Hi everyone! Because of wordpress.com being blocked here in China, I will be posting on this blog from here on out: http://www.chinalily42.tumblr.com Please feel free to follow or just check in occasionally – whatever floats your boat. 🙂 Sorry for the inconvenience, and please comment often! Love to hear from you! Will be posting pictures and new information soon. (Internet gods willing).

Hello everyone! This is my first post from the NSLI-Y Shanghai Academic Year program. I won’t be posting as often as I did during the summer, but hopefully I’ll be able to give you an insightful and accurate image of my life in Jiaotong High School. More to come soon. 🙂 Please, as always, comment to let me know what you want to hear about, what you don’t care about, or just that you’re enjoying the blog. It keeps me motivated to write.

I’m sitting in a swanky DC hotel room, anxious to hurry up and wait for the rest of my group to arrive in the capitol city. Booking me the cheapest flight from Burlington to here resulted in a 5:30am departure, but my level of sleep-deprivation was, I suppose, acceptable collateral damage when compared with the greater goal of greenback conservation (I joke, American Councils is more than generous). Although I’ve seen the profiles of my compatriots online, I’ve resisted the urge to delve into their personal lives. This means that while I don’t have any preconceptions about the people I’ll be living with for the next 10 months, I also don’t know what to expect. I can’t wait to meet them and form some more accurate impressions! I do believe that I’ll be among the oldest of the participants—which is, unsurprisingly, a first for me. In every program/group/organization/committee I’ve ever associated with, I’ve been among the younger (if not the youngest) member. (Eg. Class council [I skipped a grade], YES planning [youngest by at least 2 yrs], YouthLAB [many 18 y/os], NEASC [only person under the age of 30], etc.)

Saying my goodbyes this morning wasn’t as difficult as I expected (sorry, mom and dad), in part because I began the process of detachment so long ago (relatively speaking). My hardest moment was probably leaving my sister in the SF airport on August 20^th. That was the first of my goodbyes, and it signified the beginning of the end of my summer and time at home. Also, airports are not the most nurturing of environments.

It feels crazy to me that I’m about to undertake this great challenge. I’ve never entered into anything I feel like I truly can’t handle, and this year is no exception, but it will certainly be a task unlike anything I’ve faced in my previous 17 years. How many people have the chance to experience both ends of the spectrum of strictness, I wonder? I’m glad I get to.

Homeschooling—————-U-32———-Summer Programs—————–Chinese Prep School

Over the past two years, I’ve had some incredible experiences. Highlights certainly include:

~ Service trip to Guatemala – although I didn’t love the nation unconditionally, it was an eye-opening experience

~ YouthLAB and the chance to spend time with families in Turkey and Armenia. My first real introduction to international relations, I was blown away by the potential for tangible change in our generation. YouthLAB makes me want to go and change the world. (I’m working on it, btw. Give me a few years.)

~ Bonding with various family members. I love the feeling of knowing my roots and understanding where I came from. I feel more grounded and empowered knowing who I am (genetically/ethnically/culturally) and how I came to be. There are some amazing stories there.

Yesterday, Monday, I had the first day of my last week of school. It’s really sad to think about… I don’t want to leave! Although, at the same time I’m excited to come home. I don’t know.

We did the usual stuff in class, and were taught the stupidest dance EVER for our culture class. It was honestly terrible. We’re supposed to do it at our presentation, but I think we’re doing the Cha Cha Slide instead. That’s how bad it is – the cha cha slide is a big improvement. Sigh.

After dancing (or not, actually), Emma and I went off to Carrefore and some other stores to go shopping. We bought some random things to eat and to bring home. If you want some bizarre food item from China, let me know, and I can hook you up! 😉 I love hanging out with Emma. I have a lot of respect for her, and she’s always fun. I helped her pick out some jewelry.

After meeting Mandy at 9, after she got out of school, she brought two friends to meet me by the gate. They wanted to practice their English, because there are almost no foreigners in Zhengzhou. It was interesting to talk to them, even if we mostly conversed about relatively mundane things. They seemed nice, but nervous to be talking to me. Not sure why. They told me, again, that it was an honor to be able to talk to me, and that they hope we can stay in touch. They gave me their email addresses. They sort of seemed like typical Chinese girls – somewhat timid and meek, but not so much that they would be useless. They were nice though, and their English was passable.

Today, I had my last day of actual classes in school. I’m really sad, actually – I loved my language class! And especially my teacher, 张老师. He was amazing. SO. COOL. His classes were so interesting. Definitely the best I’ve ever had, but that was also partly due to the fact that I had him for four hours of class a day, he was actually Chinese, but spoke perfect English, and talked about the government all the time. 🙂 I’ll miss him, for sure. We had to come up with skits in the style of traditional Chinese comedy today, in small groups. My group  (Emma, Cody, Hunter, Me) made an AWESOME one. Zhang lao shi loved it. It was great. It started with us waiting for a bus, degenerated into us being complete berserk, then rallied with a round of ‘don’t stop believing’ then resolved with us all missing our bus anyways. 🙂 It was great.

