Miss Eva and Seed

时间：2021-02-03 17:13:26  作者：Eva Lynn

         I was born the 3rd of four children on a cold, January morning in Santa Maria, California, USA.  Ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to be a teacher.  When I was about 10 years old, I would gather the children in our neighborhood together and play ‘school’ complete with trips to the park for PE games and oral book reports. It was fun and passed the time.  I think my mother was happy to have me engaged in outdoor activities and I was a lucky child in many ways.  My parents moved to California from farmland in Idaho before I was born.  My parents always prided excellence.  I always knew I was indeed lucky to be born to hardworking and honest parents, and it affected my own work ethic greatly.

        那是一月份寒冷的早晨，我出生在美国加利福尼亚州圣玛丽亚市，家里四个孩子当中我排行第三。从我记事起，我就一直想当老师。在我十岁左右的时候，我就当起了小老师，把邻家的孩子们聚集在一起，在公园玩体育游戏和读书，这对我来说很有趣，可以消磨时间，我的母亲为我能到户外活动感到高兴。从很多方面来说，我是一个幸运的孩子。在我出生之前，我的父母从爱达荷州的农田搬到了加利福尼亚。我的父母很优秀，我一直都确信，能够幸运地出生在勤劳诚实的父母身边，这对我的职业道德有很大的影响。

Eva的妈妈-(86岁)-与Eva的孙子

        At age 13, in middle school, I remember my geography teacher pointed at the wall map and asked me, “Eva Lynne, if you could go to any country on the planet, where would you go?” It was an easy answer…”CHINA” I replied. A few years later, with that in mind, I finished my high school learning at age 18 and decided to work at a summer camp to earn enough money to support a gap year traveling through China. What an adventure but I needed money first.  At the summer camp I met someone special and fell in love.  We married shortly before my 19thbirthday, and at 20 years old I had my first daughter, Eva Marie.  A few months later I was surprised to be pregnant a second time and the next year I had my second daughter, Valentina. China would have to wait on the shelf for the next 19+ years.

        在我13岁上初中的时候，记得地理老师指着墙上的地图问我:“Eva Lynne，如果你可以去这个地球上的任何一个国家，你会去哪里?”这个答案很简单。我回答:“中国！”几年后，带着这样的想法，在我18岁完成了高中学业的时候，我决定去一个夏令营工作，挣足够的钱，能支撑自己在中国的旅行，度过一年的间隔年。这是一次冒险，当时我首要的任务是赚钱。在夏令营工作期间，我遇到了一个特别的人，并爱上了他。在我19岁生日前不久，我跟他结婚了。在我20岁时，我的第一个女儿Eva Marie出生了，过了几个月后，我第二次怀孕了，这让我很惊讶。第二年，我有了第二个女儿Valentina，我不得不把去中国的计划推迟，这一搁置就是十九年。

        As a young, uneducated mother, with two small daughters and very little money, one of my favorite things to do was watch the travel channel on TV and dream of all the things I wanted to see and places I wanted to go.  One day I saw a documentary on a traveler who went to the Longji Titian in Guangxi.I was smitten with the extraordinary views and traditionally dressed Yao people who appeared in the program, and decided it was a ‘must see’ so I put it on my list.

        我是一位年轻、没有受过教育的母亲，带着两个年幼的女儿，身上没有资金。我最喜欢做的事情之一就是看电视上的旅游节目。时常梦想着，我能看所有想看的东西，去我想去的地方。有一天，我看了一部纪录片，是关于旅行者在中国广西龙脊梯田的游记。我被那里独特的景色和瑶族传统的服饰深深打动了，于是决定“必须去看看”，我把它列在了我的计划清单上。

好搭档Kelly

        Many years later, after my education and my daughters were raised and a couple grandchildren had been born. In November 2001 ,it was finally time to come to China.  It was the adventure I had dreamed of.  I arrived at Gateway Language Village to join Hong Xiu Ping the teaching team as the 2ndfull time foreign teacher hired for the day program, Kelly Morine being the first.  There were 20 students.  Ten in Kelly’s Class and ten in mine.  There was also a small children’s program in GLV at that time, and I helped to teach and develop that program.  It reminded me of my summer holidays in the backyard with my neighbors’ children. I had taught in the USA for a couple years before coming to China, but resources were few, being a new school, so a lot of the GLV children’s program was informal and depended on creativity. At the 5 year mark many schools began to pop up in Zhuhai and deeply considering the opportunity to learn new skills, I decided to move to a Director of Studies position in a different school. When that school was sold I moved to a small immersion program and when that school closed, I decided to design and bring a total immersion program to a local Kindergarten.  I had not taught Kindergarten in many years and now have three years of fond memories to reflect on when I’m old and no longer teaching.

