sarahinzhuhai-blog

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

I'm sure every post here has a lot of grammar errors or sections that make no sense...oops. I'm too tired to fix it and wrote this blog either on the bus at 7am or at midnight before bed, so bear with me! 😅

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

Week 3--gettin sick as heck in zhongguo

Before I get started, one thing about the competition on Sunday from last weeks post: one thing that really bothered me was that people were just talking/generally being loud as people played during the competition. While mostly this felt wrong to me, it was very funny when someone played Old MacDonald and a group of kids started singing along. ///////// Okay, now for week 3. Oh boy, week 3 was a LOT, so buckle up. // Last Sunday night as I was blogging, I felt the beginnings of a cough and decided to ignore it and stay up late. MISTAKE. I woke up Monday morning feeling very ~~toasty~~ and generally like garbage, pushed myself to go to school (my mom drove me), and got there very early. Since my host family didn't have a thermometer at home, Queen Isabel said we could check at school... After falling asleep in one of the chairs on the second floor, Isabel and later Sihong came. To my surprise, Sihong whipped out a mercury thermometer (!) that you put in your armpit (!!) for five minutes...that was definitely a new experience. I muddled through class, slept through every break, had some dumplings for lunch and quickly slept again until afternoon class. Afternoon class was 谁是卧底 (Who is the spy?) again (yay!!), then I went home and went directly to sleep. // Tuesday morning was worse. Now don't worry, I'm not just gonna keep talking about being sick...Tuesday morning is where the story gets spicy. My moms conclusion from feeling my forehead was that I definitely had a fever, but I went to school to check with the thermometer. After another hour long nap upstairs (which got very awkward when a random group of guys assembled for no apparent reason, we looked at each other, said no words, and then they left), the thermometer confirmed that I definitely did have a fever and we decided to go to the clinic on campus! Yay! // The clinic was nothing like any doctor I've been to in America. It was in a small house-looking building on campus, and definitely nothing like the sterile environments I'm used to seeing in the states--open windows, mosquitoes, etc. Also, while the doctor was asking me questions (and by asking questions, I mean asking questions at me as I blankly stared back until Sihong or Isabel helped me), she was also seeing another patient--a police officer with high blood pressure who she was telling to stop smoking/drinking but who kept insisting that he could just take medicine. After consulting with the doctor (nurse? I have no idea), she said they wanted to do some blood tests. Oh boy, blood tests! This was actually really cool because they have a machine that tests almost immediately (I got the results within 5 minutes) for a certain set of bacterial infections. Some fun and notable differences: Instead of drawing from the arm, they drew from the hand. Also they used iodine to disinfect, and I got to use a ~fun qtip thing~ to stop the bleeding afterwards. The final verdict: I didn't have any scary disease, just a nasty cold. They prescribed me an antiviral and some traditional medicine (a powder to mix with hot water and drink) and sent me on my way. Isabel accompanied me home (I would describe that trip as her being very productive and me being very sweaty and completely out of it) and I spent the rest of the day sleeping. // On Wednesday, Isabel gave me permission to sleep as late as I could, so I woke up around 7, got ready slowly and was late to school. I made it through morning classes and lunch, but by lunch I was feeling pretty exhausted again and I decided to go home to rest instead of pushing through afternoon classes and culture class, the reason being that on Thursday we had a trip to Shenzhen! I went home, got some much needed rest, and almost forgot to pack for Shenzhen. At one point (around 10pm), my parents were talking pretty loudly and I had to ask them if they could be more quiet. I felt really rude for asking that, but I also really needed to sleep, so I apologized in the morning. Also, the TCM tea was not as bad as everyone said it would be. // Thursday morning, I headed to school to meet up for the Shenzhen trip. I was hittin the squat pot every thirty minutes and still coughing a ton, but that wasn't going to stop me. We met at the bus stop, and after a trip to the canteen bathroom that I will never forget, we headed to the train station. We took some sort of fast rail (sorry, I only know the Chinese name), first to Guangzhou, and then to Shenzhen after a ~30 minute layover. The Guangzhou station was very impressive, both terms of size and number of people. Fun train station activities: 1) almost falling in the gap at the Tangjia station; 2) watching Anthony order one drink at the Guangzhou Starbucks and receive a very different one. Both trains were very, very nice; the first train had me seated next to some random guy, so I mostly napped when the baby in our car wasn't crying, but I was next to Isabel on train 2, so I talked a bit with her and ate some of Garrett's snacks (thanks Garrett). Before I knew it, we had arrived in Shenzhen. // The first thing we did was eat lunch at the station inside this huge food court. Maya and I had some really good soup dumplings (my first time trying soup dumplings and my fifth time eating dumplings in four days) and fruit. When we sat down to eat, we repelled whoever was sitting at the table too. After lunch, we took the metro to another area of town and headed to the hotel. The first thing we saw after getting above ground were these huge pink buildings and lots of skyscrapers. Definitely a different vibe from Zhuhai or my own town. After getting to the hotel, we spent a while waiting downstairs for rooms to finish getting cleaned. Our group is always very lively, and that day was no exception, so the wait definitely wasn't boring. Eventually, the rooms were ready and they sent us off to rest for thirty minutes. Lexi and I headed upstairs to check it out. // The hotel was definitely an experience. Like many hotels here that say the room is non-smoking, our room was very smoky, but the weirdest thing was that the bathroom wasn't its own room, it was in this outcropping of glass (apparently other rooms weren't like this?). After figuring out what was going on and checking out some of the more questionable items that were on sale in the room, Lexi and I bopped to some kpop before heading downstairs. // After our group reconvened, we headed off to this building called "Book City" and were split into groups. My group was Tully, Abigale, Josh, David and I, with Sihong as our leader. Our group was very divided [@ yk/Hannah the congruency levels were a bit small] as to what we wanted to do: some wanted to go shopping, some said they really didn't like art museums while I would have liked to see one, some wanted to make the trek to the PingAn Financial Center while others didn't think it was worth the effort. We decided to first check out the Shenzhen museum. On the way over, we got a chance to see a lot of really cool buildings, as we were passing through what appeared to be Shenzhen's cultural center; the concert hall was very neat, and I was very impressed by city hall. City hall was a gigantic metal building with a swooping yellow and red roof and a gap in the middle that framed some of the city behind it and the Chinese flag. I'll post pictures when I get the chance to upload them from my camera. Abigale also slipped in a mystery puddle, which is never good. // After arriving at the museum, I learned that Shenzhen has a very interesting history: it is the fourth largest city in China by population, but almost all of its development took place in the last 35 years, as it was turned into a special economic zone where a lot of government regulations over trade/economic ~affairs~ were lifted. Between the museums signs and Sihong answering my questions, I was able to learn quite a bit, but I would have liked to spend more time there; we only checked out one exhibit in the three floor museum. However, it seemed like my group members were ready to go, so after some discussion, we headed back to Book City. // We decided to spend an hour in Book City, and I have to say, shopping is usually boring but that was definitely not the case at 书城。Besides a gigantic bookstore and music store, they sold everything from milk tea to wooden toys to instruments. Josh and I spent the majority of our time perusing the books, the music offerings, and playing some of the instruments at the music store (as well as tuning others）. We also found a dinosaur egg to take pictures in that was 100% intended for little kids, but that didn't stop us. After meeting up with the group again, we decided to go walking around and check out some more of the neat places in Shenzhen. // At first, we stayed close to Book City. We checked out some of the nearby buildings and went back to city hall. In the space in the middle of city hall, there were lots of people; some were practicing some sort of performance, others just hanging out. [Side note: The use of public spaces here is so different from America; here, I see people on the street and meeting with friends at all hours, and ladies dancing in the squares....in America, at least in my hometown, I don't think I've ever seen something like that. Anyways, back to Shenzhen.] While we passed through city hall, a group of kids came up and talked to us. After realizing I could speak enough Chinese to talk to them, they immediately began asking lots of questions, wanting to know where I was from, how old I was, why I came here, how I got here, etc. They were all very nice and excited to talk, and we took some pictures together before my group headed off. // While some of us were okay with staying relatively close by, a couple kids really wanted to go check out PingAn, since it is one of the tallest buildings in the world and has an observation deck that is almost as high as the one in the Burj Khalifa. First, we agreed to head in that direction, but eventually we just ended up going all the way over. On the way, we saw the Shenzhen stock exchange, which was a very imposing black building. There were several really cool statues around it, designed by a famous artist who designed the Beijing 2008 Olympics logo. Then we continued on our way to the financial tower. // The tower was, as expected, gigantic. I had to look at an almost 90 degree angle to see the top, and when the wind moved the clouds around it, it felt like the tower was moving. We couldn't stand too close to the building (the security officer kept having to tell us not to do things), and the observation deck wasn't open, but it was still a sight to see. // Then it was time for the trek back to Book City to meet the other groups. Long story short, we went the wrong way, started to correct our mistake, then got lazy because we had walked 7+ miles that day and ran across 8 lanes of traffic instead of finding an underpass or crosswalk...when in China. // After dinner, we went outside and did a little bit of 广场舞，which translates to "square dancing" and refers to the groups of people (typically older ladies) who dance in parks and squares in the morning and night. This particular group, however, was going hard and doing all sorts of aerobic stuff, so I was lowkey exhausted. After a few minutes of that, we went back into Book City and watched a bunch of kids singing. I have to say, our group was probably the most supportive of the performers, but we also got a lot of attention ourselves...throughout all of our time at book city, I caught several people taking pictures of us (at this point, instead of ignoring it I do a peace sign so they know I saw). // After watching a couple acts, it was time to go on a "hike" to the top of this hill/mountain. My group joked that while the mountain had looked like a hill this morning, after our walking adventure it looked like Mt Everest. As we walked up the stone steps, Maya and I were the caboose of the group, also known as the feeling-sick-and-trying-not-to-drop-crew. But we made it up, and it was absolutely gorgeous! You could see all the city lights, and it was overwhelming to think that all of that development happened in just a few decades. There was also a pretty big statue of Deng XiaoPing (the guy who took over after Mao and is responsible for the Shenzhen development). There were also bats, which I've never seen. We took a picture and some of the other people on the mountain also took out their cameras to take a picture of us as we posed... // We also had a mini birthday party for Zack