Surviving the Hangzhou Heat

Day 3 in China and I am already dying from the heat. It is scorching hot single every day. I honestly miss the weather in Hawaii a lot. Even though it's sunny in Hawaii, it's never this dry and humid. In China, I literally have to bring an umbrella with me everywhere I go to shield myself from the sun. I'm just so done with the weather here, lol. I don't know how people in China survive.

Anyways, I'll just go over what I've done in the past two days. Yesterday, we started Chinese classes for the first time. Somehow, I was placed in the middle-level class and not the beginning level class. This was shocking. I don't know how I got into the middle-level class, but it's intense. My class has two teachers: 李老师 and 张老师。I really love my teachers (and my classmates). They're not too strict, but they conduct the class in only Chinese...with some occasional English when no one understands what they are saying. On one hand, I'm really glad that the class is conducted in only Chinese because I really need to improve my listening and speaking skills. On the other hand, I have no clue what is going on for 50% of the class. The only person who even gets anything our teachers are saying is Ryan (Why are you in the middle-level class, Ryan? You should be in the advanced-level class!) So far, we've been working on our pronunciation and tone markings (We're apparently graded on how well we pronounce things in 李老师‘s class lol. I think I got a 8/10 for my pronunciation/participation today). 

After class yesterday, we went touring around Hangzhou. Technically, we stayed in an air-conditioned bus (because it was so hot) and drove around the city, while Angelo, Matthew and our tour guide serenaded us with various Chinese songs and the Star's Spangled Banner. Then we had dinner with our host siblings at Zhejiang University (it was a 15-course meal at a dim sum restaurant on the campus) and made an impromptu stop at a "nearby" KTV. KTV was so much fun. Because there was so much of us, we were split into two rooms. One of the host sisters started dancing to SNSD's "Oh!" and we all sang/danced to Gangnam Style. It was cute when one of the host brothers started singing to Justin Bieber. Oh! I also found out that my sister likes rap music and her favorite rapper is Eminem (I did not know this. Heck, her friends didn't even know this side of her). I think we left KTV at around 8 pm and took the taxi home. Thank god I didn't have much homework last night or I would have stayed up all night.

Today, I took the bus to school for the first time (with my host mom, of course). Gaah, I just hate the bus; there's no such thing as personal space here. The good thing about being Asian is that I fit right in because I would feel really uncomfortable if people were to stare at me all the time. After school, we had Tai Chi (which I, and the rest of the NSLI-Y kids...except Angelo, am terrible at) and toured the host institution's campus (High School Attached to Zhejiang University). When we finished the tour, about 10 of us explored the area around the school and bought ourselves candy and milk/bubble tea. It was an impromptu birthday celebration for Angelo, since his birthday is today. Happy 17th Birthday Angelo! 

I ended my day by taking the bus home by myself for the first time. I had only taken the bus home (with my host sister) once, so taking the bus by myself was a bit nerve-wracking. I got to the bus station just fine (which is like a 20-25 minute walks away from the host institution), but I had a hard time finding my bus stop. I had to ask this lady on the bus where to get off. This is how my conversation with her went:

Me: 对不起，这个是在哪儿？我是从夏威夷来的。第一次，我在杭州坐公车。(Sorry, where is this? I am from Hawaii. This is my first time on the bus in Hangzhou) -points to paper my host sister gave me-

Her: -looks at paper and says in English- Ahh, I don't know let me check. -goes to check the map of the route- I think it's the next one, but I will tell you when to get off! Where did you say you were from again?
Me: ah, 谢谢 (thank-you). And Hawaii

Her: Hawaii? How long have you been in China?
Me: 3 days

Her: Wooow, you're really brave! How long are you staying for? Why are you here?
Me: 6 weeks! 我学习中文 (I'm studying Chinese).
Her: At Zhejiang University?
Me: Ah, no...High school attached to Zhejiang University

Her: High school? wow (I think she was shocked I was still in High school and in China by myself l o l). -asked me in Chinese if my parents were Chinese)
Me: 我妈妈是中国人。 (My mom is Chinese). 

Her: 你的爸爸是什么人？ (What is your dad?)

Me: 我爸爸是越南人。 (My dad is Vietnamese)

Her: Ahh, all Asian 

Me: Yep!

Her: Okay you get off here! 再见 (bye!) -smiles-
Me: 谢谢，再见！

All in all, it was an eventful day. I ended up having to call my host sister for help because I forgot which door inside the apartment building was ours. I accidentally tried opening someone else's door. Oops. I hope no one was home or else they might have thought someone was breaking into their house. Anyways, I gotta go finish homework. 

Until next time,

Christine