(Nick)We have already been in Hangzhou for more than 2 weeks! Time sure does fly here.
Yesterday was Raven's 16th birthday! I was originally supposed to stay with Raven for the second part of the exchange, but he told me that he wanted to celebrate his birthday with me so that is why I stayed with him first. Two days ago we went to a really good bakery called Free Mori to order a cake, and we picked it up yesterday. We went to a restaurant across the Qiantang River Bridge that was a little sketchy looking on the outside, but according to Raven, is the only restaurant in Hangzhou that still has the traditional Hangzhou cuisine! In the front, they had many different tanks of various aquatic animals - catfish, turtles, shrimp, and eels! Immediately upon arriving, four catfish were taken out of the tanks and taken to the kitchen for us! After a great meal, I sang happy birthday to Raven (Zhe ni shengri quai le) and gave him two CDs that I had bought during lunch break (Maroon 5 and Gorillaz). Later that night, we lit candles on the delicious raspberry pudding cake from Free Mori. We sang happy birthday (in English this time, his parents are trying to learn more English since Raven is coming to America next year). Before Raven blew out the candles, he spent a good 5 minutes with his eyes closed, praying (I guess its the Chinese equivalent of making a wish before blowing out the candles!). The cake was delicious and it was so great to be able to celebrate Raven's birthday while I'm here!
This morning we had Chinese and Calligraphy. In Chinese, we translated Walt Whitman's poem, "Oh, Captain! My Captain," (Chuan Zhang! Wo de chuan zhang!) into Chinese. Our teacher, Gao Li, had to leave early and attend a meeting, so we spent the remainder of the period playing ping pong. We got our daily fix of milk tea at our usual spot (the two guys who work there now know who we are and have memorized what we order each time). We had calligraphy next (which we have grown to love). Each day we have a competition for who can get the most "very good"'s from our teacher, Yang laoshi...they are hard to come by! Towards the end of each class, he sits down and "grades" our calligraphy sheets....there are the rare "very good"'s, the occasional "OK"'s, and the ever so frequent grunting noise as he draws a line across a line of characters and then says "NO!" He is so funny and his rather blunt grading system has helped us get a lot better at calligraphy.
After classes, we had lunch (which of course included our chef coming into our room, inspecting our reactions to his meal, and then laughing with us). Patrick and Ella came in as usual and because it was raining, we went to a classroom for English corner. Emily, Drew, and I left early, though, to go silk shopping (for the second day in a row). Yesterday, as you may recall, we got silk for our vests/dresses, and today we wanted to do some silk shopping for family and friends. Silk street runs parallel to Hangzhou High School (talk about a great location...in comparison, Dover-Sherborn High School runs parallel to, well, NOTHING). I bought silk scarves for my mom and grandmother, and a silk tie for my dad. Both Emily and Drew also made many great purchases! In P.E., the badminton kids were watching a movie but Michelle, a girl in Cady's class, managed to convince the gym teacher that we didn't have to watch the movie and we could play a game of badminton...so we did...on the wet badminton court outside. Cady, Raven, Nolan (Raven's friend), and I enjoyed a (slippery) game of badminton.
Derek (English teacher) invited Cady and I to come to English club last period to teach two songs. We taught them "Let it Be" by the Beatles and "Good Riddance (Time of your life)" by Green Day. We typed out each song on Derek's laptop, which was projected on the board. Cady and I sang each song first, then we spoke each line and had the class repeat it, and finally we sang it altogether. "Let it Be" seemed to go fine but the Green Day song was a little difficult lyrically and melodically for the class. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun to teach them and I think they really enjoyed learning the songs! After English Club, Derek and Michael asked me if I want to help out with a sort of musical revue that they are planning at Hangzhou High School. They want me to choose talented people to be in it! I am looking forward to it...considering I had to miss my senior musical at DS, I am always up for anything theater related.
