Newton Beijing Jingshan Exchange Participants

Newton Beijing Jingshan School Exchange Program

Spring 2011 diaries

March

Rosemary

School, Subway, Erie county Fair bar-b-que and no butter...

Greetings on the first day of March!

It was sunny but cold today. Is this more lamb-like? Perhaps the coming sands will be the lion-like part of March.

We are settling into the Jingshan school and the actual my standing in front of students teaching begins in earnest next Monday. We are observing as well as planning for these classes and teaching the U.S.kids their English seminar class. I will have tenth graders and sixth graders. Quite a swing. It will be busy. Tales from the schoolyard will undoubtedly follow, that is a guarantee!

As we prepare, we are on a steep learning curve as far as technology is concerned. Seems most teachers for their English classes have power points and tapes all done and connected to the students books. The teachers do add to the PPT's to enhance their curriculum. Kildare

After observing the English classes, it is really clear that PPT's will be essential to use for teaching. So, here I sit, with a laptop from Phil and I am becoming a computer whiz kid. Much about that statement will have my family rolling with gales of laughter. Oh yes, Jenn and Julia at EDCO too. Not a vision that comes easily into the imagination.

Last week Friday was a late day for me and so I took the subway home during the height of commuter time. Oh silly me...however, I did use the trick to riding the subway...walk all the way to where you think one of the end cars will stop because these tend to be slightly less crowded and you have a chance to get on without throwing a few elbows. Upon arriving at my station, Jishuitan, as I am climbing up the two flights of stairs to the street, I catch a whiff of what I can only describe as ' the ERIE COUNTY FAIR bar-b-que ---and it smelled good! Bar-b-que is one of those olfactory memories that I am thankful for, especially if it is a good memory...the best. It transports you back in time. So there I am on the streets of Beijing thinking back to my growing up and the summertime and going to the county fair to see the sheep, pigs, pickles, pies and all manner of animals and home craft work, all arrayed with their blue, red or yellow ribbons of honor. I can picture the booths where you take your chance to throw a ball and win the coveted king-sized stuffed animal. Then the smells begin to tickle your nose and start your stomach grumbling. Besides the fried dough, topping it all is the smell of the bar-b-que. Chicken bar-b-que. The smoke wafting, the tent and the mass of people lining up to eat it! Seriously, that kind of memory is a real drooler! Back to Beijing. Remember I said I was coming home late? I discovered that somewhere after 5 p.m street vendors start setting up to feed the returning worker bees. On the street, every 25 to 50 feet is a different barbie going, with skinny sticks of meat,veggies,tofu, all skewered and cooking, or ready to cook. It smells so delicious. I mean really delicious. and yet, we have been told not to eat the street food. Our constitutions not used to it. I was mightily tempted, but no time for stomach distress in my day. I did ask at home about that, my host family does not eat there either, not clean they say. It sure gave me a good back home moment in this very different world, which at times, is not so strange after all.

Oh, about that butter business. I have now lived a month without butter as an everyday staple. Morning toast? No butter. Sweet potato? No butter. Cooking? No butter. Making cookies? No oven, hence, no butter. If I were to list some of my favorite foods, butter seems to play an important role. Really. In kindergarten I would come home and my grandmother would make toast and we would slather on the butter and add cinnamon sugar or jam, have tea, and wahla, my love affair with butter began. Amazingly, I do not miss it as much as I make it sound, well, except for that morning toast. I am sure my waistline appreciates its absence. But then again, butter. Big sigh.... Don't get me started on jam, the homemade kind...

On that I will now get up. Start my day and have that toast....without butter.

Roamin Rosie. :)

Michelle

Human Meat: The Cultural Misunderstanding

“Ren rou???)... Human meat… You’re talking about human meat?” I looked up both curiously and skeptically at Tina, my host sister, who was sitting across from me.

“Yes, yes, yes! You can look it up online!” Kelly, another American student, and I joked: “What!? You’re cannibals?” Giggles started spilling from our faces.
“What does that mean?” our host siblings asked.
“You eat human meat!”

Realizing what we had insinuated, our host sisters chuckled with astonishment. This was turning out to be a more interesting round that I had expected. I knew that Chinese people ate many more things than Westerners typically did, but humans? What were they talking about? Although the point of our conversation was to figure out what the Chinese words meant, I simply had no idea.

When we had started talking about ren rou, my host mother, who had suggested the game, had chosen to let Kelly and me struggle with the meaning. Without interfering, she had watched the four of us go back and forth, chuckling to herself throughout the entire incident. At this point, everyone around the table was laughing so loud that the people sitting near us were giving us strange glances. Between our fits of laughter, Kelly and I gave each other sideways glances of bewilderment, casually inching away from our host sisters as we doubled over. Just as Kelly and I had started inwardly questioning just how tasty we might look to potential human meat eaters, Tina’s mother finally stepped in and helped explain what the words meant.

“No! Ren rou- it’s a type of website!” Oh. My sides ached from laughing. Since Kelly and I had failed that round, our host families explained to us what ren rou actually was. Although they had never tried it, it was apparently an Internet search engine in which people could look up information about other people.

Previously, my host mom and sister, my friend Kelly and her host sister, and I had spent that morning walking around at a festival in the finger-numbing cold. With many colorful shops and food stands, the place had been so crowded that we hadn’t been able to inch forward without stepping on the heels of strangers. We had then chosen to eat at this warm, glowing restaurant heated by the flames of a charcoal-burning stove. As we sat and ate, the four of us students began teaching one another colloquial phrases and popular references.

