Start
Lectures and tutorials 9 a.m. thru 2:30 p.m, a short break in between, then another lecture from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30p.m. Slept at 4 the night before. Going to sleep at 4 tonight.
Jogged the night before. Soccer just now. Revising reading materials and making notes from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. I think I'm getting used to this life.
Years after the boy wasn't given an english name, he sought out making his chinese name the most well-known name in school. He did. Teachers called his name more often than Shane or Mandy. His peers didn't talk to Johns or Jackys. His chinese name could be heard everywhere in school. The staff whispered his name softly in his presence, the canteen vendors offered him extra portions of food without extra charge. The principal mentioned his name 37 times during assembly in his entire 6 year stay in the school. His mother went on stage a record 42 times to present academic, sports and cultural prizes to her own son. He had lipstick smeared all over his cheeks and he hated it.
Still the little boy wasn't satisfied. The little boy was not pleased to hear people mis-pronouncing his chinese name.
His only name.
He cried on the night of the eve of the first day of secondary school. He fought the fluid that burst out vehemently from his eyes. No he didn't have cornea ulcer. He had perfect eyesight. The perfection was not enough for the fluid to cloud his vision and tame his puerile emotions. He was afterall just a kid with no english name. A little boy's heart in a little boy's frame.
He was apprehensive of a new start. A place of uncertainty. A place with no more familiar faces. He was too afraid to tell people he did not have an english name, he didn't want to prove himself all over again, he no longer craved for the attention that he had in the past.
In the end, his mother never made it on stage again. The principal mentioned his name in assembly at most 3 times. People confuse his chinese name with other chinese names. His chinese name was just but another chinese name.
He is currently searching for an english name.
Jogged the night before. Soccer just now. Revising reading materials and making notes from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. I think I'm getting used to this life.
Years after the boy wasn't given an english name, he sought out making his chinese name the most well-known name in school. He did. Teachers called his name more often than Shane or Mandy. His peers didn't talk to Johns or Jackys. His chinese name could be heard everywhere in school. The staff whispered his name softly in his presence, the canteen vendors offered him extra portions of food without extra charge. The principal mentioned his name 37 times during assembly in his entire 6 year stay in the school. His mother went on stage a record 42 times to present academic, sports and cultural prizes to her own son. He had lipstick smeared all over his cheeks and he hated it.
Still the little boy wasn't satisfied. The little boy was not pleased to hear people mis-pronouncing his chinese name.
His only name.
He cried on the night of the eve of the first day of secondary school. He fought the fluid that burst out vehemently from his eyes. No he didn't have cornea ulcer. He had perfect eyesight. The perfection was not enough for the fluid to cloud his vision and tame his puerile emotions. He was afterall just a kid with no english name. A little boy's heart in a little boy's frame.
He was apprehensive of a new start. A place of uncertainty. A place with no more familiar faces. He was too afraid to tell people he did not have an english name, he didn't want to prove himself all over again, he no longer craved for the attention that he had in the past.
In the end, his mother never made it on stage again. The principal mentioned his name in assembly at most 3 times. People confuse his chinese name with other chinese names. His chinese name was just but another chinese name.
He is currently searching for an english name.
posted by jingli K at 1:13 AM
3 Comments:
What's Jingli? It is nor hand nor foot
Nor arm nor face nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O be some other name.
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Jingli would, were he not Jingli call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Jingli, doff thy name,
And for thy name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.
well, ive got 3 names, kristen by baptism, juliet given by my mum and i'm gonna b named bernadette during my confirmation. to me, these names haf got special meanings bcoz of e occasions by which i was christened w these names.
well, english name or no english name, it doesnt reallie matter. my family calls me by my chinese name. nxt time if i get into e chinese media, evry1's oso gonna know me by my chinese name.
so reallie, wats in a name? its juz a title.
Years ago, another boy was also upset by why he didn't have an English name. To make matters worse, his Chinese name sounded feminine. He blamed fate, he blamed his parents, he blamed his grandfather for giving him the name. He blamed them for not having thought it through enough, for giving him the name purely out of auspicious reasons, for not realizing that children can be taunted just because their names sounded funny.
Years passed. His name became famous in primary school also. And in secondary school, it was famous for another reason - his mom taught there, and with that came quite a bit of baggage, baggage that he didn't realize when he chose the school, being young and naive of mind then.
Even in JC, and to this date, he didn't really like his name - and still doesn't really. It still gets confused for a girl's when people see it in print. But he's learnt something after going to the states.
In the US, he insisted on people calling him by his chinese name. Nothing else. It made him different. It made him stand out from all the Steves and Jameses and Kevins around. Being a minority for the first time, he suddenly felt protective towards his own name. He didn't mind people calling him by part of his chinese name - after all, the Americans adored nicknames and short names. He introduced himself by his full Chinese name every single time he met someone new.
To the people who questioned why he didn't have an English name, he had this to say: "If you can't be bothered to remember my name, you obviously can't be bothered to be my friend, and I really can't be bothered with you."
And now, after years of struggle, the boy has come to accept his name. Maybe he doesn't completely love the way it sounds. But it is an integral part of him. He doesn't wish to be known as anything else. To the extent that when his parents wanted him to change it for better luck, he refused. "It's just the word, the sound of it won't change," they said. "I don't believe in superstition like that, and changing the word completely changes the meaning. I refuse," said he.
Now he wants to have the first word of his name tattooed on his arm. Because it's a cool word.
This boy has come a long way. Perhaps you might have such feelings one day too.
In the end...no one noes me as Damien during the camp. They all know me by my chinese name.
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