(writer's note: I didn't have Chad/ my editor read this since he's bogged down with law school applications so if there are some bad grammar issues or horrible comma splices just know that I'm tired and trying my best)

 You may recall that Louis is a boy that we tutor/ is one of our friends here in China. He's about 6 feet tall and speaks English like a champ. His English is better than most of the students we have here. So sometimes we forget he's 13 until he tells us one of his stories. Below you'll find a sample of some of Louis' stories. Most told in reference to a word we are trying to teach him or about his week. All in broken English.

We asked Louis if he had any pets. He told us he had a turtle, but that the turtle escaped. He thinks that it got out, got cold, and began to hibernate someone where in Louis' house and that is why he hasn't been able to find him yet. He told us this in October; last we asked in early December the turtle still has not been found. 

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Louis was trying to tell us about a place he visited in China. It is called Hainan and it's considered China's Hawaii. It's very warm and tropical all year long. He told us that when he went there and came back to school that "all his friends thought he was from Africa because his skin got so dark". 

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We asked him why he picked the name Louis. He told us because his mom had a bag with the name on it and he liked it because it was easy to say and it was short. So essentially he named himself after a Louis Vuitton (maybe knock off). He pronounces it like Lewis as in Lewis and Clark... not like the bag.

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We asked Louis how his week was. He told us about a time his mom got mad at him during the week. He found a toy in his home and he opened it up and started playing with it. He was later told his mother bought it for his cousin. His 6 year old cousin. He thought it was for him. In case you were wondering what toy a 13 year old thought would be for him that was bought for a 6 year old it was a toy car.  

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Louis told us about his history teacher. The teacher rarely checks the homework and one day the teacher went to check and Louis didn't have it. Louis told us that he sits at the back of the class so he leaned OUT the door to his friend in another class and asked him for his copy of the homework and showed that to the teacher. He told us it was all okay though because 1. he loaned that same student his homework for a different class and 2. he and that student are now good friends.

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Louis told us that he rides his bike to school very fast everyday because he likes to stop and get a sweet on his way. One day he said their driver turned into the store right after him, Louis ended up in a different checkout line as his mother, but at the same time. He said she didn't say anything to him, but that he no longer gets pocket money because she doesn't want him buying things that are bad for his health. 

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Louis was talking about being tired in class after we explained what the word exhausted meant. He told us he bought these stickers at a store where they take a picture of your open eyes. He said in one class he put them on his eyes and his teacher did not notice he was asleep during class. But then the stickiness of the stickers made it so his eyes were stuck together and he couldn't open them; so his best friend has to take him to the washroom so he could wash his face.

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Louis told us a story about when he had to tiptoe. We were teaching him what tiptoe meant and he told us this gem. His class had to leave the classroom early one day this week because it needed to be cleaned. He stayed in the class until late with a friend in the dark. Then when his teacher was walking by they both got on the tables and laid on them because they thought maybe then their teacher wouldn't see them. They then tiptoed out the back of the room. The next day he got in trouble. 

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We were trying to teach Louis the work rummage. Chad said to him "what do you do if you need to find something in your backpack?" Louis then picked up his backpack and turned it upside down and dumped it all out in our living room. He did not rummage through it. He told us he never does he just simply finds things by dumping everything out. 

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We were trying to teach him the word buried. When he understood us, he told us about how he read a funny cartoon and buried it outside his home. He said he marked the spot with a stick, but now he can't find it because the stick moved and he doesn't remember where it is. We were never told why he wanted to bury the cartoon in the first place

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You can see why we really enjoy spending a couple hours with him every Saturday.