I played Chinese Chess instead of culture class (I mean, we didn’t have culture class – I didn’t skip it). During regular class, Zhang lao shi put up a powerpoint slide of a spectrum of “not good” to “excellent” and asked to take a piece of paper and write down where on that spectrum we thought this program fell and reasons why. Every piece of paper except for one was vying for space all the way on the “excellent” side. Only one person had anything significant to criticize about the program (and we all argued with him heartily, because he was an idiot). It definitely said something about the program itself. I totally agree, and am not at all surprised. I want to reapply next year, and come back if I can!!!

After classes were over, Emma and Paul and I all went back to Carrefore. After that, I met up with Christina and we went to the photography place to look at her finished photos. Then we shopped around a bit before running into David and Maggie, who hung out for a while. When I came home (early tonight – about 8) I made a powerpoint to accompany my presentation of my project tomorrow. It looks good! my host dad proofed it for me, and caught all my mistakes, so I should be set now. Just need to write down some notes and keywords, and I’ll be set.

We had our musical drama performance today… I didn’t make any huge blunders, but the production as a whole was embarrassing. I saw videos of it after. I’m just going to never speak of it again and pretend it didn’t happen, okay?

anyways, tomorrow is our last day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then on thursday we’re going to Shanghai! AAAAAHHHH!!!! I don’t want to leave anymore! Of course I’m excited to head home, but I’ll miss this place so much! I can’t believe how much I’ve grown to love it. I desperately want to come back next year. Wish me luck.

Love to you all – Lily.

On Saturday, I mostly stayed at home and worked on my project. I met up with Paul and we gave the photos we wanted printed to a guy who could do it. Then I met up with Christina and Maggie (and, inadvertently, Nick), to go get haircuts. However, it was still ridiculously hot. Since school is a relatively central place, we often use it as a meeting place. I met Paul there and Christina/Maggie/Nick later. I only had to wait for Paul for a few minutes in the morning. Then, when I went back to the school in the afternoon, the security guard person recognized me again! They have their own little booth where they control all traffic in and out of school with huge mechanical gates. If they suspect a student of cutting class or think they’re violating the dress code, they stop and interrogate them. Thus, you can’t get in or out of the school without surpassing their scrutiny. (although, they don’t seem to care what we americans wear at all). On Saturday, one of the guards invited me into their little watchtower! It was very well air conditioned and quite cool. We ended up having almost an hour-long conversation, as my friends were extremely late. It was really interesting. We talked about a wide variety of different topics, but he didn’t speak any English, and it was still a good conversation! It was really nice. He seemed really nice, and now I wave at him every time I walk by. I think that before I leave I want to give him a small gift (a Vermont pen, perhaps?).

After meeting up with my friends, we went hunting for a reputable looking hair salon. We eventually managed to find one, but Maggie had to go to a bank first to change money, and Nick went with her. Thus, it was just Christina and I. We were both feeling a little iffy about it, but we decided to go for it anyways. We first got our hair washed – and, in my case, a head massage. Sooo nice. 🙂 It was really fun, and it was entertaining to fail at talking to my head-washer. He didn’t speak English, and for some reason my Chinese was not up to par. I think I have a problematic lack of hair vocabulary. After the wash/massage, I settled in to have my 头发cut. Hardly pausing to ask what I wanted, a different guy started to hack away with a pair of scissors. Cringing as I saw the locks fall to the floor, I dreaded the final outcome. However, with all said and done, it looked great! Best of all, I was only down 21 元 – about $3 US. 🙂 It was good. (A few days later, now, I still like it, too!)

After hair, we met up with almost the entire rest of our program for Hotpot. It was a really really awesome place – each person has their own personal pot of boiling water inset in the table in front of you, and the rest of the restaurant is like a buffet of raw foods – you just grab a plate and whatever you want to cook and boil it yourself. It was really fun, and no compromises necessary! 🙂 Beer was also ordered. One guy (a Chinese guy though, don’t worry, nothing illegal happened, we’re not THAT stupid), had an insane amount of beer. He ended up throwing up (in the restaurant, yuck!). He was fine though. His cousin was there, and she got him home okay. After the restaurant, a bunch of us sat on the steps of this huge department building called Carrefore and played Chinese Chess. I love that game – it’s so much fun! And a lot more interesting than Western Chess. I need to buy a set while here. Christina and I shared a cab on the way home. It worked out pretty well.

