Bamboo Lake

As the weeks pass and I learn new words in Chinese, I have begun to notice that the MRT stops on the subway are often named after physical landmarks in the countryside.  The stop by my house is named after bamboo.  The next stop on the MRT, going north, is named after red trees.  When I told my Chinese teacher about this discovery, he explained that there isn’t any bamboo there.  There aren’t any red trees either.  Then he told me a funny story.

One time, he was going to the national park located behind my house, called Yang Ming Shan, to find Bamboo Lake.  He looked and looked, but couldn’t see it anywhere.  Finally, he asked someone and they said, you are in it.  All around him were lots and lots of bamboo trees.  There was so much bamboo growing there that they had named the place Bamboo Lake.

The next day, when I was talking to my wife, I told her we had a lake in our house, called Shoes Lake, because she had so many shoes.  Quite bright, she quickly turned around and in Chinese told me that I have Stupid Lake.  So funny, she is.

As I learned to read and write Chinese, it takes me back to when I was little.  I learned a lot of English in the same way, reading books and then trying to write my own stories.  So here is the story of Bamboo Lake told in Chinese.  I’ve had some of my students read it and correct some errors for me.  However, mostly they struggle with the particular expressions I choose to use.  My writing ability is limited to the particular phrases I’ve learned in Chinese and this must sound a little strange to them, just like when I try to correct their stories written inEnglish.

我這個星期在中文課告訴我的老師：

「我的新房子旁邊的捷運很有意思。」

他說「為什麼？」

我說「有一站叫竹圍，

也有一站叫紅樹林。」

他告訴我這個故事。

有一天， 他到陽明山去了。

他對自己說「我想要看竹子湖。」

然後他試試看竹子湖，

可是他不能看。

忽然他看見兩個人，

所以他說「我沒有看看竹子湖。」

「在哪裡？」  他問。

「在這裡啊！」  另一個人說。

在這裡有很多竹子。

我的老師說「  沒有水嗎？ 」

「沒有啊！」 他們一起說。

「嗯…」 我的老師一邊說一邊看看竹子湖。