Shenzhen Zen

The kids are all right. Both Julian and I have classes of 30 each, ages 10-12. He's become quite a hit; his nickname is the "Clown Prince" - at least that what his Chinese TA, a young guy named Beany, tells him. I don't have a nickname, according to my Chinese TA, a woman in her early 20s named Fey who learned her English in England and speaks it with a British accent. All the children have English names that they've picked from books or had bestowed on them by previous teachers. Most are fairly traditional, like Tim, Mary, Agnes, and others are incomprehensible. "Street" and "Mole" are two I've heard of. I have one boy named Watt. Another teacher has a girl who is Precious Moment. Two kids in my class didn't have names so I dubbed them Aretha and Elvis. They seemed happy with their new IDs, though they are clueless as to their namesakes. Another teacher had a similar situation and dubbed his charge, "Bono."