我的漢人老師8 / My Han Teacher 8

 Knbiyax 

The sport day is coming. It's a huge event because it's not only a sport competition for kids; it's a competition for the whole village. Almost all the parents, young people, old people will come, even if they have to skip their work for that day. Why? for sure we are very physical, like most Han people think we are. We love racing, three-legged racing, tug-a-war, and all the fun games, and we sure love to compete, but the true reason is that we all want to get some prizes. Useful prizes, not those bulky shining trophies, which are only a few and not really useful anyway. We like practical prizes like cooking oil, soaps, towels, soy sauce, laundry powder, dish washing detergent...etc,.  Imagine, a day off for all the fun and free grocery, what more could you want?

But our teacher is not excited at all. She is given a task to direct a dance performance as the opening show of the event. The teacher said she could only do some cheerleading dance, so the principle just lets her do whatever she can with the fifth and sixth graders. 

We don't know what cheerleading dance is. The teacher says, "it's a group of dancers, mostly girls, who dance to cheer up the athletes. "

"To cheer up the athletes? Then, we are all cheerleaders!" Kuang says.

"Yes, all of us! " Kai continues, "my baki (grandfather) and payi (grandmother), too. We all say Knbiyax Knbiyax (literally means pump up the gas), very very loud, to cheer them up. "
"Yes, and our dogs, too. They bark and howl with us."

The teacher just smiles. She has no idea how serious our cheerleaders can be. 

"Right, " Dan says, "but we don't dance the cheerleader dance."

"No, you don't, because the dance is from America. Very popular now. In some cities, they even have cheerleading dance competition!"

"From America?" A-Dai's eyes get bigger, "so you've been there?" We are all curious.

"No, never been there," the teacher says.

"Then how do you know the dance?" Kuang asks.

"Well, I joined a cheerleading club in college."

"A club? what's that?" Kuang asks again. 

The teacher sighs, looks impatient. She says she doesn't have time to explain that, and she has so many things to prepare for the dance. The first thing is to make pompoms.
"What is that? pompoms?" Kuang just couldn't stop his questions.
"Pompoms are furry balls for cheerleaders to dance with. You'll see when I make them."

She gets two rolls of plastic strings and starts cutting them into sections and bundles the sections into a big bunch like a mop. 

We crouch around her and watch her making the balls. 

"America sounds great," Mei says, "all the good things we know are from America."

"Right, " Kai says, "last time, you also said popcorns are from America."

"Yes, yes, " Dan says, "they have Disney Land, My aunt said she wanted to go."

"Why is it called America?" Dan asks, " because it is beautiful? Mei-Guou (the Mandarin translation of America), beautiful country?"

The teacher laughs,  "America is a big country, " she says, "it must have some beautiful places. Mei-Guou is translated from English, America, sounds like Mei in Mandarin , and Guou means country. got it?"

We don't really get it, but the way the teacher says the word "America"  does sound very Mei-Guou. 

"You can speak English? Cool!" everybody is surprised. 

"Yes, but only a little. I hope someday I can go there to study."

"Really?" we are even more curious.

"America IS a good country, even the teacher wants to go there, " A-Dai says.

"But why do you want to study? You are a teacher already," Juang asks. That's a good question. We all want to know.

The teacher now starts to tear the the mop-ike strings one by one and not long it starts to look like a hairy ball. She doesn't answer our question.

"Why? teacher?" Juang asks again.

"I want to study English and then go see the world, " she says.

" See the world?" Why?" asked Juang.

"To see different places, different people, different food, different houses, different languages..." Before she finishes her words, Dan cuts in and says, "I know, I know, you like differences."

"That's right!" the teacher continues, "it wouldn't be fun if everybody looks the same and every place looks the same, isn't it?" 

We sort of understand it. We are different from our teacher. She thinks we are amazing, we think she is strange, but that's fun.

Teacher Chen from the next class pops in to check on our teacher. She sees the pompoms and says, "well, well, you are teaching them cheerleading dance?"

"Yes, I'm making pompoms now to show them how to do it."

"But they always do their own tribal dance. They are good at it."

"Really? but I don't know how to dance the tribal dance," our teacher says,
"You don't even have to teach them, " Teacher Chen says, "they can practice by themselves.""
"But I think maybe they like to learn something different..."

"Right, something different," we echo, "our teacher likes differences"

"Well, it may be nice to have some changes, " Teacher Chen says, "but, I still feel like kids here should do their own dance. But, it's just my own opinion. You just do whatever you have planed. Good luck. " Then, she walks away.

Our teacher looks a little confused, but she quickly put on a big smile, "Maybe they'll like the new dance. Why not? just give it a try."

For the following week, the girls from the fifth and sixth grades have to stay after school to practice cheerleading dance. We stay too, because we all want to see what the dance looks like. 

