Deep Thoughts...with a 7-yr-old

Ted is cool. I see him on Monday and Thursday nights when I teach a class of younger students. In fact, I taught him from his very first English lesson, and he is without a doubt one of my favorites and possibly the coolest 7 year old I know.

We always enjoy chatting as best we can during the breaks. He teaches me some Chinese (I frequently refer to him as "Wo de Jhongwen laoshi"...my Chinese teacher) and he gets extra English practice. After one particularly confusing, and a little disturbing convo, where he kept referring to my death, and possibly my life as a ghost, "Teacher, you die, you come to my house," I discovered that his parents run a funeral home, thus all the talk of death. His mother does the make-up for the dead people. In fact, I think he was offering me a discount...

Anyway, the last time we spoke at length, we discussed religons of the world. One of the children made a gesture similar to bai bai (praying to one's ancestors) and I said "Ami do fo" (the Buddhist blessing and welcome). This prompted Ted to ask "Teacher, you ami do fo? Or you...(at this point he made a cross with his arms and struggled to say) Amen?" I let him know I had no particular attachment to organized religion and he smiled. Interestingly enough, another student, a 14 year old girl jumped in the conversation to discuss her own religious beliefs. So there the three of us sat, discussing religion, a 7 year old, a 27 year old, and a 14 year old until it was time to return to class.

Good times.