"That's For Babies!"

(Deanna)

The day started out in driving to school to meet up with the Bears at 8:30. With my quirky and lovely host mother who was dressed in bright pink pajamas, we finally arrived at the school. My host mum said “You didn’t eat breakfast, I’m going to get you a hamburger”, she runs out of the car past traffic and into KFC. Five minutes later, she comes back with coffee and a sandwich for me in which I thank her many times and tell her how sweet she is. She waved goodbye and went on her way while I met up with the Bears.

We found out that the school van was being used for the day so we ended up getting a bus to ourselves. We were amazed because well there were seven of us not including the driver in a bus that seats approximately 30. We headed off to Wuzhen, a town an hour and a half away from Hangzhou. We went in a gondola that fit all of us and our tour guide was absolutely hilarious because when we wanted to take pictures and he tried to move to the other side of the boat he said “I’m too heavy! I ate two hamburgers for breakfast!” and scurried to sit down to stop the boat from tilting. The waters of Wuzhen were clean and the houses being about 130 years old. Our tour guide told us about how the majority of the inhabitants of Wuzhen are senior citizens. We learned about how the Cultural Revolution affected the town and saw a shadow puppet show about the Monkey King. We pushed through crowds of tourists in Wuzhen and even encountered some Western tourists that greeted us. Derek, a teacher who came to Dover-Sherborn in 2010 accompanied us in Wuzhen and told me about the drama club at Hanggao that he wanted me to participate and give pointers to the club on Monday. He and I also discussed travelling and languages. After much walking and learning we went to lunch. We ate pork with peppers, mini French fries, rice, and pork with like leeks and spring onions.

We went back to Hanggao and reunited with our host families. My host mum brought me grocery shopping where she bought me two dozen cookies, vitamin water, beef jerky, jelly, various juices and yogurt drinks (which the yogurt drinks I drink often in Boston). In picking up the yogurt drinks, she commented and said “That’s for babies! It’s so small!” and I responded with “I love this drink!” She said she would get them for me but she would also get me the larger bottle drinks as well I thought she was going to get me one pack of the small yogurt drinks but she got me four packs which I definitely felt grateful but spoiled. I thanked her profusely for her generosity and she gave me a hug in return. We went to a Ramen Noodles restaurant where I had noodles with tender pork and fried rice. My host parents kept telling me to eat more of which I responded with “Wo chi bao le" meaning “I’m full” and they smiled and then told my host sister Serenity to keep eating. After dinner, Serenity and I got Chocolate Milk Tea and did some homework. We discussed our plans for tomorrow which have to do with a literature ceremony but Veronica will elaborate more on that tomorrow.

Until next time,
Deanna M. Biddy