The teacher teaches them one move after another, and shows them how to move the pompoms. They also have to move in different positions to form different lines...We try to imitate what they do, but it's too complicated for us. Not long, we just enjoy ourselves, jumping up and down, and making funny movements like monkeys. 

The big sisters are genius! not long, they can dance like they have learned the dance forever. The teacher is amazed, too, "I always heard that aboriginal kids are very good at dancing. Now, I really see it with my own eyes." The sisters are happy of course to hear that. 

On the sport day, the cheerleaders all wear super mini skirts, made of paper! The skirts are so stiff that we can see their shorts underneath. We giggle, but they give us scary stares to shut us up. They all have pompoms in their hands. Yellow and blue, bright and shining. So bright that even our green mountains look gray. Everybody just looks at them and forgot to applaud. Most baki and payi look confused when watching the dance. I think this kind of cheerleading is too different from ours. But, we like the music and we do remember to clap after they finish the dance. 

Well, it's nice to see a different dance this year, but the cheerleading of our kind is about to shock the teacher. When we are racing around the tracks, our parents and grandparents surround the tracks and cry out to cheer for us; their faces turn purple and their veins in their necks bulge like small lizards. When we play tug-of-war, our grandmothers stand close, hollering and shrieking with their hands high in the air. And  when it's the old people's turn to race, although they can't really run fast, and some of them even fall down after a few steps, their family and their dogs run along with them and cheer them with the loudest Knbiyax Knbiyax . 

After the games, the winners have their family surrounded them, singing and dancing. The losers also have their family surrounded them, hugging and patting their shoulders. 

Our cheerleaders need no music, no training, no rehearsals, no props. All we need is Knbiyax  louder than the thunder, and our cheerful spirit brighter than the pompoms.
And that is another huge difference once again amazes our teacher. 

While we are singing and carrying all the free grocery home, our teacher is still standing at the tracks, shaking her head, waving her hands to us, with a big simile ever.   

Knbiyax 加油

運動會快到了，這可是一件大事,因為這不只是我們小朋友的運動比賽，而是整個村子的比賽.幾乎所有的爸爸媽媽,爺爺奶奶,小朋友都會來參加。就算他們那天不能去工作，他們也會來。為什麼呢?也許就像漢人說的我們非常好動, 當然我們很喜歡賽跑、兩人三腳、拔河等等有趣的遊戲, 而且我們也很喜歡競賽,但是真正的原因是我們都想得到獎品。而且是很實用的獎品,不是那些閃亮亮又笨重的獎杯。獎杯只有一兩個,而且也沒什麼用,我們比較喜歡有用的獎品，像是沙拉油、肥皂、醬油、毛巾、洗衣粉、洗碗精之類的，你想想看嘛 ,可以整天不用上課，有好玩的遊戲，還有免費的獎品，還有什麼比這個更好的事呢？

但是我們的老師可不興奮，因為校長要老師負責教大姊姊們大會舞，老師說她只會啦啦隊舞，校長說就教她會的東西就好。我們都不知道啦啦隊舞是甚麼，老師說啦啦隊舞就是一群人，通常是女生，在旁邊跳舞幫運動員加油的人。
光正說：「加油？那我們大家都是啦啦隊啊！」
俊凱接著說：「全部的人都是啊，我的baki (爺爺) payi (奶奶)也是，而且大家都會喊Knbiyax Knbiyax（加油）！喊得佷大聲哦。」
「對呀, 連我們的狗都是，他們也跟著我們又吼又叫的加油喔。 」

老師聽了只是輕輕的笑一笑, 她根本不知道我們的啦啦隊是非常非常認真的。
 進貴也接著說：「對啊，但是他們都不會跳老師說的啦啦隊舞。」

「他們當然不會跳，」老師笑笑說：「這舞是從美國傳過來的，現在佷流行喔，有些地方還有啦啦隊舞比賽呢！」

「那老師你去過美國嗎？」 阿岱好奇的問。大家一聽也佷好奇。

「沒有啊。」

「那你怎麼會跳？」光正問。

「之前學校舞蹈社老師教的。」

「什麼是舞蹈社？」 光正又問。老師看起來不耐煩了，她說下次再告訴我們。她要準備做啦啦隊舞用的彩球。
「彩球? 那是什麼?」光正的問題永遠問不完.
「那只是兩顆毛毛球，啦啦隊員拿著跳舞用的。等我做好你就知道了。」
她拿了兩綑紅色塑膠繩，開始把繩子剪成一段一段的。然後把它們綁成一束像一把拖把一樣。大家都好奇的圍在她旁邊。

「美國好像很棒的樣子喔，」 美娟說，“好像從美國來的東西都很棒！」

「對啊，上次的爆米花老師也說是從美國傳來的。」俊凱說。

「對啊對啊，還有什麼迪士尼遊樂園，我姑姑說她想去。」

進貴說：「美國是不是就是美麗的國家？」

老師笑了笑，這次沒有暴衝， 「美國是個很大的國家，」老師說，「一定有些地方佷美麗，但是不是因為這樣我們才叫她美國，是因為她的英文名字 Ameirca 聽起來像“美“ 所以叫美國。」 老師還把America 念的好大聲，真的有點像“美國“耶。

