KTVing in Hangzhou

(Cassie)

Hello everyone! Today marked a couple of important landmarks...it is both the end of our first week of school at Hanggao and the exact halfway point of our trip. Looking back it's been a whirlwind of a month! And today was no exception.

First I must say that the weather was absolutely spectacular. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the thermometer didn't drop below 60 degrees until the sun went down. Yin and I began our day with a delicious (as usual) breakfast. Today it consisted of noodles in a chicken broth with greens. After Yin's encouragement, I mixed in some...peanut butter! While it may sound very strange, it was actually quite good. Our bellies warm and full of peanut butter noodles, we set off for school. I began the day in Yin's class, where they spent most of the period going over the homework - a series of reading passages that were very similar to the SAT but a little less difficult. Then William , their teacher (for those of you who don't know, he came to DS several exchanges ago), discussed their recently completed music projects with the kids. Over the last couple of days groups of two or three kids had been making presentations in English on music which varied from Lady Gaga to musicals to rap and a couple places in between. It was quite fascinating to see a Chinese take on some familiar music. After English came math, where I admittedly checked out as I could no longer understand. Realistically, that would've happened (as it was math) whether or not the class was in Chinese as math isn't exactly my strongest point. According to Yin, the class can be classified as algebra.

After the two morning classes spent with Yin's class of 55, the Shanghai 5 had their first class of the day together. The class was called Body Mechanics. We had it in a room on the first floor of the gym (yes, their gym does have multiple floors) which had walls lined with mirrors and a bar. It was, in essence, a dance class. Our teacher, who spoke a decent amount of English and was very enthusiastic, then proceeded to attempt to teach us part of a cheerleading routine. I say attempted because none of us are particularly gifted in regards to coordination and its wasn't exactly pretty to watch. After a short break (which I think was more for her sake than ours) we spent the last 40 odd minutes of class doing pilates. It was very relaxing. All in all the class really made us feel as if we'd earned our lunch.

After a tasty lunch, we went our seperate ways again. Yin had Chinese (in which they mostly read ancient Chinese literature) as well as geography and chemistry. In chemistry, the class was delighted to recieve the news that their exam had been pushed from today to Monday. With this happy atmosphere permeating the class, the last period passed quickly. As Yin has no class last period on Fridays, we got to leave after chemistry. Which was very convenient seeing as we had some fun plans ahead.

After school, we all headed to KTV! KTV stands for karaoke television. A big group of kids including Alex, Alaina, Lauren, and I, our host sibings, Sandy, and several others friends of ours and our host sisters and brothers, all made the short walk to the building which housed the KTV. We got a pretty big room, which contained a big TV, several couches and chairs, and a computer on which we chose our songs. There were both English and Chinese songs, along with several in multiple languages such as Japanese and English or Korean and Chinese. We were all amazed by the voices of our friends - everyone (I do not exaggerate) had spectacular voices. Ning and Liam had particularly stellar voices, along with Jing Yu Chen (a new friend we've made). Alex sang a great rendition of Billy Idol's "White Wedding", and I attempted to sing a song in Chinese with Yin. I have heard it several times - it's called "Xi Shua Shua". Zhu Laoshi played it for us in class, and I liked it enough to put it on my iPod. I'm sure my attempted rendition was quite an amusing sight.

After several hilarious and fun hours spent at KTV, we walked next door for a dinner of pizza! I can't tell you how wonderful it was to eat a piece of pizza...all of us from DS greatly enjoyed it. As my family knows, cheese is the American food I miss most (after chocolate) so I was very happy when the thickly crusted, cheesy Hawaiian pizza arrived. We've discovered over the course of our travels through China how food-obsessed the five of us are. Despite the heavenliness of the pizza, I have to say the company was even better. We sat in the restaurant long after the food was finished laughing and talking in both of our languages together. After we got up from the table, we spent at least another half an hour taking pictures together. No one wanted to leave. When we finally dragged ourselves away, Yin and I grabbed a taxi and went home. As nice as it will be to get to meet a new family, I'm definitely going to miss living with Yin and the rest of the Tus. I'm having a fantastic time in Hangzhou.

'Til next time...

News from "Marge"

(Sandy)

The sun is shining again!!! What a beautiful day in Hangzhou. It is a bit warmer and we are even beginning to remove layers of clothing. Yippee!

I begin each morning at about 6:30...getting ready for school and my truly lovely 10 minute walk down the "silk street" to the school. While I have been told about the optional gated back door that the Chef will open for me, I really prefer the short walk and the cool morning air.

