak about more things! I want more words!” We got to work. When I sat down with my homework after she left that first Friday, something like magic happened. My hand remembered. All those characters I thought I had forgotten came back to me like friends. 缘分 sat at my table with me, and I worked. Jojo is fun, a very gifted teacher –and tough. We laugh a lot in our lessons. We meet every Friday afternoon for two hours.I do about 12 homework hours a week. I copy every exercise she gives me, including the instructions, into my old notebook –twice.She doesn’t ask me to do that. I do it because I know what I want. Without a teacher, I was missing the community that gives the effort to learn real power, but – after all – she is a guide. She shows the way, but it’s up to me to carry my water, make my fire, and climb my mountain.

Robin老师的学习建议

Cheers to the new challenges