        多年以后，我完成了学业，女儿们也长大了，我的两个小孙子也相继出生。在2001年11月，我终于来到了中国，这就是我所梦想的冒险。我来到了GLV，加入了洪秀平的教学团队，我被聘为第二位日常课程的全职外籍教师，Kelly Morine是第一个。当时有20名学生，Kelly 班上有十名，我班上有十名。当时在GLV还有一个儿童项目，我协助发展这个项目。这让我想起了我和邻居的孩子们在我小时候生活的后院里度过的暑假。来中国之前，我在美国教过几年书。作为一所新学校，资源有限，很多GLV儿童项目还没正式开启，依赖于创造力。在五年的时间内，珠海开始涌现很多英语学校，大众已经开始认真计划学习新语言技能了，所以这对培训学校是一个很好的发展机会。我决定到另一所学校担任教务主任这个职位。当那所学校被卖掉后，我转到了一个小型的浸泡式教育项目，后来那所学校关闭后，我决定在当地的幼儿园设计一个完全浸泡式的项目。虽然我已经很多年没有教过幼儿园了，但当我老了，不再教书后，我希望这三年美好的回忆能让我在那时仔细回味。

2001年加入平和

        During my first year in China, I made friends with a volunteer in GLV named Joan Tan and she helped me navigate my way because I did not speak Chinese. Joan wanted to hang with a foreigner and practice her English, and I needed help with so many, many things so a lifelong friendship was born.

        在我来中国的第一年，我和一位在GLV的志愿者Joan Tan成为了朋友，她帮我找到了方向，因为我不会说中文。Joan想和一个外国人在一起练习她的英语，而我在很多事情上都需要帮助，于是一生的友谊就这样诞生了。

柠溪校区 Master Class 外出聚会

        Joan and I had many adventures, but in the first year we traveled to Guangxi together to look for the Longji Titian and that trip began my life-long connection with the Yao people. Huang Luo was located at the bottom of the terrace, and twenty years ago it was not the slick tourist operation that it is today.Authentic village-life was apparent in every way.  There were no nice public bathrooms in Huang Luo, the people were poor and the houses had holes in the walls and leaned ‘this way and that’. Plow steers roamed up and down the mountain on the stone paths between the wooden homes and the village families were hard at work with their personal gardens and rice production…each person responsible for a different step of the process.  Baskets were everywhere with dried vegetables baking in the sun to be preserved for use in the winter.  The old ladies from an earlier era in China approached foreigners asking them to buy their handwork, and mothers walked from home to home at dinner time with shoulder poles selling the fresh tofu and pickles they made.  My eyes and ears and mouth were filled with new things and I was so happy.  In a way it felt like home.

        Joan和我有很多冒险经历，在我们认识的第一年里，我们一起去广西寻找龙脊梯田，那次旅行开始了我与瑶族人民终生的联系。黄洛红瑶寨位于梯田的底部，二十年前的这里，不像今天这样是一个旅游胜地。真正的乡村生活处处可见。黄洛没有很好的公共厕所，那里的人很穷，房子的墙上有洞，歪歪斜斜的。在木屋和村庄之间的石径上，犁地的人在山上来回穿行，村里的家庭成员都在忙活自家的花园和辛勤地耕种稻米。每个人负责不同的步骤。到处都是装着晒干蔬菜的篮子，以备冬天食用。早期中国的老太太会找外国人来买她们的工艺品，而一些太太会在晚饭时挑着扁担从一个家走到另一个家，卖她们做的新鲜豆腐和泡菜。我的眼睛、耳朵和嘴巴都充满了新事物，我感到很高兴。在某种程度上，这像是家的感觉。

瑶族好友Pan-Cui-Ng

        The feeling in the village warmed my heart, and when I returned to the city, I could not get my lovely Yao friends out of my mind.  I began going to the village every few months for a rest and relaxation away from city stresses and school life.  At that time families had to pay for school.  I learned that every family tried to raise two pigs each year; one to slaughter for fees at school time, and one to slaughter at Spring Festival. The village was also suffering a big drain of their youth.  All of the youth could hardly wait to shed the boredom of village life and run off to the city to get a factory job.  Family farmers in the village made between 4-6000 renminbi per year (if they were lucky), and in Guilin, daughters and sons could earn 5-700 renminbi per month at a factory job with all the freedom and choices that allowed. 