As we were chatting, we began switching between Chinese and English, trying to see how large our vocabularies were in our second languages. Soon it became a game - how fast could we guess the meaning of whatever the other was trying to teach? One round, Kelly and I would try to explain something using only English; Du and Tina would then try to guess its meaning using Chinese. The next round, our roles would switch and Kelly and I would be trying to decipher a Chinese phrase. My host mother, who spoke English fluently, acted as our referee, making sure our decided answers were correct.

Our translation game was a fun way to breech some of the culture differences between the American and Chinese teenagers. By the end of the lunch, we had translated words and phrases about bribery, Internet slang, counterfeit merchandise, pop culture, and more. We had learned what to say and what not to say when chatting with someone online, and which adjectives to use when describing Lady Gaga and her outfits. When we finally staggered out of the restaurant, our stomachs were sore and our eyes damp with laughter. Although there had been many misunderstandings during our guess-and-check translation game, none were as silly or as amusing as our ren rou one. We had bonded and had a great time.

Max

Value

In America, the feet of a chicken are useless twigs of bone and cartilage that only burden one with their disposal. In China, they are the most expensive part of the bird. What is valued in China might very well be trash in America, and visa-versa. There are parts of Chinese culture and society that place value in some things Americans don’t even notice, and don’t notice some things Americans place value in.

Food is the most obvious category. Americans throw out stomachs, hooves, feet, intestines, eyeballs, joints, et-cetera, while some Chinese restaurants save them for their most expensive dishes. There exists an extremely lucrative black-market of chicken feet that are brought from America and are sold to Chinese restaurants. Despite the overwhelming blatancy of different taste in food, the variance in what is valued between countries goes far beyond the culinary world.

I’ve not once had a door held open for me, nor been thanked for holding one open, since I arrived in China. I am, however, always handed gifts with two hands and a low bow. The obscene number of people that an average Beijinger bumps shoulders with on a daily basis has made them, as a population, very callous. While in transit, I find myself being shoved, honked at (if not run-over), yelled at, and sometimes nearly spat on. But more personal interactions are conducted on the other end of the spectrum. I get gifts from people who have never met me, am given more food than one could possibly eat, and am sometimes treated with an almost uncomfortable degree of polite formality. The Chinese put so much value in close, personal interactions, and none in public etiquette. In America, people are pretty polite on the street, and a little more polite when it’s personal. China has a huge variance in public to personal conduct, while America’s appears to be rather less significant.

The different laws in China have also led to some drastic variances in the value of media and information. To give you an idea of what the copyright laws are like in China, there are none. A few weeks ago I could have paid ten RMB to sit in a theater and watch “The Green Hornet”, which had just come out. Instead I walked outside and bought it on DVD for four RMB from a street vendor. I’ve been rather quickly amassing a library of DVDs for less than a dollar each. My host brother has a bootlegged Xbox 360 on which he plays bootlegged games, each game going for about 6 RMB. Of the thirty or so games he has, he’s played about half, and refuses to play half of that half, having decided they weren’t fun after trying them the first time. As an American teenage boy, I found this preposterous. In the states a new DVD can cost twenty dollars and a video game can cost sixty. In China, they cost about a sixtieth of that. Media and mental property are seen as communal in China, things that should not, or cannot, be owned by the individual, and yet they are the cause of innumerable massive lawsuits in America.

Though these kinds of customs may not come off as being hugely important in the grand scheme of things, their accumulation is what forms a culture and what differentiates that culture from others. It is fascinating to experience a culture that, despite the American media influence, has such different basic perception than the one I am used to.   It’s not hard to appreciate diversity when looking at two societies that have had little to no connection. It is when the societies of two cultures that began completely separate from one another collide later on down the line that one can witness just how different humans can truly be. At this point in time, Chinese and US citizens are in very similar day-to-day circumstances. Yet, the two societies react with their assimilated surroundings completely very differently.   I’ve only recently been able to understand that diversity far transcends the beliefs, rituals, life-styles, etc., of a culture and actually affects the individual on a much more basic physiological level.

Kelly

Cultural Misunderstandings

In the short time I’ve been in China, I have already had several encounters with cultural misunderstandings. Though minor, they remind me of how different we really are. The first misunderstanding stemmed from my heavy use of sarcasm. The Jingshan students and I were outside for our daily morning exercises, and it was freezing cold outside. I saw one girl in my class, Amy, wearing her jacket and so I approached her. I jokingly told her how cold I was and how everyone was jealous of her jacket. She then proceeded to immediately take off her jacket and offer it to me, bowing apologetically. I felt extremely guilty and quickly told her I was joking but she didn’t put her jacket back on for the remainder of our stay outside. This is exactly the type of cultural misunderstanding I was afraid of! The Chinese students do not understand our sarcasm or jokes. They take everything very literally and seriously, especially if it comes from an American exchange student who is saying everything with a straight face. There are also several other accounts of this, and thus I have since been refraining from using sarcasm.

The second misunderstanding stems from stereotypes. The Chinese students seem to think that Americans do not have any work and just party all day everyday. This became a slight problem when my host parents began planning activities without notifying me, assuming that I did not have any homework to do. One time, when I had an upcoming Dynasties test, they decided to take me out to play squash with their neighbor. I ended up coming home at 10:00pm and staying up in order to study. Since then, I’ve had to break down those stereotypes. At least now they know that Americans also take tests, have tons of homework, and don’t party all the time!

