First Week at Hanggao (Hangzhou High School)

(Lizzy)

Our first week in Hangzhou has been quite eventful. Immediately upon arriving in the city after an exhausting 18 hour train ride from Luoyang, we were greeted by our respective host families at Hanggao, our new school. My host sister’s English name is Apple, and she and her family have all be extremely hospitable and kind to me; especially since my first week here has not been the smoothest.

My first day; however, seemed to indicate good things ahead. I got my first glimpses of the beautiful city, including West Lake, which the residents of Hangzhou are most proud of, and for good reason. Everything is green and fairly warm here; a drastic and welcome change from the bleak coldness we have become used to. Though the lake is technically to the West of the city, it is very part of the city center, and the parks surrounding it are often quite crowded with people out enjoying the day.

After enjoying the sights around the lake with my host family, I began to feel sick back at the apartment ...

You can call me Thunder.

(Chris)

It is Tuesday morning here and I am sitting in my cubicle in the Foreign Language Teachers’ Office at Hangzhou High School! They gave me my own little space with a computer, cappuccino mix, tea and a file cabinet. It’s perfect!

Let me start out by saying how fantastic the staff and administration here have been since we arrived! There was a welcoming committee of about 6 teachers at the train station waiting for us. With big smiles and an excited look on their faces, they gave each of us a bouquet of flowers as we got off the train on Sunday morning. They helped us get through the mob that was departing the train station and then threw us into some vans to bring us to the school ...