Hello everybody! These past few weeks have been great! I will start by saying everything is normal, my host family is good, and school is as confusing as ever. So not much has changed there! But so much other stuff has. This week I started hanging out more often with one of the French exchange students who goes to a different school. She is so great! On Wednesday I left school early and we just decided we would go shopping and walk around. Really, when you can walk around, not really looking at much, but just talking and laughing SO MUCH, you know that you and that person really click. We hung out from about 1:30 until 7 at night, and it was so fun! But the really great day was on Thursday. She didn't go to school that day, and at 3:30 I could go home, so we met up, and just started walking through the city. After a while we came to a small alleyway, and so were just like, "what the heck? Lets explore!"
So we went down the tiny street. Now I haven't really done much random exploring, but boy, have I been missing out! You cannot imagine the little gems you can find buried between the old rotting houses. First we found a very petite western food restaurant. This place was sitting between a falling down toy store and some abandoned garage! It was so adorable! Then as we kept walking, we found a French restaurant, practically hidden! It was tiny and yellow and so very cute. Justine (the french girl) was so excited. As we kept walking, more and more tiny cafes started appearing. Finally we decided on one that we both really liked and went in. Justine showed me pictures of her family while we drank coffee. When we were almost done, she had an amazing idea. Her idea was to get a map of both the subway lines, go to each of them, and just start exploring. So we are going to start this week. I think it is going to be amazing. You can not imagine the amount of amazing things you can find just from going where there are fewer people. And at the end of my time here, I might know more about Nanjing then some of my classmates do, as they just stay home! Also this plan gets us lots of exercise, as we are walking everywhere. I cannot wait!
I have sad news unfortunately, now. My American friend Mira is returning to the USA in about 2 weeks. I am going to miss her so so much! She is so, so great, and I am excited to see her when I get home. Hopefully my Chinese is almost as good as her's by then. She has taken 4 years of Chinese, so her Chinese is awesome! Yesterday we went out together and it was so much fun. We wanted to get candy to send home and so we went to the huge supermarket that is underground by my house. I felt like we were roommates, shopping for our weekly food! We also went to an open market thing, and she and this one women fought over a price for like 20 minutes! It was so entertaining, both of them were laughing so hard and shouting at each other. Ahhh, good times.
Here are some recent pictures from out and about:
So we went down the tiny street. Now I haven't really done much random exploring, but boy, have I been missing out! You cannot imagine the little gems you can find buried between the old rotting houses. First we found a very petite western food restaurant. This place was sitting between a falling down toy store and some abandoned garage! It was so adorable! Then as we kept walking, we found a French restaurant, practically hidden! It was tiny and yellow and so very cute. Justine (the french girl) was so excited. As we kept walking, more and more tiny cafes started appearing. Finally we decided on one that we both really liked and went in. Justine showed me pictures of her family while we drank coffee. When we were almost done, she had an amazing idea. Her idea was to get a map of both the subway lines, go to each of them, and just start exploring. So we are going to start this week. I think it is going to be amazing. You can not imagine the amount of amazing things you can find just from going where there are fewer people. And at the end of my time here, I might know more about Nanjing then some of my classmates do, as they just stay home! Also this plan gets us lots of exercise, as we are walking everywhere. I cannot wait!
I have sad news unfortunately, now. My American friend Mira is returning to the USA in about 2 weeks. I am going to miss her so so much! She is so, so great, and I am excited to see her when I get home. Hopefully my Chinese is almost as good as her's by then. She has taken 4 years of Chinese, so her Chinese is awesome! Yesterday we went out together and it was so much fun. We wanted to get candy to send home and so we went to the huge supermarket that is underground by my house. I felt like we were roommates, shopping for our weekly food! We also went to an open market thing, and she and this one women fought over a price for like 20 minutes! It was so entertaining, both of them were laughing so hard and shouting at each other. Ahhh, good times.