Though these misunderstandings are minor they add up! I believe there would have been lots more but I was prepared well by Donna Fong, and other Chinese teachers. I studied massive amounts of Chinese culture before I came, but sometimes, no matter how hard you study, there are things that don’t end up in textbooks! An example of a could-be misunderstanding was the gift receiving. When I gave them gifts, they just said “xie xie” (thank you), and put them away unopened. Now in American culture, one would open the gift in front of you as it was polite to do so. But in China it is the opposite. Luckily I knew this beforehand and so I wasn’t surprised or offended. That is but only one example, there are many more of these kinds as well! But I believe the misunderstandings that have occurred have allowed me to be more sensitive and less ignorant.

Jake
All Eyes On China

As I travel through Beijing, I cannot help but think about the many stories my father told me about his time in China. In 1979, my father came to live and study as a medical student here in Beijing. It was certainly a very different place back then. One day, on his bus ride home during rush hour, a woman unflinchingly stared into my father’s eyes for a great deal of time. They are hazel, like mine. After fifteen uneventful minutes my father politely asked in Mandarin why she was staring at him. She replied; “I am a nurse at the nearby hospital and I have never seen eyes that color before. I thought you might be blind with cataracts.” This happened in 1979. A time when a Mao-suit was the standard and only dress in China, and the Beijing subway extended a full 180 meters.
It’s rush hour on a Friday afternoon in Beijing. I just finished school and am returning home on the brand new line 5 subway system. The train is packed tight and the commotion is almost suffocating. I can barely turn my head, leaving me stuck staring straight into the eyes of a young Chinese man. After a few moments I notice something quite strange; his eyes are bright baby blue. I mindlessly stare in bewilderment. I had never seen a Chinese person with such a strange blue eyed complexion. I think my jaw must have dropped. My expression must have caused the smiling young man to politely say to me in broken English “It contacts”. I should have figured that out.
China has truly changed a great deal in the past thirty years. When my father was here, it must have been impossible to imagine a time when Chinese would willingly change the color of their eyes, or even see a BMW on the streets. Already, I can see changes taking place in my community. In my neighborhood, Hutong have been razed to make way for new buildings that will soon pierce the Beijing sky. Increasingly more pet dogs parade through the streets, some even dressed in mini Nike shirts. Like America, the walls are lined with advertisements of all sorts, and the streets are filled with cars that almost cost money to look at. The materialism and its resulting changes on Chinese society are impossible to deny. With each day, China grows and changes. As I think back to the years of my father’s time in China, I can only imagine what the next thirty years may hold.

Christopher

Learning Something

One big aspect of this exchange program is learning new things, not only about yourself but about everything and everyone around you. I realized you don’t learn anything really big and mind blowing. You just learn a lot of little things and these little things add up.
School has been one of the places where I have learned the most about Chinese kids and their life. To be honest, it seems that the girls are much more outgoing and have more of a social life. While the boys seem to be the ones who focus on studying and do work rather than go out and hang out with friends. They put work before their social life even if it means they do not have one. Now I’m basing this on grade 9 class 2. Though even though studying is put ahead of their social life. It doesn’t mean they have none. After school, I look around the school and there are kids running around having fun or kids on the track field just hanging out or playing basketball. They seem to all have their little balance of how they want their lives to be. The best thing about it is that they all seem just happy with their lives. They don’t complain about the work they have, they just do it. They get their work done and have fun at the same time. It also seems like they have all their own little niches and try not to be part of everything. They have all found their little happy merry place.

Going into Jingshan I expected the kids to be a lot different from us. I expected them to be very disciplined, sort of like in an army fashion. I was wrong. They surprisingly are just like us. Though their classes are defiantly stricter, the kids themselves are just like us. They aren’t like robots or machines as I thought they would be. They are normal. Just regular kids like us. One thing I think is much different from us is there work ethic. Procrastination is something that is not on their lists of things they regularly do. They also have weekend classes, that they don’t openly express their dislike. They just say too many classes, but still go to the classes every weekend. When I ask them how their classes were, they always say “good”. They never say it was bad or anything. Occasionally I get the boring comment though. All in all, they are just like us. They just are in China, that’s all.

Now coming to Beijing, I thought the food here would be amazing. Now I’m not saying the food is bad, don’t get me wrong. I’m just saying that the food is just reminds me of my mom’s cooking. This is when I realized, my mom really is not a bad cook. Now don’t get me wrong again, I always thought my mom was a good cook. I just never realized her cooking was just like the cooking here in Beijing and I would say even better sometimes. It makes me appreciate my mom’s cooking and what we have in Boston. That we have such a diverse culture in Boston, we can get things that taste just like food in Beijing right in Boston. Although I can’t get my daily dosage of scorpion on a stick in America, nor do I want to. I think we are spoiled to be so lucky to have such a diverse culture in Boston that sometimes we don’t realize how lucky we are. One thing that is really different though is the cost; it’s much cheaper in Beijing.

Of course there are many other things I learned in Beijing, like how to cross a road with cars still turning on a red light and aiming right for you or how to push your way into the subway car even when there is not even no room for an ant to get in. Let me tell you when you cross a road in Beijing timing is very important. And pushing your way into subway car, well that’s more difficult, but you can usually find a nook or cranny you can fit into. Or basically when people are coming out, try to slip through the side so you can just slither your way in. When all else fails, just push like there’s no tomorrow and guess what you are on the subway car!

