Fiction: THE RECKONING (2)
In which the much-awaited tryst at the Formosa is put in doubt by a last-minute invitation to dine with the communist princess (from a novel with working title of MY OLD CHINA: A Delicate Friendship)
I didn’t set out for China intending to be a foreign expert, that is to say, an expert in things foreign on the job, or more to the point, an expert at being a foreigner in everyday life, but that’s how it turned out. Foreign Expert status put a roof over my head and rice in my bowl and a place in a society where I otherwise had no place.
It’s ironic to think about all the years I studied China only to end up teaching my own language, not that teaching English is without its rewards. The rules of the lingo are second nature to the native speaker which allows one to wear one’s expertise lightly. Yeah, sure, the rote lessons and repetition can be boring, but it’s easy to wing it when you have to.
The school week went fast. Using a book borrowed from a friend, I cobbled together a pair of lectures on the Romantic poets, presided over a round of student presentations and graded papers. During lulls and dull moments in the classroom, I found myself peering out the window, wondering about my …