On Sunday, Paul and I met up again and went back to the photo place where we retrieved our photos. It was super cheap, and they looked great. We shopped around a little, then I went back home and worked on the project. It went pretty well, and I think that my end product is pretty decent. Not amazing, but not cringe-worthy either. In the evening, I went out to a movie with Mandy, Panpan, and two of Mandy’s friends (boys). We saw “Tripletap” which was a bizarre Chinese action movie with no English and only Chinese subtitles (actually, I lie – there was one character who would sometimes say “byebye” when he left the screen). I understood a lot of it, and I could understand a lot of what they said! It was pretty neat. However, there were also a lot of things I didn’t (don’t) understand. It was fun though, and we went out for KFC after. It’s a lot of fun to talk to Chinese students here – I get to practice my Chinese a lot! Plus, hearing their opinions is interesting. The boys mostly talked amongst themselves, but I had a great conversation with Panpan (the cousin). It was a lot of fun. On the way home, she and Mandy and I talked about swears. 🙂 It was very entertaining. I’ll have a new arsenal of Chinese swears when I return home! 😀

I finished my project, and then went to bed. It was a busy weekend, and I wish that they hadn’t sprung the project on us so abruptly. I mean, we knew about it from the start, but they didn’t give us any specifics (requirements, deadlines, anything) until friday. So, it was a little rushed. Mine really did turn out decent, though, so I’m not complaining.

Anyways, sorry it’s been a while between posts, it’s been a crazy crazy few days. I’ll do another, separate post on Monday and Tuesday, so look for that too! 🙂 Thanks! ❤

Yesterday, instead of having regular classes, we went to a nearby marketplace to hone our haggling skills. This would have been really fun, if not for two things: 1. The market had almost NOTHING good to buy. At all. It was all ugly clothing and hideous shoes and cleaning products (?). And 2. It was the middle of a heat wave – one of the hottest days we’ve had so far. Consequently, after shopping for a bit and wandering some more (I was with Paul and Emma – I bought shoes, Paul bought two shirts, but I haggled for him because he doesn’t like to talk in Chinese), we headed out. Seeking refuge in the nearby KFC, we were somewhat furtive, wondering whether we would get in trouble for going to an American restaurant (it barely qualifies as fast food here), while technically still in class. However, when we got to the KFC, we saw not only about 2/3 of our classmates also relaxing there, but two of our teachers as well. So we figured it was probably fine.

Some surprisingly tasty Chineseified fast food later, we sat down for yet another culture class on flower making. YET ANOTHER. I now know how to make 4 different types of flowers out of paper (rose, calla lily, poppy, and a slightly less ugly poppy-ish-thing). It was not the most fun I’ve ever had. After we were released, Emma and Paul and I went to the post office, where I finally mailed my postcards (all 18 of them!). As it turns out, Chinese postage stamps don’t have sticky stuff on the back of them, so you have to manually stick them down with pasting glue. And to send things to America requires three stamps. Thus, we spent about 20 minutes at the Post Office sticking down stamps. Ah well, it was air conditioned at least. Emma tried to mail the small sword that she bought at the Shaolin Temple, but they told her they couldn’t send it. I guess we’ll have to find another way.

After mailing things, we walked for about 15 minutes to the nearest trustworthy bank, so that Paul and Emma could exchange money (again, I had to translate, as my speaking is the best – even though Paul is in a higher class. But he can read/write a lot better than I can). However, we took the bus back to school (only one stop, haha), to avoid the preposterous heat. We then took another bus and went to meet Emma’s host sister at a KTV place – it was her birthday. The KTV was fun, but a little weird, as we didn’t know any of their songs and they didn’t know any of ours. Emma’s sister (Wu Tong) has a great voice though! She’s a good singer. It was a fun night, and we all went out for noodles after. The group was me, Emma, Paul, Emma’s sister, and three of her friends – a girl and two boys. Since it was kind of late, one of the guys escorted me home after. It was really sweet of him, but it raises some interesting questions. I mean, it’s definitely a chivalrous thing to do (instead of leaving me to walk home through sketchy alleyways at night) but at the same time, it implies that I’m not capable of making it on my own. I’m not sure how I feel about it.

When I got home, my host sister (who got home later than I did!) invited me to go to Kai Fung with her. However, as I have a really huge project that I have to do for monday, I told her that unfortunately I really couldn’t. I already made plans with Paul to work on it together – we have to go to a photo place and get pictures printed, and that will be less intimidating with two of us. Also, I have some pictures he wants to use. But it was a small triumph that I was able to explain all of this in Chinese! Not even pidgin, but real Chinese. 🙂 Yay!

Another funny thing I wanted to talk about: a few of my friends and I ended up meeting up with the same group of Asians that we saw the day before (including the guy who gave me the book). When we saw them, we started chatting again, and he ended up giving Emma a book as well (a newer copy of the same one, I think). I think he also gave her a letter, and he gave a letter to Paul as well. I’m not sure what’s going on with that, but maybe he’s just friendly? I know that in China, giving gifts is very traditional, but I don’t know if he means anything by it or not. I’m guessing not. Emma and I have been thinking, and we think that maybe she, Paul, and I will jointly give him a present in return (so that no one of us means anything by it, clearly). I suggested that since he gave Emma and I a classic Chinese novel, maybe we should do the same? As I have a copy of Crime and Punishment that I don’t need to keep, we might give him that. No letter though. 🙂

Also, the guy who maybe might have asked me to the movies – I haven’t seen him since then. However, since I was confused, when I saw another girl who was on the bus with us that day, I asked her (casually) whether he meant it as a date or what. She laughed, and explained that actually a bunch of them were going since they’d gotten out of school to come to the flower market with us. She said that he WAS inviting me to go (so I did understand that right) but that it was NOT a date – just because he thought it might be fun and I might enjoy it. We’ve decided that the Chinese students think that because we’re American, we’re automatically cool. They all seem to vie for our attention, and it seems as though they feel really lucky when they talk to us (that’s what they say, anyways). I think that’s a bit bizarre because they think that I’m really interesting… mostly based on my hair color, my eye color, and the fact that my nose sticks out.