and Maggie on the top of the mountain. We got yelled at the police officers because we were definitely not supposed to have flames up there, and someone commented that it's not really a complete trip to China unless you get in an encounter with the police (hmm). Anyways, no real trouble was had and we continued with our festivities under the watchful eyes of the officers. Now, for this next bit, you need some context. Here, a lot of guys (particularly older guys who have a bit of a belly) will pull up their shirts over their stomach because it helps to keep cool. Queen Isabel told us that her study abroad group one year had taken to calling this the 北京肚子(běijīngdùzi，aka the Beijing Stomach or Beijing Belly if you like alliteration)...well, our group found this hilarious so we adopted the name. There's also a phrase, 小鲜肉，which literally means small/young fresh meat, and means exactly what it sounds like (specifically used to refer to younger men). So you can imagine the hilarity that ensued when, under the watchful eye of the officers, we convinced Garrett (and maybe David, I can't remember) to whip out the Beijingduzi while saying "小鲜肉”. // After a little bit, we headed down the mountain and Maya and I once again took the back. While we were heading down the mountain,Zack went into the woods and then hopped out to scare Princess Isabel, which was very effective and very funny. On our trips up and down the mountain, we saw people doing everything from Taiji to singing Karaoke, despite the fact that the sun had set long ago. I love how active and alive public spaces feel here, and that's something I'm definitely going to miss. // Before I knew it, we were at the hotel. After some more kpop and a quick shower, I was asleep and ready for the next day. // The next day (Friday) was incredibly different and probably one of the most perspective-altering experiences I have had here. After a breakfast of 包子 (at a restaurant whose publicly posted health rating had the "😑" emoji on it), we first headed to this street called 华强北 (Hua Qiang Bei, these are probably the wrong characters..oops) which is the number 1 electronic products street in China. 130,000 people work there and it's a place for a lot of young people to start businesses. Between the weather (a bit of wind and not so hot because we were shaded by tall buildings), I had a great time. Anthony and I explored, taking in everything from the dozens of fake Apple stores to this internet café/bar we found that had a full competition and competition viewing setup. My only complaint: the McDonalds ice cream machine was broken (was it 10am when we asked? Yes. Am I ashamed? No). // After meeting up again, we took the bus to an area called 百石州，where we met with an American anthropologist who was going to guide us through the area. As we started the walk, she asked us to not speak and to quietly document what we saw, whether that be with writing, drawings, pictures or video. What we saw then was like nothing I've ever seen before, which says less about the area and more about how much privilege I have had. 百石州 was a poor and very, very densely populated area. The buildings were what were known as handshake buildings, which means that they are so close together that you can shake hands through the window with someone in a neighboring building. Wires upon wires were strung across the alleyways, and rubble and trash were ubiquitous. During the time we were walking, I'll be honest: I wanted nothing more than to get out; it smelled awful, I was uncomfortable on many different levels, and I wanted to go back to the comfort of the day and weeks before. One of the most striking sites, for me, was when we were on the roof of a building and could see the contrast between the building we were on (and the ones surrounding it) and, probably less than two miles away, the ever growing set of brand new buildings that are the trademark of Shenzhen's rapid economic development. Other things that I saw on the trip: lots and lots of people going about their lives, whether that be storekeepers, the people at the meat market we passed through, or the little girl in a pink dress who I saw heading off to school; empty flat houses that, according to Mary Anne (the anthropologist), were inhabited several decades ago after a history that I'm not super clear about (it involved supplying water to Hong Kong, different local and immigrant groups, and the communist/capitalist conflict); and poop just chilling on the road. I have many pictures of what I saw that definitely do a better job illustrating than I am doing here, but I have a problem with the pictures as well: Garrett pointed out that taking pictures of people and their way of life there, treating it as a sight to be seen or a microenvironment to be examined, feels bad and wrong, and I agree...yet I took those pictures anyways, which has left me with a lot of bad feelings and is part of the reason this blog is so late. // At the end of the trip, we met up at a coffee shop, and Mary Anne had us write about our thoughts and feelings. Mine were all negative, and continued to be so until Mary Anne told us that the whole place would be destroyed in 5 years as Shenzhen continues to develop. She then explained to us the rich history of the area, and how hundreds of thousands of years people live within this tiny area. She mentioned the many different sites that we had passed, and I realized that in my discomfort and general not-wanting-to-be-there, I had missed out on so many great things. She also talked about some of the logistics of having an area like this, which I would have never thought about, i.e. getting food in and getting trash out. One of the most interesting things to me was the Christian church that we passed (couldn't go in that day)...apparently, churches have to register with the government and follow certain rules, but from what I understood, enforcement of those sorts of rules isn't really a thing in 百石州, so the church continued to exist. // After she spoke with us about the area, Mary Anne showed us a video on a project they did where they tried to get the 白石州 community involved in an art project, and then got that art project into the Shenzhen Art Museum, which is a big deal because apparently the art museum is pretty boujee. I also got to meet a dancer who is visiting from Uganda and choreographing a dance that combines different cultures' styles, and a PhD student who was very nice (I can't remember what he was studying because as I'm this part of the blog 2 weeks after that day). Anthony, Maya, and I stayed back a few minutes to talk more with MA, the dancer, the PhD student and another lady who was living in 百石州，but then we had to go...after waiting with Emily as others bought some snacks, we headed on the bus and started the 3 hour drive (traffic) back to Zhuhai. As quickly as it had changed to the atmosphere of 百石州，Shenzhen first became the highly developed area I had first seen it as, and then morphed to ports and mountains as we exited via bridge. On the ride back, we talked about what we miss most about America and the time we've had here. I accidentally went into a guys bathroom, got some weird looks, and before we knew it, we were back in Zhuhai. I headed home, exhausted from the last 48 hours. // On Saturday, my family told me they had to go to Guangzhou to see a contact lens specialist, so I was on my own to either stay in or go out. After falling asleep while trying to do homework, I made plans with Lexi to go to Gongbei again. On the bus there, I noticed this girl was wearing a BIGBANG bracelet, and then I ended up spending a few minutes talking with her and her friend about which kpop groups they like. After arriving, I met up with Lexi and her little brother (and later her sister and sisters friend) and we explored and shopped. This time at Gongbei was very different from the last...everything was much less overwhelming and confusing, nor did it seem as unusual as it did when I had only been in China for three days. My bargaining skills, however, were just as bad as before because I have had 0 practice....oh well. I got a Luhan (a Chinese pop star who I am a fan of and whose face is literally everywhere here, including all the line 69 buses) hat that has a 0% chance of being real, and Lexi got some glasses that her sister helped us bargain down. Her little brother was bored out of his mind. We also got this really cool ice cream that had this a cooling liquid underneath it that was letting off gas (like dry ice but not), and generally had a great time. After we finished, we walked all the the way over to this hotel because it has literally the best public bathroom I've seen in China, and then headed home. That night, I watched my sisters favorite TV show with her, and they played "Who's the Spy?"! This was very exciting because I was able to understand almost the whole thing, which was a first for TV watching (usually I just stare at the screen and pretend I have any remote idea of what's happening). // Sunday, we went to the second round of my sisters competition, and she blew the other kids out of the water. One of the judges even took a video of her as she played. For context, she's playing a famous Mozart sonata (and not one of the simpler ones) at age 9 while other kids are playing The Happy Farmer. Later, we found out that she scored a 9.5/10 which was the second highest score across the entire competition. Tl;dr, my host sister is awesome. After her performance, we picked up one of her piano teachers (apparently she has two? Language barrier stopped me from understanding more), and met her friend and friends mom for lunch, which was a bunch of delicious small dishes (from roasted goose and chicken feet to sweet walnut buns). I spent most of the lunch not understanding, like I do during most meals...I feel like I tend to just tune out if I'm not being spoken to, which is not great for my language skills or socializing. Eventually, I did talk to the piano teacher a bit, and she used a lot of words that I had definitely never heard before. // After lunch, we saw Macao across the river as we drove the piano teacher home. Then, I met up with Lily (Katie's language partner), Anthony, and Nina (Anthony's language partner) to go do pottery. Lily also brought two Egyptian guys who are here doing volunteer work involving 3D printing and the disabled. They were very funny and friendly, and we later met several other people that were part of their program. It's a good thing everyone had a good sense of humor, because our pottery was a mess. After the teacher helped me (aka basically made it himself) create a nice looking pot, I wanted to try myself...by the end of my tries, my clay was so wet I couldn't form it and I came full circle: I had to ask the teacher to help me make something that wasn't just a blob. Anthony actually ended up creating something pretty cool (after the teacher rescued his piece), while Ahmad...well, Ahmad tried his best and made a smooth solid blob 😂😂 Anyways, we had a great time. I decided to write my language partners name on the pot, but the clay was so wet that the writing was a mess...it's the thought that counts. // After we were done and my legs were sufficiently splattered in clay, Nina, Anthony, Lily and I headed to dinner inside a close-by mall. We had buckwheat tea (I think), dumplings, this vermicelli noodle dish, and a not-a-pancake-but-called-a-pancake that actually reminded me of Mexican food. Everything was very very good, and we talked about our high school lives in America and how they differ from China (aka we talked about Anthony's love life). After dinner, we went around the mall because Anthony needed to buy hairspray, I had another bathroom experience I'd like to forget, and Nina and I both got ice cream. Then we headed over to Maan coffee, which almost everybody in the program but me has gone to, and now I understand the hype--it was gorgeous, filled with lots of different lamps and chandeliers. I was full after my somewhat disappointing ice cream, so I just had some water, but had a nice time relaxing there. // As it was time to go home, I crossed the street with Lily and Nina to go to the bus stop. Now, when you have an 8 lane road like this one, there's often two crosswalk signs, one in the middle and one on the end. I didn't realize the middle one was red as I saw the green on the far side, so that's how we ended up walking into 4 lanes of moving traffic. I felt grateful that I was in a group, because I think traffic might not have stopped if it were just me...I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but in China cars don't really stop to let pedestrians cross, pedestrians find a way around cars. Luckily, besides a few honking cars and a deer-in-the-headlights moment, we made it across unscathed and I headed home!!/ Okay, that's it! Only two weeks late, woohoo!