This morning we had Chinese class. We reviewed the alphabet and the double vowel sounds and then went for a walk in the courtyards where our teacher pointed out many different objects and gave us the Chinese name, character and Pinyin spelling of each. Liam, our young interpretor also helped in class and gave us some useful words to use when bargaining...a process that is ALWAYS used when purchasing, even in department stores. I find it exhausting and actually miss having one price for one item. Two pears in China are about two yuan which is about 35 cents and a whole watermelon is less than a dollar. All in all, it was a pleasant low-key class that was perfect for those of us who are novices with the language, but I am sure a little too simple for Cassie, Lauren and Alex.

After Chinese, we had calligraphy class...a subject I was looking forward to and not disappointed with. Along with the calligraphy teacher there was another man who who was known as the "gentle guide". He has been retired for a while, but I guess shows up to help once in a while. He showed us samples of his beautiful writing and helped us with ours as we practiced the simple but technique-strong strokes that are used to write the beautiful Chinese characters. A simple horizontal line is NOT just a simple horizontal line! It is slowly created with a 7 degree upward angle, a little backstroke at the beginning and another little puddle at the end. We were given a huge pad of the practice paper which is made up of squares that are divided into a variety sections...just like the paper in Zhu Laoshi's class. This helps us to keep our lines at the right angles and in the correct proportions. Each of us was also given a portion of a 5-part quote that we will learn to write well and will eventually write on good paper as a final project. We all really enjoyed the calligraphy class.

Today I "taught" three afternoon classes. Here, teaching for me  is really just showing pictures of my family and talking about where I live. I then open the class up for questions...and there are always lots. Many are about SATs and how to get into an American university! Others include questions about our schools' similarities and differences, American culture, how much and when kids in America study, sports, our travels in China, food, my dog, and even how I met my husband! I have been talking sooo much I'm loosing my voice. Alex said my crackling up and down tones sound a bit like "Marge Simpson"...and also like another Marge in his life! I guess I have a new name.

All the best, Sandy...ooops, Marge.

Another Action Packed Day in Hangzhou!

(Lauren)


Hangzhou Day 6

Because the five of us are living separately, I would like to start off this entry by introducing you to my host family.  I live with my host sister, Dai Ning, her parents, and her grandparents.  Over the last few days, we have gotten to know each other pretty well.  Everyone in my family seems to have an interest in music and athletics.  My host parents regularly play ping-pong and badminton, which they are currently teaching me.  Even my host grandmother, who rarely leaves the apartment, plays a fantastic game of Wii bowling.

The family is also incredibly musically talented.  My host dad plays the erhu, a traditional Chinese instrument which vaguely resembles a two-stringed violin.  Ning is a great pianist.  They all enjoy singing, and have an amazing ability to learn whole songs simply from hearing the notes once!  Listening to them sing has made me wonder whether speaking a tonal language improves singing ability, since they all appear to have perfect pitches.  I suspect most of my host parents' English ability comes from music as well.  Ning loves listening to Chinese singers singing English songs, so the apartment and car are often filled with the sounds of classic English songs sung in a heavy Chinese accent.

Now on to today...

When Ning and I arrived at school, we headed to her first period class.  Ning worked to finish her homework, while I finished eating breakfast.  Within a few minutes, Ning's English teacher arrived to start the "unofficial class" of the day.  Ning and I listened to recordings in English which were supposed to help the kids' understanding of oral language.  Once this was over, the first official class of the day began: Chinese.  Chinese was mainly spent with the teacher reading excerpts from a work book, which the kids repeated.  Our next class was math, which was slightly more interactive.  After math, I left Ning to go to Kung Fu with Alaina, Cassie, and Alex.  Our Kung Fu teacher, Mr. Liu, opened the class by having us jog around the gym three times, and then we stretched for several minutes.  We began the actual Kung Fu portion of the class with a series of basic maneuvers, such as walking along a line on the floor with our heads up and our palms out (harder than it sounds).  We were then asked to repeat the move, but we had to do high kicks as opposed to just walking.  Some of us were better at this then others.

Once we had finished the basic sets, Mr. Liu tried to teach us a series of Kung Fu moves.  The first move involved drawing our hands up into fists and looking to the left.  Second, we jumped around a little and slammed our fists into our palms.  Then, we had to do a ballet move (I thought tne hand motions slightly resembled a pirouette).  The fourth and final move was so complicated nobody could do it.  Mr. Liu gave up on us, and told us the remaining hour of the class could be free time.

Alaina and I decided to play badminton.  Unfortunately, neither one of us really knew how to play.  Mr. Liu came by to help us, but it was very obvious that he was much more skilled, and found playing with us a bit boring.  So Mr. Liu joined another gym teacher, and Cassie joined our group.  To be honest, we were all pretty tired from the long days we've been having, so we didn't play much more badminton.

