F2F Class Notes (David) [W]

Gao Kuai Zi (=Spin chopsticks)

Do ghosts exist in the world? I don’t know. I want to talk about some things happened in the countryside when I was a child, and maybe someone would say those were superstitious behaviors.

I want to talk about some things that happened in the countryside when I was a child. (when using a clause to describe a noun, use that, or who, or which to start the clause).

I was born in the Xiao Sun village, a very small one located in Jiangsu province. There were four kids in my family, includes three boys and one little girl. So my parents were under a strong pressure, especially it was in the beginning of the 1980s. they didn’t have more time to accompany with us and enough money to see a doctor if one of us got a fever. Even it was not only about money but also it depent on how they thought about the fever this time. it meant that they thought maybe one of died ancestors ‘ghost is coming back.

I was born in Xiao Sun village, a very small one located in Jiangsu province. There were four kids in my family, including three boys and one little girl. So my parents were under a lot of pressure, especially since/because it was in the beginning of the 1980’s. They didn’t have enough time to accompany us or enough money to see a doctor if one of us got a fever. It was not only about money, but it also depended on what they thought about the fever each time. It meant that they thought maybe a deceased ancestors’ ghost is coming back.

if I got a fever and didn’t get better for a long time, maybe one day my mother and grandma would take out eight chopsticks and tied each two heads of them to another two heads.

If I got a fever and didn’t get better for a long time, sometimes my mother and grandma would take out eight chopsticks and tie them together in two sets of four, tying them at the top to make a “V” shape.

They asked me to blow the heads of chopsticks once and put them standing up on the ground. Then they would say something to the chopsticks, such as “big ghost or small ghost, are you here, please get into the chopsticks if yes. So you can tell us something if you want to say.”

They asked me to blow the heads of the chopsticks once and [then] put them standing up on the ground. Then, they would say something to the chopsticks, such as, “Big ghost or small ghost, are you here? [If so], Please get into the chopsticks [if yes/so], [so that you can tell us what you want to say]/[if you have something to tell us].

After one moment, they took these chopsticks up and gripped another heads of all of the chopsticks into each of them two hands.

After a moment, they picked the chopsticks up and gripped the ends of the chopsticks with both hands.

My grandmother or mother would ask many questions to the chopsticks and spin them several times, instance “where do you come from?” “who are you?” “are you Grandpa?” ”Why you come back?”. My grandpa died long time ago, maybe at my father’s nine years old. The chopsticks answered every question by showing a direction or spinning different numbers of revolution or shaking heads.

Both my grandmother and mother/[They] would ask many questions to the chopsticks and spin them several times, for instance, “Where do you come from?”, “Who are you?”, “Are you Grandpa?”, and “Why do you come back?”. My grandpa died a long time ago, maybe when my father was nine years old. The chopsticks answered every question by showing a direction, spinning different numbers of revolutions, or shaking at their tops.

Some time they blamed the chopsticks, perhaps my grandpa, that “why taking your grandson ill? He is just a baby? Do you miss us? Or you need money?” after they recognized that the ghost was my grandpa. Then they would make a promise to see him and burn some money for him. They also asked the ghost to promise leaving us and make me better and bless the whole family to be in heath and in safe. After that, they ended the activity.
Next day, my parents would take me to visit my grandpa’s grave, putting some food in front of the grave and burning some money and praying. It was not real money, it was yellow paper made from straw. usually I would be recovered in a couple of days.

It is only for a child because children are weaker that adults, so ghosts can make them sick easily. I asked my mum and my grandma several times that whether they spun the chopsticks, but the answers were always NO. the chopsticks spun by themselves, it meant the ghost did.

Pronunciation

blow – make sounds like “bl” together and crisp, don’t add extra vowels between “b” and “l”. don’t say it like “buh-low”, say “bl-oh”

instance – IN-stence

Vocabulary

readability -how easy or difficult something is to read in terms of grammar, syntax, word choice, etc.

ex: When writing, always aim to have easy readability so that your readers can easily follow what you say.

clumsy – when something is not smooth. In movement, they will bump into things or stumble. In writing, it does not read smoothly and sounds awkward.

took up – To start or learn something new

ex: I very recently took up badminton.

the end of the chopstick/fork/knife/spoon/other utensil – the part of the utensil that goes into the food, or that is used for the intended purpose of the utensil.

utensil – a general term for any tool that is usually used for eating or handling food

the top of the chopstick/fork/knife/spoon/other utensil – the part of the utensil that you hold it by

Grammar

possessive pronoun – his/her/their/your/our/its – no matter where a possessive pronoun is used in the sentence, the form stays the same.

ex: I like their car. Their car is nice.