Friends (with Chinese subtitles)

So I am sitting here watching Friends. It's not that I've gone over the edge--yet. It's just that someone left a batch of episdoes on dvd at the Peace Corps office and I actually realized they would be a pretty good idea for the British and American culture class. Since I am in this technology classroom, I really should take advantage of it with dvds, cds, etc. And movies are not easy to fit into the time slot. The classes consist of two forty-five minute sessions so that even the shortest movie would run over. I could always show parts of movies, and I certainly will. But sit coms are about the perfect length. And for better or worse, mostly for worse, Friends I think provides a window into America. Some of you may think I harbor a secret thing about Friends. But I swear this is only an academic thing.

It is funny, because the other day while eating I met a student who wanted to speak English and she said she had never spoken English to a foreigner before. She was actually quite good, and I asked her how she learned and she said she downloaded episodes of Friends. I asked here if a lot of Chinese knew "Friends," and she said a number of them did. So when these episodes turned up, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to fill class time with appropriate material. The only problem is as I watch the episodes I realize that it is not easy to find an episode of friends that is not risque. The first episode on the show talks about how Ross's wife has left him for another woman, and Chandler is discussing how he had a dream that he was naked and he had a phone down there where his thing was supposed to be. And this was in the opening sequence of the first episodes. So I am going through the episodes trying to find one that won't offend and embarrass everyone. And it's not easy. For example, this episode right now, which is promising in some way, has the women talking about how the length between a man's thumb and forefinger is the length of his, well, you know. Monica is going out with someone and wants to break it off because she doesn't feel the thing, and her friend says "honey, you should always feel the thing." So we'll have to see. But it's not a bad way to kill an evening, relatively speaking.