I’d gone along to the blood donation centre near the university to give blood before the evening’s class. They had trouble finding a vein in my left arm, and after many attempts, went for the right arm, with almost the same results. Eventually, they found a weak vein there, and decided to give it a go. Even then, they only managed to collect three-quarters of a bag before the time limit was up.
As soon as I got to the class, I narrated this incident in Chinese as listening comprehension. At the end of the story, I said to the students, still in Chinese, “So, I have no blood.” One of the students, Pam, piped up, also in Chinese, “No heart.”
One can always tell the students who’d been with me longest [and made regular after-class trips to the pub too] from their cheeky repartees.
(London 2007)
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