Food and Frappuccino

(Emily)

it's my day to blog today!!! the time here is flying by me (faster than you can say quidditch). so yesterday i met my two host sisters: penny and luna. they're both really nice and i definitely can see some of my personality traits in both of them. penny's really outgoing and talkative while luna is more reserved and loves fashion. penny is my first host sister so right now, and her parents are really nice and are always trying to make me feel at home. they both speak a little english. penny's mom has been taking english for 20 years and her father, while he knows less english, is very eager to learn about america. he also really likes korean bbq! their apartment is at the very top of the apartment building and is very comfortable and spacious. there's even a spiral staircase leading up to the rooftop, which has been made to be a garden! so beautiful, just like the rest of hangzhou! for some reason, hangzhou reminds me a lot of boston. it is quieter and less crowded than most of the cities in china that i have been to.

so today penny woke me up at 6:30 (almost like being back home... :D) and, after getting dressed and washing my face, we were out the door! penny's father's driver picked up penny, my host father, and me, and dropped penny and me off at school on the way to taking penny's father to work (he's the president of a construction development firm). team china had two classes by themselves first thing in the morning so at 8 am, penny led me to the classroom where i met my chinese teacher: gao li. he's extremely patient (our tones need a little brushing up) and works with each of us until we can say the correct pronunciation for the different cities and provinces that we visited. after chinese, we had calligraphy with mr. yang. he's an older man and sports a sort of deng xiaoping haircut (flat across the top). he's AMAZING at calligraphy. and by amazing i mean 'whoa he knows his stuff really well' amazing. he moves the brush (mao bi!) with grace and confidence, making each character a true work of art. we spent the entire 2 hour class writing our names in chinese over and over again, which isn't as boring as it sounds. in fact, it was rather soothing and we were so concentrated on improving our...brushmanship? that we didn't utter a sound. mr. yang's english is pretty nonexistent, but he knows "ok" and "no" which gets us through class. there's also the use of hand gestures and sounds. in an effort to show nick what a character in his name meant, mr. yang started going "baaaaahhhh" and making funny faces. after some moments of stunned silence, we started guessing what the animal was. since he didn't know the english word, he drew a picture of a goat on the board. and now we know: the yang in yang ni ke means goat (fyi the yang in mr. yang's name is not the same as in nick's name, so we cannot call him mr. goat).

after calligraphy we had lunch. and man oh man, the previous delegations weren't kidding when they said that they really put on a show. first we were ushered into our own private room that already had orange slices with artful toothpick decorations in them with chicken finger with fancy sweet orange mayo. after a few moments, we were brought individual trays of food, each with several different kinds of food. there was even one of my favorites: tomato and eggs! along with cady's fave vegetable broccoli and cady's and nick's collective fave veggie eggplant. drew fell in love with the dumpling soup and everyone loved the bacon wrapped cucumber. i feel like i'm forgetting a dish but needless to say, it was all scrumtrulescent. cady and i both ate our entire plate in no time and everyone was stuffed by the end of lunch. we were also served chrysanthemum tea with our meal with chrysanthemum flowers intact! so pretty! after lunch, we joined ella and her friends (aj, patrick, and sirus) and walked to the track, where it was sunny and kids from grade 1 were playing soccer (naturally, drew joined in). after lunch was over, i went with penny to her badminton class (today was more running and exercising than playing actual badminton), computer class (worked with photoshop), and geography class. at the end of the day, penny and her friend hammah (chinese for toad- it's a nickname that apparently everyone calls her.. i guess it's endearing?) and i went to a bookstore where penny bought a few manga. around the corner from the bookstore was a lady selling what appeared to be crepe-like things. penny wanted me to try the fried snack that she loves and i must say: it is soooo good. i love anything fried and this was no exception. it was basically a crepe that's crispy with some sweet paste put onto it and folded up so it looks like a small rectangle. kiiindda like phyllo dough.... exquisite. after that, we walked to the bus stop and bid hammah goodbye and boarded the bus to take us back to penny's.

once we got to penny's, we ate dinner with her father (her mom's still at work). her father's mei mei (younger sister) cooked the food that he brought home and it was delicious (i know, overused word). i had some of the best duck i've ever had. it was in a delicious clear sauce (more broth than anything) with scallions. there was also a cauliflower dish and beansprout dish and another duck dish and of course, white rice (sticky, just like the kind at home!). paired with oj, it was a fine feast. i left the table feeling very full. penny's father also presented me with a mocha frappuccino (my favorite kind of frappuccino- what a coincidence!), which i have since guzzled.

and now, it is almost time for my shower. i asked penny whether or not she turns off the water during her shower (because when in rome...) and she said that they don't because they are on the top floor and if they turned off the water every single time, it would take a while for the water to come up. also, since they don't boil their own water, they can use as much as they want to without running out. and so now my friends, i will bid you a goodnight and farewell!