Teacher Yuan is my neighbor. I began to know him when I moved in my new family.
That day, the worker who helped me to decorate my house asked me to borrow a screwdriver. I knocked my neighbors' doors from six floor to first floor. At last,
on the first floor, an old man opened his door. "Hi, grandpa, I am your neighbor
. I live in six floor." I introduced myself. "Oh, I am glad to see you. What's the matter?" Was the kind man's answer. "I want to borrow a screwdriver." "Oh, here you are." This was my first chatting with teacher Yuan. What he impressed me
most was his tag. He sometimes liked to use some English, just like "OK!", "oh,
a screwdriver" and so on. I had a feeling his English must be very well.
Later I asked about him from my colleague. And then I knew he was once an English teacher. Now he had retired. But it seemed he still gave class in some private
schools. He lived alone. And his children all lived in another city. I never saw his wife, maybe she had already passed away.
At that time, my son did not go to the kindergarten. And I lived alone too. I was preparing my self-taught exam. The subject which I was preparing was Advanced
English. It had 32 classes. And each of them was so difficult. As my city was small, it lacked some English person with ability. So our school could not find a
suitable teacher to tutor us. So I must study it by myself. It was really a great challege to me. You know, I never studied any of my subjects all by myself. Although the exam I attended was called self-taught exam. I often attend some tutorial class which was provided by some social aid organizations.
I bought some references to study Advanced English. But I still had no confidence. So I decided to ask help from teacher Yuan. He once taught English, maybe he
could give me some help.
He accepted my request happily. In the day, he read my books and in the evening
he retold the class and we discussed it all in English. I felt so happy that I found an English pal who can chat with me in English.
We could chat happily and understood each other easily. Sometimes when I didn't
understand his meaning, never mind, I could ask him in Chinese. So it was a great pleasure to learn English now. And for him, he also felt happy. As he had already retired and he was not busy. So he was pleased to have a little friend to chat.
With the chatting times increasing, I knew him more. To my surprise, he was such
an old man who never appeared depressed. Each time I came to his home, I could
felt an active atmosphere. He liked to listen to music. He liked to dance. And he liked to drawing and write some calligraphy. It seemed he was always optimistic. Sometimes I thought he might feel lonely as he lived alone. So I decided to visit him. When he opened his door, I always found his expression was natural and
happy. He always told me his life was so good. He could live in such a big house and there was a yard outside the door. He could have a walk after lunch. He could eat some milk, bread and honey in the morning. He could eat eggs and fish and meat in the noon. He could have a good rest in the evening. He felt so lucky
to have such satisfying life. He thanked the Communist Party. Because it was our
party who led us to live in such happy life.
Oh, how optimistic he was! Sometimes when I felt unhappy, I would go to his home
to have a chat. We could communicate easily. He was very thoughtful. He always
cared my study. And he also liked me. He called me a sweet nice girl. He appreciated my English very much too. He always encouraged me to teach. He thought
I would be an excellent teacher.
From him, I learn what is optimism. When I encounter some unhappiness, I will remind teacher Yuan. Then I feel nothing is serious. I am young and energic, I can
overcome any difficulties.
Teacher Yuan is a normal person who lives beside me. But he is also an unusual person. He is so optimistic, strong and lively. He is really an adorable old man.