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

Week 2: I can't think of a title

Friends, family, strangers, what’s poppin? Week 2 in 中国 has come to a close and it was a wild one. This blogging on Sunday thing is really great for my procrastination-loving heart, and really bad for actually remembering things, so bear with me. You might notice this is getting posted on Friday, and not Sunday. Well, that’s because of some ~~fun~~ circumstances that you can find out about in next weeks post! Sorry! // 周一（zhōuyī，Monday): Monday started off without a dictation, because 车老师 is a wonderful person who doesn’t believe in weekend homework. Class was, as usual, an information overload, but still fun. We played a new game in class (where people have a verb or noun on their head and you have to ask questions, etc to make them say the word or do the action). Another thing: in Chinese, there is a particle, “了”， that has always confused me (it has many different uses, and I’m not sure when to use it and when not to). So I decided to ask my 语伴. This turned into a conversation with 车老师, the TAs, other 语伴s and on Tuesday, another professor. The question asking went an extra half hour into lunch and then I ended up eating with 车老师， one of the TAs and my 语伴。 I didn’t leave my question asking behind in America, I guess. I was very tired all day because I was up so late blogging the night before 👀…oops. At the end of the day, instead of meeting with our 语伴s (yǔbàn，language partner) for 30 minutes, we met for community service. The project they have selected for us to do this year is to help raise awareness about and reduce plastic bag usage and waste, which is a huge problem in China. To give you some context, Zhuhai is considered one of the cleanest cities in China, but the beaches are riddled with trash. It’s shocking. The plan for our projects was, on Monday we would write a survey and have our 语伴s help us translate it, on Tuesday we would go out and survey people on campus, on Thursday we would plan out our "propaganda” campaign and later in the month we would go out and talk with the public and get people to pledge to change their actions (with the pledge varying with each groups different approach to the issue). My group is me, Richa, Zack and Garrett. Monday was pretty rough. I was really tired and irritable, and I felt like a lot of responsibility was falling on me but I felt that way because I wasn’t sharing responsibilities….anyways, Richa and I talked afterwards so we’re all good now. We finished using the questions and I took the bus home with Matthew after hitting up the supermarket with Matthew and Anthony. // My sister had four of her finals today, and she said they went well, so I went out to dinner to celebrate with my mom and sister. It was so, so good. Pork, goose, noodles, vegetables, fried rice, watermelon, guava...all delicious! It was my first time trying goose, and I have mixed but mostly positive feelings. // Afterwards, we went to 笑笑’s friends house. I got to meet the friend, her little 9mo brother, the mom, dad, and grandparents. I held the brother (who was SO CUTE and very fascinated by me), talked a little bit with the family, helped the mom translate a work email, got a tour of the house, ate lychees and gave my little sister and her friend a ballet lesson. It was so much fun, and definitely lifted my mood from earlier in the day. I walked home in high spirits. // 周二（zhōuèr，Tuesday): Tuesday was the 4th of July! I told my mom in the morning and she offered me a white rabbit candy, which I thought was pretty funny but thoughtful at the same time. Got the 了question figured out at the beginning of lunch (I’m so grateful that literally everyone involved in the program is so willing to help). After lunch, we played a version of Monday’s game with all verbs (it was sort of a mess, a lot of English was spoken, but we had a good time). Chris, BBC and Queen Isabel joined us for that–-in the end, it boiled down to people forcing Shayley to take a selfie with them. I was eliminated early in the game when I flashed a peace sign. // Community service was very interesting. It started off with Grace and Emily getting us all watermelon to celebrate the 4th, which was very thoughtful! Since we are still in the thick of monsoon season, the weather continues to alternate between rain so hard it could flash flood up to your ankles (this happened to my 语伴）and hours of sunshine. Consequently, we decided to survey people who were inside major buildings on campus rather than walking around. My group picked the library. Since only half of the 语伴s came to help with the day's activities, Outing and Chris had to help another group, so learned how to say “traitor" in order to tell Outing how betrayed I felt. // Surveying people was fun, but a challenge…we split our group in half, so Garrett, me and my 语伴 formed one team. We interviewed about 8 people (could have been 9 if the police officer had agreed), and unless we were asking the simpler questions, I couldn’t understand a lot of what they were saying…but I got the gist, and the gist was that most of them were aware of the problem and did some things to cut down on their waste (some more than others…one guy was just totally unaware), but often didn’t have convenient access to recycling services. This is definitely a problem I have run across these few weeks. That being said, we don’t have the means to change city infrastructure, so my group decided that our focus would be encouraging people to use reusable bags and bottles, cutting down the waste at the source (it’s common for people to use 1-2 plastic bottles a day here). // After community service concluded, we were originally planning on going to a Starbucks by the beach and seeing the lovers post office (a famous site here), but the rain cancelled those plans so we settled on KTV instead. Unfortunately, the canteen KTV was closed, so Chris took us to a KTV in the middle of nowhere (aka Huitong, I think) near the edge of campus. On our way there, Alec and Anthony blasted music out of the speaker they bought at Gongbei. The most memorable moment of the walk was dancing to YMCA on the median (and everywhere else tbh we listened to the song like 20 times) and getting filmed by a police officer who thought it was funny. Also practicing my angry Chinese and making a guy who walked by laugh. KTV was really fun--we sang lots of American songs (we belted out Party in the USA more than once) and had a blast even though the program didn’t appear to have any song from after 2010. There was no Lana del Rey, so BBC and I sang Adele instead. While I did enjoy myself, my fun was sort of ruined by the fact that I was in the middle of having what I would describe as not-quite-an-anxiety-attack-but-getting-there because of a dog that we passed that was in really, really bad shape. I won’t go into the details again but I’m constantly frustrated here by the low standard for animal care and the lack of humane societies, etc…I understand that it’s not a priority at the moment but that doesn’t make it any less saddening, frustrating, etc. Queen Isabel and several of my friends (shoutout to Grace, Lexi, Josh, Alec and BBC...y'all are the best) helped me through it and I still managed to enjoy the evening. I had a few McDonalds fries (which was concerning because I had told my parents I was going to eat a full dinner), and Chris helped me and Alec call a cab to get home. // Once I arrived home, my mom brought out some mussels (? Some sort of shell thing) and told me that I had to eat it right now or it would go bad. So we had mussels, apples, bread and milk. A very confusing dinner but very good nonetheless. My sister asked me if I wanted to watch a certain TV show and at first I didn’t know what she was talking about, but then I realized it’s actually a show I watch online in the States and got h y p e d // In the middle of the show, my mom yelled really loud and then my sister started yelling too. At first, I was really confused but I soon found out that my sister was one of three in four hundred to get 100% on her exams. Then I started yelling too. I understood a few things my dad said for the first time (which surprised BOTH of us) and generally had a good evening. My dad told me I should call my actual mom and dad every day, so I called my actual parents before bed and ended up staying up super late again. Oops (are you seeing a pattern here?). Anyways, it was a roller coaster of an evening but everything turned out alright! // 周三（zhōusān, Wednesday): Classes were alright as usual. We’ve started “learning” song lyrics during the after lunch class. Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention is that I found out two of the TAs (one of whom I was very intimidated by before) are big kpop fans! They played a song on Tuesday on the projector (车老师 commented that the only kpop group she knew was BIGBANG), which was already a bop, but on Wednesday I found out that Ruby and I are both major BTS fans (specifically, I described them as my favorite group on the planet and she agreed). I did one of the dances I learned for her (she filmed it 😂) and she then immediately added me on multiple social media platforms. You can make fun of me all you want, but Kpop has been the common interest that allowed me to bond with many people here (we’re talking 30-50% of all the Chinese people I have made friendships with). Anyways, after having a fun time in class (we also did calligraphy practice today), we headed to culture class. This week we learned 空竹（kōngzhú， aka Diabolo aka Chinese Yoyo). The class was the most fun after I accepted that I was going to do terribly and focused on having a good time and getting a solid grasp on the basics. My group was Garrett, Sydney, Abigale and Outing as our 语伴（so I stopped calling him traitor). By the end of class, I was definitely still in the bottom 3 but I could do several tricks. After class, Alec, Maya, Garrett and I went to McDonalds at the transfer station (which is waaayyy better than McDonalds in America) and got green tea soft serve. It was really good (especially knowing that, just like on America, McDs ice cream machine se are perpetually broken here), but Garrett said he would never order another matcha flavored thing in his life. Afterwards, we took the bus home together...Maya took the wrong bus. // Feeling content, I got home to an empty house. My mom came home briefly, and imagine my surprise when she pulled out two pieces of apple pie and offered me one. Oops, not a good day to have a gigantic ice cream after school (and a small one at lunch). So I had the pie, then she made dinner (I’m confused about the order too…) and left again. // I decided to give my friend 朱明亮 a call and we talked for the better part of an hour. It was so nice to actually be able to speak and understand Chinese…maybe it’s the accent in Guangdong or maybe I’m just bad at Chinese but I never know what people are saying and it’s incredibly frustrating (I especially can’t understand guys..maybe because of the lower register). While we talked, I practiced my left hand chopstick skills...we don't need to talk about how that went. After the conversation, I practiced piano for Saturday (more details on that in a sec), did my homework (sort of) and went to bed. // 周四（Zhōusì, Thursday): Thursday’s classes were hard. We covered a LOT of grammar points and it was a lot to take in. This whole week was a lot to take in in terms of course material…this class moves almost 3x the pace of my normal class at school. Since this weekend's cultural excursion would be a visit to Guangzhou, the TAs gave us a class on the history of Guangzhou and some cool places to visit there. Then they presented the stamp winners for the week. This week, stamps were kept in a public place, so I got a little more competitive. My efforts paid off, however, because I got that #1. // After class, it was time for community service again. My group wrote our campaign, Chris helped us create a slogan and we designed t-shirts. Since our group wasn’t focused the whole time and we talked a lot about what we were doing, we haven’t actually translated the elevator pitch to Chinese but that’s okay. Also, I definitely didn’t write the wrong character in the slogan on the back of the shirt...I don’t know what you’re talking about. Zack got w o k e about plastic pollution in China and our final slogan is: “笑笑改变，大有不同 - Cleaner Zhuhai, Brand New City” (Translation: “A small change can make a big difference"which is already apparently a phrase charged with environmental connotations according to Chris, so that’s good). After community service, Maya and I definitely didn’t go do ballet in a studio on campus. Nope. I definitely wasn���t instructed to keep that on the DL (which is equally fun to say in Chinese, as it turns out). Other things that definitely did not happen: 1) being super out of shape and barely being able to do a grande plié 2) Having a really awkward conversation when two university students who were actually supposed to be there came in to use the room. After not-dancing, Maya took the wrong bus so she could ride with me, and I headed home to practice piano, pack up for Guangzhou, and otherwise prepare. // 周五（zhōuwǔ，Friday）: On Friday morning, we met up at the hotel and took the bus to Guangzhou. I tried to sleep a bit on the way there, but the scenery outside was really cool (SO different from the US omg) and the kids sitting in the back of the bus were blasting music (YMCA made a comeback), but the music was good so I can’t complain. My favorite was when they played "Empire State of Mind” but sang “Guangzhou” every time Alicia Keys said New York. Our first stop was the American Consulate in Guangzhou. After getting through security, we entered the building and I immediately felt like I was in America again. Maybe it was the super strong AC. Maybe it was the bathrooms (which not only had the first western toilets I had seen in two weeks but TP, soap and paper towels. I literally did a celebratory dance. There were several witnesses). Maybe it was the diplomat who spoke with us’ southern accent. Or maybe it was the fact that technically we had returned to America (apparently the consulate is considered American territory? According to Anthony). Anyways, after speaking with a Foreign Service Officer about his job, the role of the US embassies in China and of the Guangzhou consulate in particular, we bid our farewells. Leaving the consulate and returning to daily life in China was a weird and unexpected shock to my system. I don’t know what happened inside that consulate but it was like a weird mindset shift. Anyways, soon enough I was back to normal. Our next stop was a restaurant called Panxi. This was, no exaggeration, the most amazing restaurant I’ve been to in my entire life. Not because of the food (although the food was good), but because of the building itself. We entered into a courtyard where there was a waterfall (not a baby one but like 14+ feet) flowing into a koi pond, lanterns hanging from the wooden roof over the walkways, and several pathways leading to different rooms where we could eat. Our room was not only overlooking a pond, but appeared to be over the pond. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I had a great time chatting with friends as we watched the monsoon rain pelt the surface of the water. We also watched construction take place on the building, and construction is terrifying here. They use bamboo scaffolding, and it seems really unsteady and no one uses harnesses, even if three stories high. I have seen this in both Zhuhai and Guangzhou and it is very impressive but very nervewracking. // After lunch, we went to two museums–the Thirteen Hongs museum and the Liwan museum. The former was a museum that talked about the history of the Thirteen Hongs, which were a group of businessmen/companies that were the only ones licensed to do business with foreign countries during the Qing dynasty (the last dynasty before the Republic of China). They did their trading out of Guangzhou, and the museum was full of items that were traded,old maps, information, paintings, everything you can imagine. Guangzhou has a history of combining East and West (because of the Thirteen Hongs situation, I think), and this manifested itself in very interesting ways. One of the most interesting things I saw at the museum (although everything was absolutely stunning; the intricacy and care that went into every product was overwhelming) was a shell carving that had been done by a Chinese artist of the Last Supper and other Biblical scenes. Guangzhou also has a much higher foreigner population than Zhuhai (I saw more there in two days than in my entire time in Zhuhai). The second museum, called the Liwan museum, was a replica of a typical Xiguan house, which were a group of people that often did business with/interacted with foreigners. As such, several architectural elements included Western components. That being said, a lot of the house was built with traditional Chinese beliefs (and some specific to Guangdong/Guangzhou, e.g. Things related to how words sound in Cantonese), which was very interesting. Afterwards, we were given time to explore this very pretty little area of town. Richa and I paired off and saw a shrine, traditional opera, passed by a beautiful lake (which had some boats underwater that were clearly there on purpose but for no apparent reason), several vendors, and met some people who were very excited to say Hello to us. We also might have gotten followed briefly but 没关系。We were supposed to get dinner on our own, but we didn’t realize where we were supposed to go (up this one road) so we quickly walked over there, got 包子 and milk tea (I was very proud of us for successfully ordering both in Chinese and surviving when the 包子store owner tried to hold a conversation with us…I have a feeling neither of us were understanding each other but that’s pretty standard for my conversations here so I’m not worried about it). After, we rode the bus to a ferry stop by the Pearl River and were given time to walk around. Grace, Maya and I walked together. The experience started off by me getting yelled at at full volume by a old guy on a bike with some baskets because I didn’t realize I was in his way. Some bystanders found this hilarious, I did not. After our walk up and down the river, we ran to make it back on time and got on the ferry. The ferry was ~awesome~. We got to see the lights of the city at night (and on the water), and got to go up close to the Guangzhou tower (which is the seventh tallest building in the world, apparently). It was absolutely gorgeous (I’m not doing it justice with my words here). Also, after helping these people take a picture, they asked to take a picture with me which is the first time I’ve been asked for a picture in China (yay?). I also got to talk to Grace a lot which was really nice, she is very similar to me and I enjoy her company. After the ferry, we headed to the hotel. For this trip, I roomed with Tully. Before room checks, after a failed attempt to go to the roof, we all met up in Garrett’s room. Matthew was spooked because the room across (next to?) his and Josh’s was room 444 (which is, like, the worst and most unlucky number possible here…I’m actually surprised the hotel has one) and then their lights went out, so he was doing martial arts. It was very intimidating. Josh, Maya, Anthony and I then spent the hour stretching (or in Josh’s case, struggling and suffering) and goofing around. The stretching was prompted by Katie showing all of us that she is RIDICULOUSLY flexible (after which I encouraged her to take up ballet), which made Garrett look physically pained just from watching. After curfew, Tully and I talked, which was mice because I don’t see her or talk to her a lot, and we went to sleep without showering because the room was kinda gross. // 周六（zhōuliù，Saturday): Saturday was just as wild as Friday, if not more so (which I didn’t think was possible). The first order of business was breakfast. Fully, David, Abigale, Shayley, Maya, Reyna, maybe Zack (sorry I forgot) and I went to a local shop to eat 肠粉 (chángfěn），a Guangdong specialty. It’s a dish that they make by pouring out rice batter (that’s definitely the wrong word) in a thin layer on a sheet, adding veggies and/or egg and/or meat and then cooking it (I think they steamed it). Then they roll it all up and cover it with a sauce. I had the veggie one and some chocolate bean milk thing (as far as I know) and it was very delicious. Then we were off to a local elementary school. They gave us an orchestra performance using traditional Chinese instruments and these kids were crazy good. They were between ages 7 and 11 and they had been selected to join this orchestra. Saturday was their first day of break but they all seemed happy to be there. After a few traditional songs, they let us go up to kids and have them teach us how to play. I tried out the guzheng (which was super cool), the erhu (which I was terrible at but had fun with) and another instrument whose name I forget right now (you use hammers to hit strings and I was very very confused and bad at it). Most of the kids I talked to were practicing an hour or more a day, and were very very good. One kid who stood out was a guy who could play both the hammer+strong instrument and a Chinese drum. When they went around and introduced all the instruments to us, kids did solos on each instrument and he did the drum-it was stunning. He played so quickly and precisely!!! Then, it was time for us to perform for them. I played the Rachmaninoff Prelude (a shortened version), but I sort of botched the performance and I’m not sure why. Then we all sang the chorus of “对不起” (the song about our Chinese being bad) and the kids played more traditional music and a western classical song adapted to their orchestra (which was really cool). After, I was feeling kind of crappy about my performance when we went down to the bottom level and goofed around on the playground before taking some pictures with the kids and heading out. Imagine my surprise when one kid asked for my autograph, and then suddenly a group of kids all wanted me to sign things and give them my WeChat username. That was quite literally my 15 minutes of fame! // After heading out, we spent a few minutes in a square nearby (some of my new elementary school friends were there) and then headed to lunch. Lunch was not as good, which was probably not helped by the fact that there were several older guys smoking inside. This is one of the things I’ve had a lot of trouble getting used to here–there are a LOT of smokers here, and while I often see signs inside that say no smoking, I also have gotten used to seeing ashtrays inside those very same rooms. The toilet experience there was….unpleasant, and then we were off to a tea house. // As we got off the bus and began to walk to the tea house, rain was POURING. I was wearing my rap jacket (I forgot my umbrella at school, oops) and by the time we entered the tea house, my entire lower half was drenched. I spent the first few minutes awkwardly wringing out my dress and using tissues to attempt to dry myself off. // This teahouse was very different from the one my mom took me to; rather than one table, it had three stories, multiple side rooms, and many many many different kinds of tea (for a significant price). One of the coolest things was getting to talk to the owner about his company (he also owns a tea bank and apparently a mountain? I heard he rents the mountain? Not super clear), getting to see this big wood fourpostbed-looking thing that people would drink tea at from the Qing dynasty, and getting to have a conversation (entirely in Chinese) with one of the ladies about the different tools used at the table. The latter was a bit stressful because I couldn’t understand a lot, but I had to help my friends. We got the gist of what was going on, so all was well. Afterwards, we headed down for the tea ceremony. I have always thought of drinking tea as a quiet affair, but there were three guys there who were really loud and an absolute RIOT. One of them really hit it off with Alec and Isabel, and I will cherish the memory of them all loudly yelling 干杯(gānbēi，cheers, coincidentally one of this weeks vocabulary words) and making everyone on our half of the gigantic wooden table toast (and then them taking selfies together), which I’m pretty sure isn’t traditional tea protocol 😂 After tea, they gave us each a bag that had information and a teacup in it (!), which was super generous, and we were swept back onto the bus. // A few hours later, we were back in Zhuhai. Everyday Zhuhai feels more and more like home, so I am getting more and more sad at the thought of having to say goodbye. But returning to Zhuhai didn’t mean my excitement was over for the day. My sister had a piano recital, and I was in charge of getting myself there. My mom had sent me directions for which bus stops to take, and the first ride went perfectly. But then, there were no busses coming any time soon to my intermediate stop, so I had a problem. My mom told me to take a taxi, and if I couldn’t figure it out, to ask someone at the station to help me. No one was at the station. Now, in case you were wondering, here’s a list of things I have never done: 1) Taken a taxi by myself 2) Completed a taxi transaction in an unfamiliar place in the middle of China 3) Completed a taxi transaction in Chinese. Well, I’m proud to say that I managed to do all 3, and I even had a conversation with the driver about how long he had been driving, how long he had been in Zhuhai, how long I had been in China, etc. He helped me find my building, and my journey was complete! My mom was very proud/impressed/surprised that I had successfully navigated (I was a little concerned at how surprised she was), and I was greeted with a good old fashioned fast food dinner of French fries, a chicken sandwich and soda. That was a little bit of a shock to my system (the first "American” meal I’d had since I arrived) but a welcome taste from home. After, we headed upstairs to watch the recital. //The recital was my little sister and a bunch of high school students, and some of these kids were really good. One girl was 15 and played 4 songs, including a full sonata and the Revolutionary Etude. I was floored by her talent. At the end of the show, I ended up befriending her and a few other students. I’m excited to have some friends that are around my age! I goofed around on one of the pianos outside during intermission (aka poorly played Rachmaninoff and Chopin) and some people started filming me…not because it was really good, just because I’m a 外国人 . I don’t mind, it’s just a little odd when people take pictures of you/film you without ever talking to you or asking permission. // 周日（zhōurì，Sunday): After the excitement of the past few days, Sunday was a welcome rest. I woke up a little later than usual and my family and I went out to 早茶(zǎochá）, which translates to morning tea but is actually like lots of small dishes that you can eat for breakfast or lunch or in our case, brunch. We had 早茶 in this really cool restaurant where the top floors were hotel rooms and the bottom floors were like hotel rooms but for eating. Each party gets its own room with a table and very nice bathroom. The bathrooms had western toilets, toilet paper AND soap so the restaurant definitely got my stamp of approval. Okay, back to the food. We had everything from red bean buns shaped like pigs (which were SO CUTE) to squares of what looked like super fancy layered jello (I would say the flavor but I have no idea what the flavor was). It was very delicious but my stomach got a little overwhelmed by how many sweet and oily things there were. When I declined sugar in my warm milk drink, my mom declined it for me first and told my dad (in Chinese) that I was afraid of getting fat and so I wouldn’t want any. I retorted that I was not in fact afraid of getting fat and that I just didn’t want sugar in my drink. I think she thinks this because I don’t eat a lot, but I DO eat a lot (I was literally never hungry the first week because I am constantly being fed or having more food put on my plate). Confusing remarks aside, I had a really nice meal and this was the first time our whole family sat down at the same table to eat together, so I enjoyed the morning. Then, my dad, sister and I took the train that goes alongside the road home, which was very nice and a fun new experience. // After getting home, my sister and I both worked on homework. She asked me to help her translate the English text she was reading into Chinese, but my Chinese wasn’t good enough so I was pretty useless there. Her homework and mine made me so tired I fell asleep (that’s my homework strategy in America too…I’m a consistent student). After I woke up, Maya and I decided to meet up to hang out in TangJia. I took the bus over and had a really nice time walking in the park and goofing around on all the exercise equipment with her (despite the weird looks we got from some police officers). It was also nice to have a long, peaceful conversation with a friend after such a whirlwind of a week. I came home for dinner, watched TV with the fam, and started writing this blog post!// Okay this last part is going to be a little TMI, so if that’s not your thing, catch you next week. For you brave souls, I have a few more comments to make. 1) Being a girl and dealing with all the bodily functions that come as a result of that is Not A Fun Time in China. It’s annoying and inconvenient and has made me like squat pots less. 2) Having some stomach emergencies during your sisters piano recitals intermission and then running out of tissues in the land of no-TP-in-public-restrooms is an experience you won’t and can’t forget. // Okay, that’s it for this week! ✌️️