After school, my host mother, Raven, and I walked to the Zhejiang International Hotel and met up with my host father for dinner. Once we got there, my host father said he would have to eat separately with his business partners, so it was just my host mother, Raven, and I at the table. (Speaking of which, it took me about a week and a half to realize that yes, my host father has a job (he is a businessman), and no, his job is not being a mom). Then my host father came out and said that his business partners wanted to meet me so we can eat in their private room. We went into the room and 4 of his business partners were there (only 2 wives were present). I shook hands with all of them (hand shakes in China last SO much longer than in America). One of my host father's business partners told my host father that i was "sui" (handsome) and he then proceeded to make a tost to the "handsome American boy." Now that was just the beginning of all the tosts...it felt like each person made a toast to every single person in the room, individually. All of my stereotypes of Chinese business dinners ended up being true....lots of alcohol and lots of cigarettes. Each businessman must've smoked at least a pack of cigarettes throughout the whole meal. The actual meal was delicious....goose liver, crab eggs, baby squid, and eggplant! At about the middle part of the meal I found out that the business partner sitting directly across from me was "the boss." So, of course, I toasted the boss of the company! I also found out that although all of these men were Chinese, they came from all over! The one who spoke the best English (and gave a toast to the "handsome American boy") lives in Germany, and another lives in Tokyo, Japan! They asked who I supported for the upcoming presidential election, and I told them Obama.....and then I said "George Bush...bu hao, bu hao" and they all laughed. They asked if I had heard about the New York governor who recently resigned (they sure are up to date with their U.S. news), which I had. Even though I don't know that much Chinese, I could actually understand a surprising amount of what they were talking about....or at least I got the gist of what they were saying. The meal lasted a couple hours so by the end I felt like I was about to pop! Once all the men took out their papers/portfolios (and actually started conducting business...) my host mother, Raven, and I decided to take a taxi home. I said goodbye (zaijian) to all the men, and shook all their hands (once again). They all seemed like great guys and I was glad to have gotten the chance to meet them. I can now check off "attend a Chinese business dinner" off of my list of things to do in life. It really was a sight to see!
Life in Hangzhou is going so well. There is SO much to say but unfortunately, it is late, and I need to sleep. Tomorrow we switch host families which is going to be very hard. Not looking forward to saying goodbye to my host family! But I can't complain - I've got a second host brother and family who are ready to host me, and who knows what is in store for the second portion of our Hangzhou adventure!
Yesterday was Raven's 16th birthday! I was originally supposed to stay with Raven for the second part of the exchange, but he told me that he wanted to celebrate his birthday with me so that is why I stayed with him first. Two days ago we went to a really good bakery called Free Mori to order a cake, and we picked it up yesterday. We went to a restaurant across the Qiantang River Bridge that was a little sketchy looking on the outside, but according to Raven, is the only restaurant in Hangzhou that still has the traditional Hangzhou cuisine! In the front, they had many different tanks of various aquatic animals - catfish, turtles, shrimp, and eels! Immediately upon arriving, four catfish were taken out of the tanks and taken to the kitchen for us! After a great meal, I sang happy birthday to Raven (Zhe ni shengri quai le) and gave him two CDs that I had bought during lunch break (Maroon 5 and Gorillaz). Later that night, we lit candles on the delicious raspberry pudding cake from Free Mori. We sang happy birthday (in English this time, his parents are trying to learn more English since Raven is coming to America next year). Before Raven blew out the candles, he spent a good 5 minutes with his eyes closed, praying (I guess its the Chinese equivalent of making a wish before blowing out the candles!). The cake was delicious and it was so great to be able to celebrate Raven's birthday while I'm here!
This morning we had Chinese and Calligraphy. In Chinese, we translated Walt Whitman's poem, "Oh, Captain! My Captain," (Chuan Zhang! Wo de chuan zhang!) into Chinese. Our teacher, Gao Li, had to leave early and attend a meeting, so we spent the remainder of the period playing ping pong. We got our daily fix of milk tea at our usual spot (the two guys who work there now know who we are and have memorized what we order each time). We had calligraphy next (which we have grown to love). Each day we have a competition for who can get the most "very good"'s from our teacher, Yang laoshi...they are hard to come by! Towards the end of each class, he sits down and "grades" our calligraphy sheets....there are the rare "very good"'s, the occasional "OK"'s, and the ever so frequent grunting noise as he draws a line across a line of characters and then says "NO!" He is so funny and his rather blunt grading system has helped us get a lot better at calligraphy.