Here are some recent pictures from out and about:
Now I think I will begin a new feature of my blog, titled: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) This will be my attempt (at this point in my adventure) to answer questions that commonly arise about living here in Nanjing as an exchange student.
What is the school year like in China? Do I have any breaks?
The school year in China starts at the beginning of September and runs through the end of June. Luckily, I do not have to go to school on the weekends, but most kids have extra classes on Saturday or Sunday! As for breaks, we don't really have any. Often if they do give us a day off, they make us go to school on Saturday, which is cheating in my opinion. We have no Christmas break, but we do have most of February off for Chinese New Year. Having no breaks except for February is pretty tough, so you really learn to love your weekends. I am so excited for Chinese New Year Break!
What do I like most about living here? What do I love least?
It really is hard to think of what I like the most, because I enjoy so many things. Two of the greatest things here are the people I have met, and how I can be so independent. Most everybody I have met here is so sweet, and people really love foreigners, so they are all so kind to me. Like the little old women at the street market Justine and I found, who haggled with Justine over the price. People are so sweet and funny! Everybody is, my family, my Chinese friends, and my exchange student friends.
I love being independent here, also. To me this includes having to take care of myself, get myself anything I need, taking charge of how far I get in my language studies, and having something like the 6th largest city in China to explore and enjoy as much as I want.
While I really have not found many things to dislike, there are a few things that have been a bit challenging, and not in a exciting way. I am not a big fan of the staring here. In America, everybody is a clear individual, and we don't stare at people who look different. Here, anybody who looks different stands out a ton. And when I say a ton, I mean A TON! In America, moms always tell their children, "It's not polite to stare," and similar things, but here there is definitely no such lesson, as I am constantly examined wherever I go. You would think I would get used to it, but after a long day at school I can get really frustrated with it on the subway home. So, I have resorted to being on my iPod so at least I don't have to watch them all staring at me. Other times it doesn't annoy me as much, but when I am not in the mood for it it is hard.
Another thing I don't like is how my host sister always makes me late for school, but I am not going to get into that. It's a whole other long story..
What is the easiest thing about living in China, and what is the hardest?
I think that the hardest thing about living in China is the language. It is literally one of the hardest languages to learn in the world. Even living here and being surrounded by it does not make it easy. I was talking to my friend back at home, Teal, today and I was telling her about how written Chinese works and she said she hadn't realized how complicated it was. It really is! And there are multiple words for the same thing, and some single words that mean a million different things. I know four different ways to say "can." And there are probably some I don't know yet. So that is definitely the hardest thing.
The easiest thing.... this one is more difficult... I think a couple things are pretty "easy," meaning "it can happen easily to you." Like spending too much money-- that is very easy here! Stuff is a lot cheaper here when you change the prices to American dollars, but that can make you spend a lot more than you intend to. Ha! Another "easy" thing is meeting friendly people you can spend time with. But I already talked about some of that. One other unfortunately "easy" thing about going to school in China is falling asleep in class! In American I never ever fell asleep in class, but here when you are at school at 7 in the morning, you can almost not help it. It sometimes seems physically impossible some mornings, and so during the 10 minutes between first and second period I must run to the small store to buy some coffee. Too early!!!
Finally, What do I miss the most, and what do I miss the least?
The thing I miss the most is... probably my sister, Fiona. But if we cancel out all the usual "missings" of family and friends and cats, I miss some really random things. For one, I really, weirdly, miss my chiropractor. It is probably one of the most relaxing places in the world. I also weirdly miss doing homework, and writing essays. I know I won't like it when I get back, but right now it's all Chinese homework and that is exhausting and repetitive! I miss the sun also. It isn't very sunny here so I am getting whiter and whiter everyday. I miss walking around and seeing people I know, and I miss going to my parent's school.
The thing I miss the least is having nothing to do all of the time. Napa is really boring for teenagers. There is not much to do at all. Here, there are so many options! I am never bored, and I love that.