These are the little things that make the exchange so special. It’s not the big things, where we go and learn about China’s history. Though I do say those are very important. It’s not what makes it special. It is the little things that we learn that only apply to Beijing and that is special to Beijing. These are the things that we learn that we will remember forever, even thought, sadly we may never use these new skills we learned ever again.

February

Kelly

Learning Something

In China, you learn about many different things pertaining to their culture. I learned that sugar coated strawberries on a stick are the most delicious kind of treat. I learned that fireworks can be set off and bought by anyone. And I learned that they absolutely loathe drinking cold beverages.

The sugar coated fruits on a stick, I learned, are only eaten during the winter time. During the summer the temperature is much too high and thus the sugar would melt before you had a chance to enjoy your snack. It is most certainly one of the most popular treats I’ve ever seen. Though beware, never buy from a sketchy looking stand, the fruits may not be fresh!

During the spring festival, China seems to explode with beautiful fireworks. To be honest it makes New Years and July 4th look very lame. In every direction you look, you would see fireworks being set off. It was hard to believe what I saw, and my own host dad set off some of our own fireworks. They would go on for days on end. It was definitely one of the most spectacular sights I’ve ever seen. I’ve also seen fireworks being sold at local stands in the streets and in stores, available to everyone. This time of the year is truly amazing, and on a side note, it’s the most wonderful time to bond with your host family.

Regarding cold beverages…I’ve seen first hand, and experienced, a warm glass of milk. My host parents will lightly scold me for drinking “cold” water after meals because they believe I will have an upset stomach afterwards. When my wisdom tooth was coming out, they told me to drink plenty of warm water and it would stop swelling. I’ve begun drinking more tea than I ever thought was possible. They truly believe that cold beverages are the unhealthiest substances you could intake. I personally agree that drinking warm liquids after meals is probably better but I still hold cold drinks in high regard! (Though it is extremely interesting to see them drink warm milk, orange juice, and yogurt). Yes, another thing I learned, they drink yogurt…they don’t “eat” yogurt. So far, China has been one intriguing experience that looks very promising for the remainder of my stay.

Jacob

Encounters Of The Human Kind (parallel to another experience)

The other day, I experienced a stranger who would change my perception of sincerity and true human connection. It was a beautiful Sunday morning in Tian’anmen Square and I had just exited the Mausoleum of Chairman Mao. The Sun was shining, and the people in Tiananmen were bustling about. I was alone while exiting that monument, yet I could not help but feel the many eyes glancing over, noticing my foreign presence and different appearance. Among the mass of commotion, a man approached me and started to keep up steadily with my brisk pace across Tiananmen Square. “Hello” he said. I returned with a polite “hello” as well. “How long are you in Beijing?”. To my surprise, his English and pronunciation was superb. We continued in small talk conversation before I realized he was probably trying to sell me something. In the end, I bought what he was trying to sell me, but gained something so much more precious.
Before telling what happened next, I would like to start by sharing a previous interaction on Wang Fu Jing Street a few days before. I was browsing the many shops towards the end of the street, when a young woman approached me with a loud “Hello”. Trying to use my Chinese, I politely told her “Bu Yong”, meaning that I didn’t need whatever she was trying to sell me. She quickly responded by saying she was not trying to sell me anything, rather she just wanted to talk. She asked if I wanted to go get a cup of coffee. I was truly startled. Could this woman possibly be sincere about her intentions with me? Or was she trying, like many others, to take advantage of a foreigner? I was too startled by her simple candid wish to come to any sort of quick decision. I knew I must choose between my two options; fight of flight. “I am just trying to be nice” she said politely. I obviously chose flight, as I had no intention of finding out if she was truly after a discussion over coffee. I got away as quick as I could, and after that, it haunted me. What did she really want? The thought plagued me for hours as I thought about my rude self-defensive behavior to such a polite stranger.
Here I was in Tian’anmen, walking again, with another polite stranger who spoke English. I could not help but think about my last encounter with that candid woman on the main street of Wang Fu Jing. It was then that I decided I should take a chance. “Where did you learn English?” I asked. “I always watch the TV show 24”. For the next 30 minutes we talked. He told me more about the Mausoleum of Mao, about Tian’anmen and even the reason why the Chinese flag has five stars. He talked, and I listened. I learned about China from a man who truly experienced it everyday. And to my surprise, there was nothing sketchy or insincere about this man. He mentioned that he was a Chinese painter, and invited me to look at his work that was displayed across the street. With slight hesitation, I agreed, knowing I would immediately leave if I felt unsafe. Inside a travel agency store, was a side room with colorful pieces of art hanging around the room. “Do you know why you can still see five hundred year old watercolor in Chinese art?” he asked me. It honestly never crossed my mind, but I was curious. He explained: “The paints are mixed with a Chinese herb, which keeps out water for hundreds of years”. He taught me more about the many meanings and secrets of Chinese art. From the Great Wall, to the mountains in Guilin, this man had produced many beautiful works. In one corner stood a painting which truly struck me. It was the back of the young and last emperor PuYi, dressed in his small outfit and staring through the many doors of the Forbidden city. It was colorful. Alive. I asked if I could buy it, even before I knew they were for sale. He offered a very reasonable price for a painting which took him a month to create. I thanked him and immediately bought it. His insight, sincerity and kindness towards me was worth far more than a few Renminbi. I am glad I took that chance to talk a little longer with that stranger, learn a little, and put my haunting encounter at WangFujing to rest.

