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Today’s morning
call was entirely unnecessary in our room. Joelle and I were both up at
the crack of dawn to try and cram last minute Chinese vocabulary, and to
revise our personal introductions. By the end of breakfast, the whole
crew had practiced saying “I’m very nervous,” and “I have learned
Chinese for six years, but I do not think I speak well enough yet” ad
infinitum. All of us approached today’s visit with trepidation,
especially after learning that there would be TV cameras on sight to
film and INTERVIEW us when we arrived at Zheng Zhou Experimental High
School.
Sure enough, when we arrived, there were no less than two
camera men and a reporter from the local TV station. They filmed us
climbing off the bus, and touring the campus. They spent the better part
of the morning following us around campus, scrambling to get in front of
us and catch the expressions on our faces – mostly nervous. We visited
several classes, and in each class where there were host students, a few
of us had to introduce ourselves. Speaking from my experience, our hosts
could not be kinder, or more welcoming. In every class we entered, the
students had delighted looks on their faces; I suppose exchange visits
are the same everywhere. We were just as excited to receive our students
in February.
We
visited about four or five classes, two of which were being taught in
English. The others were middle school classes. The teacher of these two
classes invited us up to introduce ourselves. The first student to ask
us a question asked us point blank, “China is a great country; you know
there is a renegade province; what do you feel about the situation
between Taiwan and China?” Everybody laughed and the teacher told the
kid to sit down. None of us answered it.
The TV reporter was a bit gentler with her interview
questions: what do you think of China? How long have you been here? We
made an effort to sound intelligent. I think it came across pretty well!
However, we found out that these reporters intend on making a
documentary out of this, and following us around for four days. It’s a
little intimidating.
So, we all went home or out to lunch with our host students.
My students, Bei Dong Ni and Huang Lei introduced me to their mothers,
and we had a fabulous lunch. Then it was back to school for classes. I
sat through a biology class, where the teacher punishes kids for
tardiness by making them sing a song. He had me introduce myself to the
class, and everybody was extremely excited that I used Chinese, even
breaking into applause. I get the feeling that’s one of the principle
differences between our countries; Chinese people are far more flattered
when people attempt to learn Chinese than Americans are when people make
the attempt to learn English.
We have spent a lot of time in their “English Corner,”
writing our journals and hanging out. Charles attempted to mortally
wound Li Lao Shi by forgetting to tell her about a broken chair. We also
found out that Carl’s host changed AGAIN, so he had to go buy another
present, this time for a girl, but all is well in the China camp, and I
think we will have a fantastic time in this city. I had a fantastic time
at the party they just threw us with myriad performances. Note the
picture of Charles dancing.
Signing of with a shout
out to Emily
Pace, and Nanna and Bop (see, I told you I’d say hello!),
Ms. Lee has a new
cell phone number. It can receive calls from the US but can not
dial Internationally. The new number is 1367-495-7626.
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