I will post again soon! Feel free to send along your own "Frequently Asked Question" and if I have time to get to them I will try!
Love,
India
What is the school year like in China? Do I have any breaks?
The school year in China starts at the beginning of September and runs through the end of June. Luckily, I do not have to go to school on the weekends, but most kids have extra classes on Saturday or Sunday! As for breaks, we don't really have any. Often if they do give us a day off, they make us go to school on Saturday, which is cheating in my opinion. We have no Christmas break, but we do have most of February off for Chinese New Year. Having no breaks except for February is pretty tough, so you really learn to love your weekends. I am so excited for Chinese New Year Break!
What do I like most about living here? What do I love least?
It really is hard to think of what I like the most, because I enjoy so many things. Two of the greatest things here are the people I have met, and how I can be so independent. Most everybody I have met here is so sweet, and people really love foreigners, so they are all so kind to me. Like the little old women at the street market Justine and I found, who haggled with Justine over the price. People are so sweet and funny! Everybody is, my family, my Chinese friends, and my exchange student friends.
I love being independent here, also. To me this includes having to take care of myself, get myself anything I need, taking charge of how far I get in my language studies, and having something like the 6th largest city in China to explore and enjoy as much as I want.
While I really have not found many things to dislike, there are a few things that have been a bit challenging, and not in a exciting way. I am not a big fan of the staring here. In America, everybody is a clear individual, and we don't stare at people who look different. Here, anybody who looks different stands out a ton. And when I say a ton, I mean A TON! In America, moms always tell their children, "It's not polite to stare," and similar things, but here there is definitely no such lesson, as I am constantly examined wherever I go. You would think I would get used to it, but after a long day at school I can get really frustrated with it on the subway home. So, I have resorted to being on my iPod so at least I don't have to watch them all staring at me. Other times it doesn't annoy me as much, but when I am not in the mood for it it is hard.
Another thing I don't like is how my host sister always makes me late for school, but I am not going to get into that. It's a whole other long story..
What is the easiest thing about living in China, and what is the hardest?
I think that the hardest thing about living in China is the language. It is literally one of the hardest languages to learn in the world. Even living here and being surrounded by it does not make it easy. I was talking to my friend back at home, Teal, today and I was telling her about how written Chinese works and she said she hadn't realized how complicated it was. It really is! And there are multiple words for the same thing, and some single words that mean a million different things. I know four different ways to say "can." And there are probably some I don't know yet. So that is definitely the hardest thing.
The easiest thing.... this one is more difficult... I think a couple things are pretty "easy," meaning "it can happen easily to you." Like spending too much money-- that is very easy here! Stuff is a lot cheaper here when you change the prices to American dollars, but that can make you spend a lot more than you intend to. Ha! Another "easy" thing is meeting friendly people you can spend time with. But I already talked about some of that. One other unfortunately "easy" thing about going to school in China is falling asleep in class! In American I never ever fell asleep in class, but here when you are at school at 7 in the morning, you can almost not help it. It sometimes seems physically impossible some mornings, and so during the 10 minutes between first and second period I must run to the small store to buy some coffee. Too early!!!
Finally, What do I miss the most, and what do I miss the least?
The thing I miss the most is... probably my sister, Fiona. But if we cancel out all the usual "missings" of family and friends and cats, I miss some really random things. For one, I really, weirdly, miss my chiropractor. It is probably one of the most relaxing places in the world. I also weirdly miss doing homework, and writing essays. I know I won't like it when I get back, but right now it's all Chinese homework and that is exhausting and repetitive! I miss the sun also. It isn't very sunny here so I am getting whiter and whiter everyday. I miss walking around and seeing people I know, and I miss going to my parent's school.
The thing I miss the least is having nothing to do all of the time. Napa is really boring for teenagers. There is not much to do at all. Here, there are so many options! I am never bored, and I love that.
I will post again soon! Feel free to send along your own "Frequently Asked Question" and if I have time to get to them I will try!
Love,
India