Language: Schlep

Posted on July 28th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, English, NYC.

“Schlep” is my new favorite word.  It’s a bit of local slang that I picked up when I moved to NYC.

What is “schlep”?  It’s a Yiddish word, Google tells me, that refers to a long, tough journey, such as taking the subway from the Bronx down to Brooklyn (which could take up to two hours…because the city is huge, and cause the trains suck…)

Wiki further clarifies that in Yiddish, “schlep” meant “to drag something”, whereas in its American English form, it refers to “dragging the self”.

Since I like to exaggerate and complain, I’ll talk about schlepping on down to the corner store to pick up a jug of milk.  While not a particularly arduous journey (being as I live on the corner, above the store…) but I’m usually exhausted from my summer program, and dragging my body down and back up the stairs to my apartment seems like quite the schlep.

Of course, I’m working at picking up other local slang and accents, such as “fuggeddaboudit”, “coeffee”, and “Manha’an”, but “schlep” is really the first word that I naturally acquired into my vocabulary here.  And I love it.

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USA: NYC: Passed my Tests!

Posted on July 15th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog.

The numbers are in: I’ve passed my teacher certification tests and am qualified to teach grades K through 12 in New York State (scary, huh?)

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[The school buildings in this city are so pretty…]

This summer, I’m teaching in an enrichment program for English language learners down in Sunset Park in Brooklyn.  (I got a school with AC - wee!!)  My co-teacher and I are instructing a group of ten Spanish-speaking middle schoolers, most of whom have been here for under one year.

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[My university’s building is very boring…I miss the wide, green spaces and beautiful buildings of the UMN:TC campus.]

I still have to race over to Fordham University for classes every day.  I used to be disgusted by my school ID, which I look awful in; but after the first week of 8 soul-sucking hours of master’s level courses a day, five days a week, I found the ID to be a very accurate representation of me.  Four weeks into this seven week program now, I wish I looked as good as my ID.

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[Late night, as we were pulling together poster presentations, my roomie came in and asked:
Roomie: “Umm…is the cat a part of the presentation?”
Anna: “He wants to be.”
Roomie: “The professor’s going to fail you when she realizes she’s allergic to your presentation.”]

It makes me sad, though, that the only phrase that comes to mind when I think of my university is “soul-sucking”.  I’ve always loved school.  Now I just feel tired, abused, and uncared for.  Maybe that’s a metaphor for my life.

Not that I’m bitter or anything.

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