After Kung Fu, it was time to go to lunch.  Lunch was very delicious (it always is!).  We also met the chef, Shifu Wang (I think Shifu is the Chinese word for master).  As it turned out, Shifu Wang was going to be teaching us our next class - dumpling making!  That was a really fun class.  Dumplings are surprisingly easy to make, but there are many different styles.  We mainly focuses on the Xi'an, Beijing, and Hangzhou styles.  Xi'an style dumplings are folded over twice, Beijing only once, and Hanghzou are crimpy.  I made Xi'an, because they were the easiest.  We were all surprised to learn that dumplings are actually considered a dessert among the Chinese if they are served in watery soup (as ours were).  Only dry dumplings are considered dinner.

Once we had steamed our dumplings and put them in the soup, we ate them.  They were really, really good.  Ning also came back after her class to eat some, and she agreed.

Cooking was our last class of the day together, so Ning and I went back upstairs and had Music Appreciation.  That was one of my favorite classes so far, because apparently Music Appreciation means "watching English musicals on TV."  So we all got to watch CATS, which was a real treat for Ning, who is a big fan.

After music, Ning and I went to Astronomy Club (Hangzhou is particularly famous for its observatory).  The club has a big national competition this Saturday, so Ning and her friends were frantically preparing.  Hopefully, the Hangzhou team will do well.

After the club meeting, Ning and I headed back to the apartment, where we had dinner with her family.  In the Dai household, Wednesday night is badminton night, so my host parents and I left after dinner to go play badminton.  It was a lot of fun, but it was a real workout.  Ning's dad, who is a great badminton player, took it upon himself to teach me how to play properly.  He started out by teaching me how to wham the birdie at people, and then he amused himself immensely by whamming it at me, and deliberately aiming his shots for opposite ends of the courts.  He thought it was hysterical how I had to run and dive to get the birdie each time!

After a few hours of this, we returned to the apartment.  I was pretty exhausted, so I went to bed (poor Ning was still doing her homework!)  Tomorrow night is Wii Golf night at the Dais'.  Wish me luck!

Missing My Fuzzy White Blanket

(Alaina)

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.

Per-Capita Ping Pong Performance Positively Prodigious!

Hello once again all.  Today was our first day at Hangzhou Highschool, and what a day we had!

School over here is truly quite different then that in Dover Sherborn.  To begin, the day kicks off around 8 am and continues to 5pm, but after studying our schedules, it turns out that despite the increased day length, the students here have only an extra half-hour of classes than we do back home!  The breaks and lunch time the students have are very spread out which is great for rest, hanging out, or doing homework.  The classes all have no heat, so we were bundled up like a group of Eskimos in search of some place warmer!  The weather has been pretty bad since we've been here, but apparently last week Hangzhou had a heatwave and we just missed it.  Just our luck.

Either way, the students and faculty are outstanding and have been welcoming since we arrived on Friday.  Today we attended a small welcoming ceremony put on for us by the heads of the school minus Madame Miao (she is in Beijing for meetings).  After that, we toured the school and visited the school museum! That's right, the school has its own 3-4 stories dedicated to its history.  The school is over 100 years old and has a great history through many violent and changing times such as the ending of the Qing Dynasty, the Cultural Revolution, and Tiananmen.  We had a mixed schedule of our own classes and our host sibling's classes which provided us a unique feel to the school.  This is a great schedule because it welcomes us into the daily life of a student while at the same time providing the rest of us our own private classes for Chinese and the arts.

At 11:30, we had our first lunch, and what a lunch it was!  We had a good combo of Western style food mixed with Chinese food.  Not to mention we also had dessert first!  When we were all full, we headed out to our next class.  We also met our student guide (just like Bruce for Team China last year).  His name is Liam and his Chinese name is Li Han Bao.  He is a great guy and has applied to twelve American schools and already been accepted into two.  He told us that when he was younger his father always joked around calling him hamburger or han bao bao in Chinese because of his name.  We all had a good laugh from that and his sense of humor is great!  He ended up being our Chinese teacher today because the actual teacher was teaching us all a little too fast and too much, but when Liam stepped in, he really helped us improve and review our Chinese.

For the last two periods of the day we followed our classmates around for just a little longer.  Around 4 pm we all had P.E togehter and played some awesome rounds of ping pong.  I have never seen more people good at ping pong per capita than here in China!  I went against my host brother Chen Yifan (Charlie) and Alaina's host sister as well.  I had a friendly match with Cassie as well, which was nice seeing how we are both similarly skilled.

At this point, the weather outside was very rainy and cold so we all left as early as we could.  In China, the traffic is absolutely horrible, and when it rains out, it is that much worse.  What generally took 15-20 minutes to get to school took us over an hour to get back home.  Not a fun car ride except for listening to some nice jazz along the way.  Once home, Charlie and I did our homework while his parents made dinner, which was very good.  We had sweet and sour pork, tofu, and a really odd, but good, lettuce.  As I finish this blog now, Charlie is finishing his homework as well, so we must get to sleep soon for another day tomorrow.

Goodnight America and keep checking in.