After classes, we had lunch (which of course included our chef coming into our room, inspecting our reactions to his meal, and then laughing with us). Patrick and Ella came in as usual and because it was raining, we went to a classroom for English corner. Emily, Drew, and I left early, though, to go silk shopping (for the second day in a row). Yesterday, as you may recall, we got silk for our vests/dresses, and today we wanted to do some silk shopping for family and friends. Silk street runs parallel to Hangzhou High School (talk about a great location...in comparison, Dover-Sherborn High School runs parallel to, well, NOTHING). I bought silk scarves for my mom and grandmother, and a silk tie for my dad. Both Emily and Drew also made many great purchases! In P.E., the badminton kids were watching a movie but Michelle, a girl in Cady's class, managed to convince the gym teacher that we didn't have to watch the movie and we could play a game of badminton...so we did...on the wet badminton court outside. Cady, Raven, Nolan (Raven's friend), and I enjoyed a (slippery) game of badminton.
Derek (English teacher) invited Cady and I to come to English club last period to teach two songs. We taught them "Let it Be" by the Beatles and "Good Riddance (Time of your life)" by Green Day. We typed out each song on Derek's laptop, which was projected on the board. Cady and I sang each song first, then we spoke each line and had the class repeat it, and finally we sang it altogether. "Let it Be" seemed to go fine but the Green Day song was a little difficult lyrically and melodically for the class. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun to teach them and I think they really enjoyed learning the songs! After English Club, Derek and Michael asked me if I want to help out with a sort of musical revue that they are planning at Hangzhou High School. They want me to choose talented people to be in it! I am looking forward to it...considering I had to miss my senior musical at DS, I am always up for anything theater related.
After school, my host mother, Raven, and I walked to the Zhejiang International Hotel and met up with my host father for dinner. Once we got there, my host father said he would have to eat separately with his business partners, so it was just my host mother, Raven, and I at the table. (Speaking of which, it took me about a week and a half to realize that yes, my host father has a job (he is a businessman), and no, his job is not being a mom). Then my host father came out and said that his business partners wanted to meet me so we can eat in their private room. We went into the room and 4 of his business partners were there (only 2 wives were present). I shook hands with all of them (hand shakes in China last SO much longer than in America). One of my host father's business partners told my host father that i was "sui" (handsome) and he then proceeded to make a tost to the "handsome American boy." Now that was just the beginning of all the tosts...it felt like each person made a toast to every single person in the room, individually. All of my stereotypes of Chinese business dinners ended up being true....lots of alcohol and lots of cigarettes. Each businessman must've smoked at least a pack of cigarettes throughout the whole meal. The actual meal was delicious....goose liver, crab eggs, baby squid, and eggplant! At about the middle part of the meal I found out that the business partner sitting directly across from me was "the boss." So, of course, I toasted the boss of the company! I also found out that although all of these men were Chinese, they came from all over! The one who spoke the best English (and gave a toast to the "handsome American boy") lives in Germany, and another lives in Tokyo, Japan! They asked who I supported for the upcoming presidential election, and I told them Obama.....and then I said "George Bush...bu hao, bu hao" and they all laughed. They asked if I had heard about the New York governor who recently resigned (they sure are up to date with their U.S. news), which I had. Even though I don't know that much Chinese, I could actually understand a surprising amount of what they were talking about....or at least I got the gist of what they were saying. The meal lasted a couple hours so by the end I felt like I was about to pop! Once all the men took out their papers/portfolios (and actually started conducting business...) my host mother, Raven, and I decided to take a taxi home. I said goodbye (zaijian) to all the men, and shook all their hands (once again). They all seemed like great guys and I was glad to have gotten the chance to meet them. I can now check off "attend a Chinese business dinner" off of my list of things to do in life. It really was a sight to see!
Life in Hangzhou is going so well. There is SO much to say but unfortunately, it is late, and I need to sleep. Tomorrow we switch host families which is going to be very hard. Not looking forward to saying goodbye to my host family! But I can't complain - I've got a second host brother and family who are ready to host me, and who knows what is in store for the second portion of our Hangzhou adventure!
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