China 9: Ending the Festivities
Weird food: duck face (at least that's how it was described to me, though think it was more like the brain and the eyeballs.)
Days Running With Ms. Piggy (my host mom): 4 days (The girl has more discipline than I originally thought, though I still have to wake her up every morning at 6. She's begun to run half the way now and walks the rest! Nevertheless, I'm revising my prediction to 8 days before she quits.)
Today, marks the beginning of life in China. By life I mean routine, boring, monotonous life. The kind of life we live where we've decided what order to clean what order the shampoo, body soap, and face soap go in when we're taking a shower. As much as I'd like to think that the four months I'm spending in China are gonna a long nirvana of wonders, I know better.
Today, the school had another big assembly where we were the main item for show. We all had to give your typical speech about complimenting our hosts and telling our own little stories. Of course, it was all in Chinese so and, being me, I refused to read my speech. Thank Buddha, that I went first. The thing about speeches is the fresher the audience is the better laughs you get. So, I went up said my name, how happy I was to be there, and forgot the rest of my speech. Well, the minute and a half of silence was unbearably funny, so I got some good marks on my oral expression there. Then as I adlibed my way through the remaining five minutes, I made sure to crack a few more saying how studious and smart the Chinese students here were (score!), after forgetting exactly why I want to learn about Chinese asking them why I should bother being here (score 2!), and capping off my speech by claiming my undying thirst for chinese pop (three pointer!).
After the speeches, we performed a Backstreet Boys song acapella b/c they're still loved everywhere in the world besides the US. I interrupeted the song to lay down a beat and introduce Edna's step routine. And we ended. This was the last planned welcome and festivity.
Even at school, the glamor of life has died down a little. My superstardom on the basketball courts was finally matched by a Chinese student with a red collared shirt. I came home and my mom immediately began her blabbering in my ear while I type this email. Ms. Piggy is always on my nerves, but even that is becoming just another facet of daily life.
We travel attempting to find a life that is entirely refreshing, but the adrenaline can only last so long. I'm beginning to truly accept what Thoreau was saying about how we were building the railroads to run away from our problems and start on a clean slate, but the fact is no matter where you are you're gonna get used to life and make a routine. I guess what I have to do it find a way to live life like everything is interesting and not accept it as routine. I gotta break the habit of falling into a comfort zone like I tended to do in Brookline with school, friends, hygiene, everything.
Wow this sounds like trash! "Live life to the fullest?" I gotta get off this cliche nonsense.
Anyway, at this point, China's surprises will last only as long as I let them. Who knows what's for dinner tonight?
China 8: Terracotta Warriors
Weird food(you'd think I'd run out of these by now): Pig Ears
Number of DVD's bought (at press time): 16
So I titled this entry "Terracotta Warriors" because we did visit China's 3rd most popular site of visitation by foreign devils. However, as an old teen these kinds of things' long gevity is not appealing to me. Why not weight 40 more years and then it'll be EVEN MORE impressive that they're lasted so long right?
So the warriors were nice. If you don't know what I'm talking about I'm sure a
Google search will give you a better idea than I can. The difference between seeing them in person and in picture in negligible to any person who hasn't completed their doctorate in art history.
Yesterday, us 8 teens gone down to the city to see the hustle 'n bustle 'n such. Got myself 9 more DVD's, though I probly should test one of them out my VCR before I buy anymore. You never know with all this internet and global warming stuff going around. We also mosied our way down to the local watering hole where we filled up on dumplings and 4 meatball soups, which actually we shouldn't've gotten seein as we'd been a askin' for plates but you'll know how it is with them Chinese, can't seem they're own language (or we just really suck at chinese ;). So we ended up with 4 meatball soups instead of four plates, and after eating a few we got ourselves to start a speculatin' 'bout their origin. And well... when dixies come to daisies, we began seeing them meatballs as little to like them cow testicles. I mean they eat every other part of the cow, so why not?
We didn't end up eating the rest.
We traveled around the Muslim Quarter where street vendors call to you to "at least look at their wares." We bought various items like Eastpack Backpacks, bracelets, and Mao lighters that play a little song when you open them. I've discovered that I'm a really good bargainer. The orginal price we got for a Mao lighter was 50 yuan. Celine and Ian were able to buy their's for 20. I however kept my money and went down the street a little further and, using my poker face and a stoic attitude, was able to get mine for 8.
Later own some children walked up to me and tucked a rose into the strap of my bag. I apoligized and explained that I had no need for the rose. She kept saying "for you, for you." Well I didn't want to take her only rose for free, so I handed her 50 cents. Then she goes "five dollar". What?! I through the rose back at her and let her keep the 50 cents. Later she would come up again to Ian and after witnessing my experience he took the rose and placed it on the ground and kept walking. Whereupon this little chinese girl who could have been anywhere between the ages of 5 and 30 shouted an angry "Fuck yu!" C'est la vie.
As for life, I need to be focusing more on improving myself as usual. I finished "Mountain Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder, and was left with the feeling that everyone who is not trying to help balance in the inbalance in the world probably should just kill themselves. I'm also beginning to feel fat, though I've actually been getting decent amount of exercise lately with basketball and my daily 6 o'clock runs with Ms. Piggy. (I'm very impressed that she hasn't given up yet, though I'm the one who has to wake her up to go on her runs.) In other news, the group is still cohesive and pleasant. I wonder if there will ever be any strife between any of us during the trip? The way things are going I'd doubt it, but my intuition tells me if things go really well for a while you're heading for a less than really well situation. C'est la vie. Among other topics, I'm not sure what I should be doing on this Saturday night. Should I write back to my emails, write post cards, call up friends, watch a movie, socialize with my brother, start a new book, do some sit ups, or do some homework?
