My Story with Lynne--A Serendipity

Lynne is an American, from Michigan, a former skydiving instructor, and an interesting person.

I still remember our first class. It was a cold winter morning. I was sitting in front of my desk with a cup of hot coffee in hands, all bundled up, waiting for this mysterious woman to pop out on my screen.

The screen was still dark. I showed up a bit earlier than expected and was thinking about what to say when the conversation began. I was trembling, not sure if it was because of my nervousness or the shivering wet cold of the winter in South China. Then there she was. It turned out that it was utterly unnecessary to keep those butterflies in my stomach. She was warm! She was talkative! She had the magic to make words roll off my tongue naturally! In a nutshell, she was a comfortable person to talk with. However, this was not the final push that made me buy her lessons.

What had me made up my mind was the “uncomfortableness” -- her criticism. Her American ears can adeptly catch each bug in my speech. Still, her mouth was capable enough of neutralizing them gently. Lynne had a way to both rectify the errors I made and at the same time, protect my feelings and confidence. She would patiently hear me out and quietly jot down the corrections in the message box.

Moreover, to help me memorize the corrections, she always came out with some “bizarre” approaches. There was one time when I was struggling with the pronunciation of the word “albatross.” To make me pronounce it perfectly, she even found me a video on Youtube, in which an actress with a live albatross around her neck was chanting “albatross, albatross, albatross…” in a black-humor way. Many a time even after our sessions, she sent me some funny sentences which were composed creatively with my troubled words. You know what? These tricks worked like a charm for me. Most of the words and phrases that she had taught me are deeply imprinted on my stubborn brain.

Lynne continued to amaze me in the following lessons. She is a vocabulary junkie and master of idioms. Because I am a law student, I often stumble across some high-end words. To my surprise, she almost knew all the words and was able to think on her feet to proffer both intelligible and vivid explanations. What’s even more amazing? She was so prudent and accurate that she was almost lawyerly. If there were any words about which she was uncertain, she never settled with a so-called OK interpretation. She had the spirit to break the bottom of a question. In no way did she allow the possibility of misleading her students. By this regimen, not only did she improve my vocabulary tremendously, but she also indirectly inculcated in me a principle—only talk about what you know you are talking about.

Aside from learning words and grammar, I also had a thing for idioms. That’s why I used to overwhelm her with a long list of “coming-out-nowhere” idioms in our classes. Faced with my “annoying” endless questions, Lynne was just cool as a cucumber. She sat there with her cup of coffee on her desk, her brain churning, and hands flying on the keyboard. She fielded my questions like a commander-in-chief, calm and unruffled, even with enthusiasm. In our lessons, we bounced around idioms like a skillful clown tossing around balls. For example, one usual scene in our session would be like this. She began with “tomeito tomato, same same.” I relayed by saying “orange and apple, not on the same page.” She threw me one cool expression after another and then complacently said, “the ball is in your court now,” thinking she could beat me with flying colors. Unfortunately, as a good student of hers, oftentimes, I did not fail her. I either won or lost decently.

As you all know, language is not just about vocabulary or grammar. Behind a language is culture, or you can even say the language is the culture. So naturally, Lynne and I had tons of cultural exchange. One time we happened to have a class around Thanksgiving, wherein she shared with me her childhood memory about how she and her brother broke the wishbone of a turkey. In turn, I told her the corresponding Chinese tradition that we randomly put a ring in one of the dumplings and see who is lucky enough to chew on it at the reunion dinner. In another session, we even shared our “toilet experience.” Since she is based in Bali, she had some experiences with the embarrassment of using squat toilets. She was surprised that how we Asians never spill or soil our pants while using squat toilets. In exchange, I complained about the sanitary issues about the public sitting toilets used by the west. In that class, we laughed so hard that even our stomachs hurt. As an American living in Bali, Lynne is outstandingly liberal with cultural differences. She is always respectful and curious and tries to put herself in others’ shoes to ponder the “whys” underlying all the differences.

As time went by, our relationship sublimated. We became friends! We have been through some ups and downs together. Sometimes I showed up in classes, frustrated because of some personal issues. Lynne always had a way to cheer me up. She always reminded me of the silver lining of clouds. When I was deflated, she inflated me by telling me that I am not a quitter and always encouraged me to jump through all the hoops. The magic of her words was not because of how inspiring they were. It was because she taught me the life wisdom by living on them by herself. Sometimes I was really down in the dumps and entirely not in the right status of continuing the class. Then she became a sweet listener, lending an ear to me while typing down the mistakes I made. (How professional she is! I do appreciate her efforts in this!)

I was lucky to encounter Lynne on this platform. She is a beautiful person inside out. She is professional as a teacher while considerate as a friend. Our history was terrific. Yet we have more to come in the future!