Anyways, today I’ll mostly be working on my project, and then there might be a gathering of all the american students and our host siblings later today. We’ll see how far I get on my project.Thanks for reading! And I’ll be home really, really soon! Aaah! 🙂

Today, I “met” (by which I really mean “got hit on by”) three different Chinese guys.

One, I met in a break between classes when my friend Emma and I went to buy our habitual Red Tea (best drink ever!). He’s half Chinese, half Korean, and speaks near fluent English with a British accent. We chatted with him for a few minutes, then had to return to class. As it turns out, he’s the same guy that took one of our friends (a guy, though) out to dinner last week. He seemed nice, but is plenty outgoing. More than most Chinese boys seem to be (or maybe just some of them… I don’t know anymore). He’s a college student, and a graduate of our current school. We’re hoping to run into him again, so we can revel in the delights of talking to someone who actually understands our slang.

The second was the same boy I met at the American Students’ assembly. This was by far the most awkward of the three, and was really quite bizarre. When I ran into him in the courtyard in the middle of school, he told me “I have a present for you”. While I was trying to think of a polite way to refuse (and drawing a blank), he placed it in my hands. The gift was a book – one of the four chinese classic novels. It’s called “Dream of the Red Mansion” (or something) and is a romantic tragedy. However, it’s not like I can read it, since it’s all in Chinese. He told me that he thinks that if I continue to study (which he hopes I will) I’ll be able to read it in a few years. I’m skeptical. Included with the book was a letter that he wrote to me – in english and in chinese. It’s a bit bizarre, but I suppose he has sweet intentions. His english is very good, and his handwriting is probably better than mine. The letter was cute but slightly cringeworthy. I think that I’ll be keeping it though. 🙂

After giving me the gift, he and a bunch of other Chinese students, and me and some of my friends, all hung out in our (blissfully air-conditioned) classroom. We played music on Emma’s laptop, practiced our languages, and gave my boy-suitor (as the others are calling him, or “book-boy”), an english name – Dennis Proud. (The meaning of his Chinese last name is proud, and we just liked the name Dennis for him). It was pretty fun. They had to leave after not too long though, as we had class again.

The third boy was after our culture class, when we met up with a bunch of Chinese students on a bus to go to the Flower Market. I sat next to him, as I already knew him somewhat – he was one of my group’s guides at the Tea Factory. He’s really nice, I like him a lot. His name is Melody – isn’t that a girl’s name? 🙂 I was a little confused. He asked for my number, and I gave it to him. He also might have asked me to watch a movie with him at the theater – I’m not exactly sure (heheh). He definitely said something about going to a movie, and if I wanted to, but I’m not sure what the situation was. Hahah, typical language confusion. Oh well. He’s a nice guy.

The flower market itself was amazing. Mom, you would have loved it (and probably Grandma Lil, Grandpa Rick, Grandma Frieda and Grandpa Fred, as well). It was in a greenhouse (SO STIFLINGLY HOT), and was basically an enormous array of different stands selling different kinds of flowers, trees, shrubs, and other plants. There were every imaginable type of leafy plant, from pink to yellow to purple to orange, and from soft to spiny to squishy to prickly. It was amazing, and a lot of the plants (mostly tropical) were gorgeous. If I ever live here, I’m having an entire room full of plants. I don’t care what else. I wanted them all. 🙂

Also today, I went with Christina to check out and select her favorite photos from her photoshoot. Some of them were stunning, although some of them less so. I’m definitely not planning on getting a photoshoot done – it’s just too expensive. After choosing them, we went out to dinner at a local noodle restaurant near her house. We both got La Mien, which was delicious (and about $2, for more than we could finish). I love Chinese food. 🙂 After dinner, I went back to school and hung out with Emma until our host siblings were released. Today was Emma’s host sister’s birthday (and I love Emma’s sister), so I gave her some maple candy from Vermont as a gift. She’s adorable, and invited me to go party with them at KTV on Sunday. It should be fun, I’d like to go.

Anyways, I’m off to bed, to try to fight off my looming cold. 😦 I’ll post again soon, and it’s good to hear from all of you. Oh, and postcards are coming! I’m working on it. Finding the post office is proving more difficult than anticipated. But fear not – they’ll arrive eventually. 🙂 Love to you all!