Spooky Song!

(Cassie) Hello from Hangzhou! This is my first blog with my host family, so before I give a rundown of today's activities, I'd like to tell a little bit about them. First of all, their family name is Tu. My host sister's name is Yin she is in year one (sophmore year in the U.S.) and is sixteen years old. She is adorable, and is very into a specific anime comic called "Reborn". In telling me about this, and everything else, she is very enthusiastic and earnest. I've had a lot of fun getting to know her so far. Her dad's name is Tu Yong and her mom's name is Tu Hu Yongcui. They speak some English, but what they lack in knowledge they make up for in humor. It's been really fun watching Yong attempt to mime whichever word he's trying to get me to figure out...my favorite so far was probably gorilla. Yin's waipo (mother's mother) also lives with her family. She immediately took to taking care of me...she is convinced I don't have nearly enough meat on my bones, and has taken to asking me "Ni yao chi ma?" (Do you want to eat?) nearly every time she sees me. She doesn't speak any English, so I've been attempting to learn more Chinese by talking to her. All in all, the Tu family has been wonderful to me and have given me the warmest possible welcome. Now onto today's activities! Yin and I planned to get up around eight this morning. I woke at five til eight to discover that she had already been up for over an hour doing homework! It turns out she had been hiding just how much homework she has in order to spare my feelings and to keep me entertained! That's how nice she is. After a delicious breakfast of baozi, which are steamed buns full of leeks and pork, as well as warm milk (my family doesn't seem to drink anything cold, including water) we got ready and got on the road for the half hour drive to Song Chen. The weather was absolutely beautiful! It wasn't raining and was warmer than the day before. We arrived and were met by Sandy, Alaina and her host sister Ling, and Lauren and her host sister Ning. Alex was feeling a bit under the weather so he and his host brother Charlie (who insists on being called by his English name) didn't come with us. Song Chen is a little hard to explain...the nearest thing I can compare it to is Plymouth Plantation and an amusement park combined. It is a replica of a Song Dynasty village, but made very touristy. There were shops everywhere, and there was also an area in which there were obstacles and dangerous ways to cross a small body of water (such as logs or wobbling platforms). Alaina wore her rain boots and was the only one brave enough to try it. We also all went into an area (which was definitely supposed to be for small children) with a swinging bridge made out of ropes. While all these things were fun, I had two other things that were my favorite. The first was a structure made to mimic a Buddhist grotto. It was a long, twisting, skinny cave with carvings of Buddha. It was a bit unrealistic at parts...especially in a tunnel which had dizzying, spinning colored lights and gyrating music. It reminded me of a Beatles song off of one of their stranger albums. My other favorite part was the park's "Ghost House." It was an American haunted house, but vamped up far beyond U.S. standards. It included, but wasn't limited to dripping water from the ceiling that felt like blood, a small street with grim reaper like tenants, creepy two headed vampire baby dolls, and a live actor who jumped out at you. At this point, the house took a turn for the hilarious. When the actor jumped out at Alaina, she grabbed him and said "are you a real person ?" to which he responded (in English, no less), "what's wrong with you?!" I was in back and missed this whole exchange, but had the same question in mind as Alaina did. When I passed him, I called out a tentative "ni hao." I think he'd given up on staying in character anymore, because he responded to me as well, saying (in English again) "Hello! It's nice to meet you." I told him it was nice to meet him as well, and we made our way out of the haunted house. After lunch in the park, we all went our seperate ways. Yin, her parents, and I got in the car and headed to a nearby pagoda called Liuhe Pagoda. On our way, the sun came out! The pagoda we went to visit was built in 1121. It was beautiful. At its foot stood a stone archway with delicate red paper lantern and a red poster on which people wrote their wishes. Mine was the only one in English among the hundred or so. Yin and I then went into the pagoda on our own. Her parents had spent the day hiking a local mountain and were a bit tired. We climbed all thirteen stories of stairs to the top of the pagoda. The view was stunning. Although we were still about a twenty mintue car drive from the city, we could see both it and West Lake. On the other side of the pagoda were rolling hills covered by trees made lush and green by the frequent rain. After enjoying the view, Yin and I climbed down the steep stairs to meet her parents again. On our way home, Yin took a small nap while Mr. and Mrs. Tu chatted with me about the sights we passed in the car on the way home such as the local Chinese Art University and the blooming magnolia blossoms. When we got home, everyone else napped while I caught up on some reading. After a rest, we all headed to a local restaurant called Zheweiguan. There we had noddles made out of sweet potato with cabbage and beef as well as smaller baozi and lotus root. Mrs. Tu had fried chicken feet as well. Everyone else passed on that dish. That's it for today! Tomorrow is our first day of school at Hangzhou. I'm nervous, but I also can't wait to finally see the inside of the school and experience going to Chinese high school. Til next time...