Student’s log. Day 3. It has been 3 days since the group has infiltrated the high school. We have begun to gain the student’s trust. Actually the first few days have been a little awkward for us, but only because most of us don’t understand what they are saying. Today was much better because over the last few days, I have been able to make more friends. At the end of second period today, two girls came up to me and gave me what I think are postcards. We talked for a little bit in broken English and Chinese until I went to meet the rest of the group in room 209, our base of operations. I thought I was doing alright socially, but apparently Max has an entourage of students that always visit him. They are all nice people, but they took the last cookie from our snack bowl.
Mrs. Lockrow stopped by to join us for a class of Chinese Culture. We learned the history of Chinese characters and Chinese Culture. I realize now that I have been acting strange in the eyes of the school, but at least I know what not to do now. Afterwards, we all went to lunch in the dining hall. The chef who makes our food will never cease to amaze me. Today’s lunch was broccoli mixed with peppers and cucumbers, a Chinese take on a rice crispy treat, banana bread, a fried chicken with mayo drizzled on top, cup yogurt, lots of kiwi, and a corn dog. The corn dog was not your traditional deep fried happiness on a stick, but a literal corn dog, as in corn stuffed inside a hotdog, then put on a stick and cooked. I ate all the food, except the kiwi, which I gave to Caitlin, who proceeded to eat everybody’s kiwis. There’s not a large selection of food when you’re vegetarian.
The group left lunch for English corner, a time during lunch when students can come and just hang out with us foreigners. The only problem was that I don’t think anybody knew that this was a thing, so it was just the group, Mrs. Lockrow, and Didi, last years exchange student, just sitting and chilling in the courtyard. After half an hour of no visitors, we went back to the dining hall for a “cooking class.” The chef showed us how to filet a fish, but that was it. We spent the rest of the time eating his fish friend. It was time to go back to home base for free time after second lunch, so Mrs. Lockrow went back to do her teacher stuff, Caitlin and Didi went to hang out in 209, while Max, Dareus, and I went to the gym for Ping Pong.
If you walked into that room, you would have gone “wow, these guys must play for the Olympics or something” because we were insane today. Max beat us both with unreal corner shots, and Dareus would put some unnatural spin on the ball that would rend space and time. I was putting mad topspin on it, but I still lost to them both. I’ll get them next time. We returned to 209 after our games where we just hung out for a few hours. School ended and we all went our separate ways with our host families. Kevin, my host brother showed me around the neighborhood after dinner. We had a nice talk and I feel like we are closer now. We talked about some deep stuff that would blow your mind. Tom if you’re reading this, I’m going to lay down some 3000-year-old wisdom when I get back.
Kevin and I returned back to his apartment where we hung out for a while. I showed him some pictures of the trip and we talked about different things. Kevin went to sleep a little while ago, and now I am typing this. Tomorrow, we will explore West Lake and the next blog post will tell you all about it. Until next time, end log.
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