Today, a group of my friends and I went to a small amusement park after school. After, for our last class of the day (from 2 to 4), playing Chinese Chess (my favorite board game ever!!! I won once and lost twice, but both times only barely, and the last time with a HUGE audience), we went off by bus to the park. It was me, Maggie, Christina, Charlie, David, Darren, Oliver, and three Chinese girls (whose names I forget). Once at the park, Christina and I quickly decided to ditch the rest of the party and go off on our own – a group that size, with that much of a language barrier, was obviously going to take an average 20 minutes per decision. Together, we did a bunch of really awesome rides: first, we went on this thing which was like a cart with an eggshell covering the back half and arching over the top (transparent plastic) which rode on a track about 12 feet off the ground and was powered by your pedaling. It went in a loop around and over the other rides and walkways and stuff. It was pretty cool, but precarious – the track was maybe 6 inches wide, and so we were sitting in the ‘egg’ suspended in midair. Next, we walked all around and rented a pedal-boat, which we pedaled all around the park. We frightened some ducks and played chicken with some other boats, as well as temporarily ruining the landscapes an art class was painting. 🙂 After that, we went on a giant zipline, which went from tower to tower across the lake on which we boated. It was really fun, although I’m not sure how much I trust China in things like that (no safety regulations, remember). However, it was really fun, and well worth the 10 kuai (about 1.50 US). Lastly, we went on the amusement park’s largest roller coaster. It was white and rickety, and featured both a loop-de-loop and a corkscrew on its rough 30 second ride. It was a lot of fun, but very jarring when going around corners or flipping upside down.

After exhausting our ride options, we met up with the rest of the group (who almost ditched us in return, by leaving the park and not telling us until they were at the bus stop!). We all went back to school together, and then some of us (Darren, David, Charlie, and one asian girl, and myself) went to dinner at the local western (ish) all-you-can-eat buffet (it’s expensive for the Asians, at 38 kuai, but it’s really only $5.50 for us). So delicious. It was also a really entertaining group, so there was never a dull moment over the dinner table (although, definitely not all of the conversation was dinner table appropriate!). 😉

After dinner, I met up with Emma again, with Darren tagging along. Although we were planning on having another talking session, Darren’s presence interrupted that, so we had to modify our plans slightly. Oh well. It wasn’t a big deal. I’ll get to spend more time with Emma soon. 🙂 I met up with Mandy and we headed home, but I had a slight mishap (haha, 真不好意思）. On the bus, I was talking to two fellow students of 郑州九中(my school) and I missed my bus stop! I had to get off at the next one and walk backwards, then go home by myself, as I had missed Mandy (who, again, rode her bike to school). Haha, it was funny, and not a big deal. I talked to my family for a while about the differences between Chinese and English.

I’ve been a little sick today – having to blow my nose a lot, and with a headache and whatnot. However, I’m hoping that if I eat enough fruit with Vitamin C (etc.), I’ll be able to fight it off. On that note, I should probably go get some rest now!

In other news, we were told today that our research projects (20 pages of written and drawn notes on our chosen topic) is due on Monday, so I’ll have to work on that tomorrow and over the weekend. I may need to borrow someone’s laptop. Emma will probably let me. Or Paul. Or Amalia. Or Charlie… It shouldn’t be an issue. 🙂

Thanks for reading, and as always, I’ll try to answer  your questions if you leave them in a comment! Thanks, and love you all. ❤

Today, the long-awaited group of “Other Americans”, as they were dubbed, arrived at Zhengzhou No. 9 school. There were about 100 of them, but they ended up being one of the least inspiring groups of travelers I have ever seen. Their program is a two-week trip to China, mostly for people in the Southern states, where for the price of the airfare ($1000-$2000), you can spend two weeks in “China camp” – touring around Henan Province. However, as far as we could tell, there was no selection process – if you could pay, you could go. And after 10 days, none of them spoke any Chinese. Still. We were distinctly unimpressed. It was mostly their apparent lack of enthusiasm or interest that really got me, though. They mostly seemed rather sullen.

However, it was still fun to socialize with them (showing off my Chinese proficiency with the other Chinese students), and telling those of them that were interested all about NSLI (which is, by far, a clearly superior program). In the beginning, my fellow NSLI students and I were concerned, or irritated, I suppose, about their arrival. In part because it’s a certain amount of an ego boost, I guess, for over a thousand students to be able to recognize your face and know who you are. For them to instantly recognize you, be desperate to talk to you, and think that you are pretty much the coolest person they’re ever had in their school. But the more of us there are, the less of a commodity we are. So, adding 100 to our 20 would drastically decrease our intrigue. However, the “other americans” left after just a few hours, at 4:00. So it wasn’t an issue.