Christopher

Discovering something about yourself

Two Host Families

Since now I have been living with Gao Wei Long’s family and it has been a great joy to be living there. Yesterday, last night, I made my last move to Sun Han Yao’s house. Now many were surprised when I told them I was living with two host families and I was surprised too. Mrs. Fong did tell me that I would end up with two great lifelong friends. This is true. Yet the transition is very difficult, to just uproot yourself from your home in America to a new home in China is already difficult. To do it again, after you arrive Beijing for a few weeks then uproot yourself one more time to another family that you barely know and do not have the leisure time to get to know. This is probably one of my biggest challenges during my stay in China.
            My stay with Gao Wei Long’s family has been unforgettable and they have made a place in my heart. My first day with Gao Wei Long’s family is peaceful and tranquil. There was nothing special but I could feel the care and love radiating out of his family. The welcome was warm and loving. Somehow, Gao Wei Long’s family never made me feel different or awkward during my stay at their house. They always treated me like part of their family and always were there for me when I needed them. There was no moment when it felt awkward. I spent the New Year with them and this was the first time I spent it with someone else other than my family. They were not the traditional Chinese and didn’t do everything traditionally, which was really interesting to see. Just goes to show that not all Chinese take the New Year too seriously. Though the things we did during the New Year gave me memories that I will never forget and created a bond that can never be broken.
            The first day of the New Years, I went with Gao Wei Long’s family to this very fancy restaurant. This was something I was not accustomed to and was shocked. It was odd eating at such a fancy place but it was interesting to see the extremely wealthy side of Gao Wei Long’s family. After we went home we watched the Gala. It was a television show that lasted for a few hours, but this is where the bonding began. We all just sat there waiting for the new year’s to come and watched the Gala. Although I didn’t understand much that was going on it was not about watching the show. It was not about that at all. It was about being together as a family. This is where the bonding was. Just spending time together, doing something simple but enjoying the time together. We took a break in between, and it was the first time I went to play with fireworks.
            So this is where all the trust was built. This is where if you messed up there could be some big consequences. I never played with fireworks before, but for me this is like one chance in my life to play with fireworks. We started with one of the biggest fireworks boxes you can buy and then we went progressively smaller from then on. It was beautiful, but what was more beautiful was that every time you lit that firework we would all run, Gao Wei Long, his dad, and I would run. After, we would go back and shoot off more fireworks. It was during all this running for your life and this being my first time experience. Somehow it gave a sense of trust between us all, it gave a bond between us. It was a once in a life time memory that they created for me. Anyone could have created it for me really, but it was they who did it and I felt like I was one of them, part of them. For some reason, inside of me, I felt very emotional to the point I wanted to cry. Why was this true? I do not know why to be honest. It was not wanting to cry tears of pain, no not at all, it was the fact that it felt I was not excluded that I was one of them. I realized that I felt as if Gao Wei Long’s parents were my parents and Gao Wei Long was my brother.
            As time went on we had more dinners and their family was always open to me and invited me back many times. Gao Wei Long’s grandmother touched my heart when she said in Chinese “Do not be so polite. You are part of this family, we are one big family.” A person I meet only a few times has considered me part of her family. There was another surprise waiting for me, and it was an invitation to karaoke. Now if you do not know me very well, well then let me tell you. Going to karaoke is usually a big no no in Chris Yee’s book but in this case I accepted the offer because “hey I’m in China and I’ll meet some new people and really who knows, maybe it will be fun?” So we went to karaoke. To be honest I went to karaoke with the idea I would not sing. I did sing though and it was not by myself. It was with Gao Wei Long. With Gao Wei Long I broke a border in my life. I stepped out of my comfort zone with his help. I realized I did enjoy karaoke and I realized it was a good way to meet new people. I met one girl who went to High School Number 12 and she became my new friend. Never would I know something like karaoke could open paths for new friends and bring some happiness. It also created a stronger bond between Gao Wei Long and me. Back at home I would try new things with my brother, now with Gao Wei Long, he was my brother and I would try new things with him.
            All this bonding with Gao Wei Long and his family, made my leave very hard. I never knew that I would create such a strong bond and really love Gao Wei Long and his family so much. It just goes to show you just how important it is to spend the New Years with your host family. It allows the time needed to create a bond that usually can never be created because our lives are too busy. This is why it was so difficult to move. The night I arrived at Sun Han Yao’s house I was saddened and my heart ached. It was not because Sun Han Yao or his family were not nice or anything, they were fine, they were perfect, in fact, they were excellent hosts. The problem was I considered Gao Wei Long’s family, my family, and I was leaving a part of my family for a second time. This is what made it difficult. Never thought it would be so difficult, I actually thought it would be a breeze and I could handle it. Although, slowly I realized this task was harder than I ever thought. To be honest, I never bonded with someone so quick; actually I never bonded with three people in such a short time. Spending the New Years with each other is like putting everything in a time capsule. You spend two weeks with your host family you start out as strangers and jump to being a family so quick. Your host family becomes sort of like your new back bone.
            This move has been hard but I will adjust. This has really taught me a lot about myself. In a way I never thought that I would be able be able to feel comfortable and bond with a whole entire family so quick. I would never have thought I could miss a family I just met. This move that I have experienced, I think should never happen again. It is difficult, actually it is extremely difficult. You have to do everything you would do normally on your move to a new family but twice. The toll it puts on you is large. It would be different if it was in the middle of the exchange, but right in the beginning where you are trying to adjust, become comfortable, and get to know those you are living with. This makes it extremely difficult. When you cannot spend the important bonding time with the family you will spend most of the time in China. That time in the beginning is to make everyone feel like one big family. To feel like you belong. I am lucky Sun Han Yao’s family and I are adjusting quickly, but it sure is difficult none the less. This is an experience that will surely make me grow into a bigger person and be able to handle tasks as difficult as this!

