Just Call Me Judge

During this past week, I've had two interesting experiences as a Speech Contest Judge. The first one was on campus and it was pretty casual. I was the only foreign judge, in fact the only foreigner in the entire room, and we had to score the competitors on things like intonation, grammar, body language, and content. It was really fast-paced and really quite fun! They had some dancing, singing, and musical instrument acts in between rounds and some of the students were pretty funny, so it was a very entertaining night. Of course, being the "honored judge" that I am I had to make my own speech at the end of the evening and talk about how great it was to be there, how good the competitors were, how much I enjoyed it, etc. - by now, I know all the right things to say. :)
The second competition was quite a bit more formal. I had to travel to another campus and I was again the only foreign judge among 7 Chinese professors. I was so out of my league! All of the other judges were older Chinese men, and I could tell that they are very distinguished in the universities where they teach. This competition was for all university students in Tianjin and will be shown on CCTV - a station similar to ABC or NBC. My job in this competition was to be the "question master." I had to ask each competitor a question about their prepared speech after they were finished. Thankfully, I was given the speeches ahead of time to prepare my questions, otherwise this could have proved to be a very stressful day! I got paid to judge this competition and at both contests I was given a thermos. I guess this is just another experience to add to the list! And, in case you're wondering, the only qualification I need to be a judge is that I am a native English speaker...not too difficult to meet that requirement!

One more quick story about my week...something that is very little and inconsequential but it just wouldn't happen in the U.S! I was at the supermarket yesterday buying the basics...bread, yogurt, milk, laundry detergent and was waiting in line to check-out. In China, people are unconcerned with personal space or privacy, if you have something that they are curious about, they will ask or just look for themselves! :) Anyways, I was holding my basket and suddenly felt some things shifting around. I looked back and a lady was casually digging through my basket. She was completely harmless but curious about what I was buying! Then, she picked up my yogurt and asked how much it was, so I told her and she seemed satisfied with the answer so she put it back down and let me be. Ha! I had to laugh because another thing that Chinese people will always do is ask you how much you're paying for things - anything from yogurt to a new house - they are just curious. If they think you're paying too much, they will tell you so! I was happy that for once I didn't hear the words, "Tai gui le!" ("Too expensive!")
Hoping you are having a fabulous week....Shannon :)