In the Welcome Assembly for the other americans, there were a few Chinese students sitting behind me (invited by Stephanie, to practice their English, and for us to practice Chinese. They always try to keep some Chinese people around so we can’t just speak English.) I was talking to one of them (sort of two, but mostly just the one), and we had a really good conversation, in both languages equally, while waiting for the speeches to start. It was really interesting, and it was fun to make new friends. After about a 15 or 20 minute conversation, the one guy I was talking to told me that since he had very few opportunities to practice his English, he wanted to meet up some time and talk more. He said that we could trade English for Chinese. (He also said that he bet my handwriting was as beautiful as me – a sweet compliment, but awkward!). He ended up asking for my name and phone number, and asking if we could meet tomorrow during a break in his classes. I tentatively agreed, but I’m planning on bringing some friends with me to be absolutely sure that we’re clear on the fact that this will be a language practice session, and nothing else. 🙂 I also got invited to dinner at another Chinese student’s house, (their mother is an English teacher), along with another friend. All in all, a fruitful assembly! 🙂 hahaha.

After the other Americans left, we played some frisbee, then went out to eat. We got street food, gossiped, and explored. We also spent a lot of time giving some advice to my friend Darren, on his current “relationship” thing. It’s a little confusing. Maggie, David, Charlie, Darren, Oliver, and I all went out, though, so it was a lot of fun. They are a very entertaining group, for sure. shenanigans ensued. 🙂

After spending a few hours with them, I met up with Emma, then with our host sisters, and went and bought more street food for dinner. However, as the Chinese students only had 30 minutes, we couldn’t actually eat with them. Instead, Emma and I went and had a picnic in the very center of the school’s full-sized turf soccer field. It was fun. More shenanigans. 😀 After we finished our food, we went to go buy ice cream (as we often do). However, when we entered the little shop (which has a special place in my heart), the shopkeeper ladies, who love us a lot, due to our faithful daily patronage, presented us with tiny little… Things… which they proceeded to show us how to eat. They look like… something I can’t describe, but that grew underground, and taste like a potato mixed with edimame. They’re weird, and hard to eat, but not bad. The ladies then gave us a large bag full of handfuls of these things. Each. It was pretty adorable. They were very excited, and instructed us to share them with our friends. That was the third time this week that our dutiful patronage to a local shop has gotten me a discount – first at our favorite bubble tea shop (he waived an extra 6 mao when I couldn’t find the change in my purse. The bubble tea man is, I’m convinced, my future family. If someone in the family (*coughkatiecough*) doesn’t marry him, I will! He’s adorable. And makes the best facial expressions ever while making bubble tea.). The next was at our bakery of choice, where the baker gave me mroe change back than I deserved. I would have corrected him, but he smiled and gave me a look, so I’m pretty sure he meant it. Then this, with the weird fruit thing, was the third. Good week!!!

After receiving our… interesting… gifts, Emma and I ate them and hung out talking for about three hours. It was great. I find her extremely easy to talk to, as we both have a lot in common and have some differing opinions. She’s smart and witty, and conversation with her is never dull. We had a lot of fun, and I definitely learned a lot about her today (all of which I will be using as blackmail in the future. If you read this, Emma, remember: Dragon boat house.) It was a great way to relax while waiting for our host siblings. After we met up with them after class, (after seeing a made-over Christina, after her photo shoot – and OMG she looked incredible! She was stunning, but looked nothing like herself. Like, really. Nothing.), my host sister and two of her friends waited for me at the bus stop, then Mandy and I met up again at the intersection with the park. It was a nice night, although plenty hot, and we had a good talk on the way home. I asked her to help me with my homework some time, which should be a good thing to do together.

Anyways, I’m getting my hair cut tomorrow (just a trim, though – I’ve decided I don’t trust them to know how to do anything else to Western hair, after hearing some stories), and hopefully mailing my postcards. Right now I need to go to bed, as tomorrow might be a long day and it’s already late (ish. not really, actually. whatever). I hope to hear from you all soon, and I’ll be home in less than two weeks. Aaaah! Just when I’m starting to like this place!!! 😦 Anyhoo, love you all, and I’ll post again soon. ❤ Lily

On Sunday, I was able to sleep in a little, and spend some more down time at my house just hanging out. It was pretty relaxing, which was definitely nice. In the afternoon, just after lunch, I met up with some friends in a movie store near the school. We went exploring, and found some really interesting back alleys. Interesting, as in if I hadn’t been walking with three big tough guys I would have turned and run away as fast as possible. Not that I thought I was in particular danger, but there were multiple things that contributed to the impressive shadyness of the alleys: to start, there was the street itself. Strewn with trash, compost, recycling, liquids of unknown origin, open manholes (literally), potholes, loose/missing/sticking up  paving stones, and a myriad of vehicles in various states of disrepair, to merely navigate the alley while remaining on your feet was a triumph of sorts. Thus, it took a minute before I was able to safely tear my gaze away from my treacherous footing to inspect the plethora of men and women with weatherbeaten faces, wearing varying amounts of clothing, doing everything from squatting and rocking to working construction on some beaten-down buildings in the alley. A series of extremely sketchy elevators (of sorts) hoisted mostly unclothed men smogward to work on the buildings, utilizing a set of worn-looking pulleys and ropes, lifting rickety railingless platforms that remained precarious balanced enough to not throw anyone off.