Michelle

Learning to be Adventurous: My Food Revelation

            I’ve lived in China for only about 25 days, but I’ve already learned something that my parents could never get through to me: stop being picky and just eat.
Growing up, I was very reserved eating new foods. I would always opt for green beans and corn instead of trying vegetables. Even as I grew older, my tastes never grew; my dislikes still outweighed my likes. So having lived an unadventurous eater for so long, I was ready for a change. Going to China was my opportunity to try new things.
            Of course, actually expanding my horizons wasn’t as easy as deciding to. Since my first meal at my host family’s house, I’ve sat down to many tables full of unknown foods. At first, I would look out at the plethora of dishes, point to one, and ask, “What is this?” Sometimes I understood their answer, sometimes I didn’t. But I found that when I knew what I was putting into my mouth, I was more tentative, filled with preconceived notions of the taste. Still, I insisted on asking my family, dish after dish, to identify the mystery foods.
I did, of course, try many new things, fully aware that I had previously disliked them or protested trying them. Cabbage, onion, tofu, pumpkin, been sprout, sweet potato, fish, congee, bean paste, star fruit, and dragon fruit have all become some of my favorites. I even tried duck’s tongue and liver, a personal triumph. At the time I was eating the liver, though, I was practically wincing before the meat even touched my lips. The knowledge of the contents concerned me. But I surprised myself by actually enjoying it: who knew I would like duck liver? I regret that I didn’t end up taking another piece during that meal. Although it was completely ridiculous to think so, I was fearful that in another bite, the liver would taste as I had originally assumed it would-not so good. Only later did I realize that by always asking what I was eating, I was hindering myself from becoming the adventurous eater I had set out to be.
            During vacation I was surprised when the restaurants served us “American” foods: french fries, fried chicken, and very few vegetables. Instead of feeling comforted by the familiarity, though, I found myself pining for the mysterious dishes my host family had put out for me. Thinking about this during one of the few freshly made meals on the trip, I finally had my food revelation.
The Newton group was spending the day in Wuzhen, a more local and traditional city than Shanghai or Hangzhou, our other vacation destinations. After a rather blistering cold morning walking around the East side of the city, we were all glad when it was time for lunch. Sitting in the upper floor of a wooden building with open windows and just a small heater in corner, the smell of food was extremely comforting.
When the waitress came out with the first plate full of green and brown substances, we asked her what it was. Not understanding her reply, someone asked, “Is it meat or vegetables?” Again, an indiscernible response. As she set it down, I looked at the dish curiously, took a deep breath, and ate it. Without a clue as to what it was, I enjoyed bite after bite. Only then did I finally realize what I needed to do: shut up and just eat. To anyone else, this might have been obvious from the beginning, but to me this was profound. Struggling not to drop any while using my chopsticks, I took more and more.
            From then on, I stopped incessantly asking what every dish was. I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter whether I know what I’m eating or not; I should just try what’s put in front of me. Accordingly, I’ve had multiple bright colored drinks, thick, dark smoothies, many buns with unknown meats or greens inside, some questionable looking soups, countless vegetable dishes, and several strange-textured foods, all without knowing what they were. It’s been wonderful. Somehow I’ve also started liking almost everything I eat, a huge improvement from my former self. Through my experiences eating, I’ve learned that I can make steps towards becoming more adventurous, both in food consumption and in other facets of my life. Now, whether I know what I will be eating or not, I’m excited to sit down with my family, laugh, chat, and, most importantly, eat.

January

Christopher

My First Impression of Beijing

When we first got off the airplane, the first thing I saw was a bunch of Chinese officers. What a scary sight that was and it was probably not the best way to be greeted. When we actually got into the airport, we were all amazed by the size and by how beautiful it looked. The airports in America do not look nearly as beautiful as the one in Beijing. I was really impressed. I always thought there were no trees in Beijing, but on the contrary there were trees when I was leaving the airport! Although, the trees were not naturally growing there, you could tell that they were planted and not in a natural way but in neat organized lines. I realized this is how all of Beijing is arranged in a grid system. In the car, I looked out and realized that there is a mix of the old and new in Beijing. You might see a new modern building that could be twenty or more stories high, but right next to it is this old little store. I also realized that the drivers here do not obey the rules and there are not many traffic lights. So a lot of westerners have the impression that Asian drivers, specifically Chinese drivers, are not good at driving. This is false, the drivers here are much better than the ones in America it is just that the fact that they have a different driving style. So my theory is that if they learned how to drive in China but then came to America and started driving, they might be worse because driving in America is much different than driving in China. Anyways, when looking out I also realized that some of it reminds me of Boston. The only big difference is everything is in Chinese, there are more buildings, and I do not know where I am. I only saw a small part of Beijing when driving to my host family’s house. Also, just noticing the cars, a majority of them are very high class. It seems like having a car in Beijing is definitely a class oriented thing. Just having one means you are of some wealth.

