Summer of Service

Here's why I love Ralph. He's an nineteen-year-old Dragon that started out as the "worst" (lowest level) kid in the program. Last night, he hosted our talent show.

Ralph got a 200 on the Gaokao (the Chinese SAT), which puts him in the lowest 10th percentile.He was admitted to a technical school. Although he has studied English for 7 years, Ralph was unable to answer any questions correctly during his PiJ placement interview and was put in the Dragon group. He has the best learning philosophy of all the students in the program, very similar to the Mike Vinson Chinese learning philosophy for Chinese. Ralph is constantly practicing. He'll say something four or five times before he gets his meaning across, but he has a way of picking up new words and using them over and over until he gets them right. He must have said "When in Rome" to me fifteen or twenty times over the course of this trip. He also says, "What a pity" every time he misses a shot in basketball, which is hilarious.

Ralph is the kind of guy you dream about having in a program like this; someone who loves to learn and who has never had the opportunity to practice. During our personal sessions, Ralph told me about how it was difficult for him to speak up in Chinese class because he is shy. Yesterday he said, "Rory, this program make me confident. Now I know I can speak English well." He also noted that most girls think he is stupid, so he doesn't think he'll be able to find a girlfriend.

Well last night, Ralph stole the show. We selected him as one of the emcees for our program talent show, and he showed up that night at the top of his game. Ralph is actually a really handsome guy (ask Jean), and we gelled his hair and dressed him up in a sui and aviator sunglasses for the show. He was on top of his game. As soon as he got on stage, it all clicked. He worked the audience, cracked jokes, and gave a stellar rap performance. When he walked on stage, all the girls (105 in total) in our program gasped.

This morning, I arrived for drill session around 10, and on my way up to the Dragons' Lair (Classroom 1) I passed through the Tiger hallway. Ralph was surrounded by about 15 beautiful girls. They literally enclosed him in a circle. He seemed to be getting along very well with the most beautiful girl in our program, Miranda. Everyone wants to program celebrity.

Ralph came up to me after class and said, "Rory! I met hot girl today." Miranda and Ralph are actually from the same town, and I think they plan to stay in touch after the program is over. Who knows, maybe there will be some Summer of Service babies on the way 10 years from now. At the very least, Ralph believes in himself now, and I couldn't be happier for him.

Only two more days!