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

Week 1

Yo, it's ya girl Srah, back at it with another blog post...I'm going to try to do these every Sunday (no promises). So much happened this week that I could write a novel, but I'll try to give a good summary of what has happened so far during my time here. // 周一 (Monday)：The week started off auspiciously when I missed the bus with my mom because the driver decided not to stop at my stop that morning. In a frenzy, we took the next bus that came, got off at a seemingly random station (aka at that point o was completely unaware of how the city worked), then waited as a corner as she summon the mysterious car that took us to school. I only arrived about 10 minutes late, but everything was OK since it was the first day. I went into the room that I was told to go into, and found out that I got placed into the highest class. Yay! Our teacher, 车老师 (Che Laoshi), is the b e s t and I was very excited. At that point, we had six people in our class: me, XY, Maya, Shayley, Isabel and Alec. Our class also has four TAs, two of them come every day. The first day, like every other day, classes went like this: three hours of language instruction with 10 minute breaks, A half hour of time with language partner to review and practice, a two hour lunch break, another hour of instruction, and another half hour with the language partners. To my delight, class was taught ~90% in Chinese, which is very different from my class at home but is very good for learning. The first day was a review of Pinyin and tones, which we all already knew. That being said, I have a very hard time differentiating between second and third tone when I listen, and my pronunciation is a disaster, so the chance to practice was welcome. My language partner (语伴), Zhang Yini, is very nice and very patient with me. Over the week, I found out that we have a lot in common (in addition to having the same last name). The first main bonding point was that we both watch the same Chinese variety show (Go Fighting)--we found this out when I forgot the name of the show and did the main gesture/punch line from it and she instantly knew what I was talking about. In addition to being all around awesome, she is also very patient with me--she knows I want to practice pronunciation and tones, so she is always willing to help me and repeat things/tell me the tone numbers to help me out!!! After class got out, ZYN had to take another final (her second of the day), so somehow I ended up hanging with Matthew and several 语伴s including: Caroline, Outing, Haoxi (aka BBC, a nickname earned because he speaks very very good English but with a British accent), Lili, Chris, Caroline's friend Erin, and possibly others. We took the ecart to a place called mango paradise, where I couldn't read the menu but it didn't matter because everything had names like "Snow White" but with no further explanation of what eating Snow White would entail. So we got Snow White and Mixed Fruit, and ended up with a fruity shaved ice and a fruit in cream deal. Both were pretty good, but I'm still not sure what they were. I had a great time and found out BBC likes Lana Del Rey as much as, if not more than, I do. After, Outing, Caroline and Erin took us home on the bus (which was incredibly kind of them, especially since Outing had an Ancient Chinese final the next day that he needed to study for), and then I went home. I was absolutely exhausted. After dinner, I fell asleep on the bed and could barely wake myself up to shower and brush my teeth. // 周二 (Tuesday): After Mondays bus debacle, my mom drove me to school on Tuesday. In class, we started learning new characters and really getting into the swing of things. We have a dictation every day--the teacher says something and we write it. Tuesday mornings was writing the pinyin for what the teacher said, and since I'm terrible at tones, it didn't go so well. Every other dictation of the week was much better because it was writing characters. Anyways, many of the new words on Tuesday were words I had learned already, and the others we wrote so many times while talking in class that I had memorized them by the time the day was over. After lunch with ZYN and maybe some others (I can't remember, oops), we had an hour of class before it was time to talk with our 语伴. We played a legendary game called 谁是卧底(who's the spy). I would describe it as a mix of Taboo, Mafia and Spyfall, and it's a riot when you're not using your native language. We played this game every day from Tuesday on. My favorite game was the one that lasted the entire hour in which I played the whole game thinking I was the spy only to find out that I was not and had lost. Oops. After school, me, ZYN, Maggie, Reyna, Matthew and another 语伴 went to a "fried yogurt shop" (I'm not sure that's the name). Anyways, they were out of what we meant to get so instead I ordered rose froyo that came in chunks. The most notable part of that experience was that the store, named Ecup, was boob themed. Not subtly so, we're talking nipple pillows and two boos in the logo. One of the signs says you're not supposed to say you've been to ecup, so this blog can be our secret I guess. Then we rode the bus home, I studied a bit for the next days dictation. // A few general things about the week: I still can't really understand my dad but writing this on Sunday night, I have been able to understand a little bit which I consider to be a major accomplishment. Another thing: tensions have been running very high in my family this week because my little sister has to take finals tomorrow and Tuesday. I won't publish conversations or specific events because they have a right to privacy, but this has been different from my American home. For starters, in America, 9/10 year olds don't have to take finals, but this has also been my first time to first hand experience the "tiger mom" (I'm not sure if that's a proper term to use, please let me know if it isn't) approach to parenting, and it's been a bit of a shock. But since my sister has been so busy, I've been staying out of the house a lot after school. Another thing: except for before lunch sometimes because I have a hard time eating breakfast, I'm almost never hungry here...my mom always ensures I am v e r y well fed. Okay, back to the blog. // 周三 (Wednesday): As predicted, this dictation (and every other one this week) went much better than Tuesday: 100%! Yay! More practice with my 语伴 and another harrowing round of Who's the Spy made for a fun day of class. Wednesday's class centered more around grammar from the dialogue and some cultural/historical words, and the language learning accompanied learning about cultural customs, which I liked. For lunch, me, XY, Shayley and our 语伴s took a pass on Canteen 1 and decided to go to a 饺子 (dumplings) store on campus, per alumni recommendation. The store didn't look like much, but the food was delicious. A lot of places are like that here. I watched them make some of the dumplings and then I ate a ridiculous amount. After lunch, we hit up the supermarket and ZYN taught me about different snacks. After normal classes let out, we had a culture class (we will have one every Wednesday). Todays was 书法 (calligraphy) and 国画 (traditional Chinese painting). Because of time constraints, everything felt a bit rushed and I can't say my skills improved, but I still enjoyed both classes. They both had a competition element that I didn't really like (and I voiced that concern later when asked about it), but all in all, still had a good time. Both clases were taught by TAs, 语伴s and maybe others. I don't remember who was the primary teacher for calligraphy, but Haoxi/BBC/Ou Laoshi taught the painting class. Since class let out late and I helped clean afterwards, I decided not to go out after school and instead went home. When I got home, I thought I forgot my keys so I waited outside for my mom to come home for the better part of an hour and got destroyed by mosquitos. I also saw two little dogs without owners, and then had a successful conversation with a local with little to no difficulty when I was expressing concern about the dogs (at the time, I had only seen one, but he told me that the owner lived in a nearby building and the dog always went around by itself... :/ ). After I got inside, I realized I had in fact NOT forgotten my keys. I decided not to tell my host parents that. // 周四 (Thursday): More classes and another successful dictation. Lunch on the second floor (oh boy) of Canteen 1 with BBC and David, which was very entertaining. After food, ZYN took me to the library, which was very nice on the inside. I found some pretty interesting things, including a Hilary Duff All Access book, several books about Extraterrestrial Life, and then on a more serious note, several books on queer theory and sexuality, which I wasn't expecting to find, even if it is a university library. After classes were over, Richa, XY and I went to YoungMix (扬名), a gigantic multistory mall. Highlights from the trip included: 1) riding a completely empty bus from school to the transfer station. I mean empty; we were the only three. Everything you've heard about Chinese buses is true during rush hour on some lines(and I've had the pleasure of experiencing that on Monday morning), so this was very exciting. 2) At the mall, they were having the fashion show of traditional clothing. It was really cool. I took some pictures and then some of the ladies who ran it started talking to me. I mostly used my smile-and-nod-and-pretend-you-understand-strategy, but I eventually realized they they were trying to convince us to spend 1000-2000RMB to get pictures done with the clothes at their company and we were out of there. 3) I had a very very good waffle. 4) there was a bunny mall (recommended to me by ZYN) inside the mall and the cages were not very clean but the bunnies were very cute.5) A family was holding a vigil in the middle of the sidewalk and a crowd had sort of gathered around. They were clearly very distraught and I didn't know what to do as I passed by. 6) I successfully navigated home from an unknown place on an unfamiliar bus line. // 周五(Friday): My mom got rear ended (driving here is insane--people merge with like 2 inches to spare, so I'm not surprised that this happened) so I was ready to take the bus, but then some guy came and drove me to school. It was a very quiet ride because I didn't know what to say and when we did talk I mostly couldn't understand him. Also, my dad told me to sit in the backseat but the back seats here often don't have seatbelts, so that was stressful. I arrived at school in one piece. More classes and another successful dictation. During third period, 车老师 had to go to a meeting so the TAs ran class. They gave us a talk (mostly in English) about Huitong Village (the place we would be visiting Saturday) and interesting places in Zhuhai. Some of my friends were talking a lot and the room is very echoey, plus I was annoyed because we were speaking a lot of English (I feel like I've been speaking far too much English this week), because I couldn't hear because it was loud and because I was exhausted, so I was sort of in an awful mood. Then we practiced calligraphy on the water sheets, and after talking with ZYN I was in a much better mood. Lunch was at canteen 1 (second floor again), with a bunch of people but again at the same table as BBC and David. It was a shortened lunch (the second of the week, the first was on Tuesday to have a debriefing session) in order to have a meeting about the next day's cultural excursion and to receive our stipend. Most of my friends had long ago spent the stipend from the week before. I still had more than half of it left... The second half of classes was fun (oh yeah, Josh and Richa are in class 3 now-yay!), and then we were free for the evening. Me, Garrett, Sydney, XY, Maya, Anthony, Isabel, Katie, Alec, and Reyna went to find a place called Beeplus, which we had learned about during third period. It's a place made entirely of boxcars/storage containers. We had heard it had a lot of fun places inside, ranging from office spaces to restaurants, so we went to check it out. It was hard to find and not what we were expecting, but it was pretty cool. After awkwardly walking in and out of the restaurant, we meandered into an office space to ask about the building and ended up getting a tour guided by a guy named David (who spoke English). He showed us the office spaces, let us onto the roof garden/bar to check it out (even though it was closed to the public at the moment), and told us about the building. Apparently it was constructed in only 2 days and is a collaborative office space for entrepreneurs and startups to operate. For about 100-150 American dollars a month, they get 24 hour office access, including printing, electricity, AC, water, etc. David was very helpful to our group and complimented my Chinese. While the building wasn't what we were expecting, I thought it was cool to get a look into some of the new things that are happening in China's business world. Also there was a slide. After, we explored Tangjiawan (a mini city in the north of Zhuhai). Finds include: a supermarket that looked very small on the outside but ended up being three stories tall, and an alley with lots of little stores that looked to be in bad shape but were okay in the inside. We found a store that taught little kids piano and a pizza shop that some of us ended up eating dinner at. I went home for dinner instead. I wasn't expecting to do anything after, since my sister was still studying, but after dinner my mom took me to a tea house that her friend owned. We had tea with the friends whole family (husband, toddler daughter and elementary school son, and father), and it was very, very good. On the walk back, the streets were very busy with people out to eat. This city feels a lot more alive than my city back in America--there are way more people out and about, which is cool. // 周六 (Saturday): Saturday was wild. First, I arrived at the bus stop with 30 seconds before my bus arrived. Before I realized Alec was on the bus too and went to sit with him, I had an interesting "exchange." I was sitting in the front of the bus facing back, and noticed a guy my age in the back kept looking at me. So I decided to look at him too. Then I smiled and he got very flustered. Alec does not think this actually happened. Anyways, after we got to the university, we met up at the hotel (which I still associate with all the negative feelings I've ever had on this trip...oops) and then got on the bus to Huitong village. I'm very confused about the history of the place (since it was given to us during that third period class on Friday), but I think a rich guy (Mo [Mu?] Huitong, except I don't think Huitong was his real name) helped his friends (?) build this village...? Anyways, it's still standing and there are a lot of very old buildings, including two watchtowers, ancestral halls (one of which we got to see), and this place that was called the Fairy Hall (or maybe Fairy Building, which we didn't get to see) that had a love story associated with it. The ancestral hall was beautiful (and had a lot of interesting architecture that carries more meaning than met the eye), and we visited a cute coffee shop that had cats in it, but the most meaningful experience of the day was when an 80+ year old woman invited a small group of us who were walking around the village to come into her house (or into the courtyard of her house) to sit with her. She was very concerned about us being comfortable and talked to us for a while (luckily, one of the language partners was there and could understand her better than I could). She talked about how her family had lived in the village (and on that very house) for four generations and how she had had multiple strokes and been robbed multiple times. At one point, a group of people came by and stared at us because we were a group of foreigners and asked us (in Chinese?) if we needed a translator...odd. Anyways, Outing found us and then we left and he stayed back to briefly speak with her since they both speak Cantonese. As we walked out, someone assumed i wouldn't be able to speak Chinese and commented about how my hair was ugly, if I heard correctly (I was wearing braided pigtails, which is not common here). Like with all incidents where someone stares/comments, I ignored them and moved on. Then we walked around, saw a snake, XY and Anthony dared each other to eat loganberries off a tree, and then rested for a bit. We found these pretty white and yellow flowers (they 语伴s were calling them eggflowers in Chinese but I have no idea what the English name is), and first Outing and Anthony were ~~stylin~~ with them but then Outing let me have his. On the walk back to the meeting spot, we stopped at a small shop. I had some sort of snack with red bean in the inside, and then we headed back to the university. I went to lunch with several 语伴s/TAs (including BBC, Emily, Lili, and someone whose name I am forgetting right now), Tully, Sydney, Lexi and I. The lunch was at a fancy restaurant and very good, and my hair was again the subject of many patrons' attention. At lunch, BBC commented that I look like Emma Watson (and others agreed), which was very flattering. After, Lexi and I stayed back with the 语伴s/TAs and hung out on campus. We goofed around on a playground and generally had a good time. We also talked to this American guy who has been living in Zhuhai for 10 years and teaching at the University. He gave us some language learning tips. After I got home, my mom taught me how to roll out the wrappers and make dumplings . I had dinner (part of which was spent watching the big show on TV for the 20th anniversary of HK rejoining China) and then I was off to calligraphy class again. My sister didn't come this time, so in the little kid section it was just me and the girl from last week who couldn't understand me and stared the whole time. I spent the whole class trying to perfect the horizontal stroke, and the teacher and little girl were both very patient with me and my lack of calligraphy and Chinese skills. // 周日 (Sunday): Today I got to sleep in until 9, when my sister came in to practice piano before her lesson. During her lesson, I got to practice for the first time in several days (she's been studying so I can't disturb her with piano). Not knowing how to start a conversation with my host dad, I wrote some characters to review from this week, listened to recordings of the song I was practicing and fell asleep again. After I woke up, still not knowing what to talk about, I tried to read Harry Potter in Chinese until my sister came home and we ate lunch. After lunch, I took the bus to the university to meet up with some of the kids from Class 3 and some of our 语伴s and TAs for KTV (although first, ZYN and I played a game of pool). KTV is like karaoke except better: you get a private room and pick whatever songs you want with your friends. We did KTV for about 4 hours (yes, 4), and it cost less than 2 American dollars per person. We sang e v e r y t h i n g. A bunch of American songs, some Chinese songs I knew and some I didn't, some kpop (on Friday during lunch, I showed ZYN BTS and so today she showed me that I could sing their songs at KTV. I picked a few of my favorites but then some of the 语伴s queued up their own kpop favorites...BIGBANG was their popular choice and they were very impressed when I could sing most of Eyes Nose Lips), some Spanish songs and even some Japanese and French ones. The last song we JAMMED to was BIGBANGs Fantastic Baby, which was iconic to say the least. After KTV, I had a late dinner, found out what my dads job is from my sister and had a very brief conversation with him about it (admittedly, the questions I asked were kind of dumb and he thought they were funny), and then just rested. I'm not sure I'll have a voice tomorrow after today's KTV adventure. Tomorrow and the next day, my little sister will take her final exams! Hopefully she will do well and I can do more fun things with my host family in the weeks to come. // Some parting notes: 1) I am squatty potties' number one supporter now. They are great and anyone who disagrees can square up. 2) Alec was commenting about how, even though we are surrounded by people here, it feels lonely. I have to agree--I don't know what it is but there's definitely a sense of isolation that I get here and I'm not sure it's all just because I'm a foreigner. 3) It rained a lot today for the first time. Spicy stuff 4) Funny story: here when something is good/awesome you can just say "Liu" (six) a bunch of times so imagine my confusion when someone commented 666 on my post . 5) Another cultural difference that made things weird is when I didn't know that they wait to open gifts until after the giver has left. Oh well. 6) one of the days this week, I had a really fun time where my whole family watched TV together and my sister and I goofed around. It was a very good time and one of the few times we have a interacted together. My sister and I both did this balance exercise and she also gave me a circus hat and stuffed animal snake to try on, which I donned dramatically while saying "model" 7) Yesterday night I taught my little sister some ballet. 8) I'm sure I forgot a lot of stuff but it's very late and I have to wake up early to catch the bus tomorrow, so this is all for now. ✌️️