All in all, it was a fun little stroll – and in the end, it turned out to be a loop! Which came out right near the school, which was very interesting. I always enjoy being able to fill in little spots on my internal map, and that alleyway loop ended up being very useful in my sense of navigation through the city (not that I would ever walk through it on my own, that is!). After having some bubble tea (or bt or bubtea, as my friend Terry is trying to call it), we disbanded, and Maggie and I went to meet Christina at a place about a 20 minute bus ride/walk away. The day before, Maggie had gone to have a photo shoot – it’s some sort of Asian family tradition, I guess, where the 16-year-old family member has a serious of official (ish) portraits taken of them and bound in a hardcover book. Today, Maggie had to select the best ones (to be included in the book), and had enlisted our help in choosing. While some of the pictures were gorgeous, some of them were pretty bizarre. And although I think she’s pretty pleased with it, I’m not 100% sure it was worth the money – it was $666 yuan, which is about $100 American dollars. Pretty pricey.

Anyway, after helping her select photos, we went shopping in some malls. I didn’t buy much, but that wasn’t really the point. It was a lot of fun anyways, and those two are very enjoyable company. After some incredibly confusing antics (which involved about 12 different cell phone calls, what was basically the biggest game of Marco polo ever played, and some very diplomatic negotiations, Christina, Maggie, Cody, and I ended up eating Pizza at the delicious place called Baker’s Pizza. While I got home really late that night (about 11:15), I was thankfully able to avoid another lecture from my host family. I think that they are finally starting to actually trust me. When I got home, I went straight to my room, but when I heard my host parents in the main area of the house, I basically just went out, apologized for being home so late, and explained that the hour wasn’t my fault, and blamed it all on my friends. 🙂 After which they just told me that they were always happy when I got home safely and it really didn’t matter that much.

Today, I had school as usual in the morning. It was a fairly interesting class, although a lot of my classmates are still sick, which is concerning. I’ve been eating lots of lichees (supposedly having the highest vitamin C concentration of all fruits), and trying not to touch anyone. In my performance class, my teacher finally told me that my lines sounded “非常好”, or “very good”, and that I was doing really well (this was the first day she didn’t berate me and tell me to practice more). After another bout of paper-flower-making for our culture class, we all trundled over to the nearby Oscar Theater (in the preposterous humidity), to see a movie. I saw, with a bunch of friends, the movie Aftershock, which, although it had its flaws, was an amazing movie. I would highly, highly recommend it. If you don’t know it, it’s the story of the 1979 Tang chang earthquake, following the life stories of one family it affected. It was moving, beautiful, and so, so sad. Almost all of us cried through most of it – but, as my friend Charlie said, it’s the kind of sad that you really want to watch. I thought it was great.

After, my friends Emma, Paul, and I went out shopping. We went back to Erqi square, which was fun, although we didn’t buy too much. They are extremely entertaining people, with very different senses of humor: Paul is quiet, sarcastic, and witty, and every time he opens his mouth you can expect a sardonic yet hysterical remark to emerge. Emma is extremely over-the-top, exuberant, and out there – she doesn’t care who can see or hear her, who she offends, or how many confused Asians are pointing and laughing at any one time. They’re both excellent company, and I was able to easily pass almost four hours with the two of them.

Seeing as today was our host siblings’ first day of school, we decided to meet up with them after their classes ended. However, since we’re in China, that gave us plenty of time: Chinese students start school at 7:00 am, and end at 9:00 pm. Then they go home and do homework. It pretty much puts our most hardworking students to shame. 🙂 However, their education is based largely on rote memorization, and thus many people concur that the American education, while often much less rigorous, can often give a deeper understanding of the subject material despite its fewer hours. Mandy and I, and Emma and her host sister (who I love), all met at the school gates a little after nine. Mandy and I headed home, and then met up with her parents at the park on the corner by our street. We all walked home together (with a few minor detours), then settled in and ate some fruit (peaches and lichees, yum) and talked. Tomorrow, my friends and I will be playing frisbee after school, and I’m hopefully going to dinner with some Chinese people and American people.

Also tomorrow, about 100 American students on some summer camp trip will be coming to our school. We’re supposed to give some kind of performance I think, but I’m not sure what… heheh. Should probably figure that out soon. 🙂 Oh well!

