An Unforgettably Forgettable Day

I may or may not have ruined a life today.

Before class started yesterday I was informed we had a new student. So I waltzed over and introduced myself. He had a typical Chinese boy haircut - bangs swept to the side with the sides vertically buzzed. He was wearing some sort of boarding shoes and his voice was surprisingly deep and manly for someone not having exited the gauntlet of puberty. I asked him if he had a name, but he said, "No." So I said I'll come back with some options.

I returned with two timeless picks: Amos or Dirk. He chose Dirk without hesitation. I said, "Nice to meet you Dirk." And he replied with the voice of a young grizzly, "Nice to meet you." It is always a rewarding feeling to give someone a name, but there were a few question marks itching the inner recesses of my brain.

As I walked to consult with my name-committee chairman and informed him of our new student - Dirk. Matt smirked. I then asked, "Dirk is a boy right? I'm 87% sure he is." Matt glanced Dirk's way and replied without hesitation, "Dirk is definitely a boy." The question marks itched no more.

During class I called on Dirk, he stood up and dominated the question with manly poise and with a manly voice. I lauded his efforts and said, "Way to go Dirk! Nice work young man." All of a sudden a contagious and awkward giggle swept over the other 42 students. The leader of the posse, George Washington (China's next chairman) informed me with a smirk, "Mr. Micah, that is a girl." I curtly thanked George Washington for his untimely intelligence report and moved on to the next question before I started to blush and sweat.

Well, I may or may not have ruined a young life today, calling one of my students a boy. But when I went to apologize later, young Dirk embraced her name. Today I'll ask if we can feminize it - Dirka.

- m -

P.S. - This was the same class where I asked one of our students Tommy (whose English level is in the negatives, his response to anything said in English is a nervous smile) what my name was, and he nervously smiled and had to ask one of his classmates (even after investigating he came up with "Mr. Mike." After nine months I'm still a nameless gringo to 'ol Tommy.