Hello!
So first, sorry that my last blog (the Pengliu day) never showed up… it's currently written but stuck on Sandy's computer, which hasn't been able to get internet in Hangzhou.
But.. at least we're in Hangzhou!
I'll introduce my host family first. My sister's name is Ling. She's planning to go on an exchange to America for her next two years of high school, so she's very interested in everything I have to say. We quickly discovered that we're both bad at algebra, interested in psychology / the brain, excited to see Alice in Wonderland, and therefore a good match. Her English is very good and steadily improving as she gets better at bypassing missing vocab words and I get better at guessing. Her parents are divorced so she lives only with her mom. I'm just seeing now that the mom does speak a small amount of English. She's incredibly good humored and friendly, so we have a great time speaking brokenly to each other in alternating Chinese and English. One night we had potatoes, and I told her that they are my favorite food (I now know more Chinese phrases concerning food than any other topic) and said that I want to eat them everyday. This was supposed to be a joke, one that I only said because I happen to know the Chinese days of the week and it seemed like a good opportunity to whip out this highly advanced vocabulary. As the obvious plot development would have it, potatoes have graced the dinner table every night since. While this was not my intention, I see it as quite agreeable. :)
Though there are only two people in the house, there is a very lively third family member: Tila, the teeny tiny fuzzy dog. It seems that their lives literally revolve around her... which is fine because she's SO cute. When my host mom brings out a certain black bag, Tila goes crazy until it's lowered to the ground and she can hop inside. I was calling her Rat Dog for a day when she puked on my suitcase, but I suppose I've forgiven her. I need to get my dog fix from somewhere, even if it's mini-sized!
On the note of missing things… I've been sorely missing the fuzzy white blanket that I live in all winter at home. I can see my breath in the apartment! It's a beautiful apartment on the 25th floor of a very nice gated complex, so it seems that warmth simply doesn't rank highly on their priority list. I was freezing for the first few days, then I guess they noticed that I was struggling to adjust. I've also had a perpetual cold and the coughing clearly alarmed my host mother, so for one day my room was blissfully warm. Now I can still see my breath, but I sleep in just a fleece instead of my winter jacket. The fact that my special treatment is causing unplanned lifestyle (and spending) changes makes me feel like an inconvenience, but I can't deny that I'm glad it's a little warmer. This experience has proven to me that I have not approached the level of enlightenment that is true altruism. Perhaps in a month, given the extra insulation the copious potatoes are sure to supply, I'll sleep outside to make up for it.
Out main apartment is about 20 minutes away from the school with no traffic. With traffic, the drive apparently takes more than an hour, so Sunday nights (because traffic is the worst on Mondays) we stay in a second apartment that's a 10 minute walk from Hanggao. Everything I said about the first apartment applies to the second, except that it's much smaller. After school Ling and I walk to the small apartment, where we stay to eat dinner and wait for the traffic to die down before driving to the big apartment around 8pm. I was a little disappointed that I'll continue to switch between homes and beds even in Hangzhou, but oh well. The people are great, so those small things aside, I'm very happy with where I ended up.
Today was our second day of school! After a bit of uneventful time in homeroom, we five met for our Chinese painting class in the morning. The teacher began by introducing the basic brushes while painting a simple picture. She then showed us a room of her own work. Wow! Her paintings include both intriguing / innovative abstract compositions and a piece that is honestly the most detailed and technically incredible watercolor I've ever seen. I was expecting her work to be mostly traditional Chinese, so the contemporary and edgy paintings particularly surprised and excited me. We were then let loose to experiment with the ink and brushes on our own. I like to call myself an artist, but I'm best with pencil, acrylics, and oils. I'm by no means a natural with techniques similar to Chinese ink painting (namely watercolors), so I've always avoided them. While I was embarrassed by the ugly flowers I produced during today's session, I'm excited to learn a new medium that I would probably never explore on my own.
In the afternoon, we followed our siblings through their classes. I went to Chinese, Computers (they're learning to use Flash), and Photography (the film kind). Seeing as I couldn't understand anything, there isn't much to report. In the end, however, it's probably good that I have all this time stuck in a Chinese classroom because it makes me do my DS homework. Thank you, periods 5-7, for eating a sizeable chunk of Hamlet. I don't need to understand Chinese though to notice a clear trend in all the classes: lecture, lecture, lecture. Every academic class and most of the electives have been 100% teacher talking to note-taking students. I can't imagine how boring this would get period after period, day after day. I know for a fact that I would not do as well in my classes if they were all so monotonous; yet another reason to admire the intense work ethic of my new classmates.
Finally, my last period was a "class meeting." Ling told me yesterday that the headmaster planned an American-style discussion about "history problems" involving money, WWII, democracy, and freedom. Given the scope of these huge topics and my potential lack of historical knowledge, I was intimidated! Unsurprisingly, I didn't need to be nervous as I was never asked about any of these things. The meeting started with a long PowerPoint presentation on the Chinese-American relationship after WWII. Ling told me that the class is thoroughly versed in everything that was said, so I believe it was for my benefit - but it was all in Chinese, so go figure. Then the teacher asked if anyone had questions about my life in America, but no one volunteered a word, so I just started talking about a school day at DS. The teacher asked about the college application process, and I outlined that too. Finally a few students ventured a bit of English to ask about afterschool activities, pets, AP classes, and April Fools Day. Everyone is SO hesitant to speak English! It's so silly. What's the point of knowing a foreign language if you refuse to speak it?! I think this lack of confidence betrays an indisputable flaw of the Chinese education system. In some cases, there's no question that students can't learn effectively without participation. (I think I hear all my past Spanish teachers cheering.)
To cap off the day, a boy with a lovely voice sang an English song. There was an awkward moment earlier when the teacher tried to find some talent I could share with the class, and I couldn't think of anything. Ling told him that I draw, so he decided that I would teach the class to draw something. I believe I was a bit less than graceful in telling him that I would not be capable of doing so. I considered reciting the "to be or not to be" speech, which I memorized while bored in computer class, but by the time I thought of it he had given up and moved on. I'll keep it in the back of my arsenal just in case.
Nothing exciting happened afterschool, so that's it. OH there has been important good and bad weather news. Good: it stopped raining and the sun came out! Bad: then it snowed. Uuuuuuh, hey mother nature, wachya doin?
Tonight's potatoes were very good - a slightly sweet brownish yum sauce.
Goodnight, America.
Thanks for reading.
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