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

A day on the town: 拱北 and 公共汽车

Today started off great--I'm feeling much better and no longer have to hit the WC (that’s my new word) every thirty minutes. I woke up at a normal-person-time, and then my dad (who I still can’t understand) made me some noodles and urged me to eat another banana. I also tried this pork sausage that I liked because the taste reminded me of txorixo. I told my dad it was similar to a Basque meat and I think he said they’re going to buy some more. A bit later, 笑笑 woke up and my mom went somewhere, so I practiced piano for an hour and then chilled on my phone, which I do a lot. I feel bad cause I’m always on my phone, but I’m not sure what else to do–they always urge me to go in my room because there’s AC in here...hopefully after classes start I can be more productive. I tried reading Harry Potter in Chinese and that worked out alright. 笑笑 and I talked about how we both cry when we read the series and I found out she’s never seen the movies!!! I’m going to see if I can get hold of a copy to watch with her before I leave. // Lunch was a big spread of this really good beef, cooked greens, cucumber and egg/tomato (which is a thing here)–so delicious! I mostly ate broth and rice because my stomach is still recovering, but it was still 👌. Then it was time to go to Gongbei!//We all met at a really swanky hotel lobby and let me tell you, it was SO nice to see friends (and tbh, speak English for a few hours). Some kids are really happy with their host families, like me, and some are having a really bad time and sliding down the W curve pretty hard. After almost all 20 (21 if you count Grace, which I do) of us showed up, we were off! 走吧！// We spent most of our time in Gongbei in the underground market. By that I mean, this whole market was literally underneath a square. There were dozens (hundreds? I'm not sure--it was like a labyrinth) of shops packed in there, selling everything from 小笼包 to knockoff Rolexes to drones. Everything was very cheap (or could be bargained down). We split off into groups–some were trying to get knockoff versions of fancy brand items. After some group switching, etc, I ended up with Shayley, Sydney and Lexi. My groups goal was to find as many shirts that said nonsense things in English as possible. Our key find (which Lexi ended up buying after we got Grace to help us bargain down) was a shirt that said: “ACTION PURPLE PROVE WHO CAMERA” …if that doesn’t speak to you on a deeply personal (metaphysical, as Grace said) level, nothing will. Other notable finds included: a dress that said "BASIL", a brown camo shirt with pink letting that said "horny," a waterbottle reassuring us that “Tomorrow Will Be Sexy” and a phone case that read “UNI F***” (without the asterisks). All in all, I had a fun time but my fun was tempered by the large crowds, back pain and questionable bathrooms (although at this point, I’m proud to say I’m well acquainted and comfortable with squat pots). One of the coolest things was these ladies dressed in really elaborate blue and white dresses and headdresses to advertise for their store. I took a picture with one of them (which felt like a role reversal since people often stare at us here since we are foreign or ask to take pix with us, although no one has asked ME for a picture yet), but it’s on my actual camera, so that wont be on this blog until much later. // After a while, our groups reconvened. While I bought nothing but a very confusing milk tea, some people had bought knockoff shoes, bags, glasses, watches, and the works. A lot of us were very tired, so we went outside to the square above the market and sat for a while. It was really beautiful–there were big golden characters above a building that said Gongbei Port (I think it's all fancy because that’s the entrance to Macau…we were just yards away from the border but don’t worry, we stayed safely within the country limits!) and some pretty fountains in a reflecting pool surrounding these black stones with more golden lettering about Gongbei. We (me, Shayley, Grace, Maya, Anthony, Alec, XY, Lexi, Richa, Josh, Sydney and maybe others) hung out on the steps after checking out the 7-11, which carries stuff very different to that which you find in America, until it was time to go. Some kids stayed later (and I had been given permission to stay out until about 7 or 8, specific instructions were “come home when you are hungry”), but I was tired and didn’t want to go back in the market, so Alec and I headed off to find the bus. // To find the bus. Haahahahahahhahaa...Such an innocent phrase until you realize you don’t know where you’re going and have a command of the Chinese language worse than the average six year old. We went to one stop and couldn’t find the right line. Then we asked a police officer and he was saying words I didn’t understand, so I had him write it on my phone. Then I understood the word but I still had no idea what he was saying, so we nodded and then crossed the street to find someone else. Next station wasn’t the one we were looking for but had the right line. However, it wasn’t showing up on the app, so we asked a lady and again could not understand. We got nervous about it not showing up on the app, so we headed down toward where the station we were supposed to be at was supposed to be. We asked a DIFFERENT police officer, understood (finally) and FOUND THE STATION! Success!!! It was so hot I was winded just from power walking. We boarded the bus and set off. // Since this stop was the first of the route, me and Alec were both able to sit down. A few stops later when Alec had already gotten off, the bus was so crammed it felt unsafe. By the time we got to my stop, I wasn’t sure I would be able to get out. So I did my most assertive stand-up-and-push-through-the-crowd and made it out! Then I successfully got home without getting lost (win!) and had a very confusing interaction with my dad (I believe he asked me: “I thought you weren’t getting home until 8. Did you come alone? Ok eat a banana” and then sort of just disappeared). My first successful public transport experience in China! Take 2, 3, 4, etc will be going to school every day. // A few minutes later, my sister came home and gave me a water bottle--it's so cute!!! We hung out, she gave me some math problems to solve while she studied for her exams, and then we ate dinner. Everyone was very shocked when I put a little bit of this pepper paste in my broth because it is VERY spicy (辣辣的!)but it was very good. After dinner, I gave my host family their gifts (the photobook pages got totally warped from my mosquito lotion exploding in my bag! I’m so sad!), went for an early shower and now it’s time to sleep! I'm exhausted after a great day with friends, but excited for classes....First day of school tomorrow! ✌️️ (PS My phone is being temperamental and won’t let me post pictures from HK, of my family, etc so use your imagination for now, hopefully I’ll be able to post them soon)

