Life in Hangzhou

(Patty)

It seems as if The Bears are finally getting settled into life here in Hangzhou. This morning, the five of us were sent to the head chef to learn some traditional Chinese cooking. We were accompanied by our two faithful interpreters, Apple and Tom, both of who are seniors in Hangzhou. The pair are able to spend time with us because of their senior status; Apple has already been admitted into her top choice university and no longer needs to attend high school classes, and Tom is in AP classes (not too different than the ones at DS) so his schedule is different than that of other students.

After our foray into the art of dumpling-making (our dumplings weren't as pretty as those of the chef, but were equally delicious), we made our way to the massive gymnasium. The Hangzhou gym includes two storeys, as well as an outdoor track and basketball courts. Once inside, one of the gym teachers, Lao Liu, taught us some badminton basics and sent us to go play a game, but we were too captivated by four of the gym teachers present who were playing some of the most impressive badminton I have ever seen.

The rest of our day was spent observing our host siblings classes. In subjects such as physics and chemistry I can often follow along, as I recognize some of the concepts as ones I have learned in prior years, but when it comes to subjects like history and Chinese, I find myself lost--my limited knowledge of the Chinese language was not nearly sufficient enough to get me through solo, but luckily, I have some very helpful classmates who were more than willing to translate for me.

Since today is a Friday, things were much more relaxed when I got back to my host family's house (a 20 min drive from the school, thanks mostly to the city traffic). My host sister helped me navigate through a guide book she gave me, pointing out some of her favorite things to do in Hangzhou. We ended off the night with a delicious dinner, courtesy of my host father, as well as some tea, fresh squeezed OJ, and Chinese sitcoms that we all enjoyed (probably for different reasons).

My host sister and I have a very busy weekend planned- off to West Lake tomorrow followed by a day of exploring the city on Sunday with some of my new classmates.

Until next time!