「老師好厲害喔，會講英文呢！」 大家有點驚訝。

「老師將來想去美國讀書，」老師說。

「真的喔！？」 大家更驚訝。

「美國果然很好，連老師都想去！」 阿岱說。

「可是你已經是老師了，為甚麼還要讀書？」美娟問。好問題，我們也想知道。

老師忙著把那束像拖把一樣的繩子一條條用手撕開，變成像頭髮一樣細，老師沒有回答我們的問題。

「老師，為甚麼阿？」  美娟再問一次。

「因為要把英文學好，因為想去看看世界。」 老師說，，，

「為什麼要去看世界?」 美娟問。

「因為世界有不一樣的人， 不一樣的房子，不一樣的景色 ，不一樣的食物 ，不一樣的語言...」老師還沒講完， 進貴就插嘴說: 「原來老師喜歡不一樣!」

「對阿! 如果大家都長得一樣，每個地方都一樣，就不有趣了， 不是嗎?」 老師說。

我們覺得很有道理， 我們就和老師不一樣，老師覺得我們厲害， 我們覺得老師奇怪 ，這樣就很有趣。

這時候隔壁班的陳老師來找我們老師， 她一看到老師的手上的塑膠線球，就說: 「哎呀! 妳要教他們跳啦啦隊舞啊?」

「對阿，先做兩個彩球，再教他們自己做」老師說。

「可是之前運動會都是叫他們跳山地舞的 ，他們自己就會跳， 而且跳得很好， 根本不用花時間練。」

「真的喔? 可是我不會跳阿! 而且想教他們一點不一樣的東西，」老師說。

「對 ，不一樣，"」我們跟著附和 ，「老師喜歡不一樣!」

「也是啦! 有點改變也不錯啦，不過山上的孩子好像還是應該跳他們自己的山地舞吧，」陳老師說，「但是，這只是我個人的想法，你還是照你自己的意思做吧。加油啊。」說完，就走開了。

老師看起來有一些猶豫，但是馬上就笑笑說：「也許他們也想跳一些不一樣的舞，就試試看吧。」

接下來的一個禮拜，大姊姊們放學後都留下來練習啦啦隊舞，我們也不想回家，因為要看看老師說的啦啦隊舞到底是什麼。老師拿著彩球，教大姊姊不同的動作，還要排不同的隊形。 我們在旁邊也跟著跳，但是後來動作都記不住了，就胡亂跳一通，像猴子一樣跳上跳下，自得其樂。不過大姊姊們真天才，一下子就學會了。老師這次又很吃驚的說: "「山上的孩子會跳舞還真不是虛傳。」 大姊姊們聽了當然也很高興。

運動會那天，大姊姊們每個人都穿著短短的裙子，那是老師教她們用紙做出來的， 裙子硬硬的不會動， 還可以看到下面的運動褲。我們在旁邊偷笑，不過大姊姊惡狠狠的瞪著我們，我們就馬上安靜了。他們手上黃色和藍色的彩球顏色真鮮豔，讓我們綠綠的山看起來都變成灰色了。大家都看得目瞪口呆，反而忘記要幫他們拍拍手了。 有的baki (爺爺) payi (奶奶)還皺著眉頭 ，不太懂的樣子， 不過音樂很好聽，舞蹈結束後，大家才記得拍拍手給他們鼓勵鼓勵。

今年能看到美國的啦啦隊舞，真是覺得很有趣 。但是我敢說老師一定被我們真正的啦啦隊嚇到了。因為賽跑時，我們的baki在旁邊放聲大喊，喊得臉都變成紫色的，脖子冒出粗粗的筋，像小蜥蜴一樣，payi們也高聲歡呼，高舉雙手加油。拔河的時候，兩隊的啦啦隊更是在旁邊嘶聲力竭的喊著 嘿殺！嘿殺。 baki 和 payi 們就算跑不快也要參加賽跑，還不少人跑沒多久就跌倒的，但是全家大小和家裡的狗都在跑道外圍跟著跑，Knbiyax Knbiyax喊不停。 勝利的時候老的小的抱在一起在場邊唱歌跳舞，失敗的時候低頭互相擁抱，彼此拍拍肩膀。

這樣的運動會，這樣的啦啦隊不需要事先排練，不用配樂，不用道具，有的只有比打雷還大聲的Knbiyax，還有比彩球更讓人振奮的精神。而這就是另一個讓我們老師嘖嘖稱奇的不一樣。

當我們唱著歌，帶著實用的獎品回家的時候，我們的老師還站在操場上，搖著頭，對我們揮著手，臉上掛著一個好大的微笑。