Have yourself a merry little christmas...

I'm bad at writing Christmas cards to each and single one of you out there, but I do want to say "Merry Christmas and happy new year to y'all!!!" (along with the best voice and nicest sound on the planet... I think).

Holiday Mood

All the students are gone, the work place has gone back to quietness, and it's funny how human psychology works: when the students were around and work was abound, I often dread going to school and wonder how much longer I could last without going insane; right before they left for home, myself preparing as well, I already missed the fun times (sometimes not so fun times) in the classroom already. Better enjoy and relax NOW before I have to drag myself back to work in a month.
I actually enjoy the all quiet and almost uneventful Christmas here, rather than the parties, feasts, gift exchanges, etc. which are sometimes a little too much for me to handle. It's Christmas, i.e. Christ's festival according to etymology (I still identify myself as a linguist!), after all we may be better off spending time on reflecting and contemplating what HE really means to us and what we can do to others to be more like and become closer to HIM. And I'm glad I'm going home after Christmas which gives me more time and space to regroup and get organized for the beginning of a new year.

A couple posts ago I promised myself to express thanks to people that matter to and have great impact on me. As I happened to get in touch with a few former teachers and professors of mine at the Y these past few days, I am going to reflect and write a few anecdotes on them. There are six particular teachers/professors that I truly appreciate at the Y.I met my thesis chair Dr. Eggington almost by accident. I felt like taking a religious class at the Y and I decided to take a D&C class and sort of randomly chose a section 2 weeks into one semester. Dr. E was the instructor and surprisingly he was so kind to give me a 1-on-1 tutorial to make up the classes that I missed. Then we started talking as we realized we are in the same department and in no time he became my mentor, my boss for my research work, assisted me in obtaining scholarships, hooked me up with another professor for TA work, and eventually played a key role in helping me finished the thesis, passed the oral defense, and graduated. He is such a typical nice Australian dude with a very similar work style and philosophy as mine: slightly unorganized by multitasking a million things but have a very clear priority set for what matters most.

As for the other professor Dr. E hooked me up with, it was Dr. Dallin Oaks. No, he's not the apostle but his son. It was another random acquaintance that I was in Dr. E's office when he came in and said he was looking for a TA and I couldn't believe I had the courage to recommend myself there on the spot when I didn't quite have a clue who he was and what I was getting into. Since then I had tutored four sections of a total of about 360 students of mostly English and English Language majors on English linguistics while not being a native English speaker myself! I was quite nervous to begin with and I was horrified to substitute for Dr. O when he was not around but it turned out to be such a great learning and teaching experience that I felt like I've got more out of it than most of my graduate courses. It solidified my love for linguistics as a subject.

Both Dr. Christensen and Dr. Bourgerie in the Chinese department have given me ton of opportunities to work and gain experience on Chinese teaching and translation work both on campus and off. Dr. C often talks to me on a personal level while Dr. B on a professional level.

Dr. Anderson was rather intimidating when I first met him, and to be honest, maybe it's his bow tie. I'm so blessed to be hired to teach at the English Language Center to gain insight on the art of language teaching while having a blast with the fellow teachers and the great students from around the world. I will never forget I was really amazed that I could somehow communicate and teach the level zero community English class when some of the students almost did not speak a word of English. I also loved one of my grammar class so much that I treated them all to a buffet meal after the last day of school. How can one not love them when they gave me a standing ovation to welcome me into the classroom as they found out I passed my thesis oral defense! And Dr. A at one point tried to help me from losing my job because of my change of work status.

The last amazing teacher and friend of mine is Sister/Mrs./Dr. Tinney. I was not excited about an ESL advanced academic writing class I had to take as an international student. But Sister T was very serious but at the same time easy about the class that I did enjoy it. She talked to me a lot out of class and shared her personal stories in words and in a book she published. She offered to let me attend the LDS Book Association Convention several years in a row that I thoroughly enjoyed and received many goodies from it. I was pleasantly surprised she took her time out of her busy PhD work schedule to attend and cheer for my thesis oral defense. I'm glad I passed and otherwise it would be so embarrassing and disappointing to both her and myself.

I feel strongly about putting these on record which probably do not mean much to anyone else and I doubt it if anyone is still reading up to this point. Nevertheless I cannot help but still am in awe that these mentors would go out of their ways to help students succeed and many of them have become personal friends. Having one or a couple in life is a miracle itself, let alone having half a dozen. This is what I cherish most while attending the one and only BYU. A BIG THANK YOU to you all!

Holiday Season

It's December already! Holiday season has begun and for me this year is marked by this movie. "Enchanted" is the second movie I ever watched in the movie theater ended with applause from the enthused audience in the theater (the first one being this one). Almost every plot was predictable but the production and acting are very fun and enjoyable that people totally are entertained by Disney poking fun at themselves. Amy Adams totally shines and stands out in the show.

It's very very rare that I get to talk to every single person from my family on the phone the same day while I'm over here in the US (well, Doris through MSN but I guess that still counts). I'm so glad mom brought up the idea that these days even though the internet has virtually connected the whole world but people actually communicated less. People spend more time in front of the monitor screens more often than really talking to people. I did a google search on the word "addiction" because of work (we are teaching about "drug addiction" in class) and surprisingly in China the top searches are all about internet addiction. I think people in China are in desperate need to fill their apparently empty social and spiritual lives on the internet. Of course I'm sort of isolated here in this part of the world the computer has been a major way of communication for me but I do not consider online communication the replacement of real life communications. And I have learned the hard way more than once not to take things on the web too seriously. Anyways, I can never say enough that I am truly grateful for my family's unwavering support and freedom provided these many years.