Oh yeah, and here are the stages of Culture Shock as decided by Paul, Emma, and I:

1. Initial awe and euphoria (taken from the NSLI handbook – they did get SOME things right) – the “Oh my god look that sign is in chinese! look so is that one! omg a chinese walmart! so effing cool!” Stage
2. Feeling overwhelmed and convinced of your impending demise – the “oh sh*t it’s a taxi it’s going to hit me I’m going to die! I’m going to die here! i can’t even cross the street, no way can I survive here for six weeks! I’m going to walk into an open manhole and get run over by a moped and a taxi and get mugged and raped and swindled! oh god what have I done?!” stage
3. The acceptance of fate – the “yep, I’m going to die. oh well. nothing I can do about it now. at least it will be an ironic and entertaining end. I hope people back home enjoy the story.” stage
4. The anger and aggression phase – the “you know what? NO! I’m NOT going to f*cking die here! I’m going to survive! yeah, that’s right! you wanna play chicken with me, moped? we’ll see who’s chicken! in the name of America, I’m crossing this goddamn road!” stage
5. Confidence and Capability – the “hey look, I finally got off on the right stop getting to school by bus! i actually counted right! and i didn’t get groped by ANY chinese people today! AND i was able to buy a bubble tea without pantomiming ANY kind of fruit! not even one! i can totally handle this!” stage
6. Settling into routine – the “hey, that shopkeeper knows me now and she knows what kind of bubble tea i like the best! and i have this great setup with my host family that doesn’t involve me navigating sketchy alleys by myself at night! and i finally found some good shopping places! are we getting the usual for lunch today?” stage
7. Becoming fully adjusted – “Good morning. Will we be following the usual routine today or are we shaking it up and going somewhere else for lunch? Hey, did you know that if you take the K6 bus from Guang cai to Da shanghai you can get twice the shopping in one day? Oh, and yesterday I found the best hotpot place – it’s right next to KTV too!” stage

Although these definitely change depending on the person, we found this to be a pretty accurate guide of “What to expect when you’re expecting… Culture Shock.” 🙂

Thanks for reading this, you guys, and I’ll be seeing you (well, most of you) in about two weeks! ❤ much love!

Today was a really nice day for decompression, relaxation, and catching up on sleep. In the morning, I made pancakes for my host family (minus my mother, who was at work). They were alright, but not nearly as fluffy as they should have been. The lack of normal oil, any kind of butter, a frying pan, any sort of measuring devices, and a regular spatula all impacted the final result. They were fairly well received, but my family didn’t understand how to eat them I think. Instead of maple syrup (all the way from Vermont), after their first or second they opted to treat it like a tortilla and wrap up some weird pickled vegetable bits in it. 😦 However, they still thanked me profusely. I’ll have to try again some time.

After that, I mostly just hung out for the rest of the day. I caught up on stuff on the internet, and was able to talk to my darling big sister over gchat for a few minutes (late at night, sorry about that K). 🙂 It was really nice to catch up, and talk to someone familiar without worrying about minutes or the reception or anything. If any of you have a gmail account, we can try to gchat some time if you want. If not, I’ll be home in two weeks, and see you then!

I took about a four-hour nap, which was great – I’ve been super tired this entire week. I mean, I guess it’s my fault – I stay out untill after 10 every night, go to bed around 11:30, then get up at about 6:15 for a full day of learning the next day. I also had a chance to finally do some reading, just for fun, which was great. I haven’t had a chance to in a long time. 🙂

After dinner, I had the BEST conversation with my host parents!!! It was so great. Almost entirely in Chinese, we talked about a bunch of differences between here and America, my plans for coming back to China, my family, my sister (at great length, haha), and a ton of really interesting things. I’ve gotten so much better at this language, it’s pretty amazing. If I stayed here for a whole year, I bet I could become close to fluent. It’s also gotten to the point where my friends (american friends, that is) and I will sometimes spontaneously switch languages. A typical conversation can look like this:

“Hey Paul, what’s up?”

“Not much. 今天的吃早饭是非常不好吃。我要去买一平红茶。”

“好。 你要不要我来？”

“Meh, whatever. Does class start soon?”

“在九点。你有是见。”

“Okay, cool. Let’s go.”

You get the idea. 🙂 It’s neat to be able to do that though, it feels like we’re actually becoming bilingual.

Anyways, after that dinner conversation was over, I literally did a victory dance in my bedroom in celebration of how much better I’ve gotten (@ you, Dad – remember the trailer dance?) 🙂 It was a sweet feeling of success.

Tomorrow, I might go with my friends to get my hair cut (probably just a trim though). I’ll probably end up eating either lunch or dinner with them as well, and maybe doing some shopping. Not sure yet, but I guess we’ll see.

I send hugs and kisses (to some of you, anyways – you know who you are!) across the globe, and I hope that they find you all happy and well. It’s always great to hear from you, and I’ll continue to keep you updated!

Oh, also – I thiiiink I’ve (maybe) figured out how to upload photos, but it’s really slow, so I don’t want to do many. Can you suggest just a few things you’d most like to see? Some options would be:

• Beijing City
• The Great Wall
• The Shaolin Temple
• The Jun Porcelain Factory
• The Jade Factory
• The Terra Cotta Warriors
• My Bedroom
• The Flood
• My Group
• My Host sister and I
• The Henan Province Museum
• Anything else you can think of!

Please pick from one to five of those, and leave a comment, and I’ll see what I can do! Thanks! 🙂