Gao Wei Long’s house is very beautiful. It’s much better than my house in America. It is a privilege to live there. He lives on the third ring road, which is about a forty minute subway ride to the Jingshan School. When I first came in, I was welcomed with open arms. I was surprised that they even had a house maid. The room and even the toilet is just like America, the only difference I see is my bed. My bed is rock hard, but no worries because it is better for my back. Dinner with Gao Wei Long’s family showed me that they eat much simpler than my family in Boston and they eat much healthier with more raw vegetables and fewer meat dishes. They were surprised I could use chopsticks and that I served food to them. They asked me “where did you learn these manners?” I laughed and just told them that my whole life I have been taught to do this. At dinner we ate salad, raw bitter melon, ??? (Red Bean Soup), ??(meat pancake). You can tell they really care about you because when at dinner they ask you how do you eat in America? What do you eat? What can you eat? What do you drink in America? They ask many questions so they can make you feel at home.

Gao Wei Long’s house is very nice but it is not the house of every Chinese person in Beijing. When walking through the city with Gao Wei Long I saw apartment buildings that looked so run down. I jokingly told Gao Wei Long that “I want to live there!” Gao Wei Long smiled and said “It is a good experience if you lived there.” Gao Wei Long was right about that. That it would be a very good experience if I lived there, to live with the poorer people of China. From what I can see, Gao Wei Long’s family is better off than other families.

When walking through the city, the “??”or the subway is much like the one in Boston but just upgraded and cleaner. We went to a book store and bought a few books, music, and movies. It was so big and so many books, much bigger than the book stores in Massachusetts. It seems to me that everything in Beijing is just better and bigger and more crowded. It was interesting to see that they did have a lot of American books and also American music and movies. You would see those aisles with the most people in them. After, we went to eat lunch at this ramen noodle house. The food was good and it was so cheap. For two people it cost us only 74 yuan. After he showed me the gym he goes to, it was so nice, very high class and there were many badminton courts! When walking home we went in a background and it was quite and tranquil. I realized, even in the biggest place, the most crowded places; there are always those peaceful spots.

On the third day, we all met up and we went to eat lunch. At that time we did not have our host buddies and had to really rely on our own Chinese. We could not just go to our host buddy and say “what are they saying?” Before the trip I had a lot of confidence in my Chinese, but now actually in China the confidence just went down. Just talking with the host parents sometimes, they use words I do not know and never heard of, but I do get by. During the lunch I had to use my Chinese more than ever and I felt like my Chinese was minimal and usually the waiters don’t know how to speak English. After the lunch Gao Wei Long and I went to play badminton and play pool. Badminton was fun but I found it interesting that they call pool “snooker”.

So far during my first three day, my time in China has just been wonderful. It has been an incredible experience. Though there is a language barrier, it has not been a huge one. I only feel like I have explored the smallest part of Beijing, I still feel like there is so much more to see and I know there is still so much more to learn. So here I come Beijing!

Michelle

New Experiences

           After dreaming of going to China for the past six years, I'm finally here. I'm living with a host family in Beijing! The trip over was arduous but well worth the many hours. As I stepped out of the airport, my stomach started doing flips; I was completely unsure of how my next four months would go. That anxiety temporarily faded as my fellow bounders and I gaped at the amazing airport; the floor was sleek and vast, the structure resembled the Olympic's Bird's Nest, and the inside held replicas of a traditional Chinese house, the Terracotta Warriors, and ancient scriptures. After going through baggage claim and customs, my stomach sank. I could see the many people waiting in the airport, but I had no idea what my host family looked like. Everyone was bustling around us. Once I recognized the teachers meeting us in the airport, I quickly gave my fellow bounder a hug and inched towards the crowd of people. After hearing my name, I turned to see my host sister for the first time. She was smiling, but her eyes looked nervous behind her blue-rimmed glasses. I realized that I probably looked the same way. As all of the students, teachers, and family members gathered around for announcements, my host father smiled at me and stuck out his tongue. With this silly act, I felt a large smile spread across my face. I was surrounded by friendly people. What more could I want?
            So far, living with my host family has given me an insight into what Beijing life is like. As expected, I've already experienced many new things. Because my family lives on the fifth floor of an apartment, I've seen and heard many fireworks go off for the Spring Festival. In preparation for the holiday, my host sister taught me how to play Mah Jong, and the entire family hung up red, good luck decorations. Around town, there are rabbit posters and papercuts hanging everywhere. In one of the trips my sister and I took to inner Beijing, we went to a large shopping street where there was even a building-sized red lantern showcased in the center. In that area, we both experienced a new sight: we saw spider, seastar, insect, and live-scorpian on a stick. Although my host sister and I were not brave enough to try any of those snacks, we did eat one of her favorites: sugar-coated fruit on a stick. With my host family's help, I know I will continue becoming more adjusted to life in Beijing, viewing new and interesting things along the way.
            I'm constantly surprised by how similar we all are. Although I'm half way across the world, the kindness and openness of my host family surpasses any cultural or language differences. The first full day I was here, my host grandmother taught me two famous Chinese poems meaning something along the lines of: 'throughout the world, people are all very friendly,' and 'throughout the world, everyone can appreciate the beauty of the moon rising.' These proverbial sayings seem to reign true for me; my host family cares for me like I'm their own. I'm very appreciative that my host family has made a big effort to make me feel at home. Not only have they served me delicious home cooked meals and traditional Chinese dishes, but they have also given me more familiar foods: a hamburger, bacon and eggs, and toast with jam. As my family and I switch between Chinese and English, I realize how universal some things are. Together, my family and I have laughed, danced, giggled at funny songs, and played games together. No matter what language we are speaking, we find ways to enjoy ourselves. I'm incredibly lucky to be living with them.