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

Arriving in 珠海： Culture Shock, Awesome Host Family and 生病

(note: this was supposed to be posted 6/24 Zhuhai time but I'm bad) Two days ago was really, really rough. We saw HK and it was absolutely gorgeous, but after we took the ferry and I felt seasick, the downhill tumble began. I'm not going to talk about it much, but for the entire second half of the day I seriously hated everything and wanted nothing more than to go home. It was a combination of having gotten very little sleep (in HK, I went to bed at 12am and then woke up at 1, 2, 3 and 4 and then couldn't sleep again), constantly traveling and differences in surroundings--there's a smell that is everywhere here and even though BNUZ is fairly new, the buildings are a lot more run down (and in big cities in general, which I am already not used to, are a lot dirtier and have a sad feeling to them)--that made me feel terrible. I'm not sure why these random things got to me so much, but they did. I'll leave it at that; it was bad. Now that we're all at host families, everyone else is having some emotional difficulties, but for me the worst part of this whole trip so far was the time before meeting families. I truly felt a sense of deep despair and it was very discouraging. // Yesterday was amazing--started out rough because again woke up at 4 and couldn't sleep, worried I would still feel as bad as yesterday. Ate a good breakfast (complete with piping hot water)--包子，馒头 （sweet steamed bread, super good), watermelon, noodles, some sort of leafy green, etc. Some kids went running, I did NOT. // After that we took a campus tour via ecart. Campus is very green with a lot of water. Apparently BNUZ was created about 15 (or 50? I think 15) years ago...it doesn't look like that though. They do renovation differently than in America. Our "tour guide", Emily, is a student at BNUZ and is going to be one of the program language partners (students who are paired w us and eat with us, help us learn Chinese, hang out with us and guide us around campus, etc--most of them are majoring in teaching Chinese as a second language). Emily seemed super cool! //After the tour, I was still in a depressed/bad/I-don't-know-how-to-describe mood and that continued throughout the orientation. We were given bus cards, more info about surviving in Zhuhai, etc. Interesting thing: apparently, part of the reason for drying clothes in the sun instead of a dryer is because there is a cultural belief that the sunshine disinfects. After orientation, we are even more, I got nice and full, and then just an hour later it was time for lunch 😂 I am eating so much here, it's crazy. // Lunch was the turning point for me...my mood went from terrible to great. We went to the canteen and it was so big. There are dozens of windows, each selling different foods. I bought pork dumplings (our Chinese conversation was "8$ dumplings please *frantic pointing* pork? Meat...type? Pork? Ok") and XY didn't want her boba tea, so she gave it to me. I ate lunch with everyone but mainly talked to Grace (Sihong's daughter, who is our age and studies in the US and is AWESOME ), Queen Isabel, XY and...Reyna? I can't remember who XY was sharing with. Anyways, that was so much fun! Then we went to the supermarket on campus and me, Lexi and Maggie (the kpop crew) found a bunch of ads with Lu Han (see OPI post) and another kpop guy on them--I took pictures. My mood at this point had dramatically increased. We headed back to the dorms, packed and went back to the meeting room. // Then they told us we had to prepare a little performance for the opening ceremony. We decided to sing "对不起，我的中文不好” ("Sorry, my Chinese is bad"). Before, we had to give a little introduction so the group voted me to say (in Chinese): "Thank you for welcoming us to Zhuhai. Before we sing, we will quickly introduce ourselves. I'm ..." I was really excited to get to do that // Apparently, opening ceremonies are a big thing here that they like to do before every program that comes. I wasn't expecting much but it was the coolest thing ever. First, several PhDs gave speeches and then, after we introduced ourselves and sang our little song, the students performed. It was amazing. They did dance (traditional Chinese and a hip hop routine to "Worth It"), played different instruments, did calligraphy, diabolo, kung fu...like Zack said, that blew our dinky little song out of the water. It was amazing!!!! One guy spoke English in a British accent which was really interesting to me: I never really think about it but we learn from our teachers' accents, so of course people learning English might have a British or Southern accent, just like how I speak in the white-person-who l-learned-from-a-teacher-from-Beijing accent. // Afterwards, I thanked some of the performers and met a few of the language partners for other people. We all took a picture together, and then it was time for the placement tests. // I was super nervous as we waited (and hyped because the performance was so awesome), but I calmed down eventually because we were just chilling outside on a balcony area. Then Maya and I got to talking about dance and did some pirouettes...that's when I forgot my phone was in my pocket and then it took flight and cracked. That was a real mood killer. // Then it was time for the test. Before we went in, we waited with two of the TAs. They were so nice! We talked in Chinese and English and they told me they thought I was the best and would do fine and to not be nervous. They were so sweet!!! Then it was time for the test: first it was just some conversation with three of the teachers. I know I made some grammar mistakes but I think it went well--we talked about where my name came from, the weather, my city, etc. Then the writing section--I had just relearned the characters because someone else had to write them in their test and told us about it, so I guess that's not really fair but oh well. I basically knew them before (sans a few radicals) so it's fine. Then they said two sentences and asked me if I understood them. The first one , I did NOT-the first and last words yes, but the middle part no way. The second one, I understood everything but the last word (which was a key part of the phrase lol). Then I thanked them and left. I talked to the TAs some more (they said that if I make it to the highest level I'll be in their class...I hope that's the case but I'm not sure I did well enough) and then went back outside. Then Richa and I walked back to the hotel and talked about what was making each of us have a hard time. That was the first time I opened up about what specifically was giving me a hard time here, so that was nice. Then, we met our host families! My mom came to pick me up, we took a picture together, and off we went. // Our first stop was the police station to register me. On the way I told her about my school, my classes, activities, other languages, etc, and then at the police station she was bragging about me to the officers 😂 Not gonna lie, that was kinda nice (I was also pretty proud that I could understand some of what was going on). // After the police station, we went to pick up my little sister from school! She was really happy to see me! Then we dropped her off at a birthday party (where some kid yelled "GUYS, THERES A FOREIGNER" in Chinese to all the other kids--this is pretty typical and I have already gotten used to getting stared at) and my mom took me to fix my screen (! I was only expecting to buy a screen protector so I didn't cut myself on the glass but she insisted we switch out the screen). Then, while we waited, we went and got fresh squeezed orange-pear juice at this shop and ate some dinner-pork pieces with some sort of green vegetable and rice. I've been feeling kind of sick (to be expected), so I couldn't finish it. Then we went to the supermarket and got fruit, milk, a cup to brush my teeth, etc. Then I realized I had to go the bathroom- I wouldn't write about that but public bathrooms are an experience here. They are squatty potties, but there's usually no TP and no soap. But I had forgotten to bring tissues (rookie mistake) so my mom sent me back into the store to get some. When I went in, someone asked me "are you a foreigner?" (你是外国人吗？）, and I was like ...yeah I'm American. Later I told my mom about it and was like "of course I'm a foreigner" and she thought that was pretty funny. // On the walk back, we bought some croissant-y bread with red bean for breakfast and picked up the phone. Then we got 笑笑（that's my little sisters nickname) from the party and my mom bragged about me again to the moms at the party. They gave me a slice of cake (which was really good! It had mango and...tomato? I was a little confused) and then we headed home. // Home is so nice! I'm so lucky--almost everyone else seems to be having some problems with their family but mines great (except that I can't understand my dads accent yet). My room is basically bigger than my room at home, and it has a piano in it! 笑笑 played piano for me and then I played for them. My mom videoed the fat part of the Rachmaninoff and put it on her WeChat moments (kind of like Facebook). Then I showered and hung out, and went to bed. I felt so so so much better mentally, but now I'm dealing with some stomach problems--that's okay! // Today I woke up first at 6 and then at 9. My sister went to sports school for swim already, so I was just chillin with 妈妈and爸爸。I had some breakfast (since I'm feeling sick, I'm literally never hungry, but they keep giving me food)-杨梅（yángméi-bayberries). Then I watched TV for like 10 minutes, was really confused, and then my mom said we could go for a walk in the mountain that is literally right next to our apartment building. I was going to wear bug spray and sunscreen and bring water and everything else, and she was like no! You don't need to! Just bring an umbrella and if you keep walking the mosquitos won't get you. That was inaccurate. // The mountain was absolutely gorgeous!!! Lush, full of plants and butterflies. There was this really pretty walkway with little stones with all the zodiac animals on them. We went over a little river, up and down, etc. Then we walked through the apartment complex. We watched some ladies do dancing in a little plaza (and my mom taught my how to swing my umbrella around my legs to keep bugs away), and then we kept walking. She showed me the pool, the bus stops and how to get home from the stops. // At this point I was dripping in sweat. We're talking soaked through my shirt. We went to pick up 笑笑 from the sports school and she commented that my shirt was very wet. Lol// We went for lunch and again, I was still not hungry but still ate--milk tea and beef noodles. While we were eating, some guy came in and starting yelling and then one of the waitresses yelled "你有病吗？” (which is like "are you insane?" But it's very satisfying to say)...very interesting debacle. After lunch, we went home (my mom made me show her that I could find the house), my stomach problems continued, and we figured out how to use the bus system to get to school. // at my sisters piano lesson, I listened for a bit but I was having stomach problems so bad that I had to curl up in the fetal position. At the end, her teacher had me play for her. Then she said that I might be able to play in a recital that she's going to have in a few weeks. I'm not really sure what exactly happened there. We also talked about finding a balance between feeling and technique, she was very complimentary and I really appreciated her kind words. // after, on the way home, I tried to ask my host family if I could have some broth. That was our first major communication issue. I did not know the word, and all my attempts to explain failed. However, in the end, we managed to work it out (Queen Isabel helped). I had my broth and bananas for dinner, and took some medicine. Then it was time for calligraphy. // Calligraphy class was so fun but omg, it was so uncomfortable. All the little kids just STARED, and none of them could understand my American accent except for my sister and the teacher. 很糟糕！At first, the teacher had me try to write. That was absolutely disastrous: I haven't done calligraphy in a long time, the brush had too much ink, and my hands were shaking. This was very amusing for everyone else. So, over the course of the class, my sister help me since I couldn't understand any of the things anybody was saying because I don't know any calligraphy words, and I made some big improvements. I don't think I ever got used to all the kids staring at me and saying "wow, a foreigner". Also, since a lot of the kids are speaking very quietly, I couldn't really understand what they were saying either. All in all, I think they thought that my Chinese was a disaster. And it was very embarrassing. However, at the end, one of the little girls gave me a pack of seaweed, so I guess she didn't dislike me. Anyways, that experience made me so uncomfortable: I was expecting to get stared at but the cultural expectations are just so different from what I'm used to...I talked to 笑笑 after about how in America, it's considered rude to stare and especially not at foreigners and how different it is here. // At home, 笑笑 and I goofed around for like two hours and sort of neglected her English homework. I showed them some ballet and Basque dance, we talked a lot, etc. I'm so grateful for my family's patience with me as I have to look up every word and constantly ask them to explain things in different ways. //Observations for the day: 1) I'm very surprised at how open my host family is with me (in terms of clothes or lack thereof work around the house) considering we've only known each other for 24 hours. 2) Squatty potties are awesome and maybe I'll post later about why 3) in case anyone's wondering, this is my communication system w my host family: we speak in Chinese unless my mom or sister randomly uses English, and if I don't know a word either I look it up or I have them write in on the dictionary app and look it up. Or we try to piece it together in English. Sometimes I just smile and nod. 3) Being sick sucks but my family is very caring and I have AC in my room so I'm as happy a camper as possible right now.

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

Pre-departure shenanigans, my expert sock drying technique, the arctic ice and the group in HK!

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

Someone Katie knows is on the news lol

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

到了香港(Arrived in Hong Kong)

I would say what a day, but I’m not sure if it was one day or two. We started off just like the day before, waking up a little bit earlier for breakfast at a different place. Thanks to my expert skills, my shoes were dry after placing them on the vent last night to help them to dry. My socks, not so much, so it was on the vent to help them dry during breakfast. // After breakfast, we finished up packing. Some of my friends were already done, so Anthony and Alec came to my room and started “Sarah-nading me.” I played a masterful rendition of twinkle twinkle little star on the violin, and then we found out that Isabel used to play violin and got her to play a bit for us. We hung out in room 547 for a bit, which Anthony and Alec insist is The Place To Be. I don’t have a lot of time to blog, so I’m going to skip a ton of details. We went to the airport, had some ridiculously overpriced food, and eventually, got on the plane (which was only a few minutes delayed). The next 16 hours or some of the most surreal of my entire life. I only slept for maybe 5 hours on and off, which was a balance of contorting myself and then moving when one of my limbs fell asleep. There was a baby on the plane who was NOT having a good time, and I felt bad because I accidentally gave the mom a stinkeye but totally didn’t mean to--I felt awful. // The entire trip was a strange combination of the darkness inside the plane and the astounding brightness outside, particularly as we went north. It was daytime outside the plane the entire trip, and nighttime inside for same length of time. // The most outstanding moment was when we passed over the Arctic. We opened up the window and got to see all the ice–the sky was completely clear. I’ve never seen anything like that. I didn’t have a window seat so I only looked at it briefly by clambering over my friends’ seats, but it was breathtaking nonetheless. I felt bad because opening the windows made the whole plane super bright, and our group was looking at it/taking pictures for a really long time, so we were being the Obnoxious Americans™ of the trip, but oh well. To quote Alec, “ya no tengo la dignidad. // Also, a bit before that, XY, Princess Isabel (aka Student Isabel) and I did hydrating face masks, because hydration is the key to success. Then we tapped Queen Isabel (aka RD Isabel) and scared her because she wasn’t expecting what she saw (it was NOT a good look on any of us). // As we flew into HK, it was finally dusk for the first time in the last 24 hours since we woke up in NYC. There were clouds everywhere, and it was the kind of misty gray that reminds you of an enchanted forest from some movie. Layers and layers of lumps of gray suspended in the sky. I’m no author–use your imagination cause this description isn’t doing it. As we flew over the clouds, I just barely caught glimpses of what was outside through my friends window, but what I saw was the glow of the city lights through the clouds. It was gorgeous, like an orange ember glowing through the semidarkness. // After arriving in HK, everything has been so crazy and amazing. As we were walking down the terminal, and official went up to XY and started saying “take off your hat, take off your hat!” At first, she was really confused, but after she took it off, they quickly scanned her forehead with a thermometer in order to check for a fever. I thought this was really interesting–a rapid fire random test to prevent people from bringing in illnesses. After we got farther down the terminal, Alec realized he forgot his wallet so he had to go back and we waited for about thirty minutes in the corner. A nice flight attendant took a group picture for us. First TMI discovery of the day: in Hong Kong, at least at the airport, instead of toilet seat covers like in America, they have these wipes that you can use to clean the seat. // Then we went through customs and it only took 5 minutes, even though like three other planes had come while we were waiting (by the way, Alec successfully found his wallet…yay!) // Then we met Sihong (the program coordinator) and her friend Emily! They were so nice–Sihong actually immediately recognized me, and then they bought us some 包子 (baozi, a steamed bun with different kinds of filling). Mine was some sort of sweet meat filling and it was delicious. I had a full conversation in Chinese with Emily and we all got on the bus to go to our hotel. As we were loading the bags into the bus, we were standing in one of the bus parking spaces. As we were standing there, another bus pulled up and started pulling into the space at full speed. That was sort of frightening. Then he stopped, honked at us, and kept going. We hopped out of the way and safely got our bags into the bus. // As we drove back, we had a chance to see HK, and it is everything I expected from pictures and more. The apartment buildings are huge, tall, and very close to each other, their light reflecting off the water. The industrial areas and ports were so big it almost made me feel a bit uneasy, and downtown was absolutely stunning–so many bright and colorful lights, so much going on…I’ve never experienced anything like it. We’re staying downtown, so we got to drive right through the center of the action. Another note of interest: they drive on the left here, which was pretty neat. // Alec and I were talking about how crazy it is that there are these millions of people living here, and all of them have their own story, lives, concerns, goals, etc...it's sort of overwhelming to think about // The hotel room is quite nice (smaller than your typical American room), and right now I’m hanging out in my complimentary slippers and Katie and I are getting really confused by this news (?) show–the newscasters are wearing some pretty intense outfits and the editing is very different from American news. It’s getting late and I need to try to avoid jet lag, so it’s bedtime. Tomorrow, we’re going exploring and then finally, off to Zhuhai! ✌️️

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

Breakfast, burgers (feat. the hand sign we do when you say 可以), a church, and double rainbows

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

PDO Day 2

Last night, I absolutely could not sleep. My brain was just going crazy, and then I thought I wasn't sleeping when I was… Generally a mess. But, I woke up on time and before I knew it we were on with our daily activities. We walked over to a church office building for breakfast and all of our classes. We all sat together during breakfast, and while it was hard for everyone to converse together, I still feel like everyone got along. There are a lot of people with very similar senses of humor and personality is to me, which is a lot of fun. Then we started with classes. We were in classes for probably around six or seven hours today. Classes covered everything from safety to cultural norms and have to deal with culture shock. We did a lot of activities, some more fun and interesting than others, but I do feel like I learned something. It was also a good chance for us to get to continue to bond over shared experiences.

