Rooms on Sunday

(Michael)

Today, my bike and I lost a fight with a truck, I donned a hood reminiscent of Gitmo, got locked in a jail cell, was chained to a ceiling, almost escaped twice, and embarrassed America.

Thrown From the Sauna to the Icebox

(Brandon)

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. 

Misadventures in Domo-Making

(Patty)

This weekend was a good one: Saturday spent exploring the beautiful Xixi wetlands, Sunday spent playing a human version of the game Escape, and so even though we wished our weekend could extend one more day, by Monday morning we were ready to be back in the swing of things. The Bears spent the first half of the day in one of our favorite classes: art. This day, our teacher showed us how to make Domos, famous characters in Japanese culture. Never one with a skill for art, my Do,o resembled, well--nothing. Lets call it abstract art. The rest of the group, however, had much more luck and emerged with finely-made final products.

“Bueller? …Bueller?”

(Veronica)

Today marked my return to the classroom. Yesterday, LV, the head of the English department and the exchange program, invited me to teach his class of sophomores. Given an abridged version of Calvin Worthington’s “My Father’s Hands”, I sat down and prepared for the next day’s lesson.

The Category for Today is “Chances”

(Deanna)

We headed to school at the normal time and I arrived in room 209 (designated room) at around 07:15 and decided to take a nap before having to meet up with everyone at 08:30. Patty came into the room and later Brandon came in. They headed off to go read outside and read before we all had to be outside of the gate at 08:30. I accompanied them after about a 30 minute nap and we all met up with Veronica, Michael and our guide Peter (from our last Hangzhou tour) and headed off to Xixi Wetlands.

Wait, We Have Snow At Home?

(Brandon)

The past few days have been unusually warm and sunny. In other words, quite welcomed by the Bad Luck Bears (who might have to change the name if this weather persists). Today peaked in the mid-seventies, and the Bears made the most of it. We had another few things to check off on our to-do list.

Table Tennis: Leg Strength Required

(Patty)

It's already been a week that the Bears have been in Hangzhou, and time is absolutely flying by. This morning we were whisked off to the gym where we were given ping pong paddles, shown into a room of 10 tables, and were told to go at it. For the first twenty minutes or so, our gym teachers silently watched us playing and we thought we were doing reasonably well until one of the teachers came over and told us we were doing everything completely wrong. After that, we started learning how to really play table tennis (I for one never knew that it required both stamina and leg strength). After an hour, the slightly sweaty, slightly sore group of Bears made our way to our next task: dance lessons. The group walked into the room untalented and uncoordinated, but walked out an hour later masters of Gangam Style (we even have videos to prove it, ask for them later).

3 March 2013: That K-Pop Swag (Or Maybe Not...)

(Deanna)

The Bad Luck Bears and our host siblings all decided to voyage shopping today and spend time together. For me, my day started out meeting up with everyone and then we walked in a street full of shops and knickknacks. We went into a marketplace where kabobs of all sorts were sold such as assorted fruits, pork, chicken, squid, crab, shrimp and so on. You could see people eating noodles and kabobs throughout and it only made us want to try everything. We each tried different things that we enjoyed. After each getting our kabobs and pastries and such we continued browsing the street of shops that interested us.

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.

Protip: Bring Gloves (because this is going to be a DOOZY)

(Brandon)

And we're back! The Bad Luck Bears are settled into their various dens with lovely host siblings, families, and school faculty members that all exemplify the epitome of hospitality. Today we woke up at 7:00 for one of our first expeditions around Hangzhou and its many offerings. We snatched up the low hanging fruits today and visited several key attractions. We were led by our tour guide, Peter, who spoke remarkable English, and also accompanied by Charlotte, a teacher of the high school (who will also be this year's ambassador to Dover-Sherborn in the following months).

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. 

A Second Home

(Veronica)

After watching each of my cubs climb the threshold back to health, my body’s immune system finally succumbed to whatever sickness could grab the reins. Fortunately, this Mrs. Mallard allowed all of her “acks” to take care of her. Having been bedridden for two days, I was excited to explore Huangshan with what little time we had left. Thankfully, I was able to make the trek up to Mt. Huangshan, the highlight of this leg of the trip, with the group the other day.