I awoke and stumbled to the bathroom to get ready for school. I emerged, now bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and sat down at the table. Mrs. Ye brings out breakfast. BOOM! It's a massive cheeseburger. Double everything. Lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and patties. Just to provide some backstory, a few nights ago Micky and I had fun cooking dinner together when Mr. And Mrs. Ye were out . Micky had never made a "proper" cheeseburger before, so I took this opportunity to show him. After we successfully engineered two delicious looking burgers, I took a picture of our masterpieces. I ended up showing Mrs. Ye, possibly inspiring her to give burger-making a shot. And man, did she nail it. The bike ride to school was rough but most-needed.
Our first class of the day was "Traditional Chinese Painting." After convening at our home-base, Apple led us down to the art building. Ms. Moy could not attend the class unfortunately because she now has four classes to teach. Soon after arriving, the art teacher jumped right into a demonstration for us. How she maneuvered a "maobi," or brush, so delicately but gracefully, was dumbfounding. The art teacher was able to use just the right amount of inks and paints. The finished product was even more impressive. The standards were set high from the start. All four of the Bears followed suit and gave their hand a try at painting. While we could not compare to the teacher's masterful pieces, we were proud of our final products. While it was disheartening at first, my shrimp, which shared an eerily similar resemblance with that of a mole, only made me appreciate how difficult this type of painting is and how skillful our teacher is.
Class ended and luckily it was time for lunch. The Bears are ever so hungry and always look forward to Chef Bacon's delicious meals. Today we had savory fried chicken with bread crumbs on top, crunchy bean curds, salty mushrooms mixed with tender beef, moist bread with dates in it, a sweet orange flavored jello, a fresh apple, and what appeared to be an fluffy Rice Krispy treat (but was really a rice-based bread that Chef Bacon had whipped up himself just a few hours earlier). Oh lunch, how we love ye so!
We headed off to English Corner and were soon split up and were surrounded by students, many of whom return every day to speak with us. After experiencing a cold, rainy day yesterday, today's eighty-degree weather, with sunshine overhead, was a welcome occurrence. Not to mention how inquisitive the kids are getting as they overcome the initial shyness that we first saw last week. Today I had the opportunity to meet another few students that I had not spoken to before, even though they were "regulars" to English Corner. We shared hobbies, interests in movies and books, what we intend to do in the future, and so much more. The bell soon rung and off the dedicated students went to class.
Speaking of class, we had our second and final class of the day soon. We headed back to our home-base and waited for Zou Laoshi to arrive. In class today, we learned a variety of things, from flower-filled gardens to interesting museums nearby. We also learned another poem that was based off a poet's experience way back when. He was traveling in the countryside when he stumbled across a remote but beautiful village. He wanted to capture the scene and made what he saw into a nursery rhyme. By next class, we'll have two poems mastered, and will be world-renown poets too.
We ended the day by heading back to our host siblings' classes. Each Tuesday every classroom has a "class meeting" that is run by the students. Today's subject was the importance of developing strong study habits, at least in my classroom. Micky warned me that next class meeting, I'm going to have to speak about America. I better get to writing!
(Insert Looney Tunes Exit Theme/Music),
B.Wu
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