One thing I'm noticing is that as we sit down for meals, it seems like the group sort of splits in half. Since we've only known each other for 24 hours, I'm hoping this is just a transient thing and that we can all get to know each other a little bit better. That being said, I feel like our group as a whole gets along very well and really holds together, which bodes well for a great six weeks.

Oh, and I got my OPI results back today! I scored intermediate mid, which is much better than what I was expecting. The different levels are novice, intermediate, advanced, superior and distinguished. Then, most of those have three different subdivisions: low, mid, and high. As far as I know, everyone in our group is at or below intermediate mid or below. The test doesn't mean anything, and it's possible that I just got lucky with the interview questions, but it's kind of nice to get that reassurance that I'm doing alright. I also finally got my T-shirt and a notebook today! Everything was kind of delayed since I was so late getting in yesterday. The good thing is, it doesn't seem like I'm having any problems getting to know everybody, even though I was so late yesterday that I missed a lot of the icebreakers.

Another thing,: we have our first group meme. Alec started it. It's pretty silly, but you just say "可以” and "不可以” a lot. It started because Alec was saying that whenever he doesn't understand, even though he doesn't understand, he just says "可以”😂

Another thing of note: we did this activity where we had to talk about one thing that people wouldn't know about us just by looking, so I told people about how I used to have a bunch of OCD and anxiety, and explained that sometimes I'm still a bit of a worrywart. I told them that they could just tell me to shut up if they want, which of course they said "oh no no no" about, but I'm glad that people know. Some other kid used to have it too, apparently, which is pretty neat.

So, after PDO, we went back to the dorms briefly before heading out to dinner. Only one problem: it was raining harder than I've ever seen. So we grabbed our umbrellas and rain jackets, and headed out. We went to this burger place and it was pretty tasty. My mom kept calling my last dinner at home my last supper (which was hilarious but also ominous), so I guess this was my second last supper. I'm not sure that's how the original story went. Our alumni leader covered the bill for me and someone else, which was really really nice. Everybody in our group and who is leading us (especially our RD! She's so cool and down to earth!) is really great--I'm so lucky.

Then, after a brief altercation (let's leave it at that), Anthony and I went back to the dorms. Then he, Maya, Maggie, Tully and I went to the far away Starbucks because Anthony wanted some (he was being extra and said that store looked cooler than the closer one). Then, on our way from there to frozen yogurt, there was a really beautiful double rainbow!!! Good omens for the trip ahead!

Everyone made it back in one piece (a little soggier but in one piece nonetheless).

I'm super nervous but so very happy to be going on this trip. I'm so glad that I'm going to be doing it with this group of people! Until next time ✌️

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

PDO Day 1

So, thanks to some fun weather conditions, my flight had to take an alternate route that took an hour+ longer. Then, I waited for the shuttle for an hour and got to experience some good old-fashioned NYC traffic. But I got to go on the George Washington bridge, drive down Broadway, and see the Empire State Building, so all in all, can't complain. I can see why some people love NYC and some people hate it...this was my first time here, and while it's really cool, it also just seems scary.

I got to orientation about an hour before curfew and two hours after the assigned dinner time...oops. Anyways, everyone immediately welcomed me, which was really awesome. Most of us sort of knew each other from online, but it was really great to get to meet everyone in person, and I feel like we all click fairly well...people were already comfortable enough to be roasting each other, so that's a pretty good indicator 😂 They made me do a thing called "hot seat" where you sit in a spinny chair and then people quick-fire questions at you...everything from your wildest HS experience to your opinion on mayonnaise. Since I was the second to last to arrive (rip Abigale), I missed out on some exploring-the-city-shenanigans, but I still got to share some laughs and eat some cold New York style pizza.

The alumni gave us some advice and told us some pretty intimidating stories, so I have a lot of mixed feelings right now.

The dorms are...dorms. Sheets of (very) questionable cleanliness 😂 Xueying was nice enough to let me borrow her shoes for the shower (my savior). There's 4 bathrooms for more than 30 people (we aren't the only group on the floor), so Maya and I brushed our teeth together, but left the door unlocked...so people kept coming in and then freaking out cause they weren't expecting people--very entertaining. I just BARELY made it in my room on time!

Now I'm supposed to be setting some ~~goals~~ for the trip. It's hard because I don't know what exactly to expect from the class, my family, etc, so the goals are sort of vague. Tomorrow I'll find out how I scored on the OPI (the disaster test) and we'll start actually learning stuff we need to know for the trip! 👌

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

some authentic local cuisine between flights 😍😍😍

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

Host Family!

I lied! My next post isn’t happening in NY!

This is just a quick update: I’ve been talking with my host family (at least, my mom and little sister), and they seem so nice! The little sister and I both play piano and like Harry Potter, and she swims (which I used to). And my host mom is SO caring, at least from what I can tell from our conversations on WeChat...when I’m up late talking to her (bc of time zones) she tells me to go rest. I’m so excited to meet everyone in real life--our RD, the other kids, and my family! 哇！

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

<10 days until departure

ITS ALMOST HERE

I realize I should probably explain what NSLI-Y is so that this blog can be ~~informative~~ - NSLI-Y (National Security Language Initiative for Youth) is a government program sponsored by the US Department of State that provides scholarships for kids to go do intensive immersion programs in China, Korea, Russia, Morocco, and India, to name a few. The trip is completely paid for (meals, flights, luggage, everything) and you stay with a host family. They also give you a small stipend for additional expenses. My implementing organization, iEARN, even provides us with a cell phone to use while we are abroad. We’ll be taking language classes for 4-5 hours every day in addition to culture classes and excursions. It sounds exhausting but I am hyped.  

Some of the kids in our group (read: not me) received emails from their family as early as 2 weeks ago, which is pretty neat! I’m super excited to find out about my host family---with time, Sarah, with time.

We’ve been continuing with the pre-program language work. While I can’t say I’ve been diligently studying the textbook (oops...most of it is review, though), I have been having a pretty difficult time with the assignments. They offer different assignments for total beginners and kids with a bit of experience, so I’ve been opting for the latter and it’s been kicking my butt. For example, this week we had to summarize the plot of a book or movie. That sounds great until you realize you have the vocabulary level of a four year old (and that’s if I’m being generous). I decided to summarize “20 Once Again” (重返20岁) since I’ve watched it twice...once because one of my favorite Chinese singers, Lu Han (who is a very handsome man), starred in it, and then the second time because I forced our school’s Chinese club to watch it. 

For an update on how my preparations are going, I’ve prepared 2 lists:

Things I should have done by now:

 - started packing

Things I haven’t done:

 - see above

The next update will probably be in NY!  ✌

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

~20 days until departure

As we have continued with the pre-program language courses, I have had the chance to communicate with our RD (resident director), whose name is Isabel. She will be our go-to person for help on the trip and the good thing is, she seems really nice! I've been asking a lot of questions about the assignments we're submitting, and she says that she likes my enthusiasm for the coursework/learning, which is good! I seriously cannot believe that the trip is so soon.

[sarahinzhuhai-blog]

~30 days until departure

Today I had my OPI! The OPI (Oral Proficiency Interview) is this officially administered test over the phone where you talk in Mandarin about a bunch of different topics. All in all, it was pretty 糟糕 (zaogao, disastrous)....oh well! It lasted about 25 minutes and was very frustrating. I broke a nervous sweat two minutes in...  

Here are some of the things we talked about:

- My name, my family (this went pretty well, except I just stuttered a ton)

- The outside of my house (how it looks): I just said that there was a park in front of it, it had two stories, and then...I said “there are two cars, and, ...yeah there are two cars” -- queen of eloquence over here. I don’t know how to say trees or grass, so that made it a bit difficult. 

- He asked about what I like to do, which was fine (I just wrote about this for an assignment), but then I forgot how to explain Chamber Ensemble so I was like “I play piano...with other students” and the interviewer asked me to explain, but I don’t know how to say instruments so my explanation was like “We play together. They play other, ahhh....I don’t know how to say it, they don’t play piano.”  And then for ballet, he asked about how it was different, and I was trying to explain that it requires a lot of discipline and is very difficult, but that didn’t go so well. Also, I said we wear “weird clothes” and then he asked for clarification, so the only thing I could say was “Sorry, I don’t know the words, but we don’t wear pants”

- He asked about how Spanish was different from Chinese and I didn’t know how to say “characters” or “root words” or anything so it was just a messy messy messy, nonsensical explanation

- He asked what I did yesterday, and so I had to explain that I went to 4 parties and math club. Classic Sarah, I forgot how to say club and also how to say graduation, so I was like “friend has a thing happening, party” ... nice. 

- We talked about Lu Han for a really long time...he asked what my favorite movie was, and I said avatar...but then I decided to talk about The Witness, since thats a chinese movie. He then asked me about it, so I talked about how it has Lu Han and Yang Mi. I could not remember the plot, so I just was like “Yang Mi is taken by a bad man. Yang Mi can’t see. Lu Han has to take her out of his house.” The interviewer asked what happened to the evil man and I was like “I can’t remember, maybe they killed him?”....high quality explanations right here. Then he asked why I liked the movie and I explained, “It was very interesting and I like Lu Han.” So then I told him about how I like Lu Han’s music, then he asked why I like his music, so I talked about EXO. Except it wasn’t a logical flow of sentences, it was more like “Lu Han was a part of EXO before. I like EXO’s music. Lu Han left, after I liked his music.” Disastrous.

- He asked about recent news, so I decided to talk about Trump. Except I didn’t know how to say Saudi Arabia,so I was just like ... he’s going to a foreign country...to talk about important issues. Then he asked why some people don’t like Trump, so I had to piece together an explanation about how he’s not good to many groups of people. The only response I was happy about  in this section was when he asked me if I thought the results of the discussion would be good or bad, and I talked about how I hoped they were good but its very possible that they won’t be because Trump’s a weird guy.

- For the role play, I was pretending that I had borrowed my friends laptop and broken it. So then I had to explain to my friend what happened, so I said that when I brought it to school, I accidentally crushed it. Then he asked for clarification, so I said that my backpack had too many heavy books and when I put it on top of the laptop, it broke the laptop. Then I suggested that I take the laptop to the store for them to fix it, but I didn’t know how to say fix so I just said “help you.” Or I suggested I buy a new one, but said that wouldn’t be a good method. LUCKILY, when he asked  if the laptop was still usable, I said yes, it was just ugly, so that helped me out when later he asked how he was going to do his homework this evening...I suggested he use my parents computer, but he said “my homework is on that laptop!”. So then I said, since your laptop is still usable, just take it tonight and I’ll take it to the store tomorrow to fix. So that went relatively alright.

- The interview ended with him asking me what I was going to do. So I lied and said summer homework (really, its NSLI assignments and gardening), then I said that I was going to go to graduation. However, I still didn’t know how to say graduation (I seriously should have looked this up before the interview because I should have known it was going to come up), so I said “Have to go to school...friends have a really big event.” At least the interview was consistent...consistently a mess.

I’m just hoping I don’t get placed in the novice category (I’m hoping for intermediate low), but it’s not looking that way. Oh well!