|
So, today started like a fairly typical school day for me. I was late to
class. I’m probably the worst person to do today’s entry, because it’s
been the most Chinese-intensive day so far. We started off with two
classes, neither of which I’m entirely sure what they were actually
about; one might’ve been the history of the Hunan region, and the other
was geography of a sort (we had these big relief maps of China on the
desks in front of us). I mostly ate breakfast (consisting of baozi, a
large round dumpling filled with, in this case, very spicy something –
almost everything I’ve eaten here has been spicy, I think it’s the Hunan
region – and soy milk out of something like a very large, flimsy pudding
container with a straw, that my host student bought as we were walking
to school), wrote in my journal, and looked up every now and then so it
would look like I was paying attention and understanding (there have
been TV crews following us everywhere).
After this, we walked across the campus to the art building,
where we got a lesson in Chinese painting – this was a lot of fun, and
it was quite possible to kind of fumble your way through even if you
understood very little of what the teacher was saying, because he was
demonstrating as well. Holding the brush is hard, but it feels very
elegant once you get it (although it’s even harder to force your hand to
keep holding the brush correctly). Once we started doing our own
painting (we were all trying to copy a painting the teacher had done
previously), the main teacher and several others were all wandering
around just generally being helpful, so it was a very good experience –
and although some of the other students insist that their pictures were
horrible, I think everyone did very well for having never touched
brushes before. (Oh! And there was a David head, a smaller version of
the one in the admin lobby, in the corner of this classroom, so that was
amusing.)
After this, we went to an area with basketball courts and a
whole ton of ping-pong tables; most of the Americans chose to play
ping-pong (or in my case, work on this journal… and a few of the other
girls joined me in hiding under a tree – the weather today is absolutely
blazing sun… after Xian, it’s nice to actually see blue sky and a sun,
but this is painful – the fan I bought in Zhouzhang just for the sake of
bargaining [addictive and very fun, by the way] has actually been very,
very useful, as a picture Jeffie put on her journal entry shows), and
some of the Chinese students were harassing them, “come play basketball!
Come play basketball!” They all seem to think we’re obsessed with the
NBA and basketball.
Then it was lunch time; for this (two and a half hour
period! And we thought open lunch of an hour was long) we each found our
Chinese hosts and went off. In my case, Xueru and I hailed a taxi (an
experience in itself… no seatbelts, and drivers are crazy around here)
and she took me to a place that was kind of like plaster house with a
bunch of other activities – so she made a pair of earrings, and I
painted a Tshirt. One of the store’s students attached herself to me,
but her English was even less extensive than my Chinese, so there was a
lot of “ting bu dong” (I don’t understand) and random gesturing. At one
point she showed me to the bathroom when I’d been asking if she knew
where Xueru was (the word for bathroom, “cesuo,” is close enough that
with my messy pronunciation it must’ve sounded like that’s what I was
asking for). Xueru also showed up with McDonalds to eat while we were
there, and I learned that Hunan residents love spicy food so much even
their McChickens are spicier than “spicy” Mexican food is in the States.
But yes, if I’ve learned anything in these past couple days,
it’s that people can become accustomed to and even comfortable with
nearly anything, in a very short period of time if necessary. Not how
different China is; there are some details that are different, but I’ve
been far more surprised with the similarities than with the differences
between here and the States.
Anyway, after lunch all the Americans gathered together
again and we walked to the Hunan History Museum, where Abraham saw some
elephants and thought they were fish, we watched a demonstration of
traditional Chinese music, and then we wandered around a bit. I found
some oracle bones, which I’ve been wanting to see for a while so that
made me happy, and there was a lot of other interesting stuff, like one
of the seismographs that’s a big pot with dragon heads on the side that
will spit into frogs below them when there’s an earthquake. And, of
course, the cameraman following us and taping our every move. At one
point, Laoshi had us all take pictures of him simultaneously. He was
completely unfazed, although we degenerated into a laughing blob for a
few moments. I wonder how that will look as part of their documentary.
When we finished there, we walked back to Hunan Experimental
School and two cars and a minibus came to bring us to another school,
where we were assaulted anew by people who wanted a chance to speak to
the foreigners [very few people seem to know we’re American; I’ve had
several people ask me if I was Australian and then Canadian before they
asked about “meiguo,” the United States] – but first we had the chance
to sit and watch an hour’s worth of little kids singing and doing
kung-fu. Ok, think about any recital you’ve had to go to for a sibling
before. Now, put it all into a language you don’t understand at all. And
then put yourself up onstage right next to the performers where just as
many people will stare at you as what is actually being performed.
Right. That’s about what that hour was. Two redeeming things – a group
of dancers that I really enjoyed (although I’m a sucker for dancing when
it’s even halfway decent), and a couple very small children that kept
wandering onto the area where the older kids were trying to perform.
The rest of the time we were at this school was a lot of
fun, though (and blissfully, no camera guy). One very young Chinese girl
attached herself to me right off the bat, so I was talking with her for
most of dinner, and her English was on par with my Chinese, so it was
another exchange that included a lot of “ting bu dong”s and her randomly
putting her arm around me or things around my neck. I also learned
during dinner that peach juice here is like apple juice in the states;
every little kid absolutely loves it.
After dinner, we exchanged presents (and gave our names and
emails to just about every kid there – I’m going to be afraid to look at
my inbox a couple weeks from now) and then sat around talking until it
was time to pile into the cars again and head back to meet our host
students.
My student’s been late picking me up every time, and it’s
because she’s taking huge examinations around now. I’m not sure why
nobody else’s students are, but the scores she gets on these determine
where she goes to high school, I think. It’s not like here, where SATs
and APs are just one thing out of many that colleges are looking at;
these scores are all that matters (and this isn’t even for college, yet
– she’s just finishing middle school).
Anyway, we (Xueru, me, and Xueru’s friend, Kitty [she picked
her English name because she likes Hello Kitty so much] – the two of
them live together with Kitty’s grandmother in an apartment that could
whole fit into the living room of the house I live in in the States;
it’s so dirty I think most Americans would cringe and run away [perhaps
I should have, I’ve gotten a bit sick], but adorable [there are posters
of Jay, Twins and SHE, very popular Chinese singers/groups, everywhere –
when I said I knew who Jay was, they went absolutely hysterical… he’s
like a Chinese Clay Aiken or something], and the three of them are so
nice [although the grandmother doesn’t speak a word of English and
Kitty’s English is horrible – that’s part of the reason they live
together, so Xueru can help Kitty with English… more fun gesturing, and
lots of smiling and “ting bu dong”]) met and walked to their apartment.
On the way back, Kitty gave me two necklaces that Xueru said she and
several of their other friends had spent their lunch time looking for (aww!),
and said one they wanted me to give a friend of mine – I brought some
pictures with me, of Cary Academy, my family, and some of my friends,
and they all latched onto one of them and kept asking me questions about
him, which I found quite funny (the girls here are even more boy-crazy
than girls back in the States, if that’s possible; some of the other
Americans have also observed this, and think the reason is that they’re
not allowed to date). Once there, we ate watermelon and then Xueru gave
me a lesson in Chinese calligraphy, which was very interesting. She
showed me how to paint, “I am [my Chinese name],” and she made a hanging
that has a traditional Chinese phrase, which is something like “when the
flowers come out, the money comes.”
And then I collapsed onto the table that I’ve been sleeping
on (seriously, it’s a table, piece of wood, legs) and the day was over. |
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)