(Lauren)
Hangzhou Day 21/ Shanghai Day 2
Most of the interesting activities that I have done with my host family have already been covered in other blogs, so instead of beginning this blog with a recap of my last few days, I would instead like to write about my impressions of my new family after several days with them.
Hongan, my host sister, is very sweet. She is more a lot more reserved than Ning was, and also tends to be more serious. I would probably describe her as more openly affectionate than Ning, - she's read several English novels and has heard of many classical English authors. Because Ning had a surprisingly small amount of knowledge about most American forms of entertainment, our conversations on those subjects were limited. I am really happy to find someone here who has heard of the author O'Henry and can discuss him to a certain extent, which is something that I would not necessarily expect American students to be able to do! Hongan is very interested in American culture, especially in the ways that it differs from Chinese culture. Although she is still a little reluctant to express strong opinions, particularly ones which I could interpret negatively, I really like hearing about the things that she has seen us do that she finds strange. Sometimes I think I spend so much time adjusting to customs that I find unusual here, I forget that my own habits are seen as equally perplexing!
Hongan's mother is one of the most fascinating people I've met so far in Hangzhou. Because she teaches seventh grade history and geography, she has amassed an incredible amount of knowledge about the historical sites around the city. She is also deeply interested in the differences between American and Chinese education. Although many Chinese students have asked me questions about American schools, I was surprised to find that a teacher held the same inaccurate views - everyone here thinks that Americans don't go to school until nine or ten in the morning, have no homework, and party all the time. We constantly have to explain that they shouldn't judge our entire education system based on Hollywood's portrayal of it!
Hongan's father is the person I know the least in my new family. He doesn't speak any English at all, and works most of the day. But he seems very nice. Because of his rounder appearance and everlasting patience (he was incredibly nice about waiting for us when he was on "chauffeur" duty last weekend) I have mentally labelled him "Buddha Dad." He's really sweet, and loves poker and Taichi (which he wants to teach me!)
Now, on to today...
Because today's weather was much nicer than the previous day's, Sandy and Derek were eager to return to the Financial Center to see the view from the tallest building in Shanghai. Thinking the price was a bit steep, Alaina, Cassie, Alex, and I separated from them and visited the Pearl instead. As that was even pricier, we decided not to bother going up to the Observation Deck, and looked around the square for something to do. Because it was before ten, many stores had not opened yet, so there weren't very many options. Fortunately, Cassie spotted a shopping mall nearby, which she and I visited. Neither one of us had ever been to a Chinese mall before. I think the comparison to America is as follows: Chinese supermarkets = American malls. Chinese malls = absolutely enormous buildings that look deceptively small on the outside, but that can fit thirteen floors, a movie theater, every restaurant/ice cream place known to man, a gym, and a yoga center quite comfortably, and still have plenty of room left over. I think my favorite thing about the mall was how layered it was. Everytime we went into a store, that store led into a subdepartment of the mall that we couldn't have seen from the outside, so we really could have wandered in there forever, never really getting a sense of how many subdepartments there were.
After a half an hour, Cassie and I rejoined Alex and Alaina, and we headed back to the subway to meet up with Sandy and Derek. Because it had taken the two of them a bit longer than they planned, we had to cut our plans a little bit short. We took the subway to Shanghai's famous Nanjing Road for some lunch (Pizza Hut, which is incredibly classy in China). After lunch, we walked around Nanjing Road for a little while, but we had to go back to the subway station to get over to our train back to Hangzhou.
The ride back was uneventful, and we were picked up at the station by the school bus, which saved us the ordeal of trying to find a taxi! Back at the school, we separated and each of us headed back to his or her own host family. I was really glad to see Hongan and her family again - I'd missed them more than I'd expected!
Tomorrow, we go back to our usual school routine. Hopefully, it'll be a laid-back day. The excitement of Shanghai definitely wore us out a bit!
Hongan, my host sister, is very sweet. She is more a lot more reserved than Ning was, and also tends to be more serious. I would probably describe her as more openly affectionate than Ning, - she's read several English novels and has heard of many classical English authors. Because Ning had a surprisingly small amount of knowledge about most American forms of entertainment, our conversations on those subjects were limited. I am really happy to find someone here who has heard of the author O'Henry and can discuss him to a certain extent, which is something that I would not necessarily expect American students to be able to do! Hongan is very interested in American culture, especially in the ways that it differs from Chinese culture. Although she is still a little reluctant to express strong opinions, particularly ones which I could interpret negatively, I really like hearing about the things that she has seen us do that she finds strange. Sometimes I think I spend so much time adjusting to customs that I find unusual here, I forget that my own habits are seen as equally perplexing!
Hongan's mother is one of the most fascinating people I've met so far in Hangzhou. Because she teaches seventh grade history and geography, she has amassed an incredible amount of knowledge about the historical sites around the city. She is also deeply interested in the differences between American and Chinese education. Although many Chinese students have asked me questions about American schools, I was surprised to find that a teacher held the same inaccurate views - everyone here thinks that Americans don't go to school until nine or ten in the morning, have no homework, and party all the time. We constantly have to explain that they shouldn't judge our entire education system based on Hollywood's portrayal of it!
Hongan's father is the person I know the least in my new family. He doesn't speak any English at all, and works most of the day. But he seems very nice. Because of his rounder appearance and everlasting patience (he was incredibly nice about waiting for us when he was on "chauffeur" duty last weekend) I have mentally labelled him "Buddha Dad." He's really sweet, and loves poker and Taichi (which he wants to teach me!)
Now, on to today...
Because today's weather was much nicer than the previous day's, Sandy and Derek were eager to return to the Financial Center to see the view from the tallest building in Shanghai. Thinking the price was a bit steep, Alaina, Cassie, Alex, and I separated from them and visited the Pearl instead. As that was even pricier, we decided not to bother going up to the Observation Deck, and looked around the square for something to do. Because it was before ten, many stores had not opened yet, so there weren't very many options. Fortunately, Cassie spotted a shopping mall nearby, which she and I visited. Neither one of us had ever been to a Chinese mall before. I think the comparison to America is as follows: Chinese supermarkets = American malls. Chinese malls = absolutely enormous buildings that look deceptively small on the outside, but that can fit thirteen floors, a movie theater, every restaurant/ice cream place known to man, a gym, and a yoga center quite comfortably, and still have plenty of room left over. I think my favorite thing about the mall was how layered it was. Everytime we went into a store, that store led into a subdepartment of the mall that we couldn't have seen from the outside, so we really could have wandered in there forever, never really getting a sense of how many subdepartments there were.
After a half an hour, Cassie and I rejoined Alex and Alaina, and we headed back to the subway to meet up with Sandy and Derek. Because it had taken the two of them a bit longer than they planned, we had to cut our plans a little bit short. We took the subway to Shanghai's famous Nanjing Road for some lunch (Pizza Hut, which is incredibly classy in China). After lunch, we walked around Nanjing Road for a little while, but we had to go back to the subway station to get over to our train back to Hangzhou.
The ride back was uneventful, and we were picked up at the station by the school bus, which saved us the ordeal of trying to find a taxi! Back at the school, we separated and each of us headed back to his or her own host family. I was really glad to see Hongan and her family again - I'd missed them more than I'd expected!
Tomorrow, we go back to our usual school routine. Hopefully, it'll be a laid-back day. The excitement of Shanghai definitely wore us out a bit!
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