Eye of Modok

After the short break for New Years (solar - the big break for the lunar new year is coming up) Ellie came home from school very excited and brandishing a honglingjin 红领巾 (red neckerchief) that she was awarded that day. For most Chinese kids, this is probably not that big a deal, because most Chinese kids are good students by anyone’s standards, but it is a big deal for Ellie. The honglingjin is awarded to kids who show exemplary behavior in school, and those who wear it are considered to be model students, even model junior citizens. I’m pretty sure not too many foreign kids have been given one.

It turns out that in Ellie’s class, most of the other kids had already been given a honglingjin, so the ceremony rather singled her out. Ellie and the others who were to receive a honglingjin lined up in front of the whole school, and some older kids came up and tied it around their necks. (To Ellie’s dismay, it was a boy who tied hers!) Now only one kid in her class is without one, and he is generally considered by all to be a “bad apple”.

Makes a daddy proud!!