        乡村的感觉温暖了我的心。当我回到城市，我无法忘记那些可爱的瑶族朋友。我开始每隔几个月去村里休息放松，远离城市的压力和学校生活。那时，家庭必须担负学费的压力。我了解到每个家庭每年都试图养两只猪：一个在上学的时候宰，一个在春节的时候宰。大量年轻人都离开了这个村庄。所有的年轻人都迫不及待地想摆脱农村生活的枯燥，跑到城里去找一份工厂的工作。村里的家庭农民如果幸运的话，每年能挣4000-6000元人民币。在桂林，孩子们在工厂工作每个月能挣500-700元人民币，就会有足够的自由和选择。

Eva老师和她的瑶族朋友

        Parents were proud that their daughters graduated middle school, as most mothers were only allowed to attend primary school to about third grade.  They did not know how much the world had changed and that middle school would not really be enough to maintain anything except poverty.  Schools accessible to the village students were poor so it was my pleasure to have some children live with me for a few years and attend school in Zhuhai. These girls are now married and managing their own lives.  Xiao Yan is a housewife with a family of her own, Kachina realized her dream as a dancer, Yanhua works in local government helping poor families, and YanGu is is married with two daughters of her own and working as a teacher. Due to the great need for educational programs, I was inspired to establish a scholarship fund, and named it for my Grandmother who, many years ago, was a poor farmland teacher with 7 children in the USA. Through that fund I was later able to assist other Chinese children in attending University. That program has now gone on to a wider scope and seeded private sustainable development educational projects and private sustainable development educational assistance grants in Cairo, Cambodia and America as well as Bangladesh. 

        父母们为女儿中学毕业感到自豪，因为大多数母亲只被允许上小学到三年级。他们不知道世界发生了多么大的变化，他们在中学除了贫困之外，真的不足以维持任何东西。村里的学生都很穷，所以我很高兴有几个孩子和我一起住几年，她们在珠海上学。这些女孩们现在已经结婚了，可以自己管理自己的生活。Xiao Yan是一个有自己家庭的家庭主妇，Kachina实现了她的舞蹈家梦想，Yanhua在当地政府里帮助贫困家庭，Yan Gu也已经结婚了，有两个女儿，现在是一名教师。由于教育项目的巨大需求，我受到启发，设立了一个奖学基金，并以我的祖母命名。许多年前，祖母是一个贫穷的乡村教师，在美国有七个孩子。后来，通过这笔基金，我帮助了其他中国孩子上大学。现在，这项目已经扩大了范围，在开罗、柬埔寨、美国和孟加拉国发展了可持续教育项目和私人可持续教育援助赠款。

用热情与耐心帮助学员提升英语

        By far, one of the biggest treasures in my life was a treasure I received from the Yao village. It was my third daughter, Pan Ji mei. When she was eight years old, we met and became inseparable.  It was love at first sight.  She was skinny and shy.  I will always be thankful for the opportunity to have her in my life.  Since that time, she grew strong, smart, and kind.  She worked very hard in school and against all Chinese statistics, graduated University. Now she works in Shenzhen for a foreign trade company.  I could not be more proud of this daughter from another mother and I am sure we were always meant to find one another. Perhaps that is why as a young mother watching the travel channel so many years ago, The Longji Rice Terraces touched me profoundly and I had to go there.

        到目前为止，我生命中最大的财富之一是我从瑶族村中得来的。这笔财富就是我的第三个女儿——Pan Ji mei。在她八岁的时候我遇见了她，我们形影不离，这就是一见钟情吧。她又瘦又害羞。我永远庆幸，能在生命中遇到她。从那时起，她慢慢变得强大、聪明、善良。她在学校学习很努力，与中国的学术进行碰撞，她已经大学毕业了。现在她在深圳一家外贸公司工作。我为这个来自另一位母亲的女儿感到无比自豪，我相信我们会再次相遇。也许这就是为什么多年前看旅游节目时，被龙脊梯田深深地打动了，我不得不去那里。

Eva的瑶族女儿Pan-Jimei

        After taking some time off, and after working some other jobs, I was fortunate enough to become the Academic Director of the GIVE International English Youth Seed Program right here in Zhuhai and challenge my skills even further.  It was my pleasure to join forces with a like-minded friend and former student, James Yi to develop and bring forth a new model of education.  We never know what the future holds, do we?  As one of the founders of the Seed program, it has been my pleasure to see it flourish and when I, at long last leave China, I hope the Seed school and its founding values of love and respect for all through education will live on.  This is my sincere prayer.

        过了一段休假时间，做了一些其他的工作之后，我很幸运地成为了在珠海举办的GLV国际英语教育青少年种子计划的学术主任，进一步挑战了我的能力。我很高兴能与一个志同道合的朋友、以前的学生James Yi一起发展并提出一种新的教育模式。我们永远不知道未来会怎样，作为种子计划的创始人之一，我很高兴看到它蓬勃发展，在我终于离开中国的时候，我希望种子培优中心对所有人的“爱和尊重”的创始价值观将继续存在。这是我真诚的祈祷。

平和少儿英语开设分校，Eva老师担任顾问