First Official Day of School

(Michael)

Today, was our first official day of school in China and it could not have got better for me. I woke up with legs sore from my pitiful attempt at Tai-Chi the night before, ate breakfast, and walked to school with my host brother with a spring in my step and that feeling you get just before your last game or you type the last sentence of a paper worth half of everything you have worked for. It felt like exhilaration, pure fun, and blunt, throbbing terror that forces what looks like a cocky smile to your lips, a tightening in the chest, and an acute awareness of the depth of the lungs. Its like handing in a test that might be perfect or a complete failure in the eyes of the grader. It was intense and I loved every second of it. 

The feeling came again at various points in the day. It came again just before I had to speak in front of what appeared to be the entire administration of the High School, when I entered my class for the first time and saw one face I had seen before and about fifty that I had not, and when I walked up to a pickup basketball game after school. Thankfully, like a breath of air after swimming a little deeper than was wise, in every situation I was met with an understanding smile and an approving nod or an equivalent welcoming gesture. The headmaster smiled and made a joke, I was applauded by my classmates then completely encircled for questions and the exchange of contact information, and I was put on a team for basketball and was not berated when it was clear that I was worse than useless. Maybe it is a bit facile of me to enjoy what can only be described as popularity, but I will worry about that later.

We have been in China for about two weeks, but today felt like the first day for me. Its an indescribable feeling, waking up in a bed that is both my own and not, eating breakfast with a family, then attending a school, all of a similar nature. I am not trying to say that I have not been made welcome here, but just the opposite; I feel as if I have been taken completely into the fold in every aspect of life that I have attempted, and it is remarkable, unnerving, and deeply touching all at the same time.