Jake

The Cozy Life

It seems so strange to me how much my Chinese home stay family fears
the cold. In America, cold temperatures are given quite the warm
welcome. Cold drinks are refreshing, lack of layered clothing is
“breathable” and central air cooling is almost a luxury. I was
surprised to find such a phobia among my home stay family. All my
life, I had embraced the cold as a natural element, neither good or
bad. On the other side of the world, I am starting to find that the
Chinese have a very different preconceived feeling towards the cold.
To many of them, the cold is a force which brings sickness and all
things bad. The language even carries this notion, as the word for ice
(bing) can also be phrased as the word for sickness (bing). The Chinese
are certainly not wrong in their longstanding belief that the cold can
bring about sickness, yet I have never seen such an animosity towards
the cold before. In my Chinese home, socks and slippers are always
necessary to keep warm. In addition multiple layers must always be
kept on inside the house, which is maintained at a cozy temperature of
74 degrees. All drinks are warm, including milk and juice. When I
asked my homestay how they felt about Ice cream, they explained that
it was mainly children's food, as it was not good for the aging body.
For a self proclaimed Ice cream connoisseur, I find this fact to be
quite surprising and somewhat alarming. Nevertheless, I am starting to
find that it is quite easy to adjust to the cozy life.

Max

Last night my host father and I drank tea. When he first proposed the idea, I of course related it to what I’m used to in America. I thought he’d pour the tea and we’d move on to other things. The act of Tea drinking in China, however, is rather different. Sitting on the living room couch, he pulled a low table with a tea set on it close to us. The set consisted of a smaller, wooden table with cross sections of wood, a small teapot, a round glass with a strainer on it, four of what an American might call tea-shot-glasses, and a pair of small wooden tongs. Next he flicked on an electric kettle that sat on the floor next to the couch. While the water heated up, he pulled out a disk of dried, compressed tealeaves that he said were grown in Yun-Nan. He tore a few bits from the disk and put them in the small teapot. At this point the water was boiling. He picked up the kettle, filled the pot until it was nearly overflowing, and replaced the pot’s lid. After a few seconds he picked up the pot and poured the steeped tea through the strainer and into the round glass. Lifting it up to the light, he inspected the tea’s color then brought it to his nose and inhaled deeply. I sat on the edge of my seat, quite prepared to drink some tea having just witnessed this impressing routine. Just as I leaned forward, though, he poured half the glass over the pot, tea cascading over its sides and down through the cross sections of the table, and the other half into the tea cups so that they too flowed over onto the table. Using the tongs he flipped the cups over and emptied them into the cross sections. I had no idea what was happening, for now we had no tea. Maybe this tea was not be drunk? I asked him why he had done this. He answered, “The first two pours are to clean the set and soften the leafs.” I had not noticed until now that there was a plastic basin beneath the cross sections of the table. He repeated the cleaning process once more, and then, on the third pot, he filled the cups and said, “okay,” with a gesture of his hand. Having no confidence in knowing what to do next, I nodded in response to his “okay” and waited to see what he did. He waited for the tea to cool a bit, and then threw it back. We drank eight pots, each consisting of about six cups, over the next two hours, after which I must have peed at least five times.

Such activities have become our way of learning to communicate and share cultures. During this experience I not only learned the words for pour, characteristics, flavors, and so on, but the tradition of tea drinking. I learned that inhaling through your mouth and nose with the tea still in your mouth allows you to fully experiences the flavor notes. This evening my host family and I made our way through a good amount of a “The Far Side” comic book. They learned western humor and random words implemented by the comic and I learned that the Chinese find talking fish hilarious. These four months offer context to what he have been taught in school. I am not just memorizing words anymore, but giving them a much deeper meaning and learning how to understand Chinese culture through its native tongue.

Kelly

First Few Days in Beijing

The first thing I saw in Beijing when I arrived was the magnificent airport. This airport was one of the most spectacular sights I’ve ever seen. Not only was it colossal and grand, but it was also extremely quiet. I was already thoroughly impressed and absolutely scared out of my mind. It was also in the airport that I learned the Chinese people hardly form lines. It was interesting though, kept you on your toes!
On the second day, towards the night, I heard loud consecutive “BOOMS” right outside my window on the fifth floor. I was shocked and saw my life flash before my eyes. It was ironically that same flash that helped me realize that it was not flying gunmen shooting at my window but rather fireworks going off. I had been warned about the availability of fireworks for purchase, but I had not expected them so soon. Though at first it was terrifying, I later found it to be quite entertaining. I can’t wait until I get a turn to put on a fireworks show.
The third day I went to lunch with the bounders and teachers at Fu Ke Lai. The food was delicious and cheap! Afterwards, my host sister took me, Michelle, and her host sister out to Wong Fu Jin street. This street was incredibly long with many exotic foods that consisted of scorpions, centipedes, starfish, seahorses, and spiders. All the street venders would try to lure you into buying their merchandise too! It was really lively and exciting. I was also able to travel via the subway. The subway is probably one of my favorite things about Beijing. It is so clean, and easy to get around. It’s completely different from the subways in America. I’ve learned that the subway is by far the most convenient form of transportation here. Even though I live so far away from the school, I don’t believe there will be a problem since it is so convenient. So far, my stay here has been a wonderful adventure, though there is still much more to be learned.