This trip seems to be getting shorter by the day. Everyday I'm realizing how much needs to be done which makes it seem like I have less and less time. Is that what life is? The management of time. Are the happy people the ones who are able to manage time because they're either very organized or have nothing to do? Just one of life's question.
While we're at it why not ask what is love?
Aloha.
China 7: Family Life
weird food: A few nights ago there was a whole duck on a platter for dinner but it was cut up into pieces. I was instructed to eat it and in concurrence to my 2 rules about about culinary immersion I took a peice. Of course, of all the peices my chopsticks could choose they got me the neck complete with neck, bones, and no meat. Yet I ate what I could while they gazed at me searching for approval.
Family life has improved a lot. My family worries over me way too much. Every night they want to take me out or something. They'll come into my room while I'm reading and try to start a conversation. However, I've learned how to treat this by sometimes accepting it and learning useful techniques to avoid it (like saying I need to do my homework).
My host dad is really cool. He's got a head shaped a lot like an acorn with two squirrel like teeth. He's really into badmitton. Yesterday, he planned out my entire upcoming Saturday:
1. play badmitton at his club
2. go out for pizza
3. go home and invite some of my friends over for dinner
4. go out and sing kareoke
I like my host dad. He's not too intrusive, and is pretty laid back. He's got about 300 unopened DVDs sitting around that he says I can watch whenever. They're all in English too. Movies like EuroTrip and Kill Bill. I guess the fact that DVDs only cost 8 kuai ($1) explain his collection.
My host brother is like a little monkey. He's always making clever comments, I think. (I can never really understand any Chinese comments, but his seem clever and mischivous) His mouth is always pointed in a small pointed grin while he narrows his eyes so you can barely see them. He knows the most English in the family. He kept me entertaining and informed for the first few days of my time so far in Xi'an. We would play ping pong together and watch movies, but now that school has started he leaves at six in the morning and comes back to do his homework till twelve. His dad's always yelling at him for not working hard enough but I think he's really working hard. I feel bad for him sometimes when his dad compares him to me. (for some reason I'm held up on a pedastal wherever I go in Xi'an)
Now we get to the mother. My small, piggish host mother. The same host mother that walks into my room whenever she pleases to sit down and chat or search through my stuff. The same host mother that has walked in on me naked saying "it doesn't matter". The same garrulous mother who talks forever while I simply smile, nod, and say the occasional "doi" (right) to. My host mother claims she wakes up at six, but in order to put on all the makeup she wears she must get up at 5. Her drawn on eyebrows alone must take at least 15 minutes with the red pencil she uses. (it really goes well with her black hair) Her concern with her image has led her to believe she's fat, which she is though I deny it. This concern has given her the brillant idea to start running. I applauded this idea thinking that it'd give me more time to myself. Who knows maybe she'd run so far that she couldn't run all the way back. (which probably wouldn't be very long) Well, she came in the other day with this brilliant idea and asks me if I want to get up a 6 every morning to run with her. In my head i think Well, no.. I think the only reason she's asking me is because she wants to show me that she isn't simply a squeaking blob, she's capable of being a rolling blob too! Knowing I had just gone for a run the day before she caught me in a debaucle because of course I wanted to run during my stay here. I tried to play her off by saying I'd rather run in the afternoon, but she quickly countered me saying that she could do afternoons. FUCK! I don't want to waste my afternoons with her! So I hastily changed my mind and agreed to run EVERY SINGLE MORNING AT 6. I have to admit I'm impressed with her for coming up with the idea. I've been less impressed with her ability to run. So far it's day 2 of the RUNNING ROUTINE and we've ran about 50 paces and walked the rest. I'm giving her two more days before she gives up.
time for dinner gotta go. peace.
Eating with friends at the welcoming banquet.
China 6: SuperStar
weird food: Cow's stomach (crunchy when eaten boiled)
exchange rate: 20 DVD's in china for 1 in the US ($1 buck a peice, though they are pirated they are quite aptly packaged and the quality is fine)
As I write this entry, fireworks are exploding throughout the city and even right next to my window. They are putting the finishing touch to what has been an amazing experience during my first few days at Gao Xin High School among my Chinese peers.
The first day of school I walked into my classroom entirely alone and intimadated by the sheer immensity of the the class which must have at least 35 kids. I didn't no anybody, and everyone was already sitting down ready for class. When I entered the room everyone's head went up, but no one said a word. The teacher induced applause among the students as I took my assigned seat in the back of the room, and class began. My deskmate, Sun Fan, was probably instructed to entertain me because he would attempt to entertain me with small talk in english. During class he concentrated on the material while I sat deciding whether I should attempt to listen to what our math teacher was saying or look up random words in my chinese dictionary like guillotine and penus (which was curiously absent from my dictionary). Each class is followed with a 5 or 10 minute break where all the students bustle around chatting to each other. I, however, decided that I didn't really want to interject in their conversations with the the three chinese words I know, Ni hao ma? Sun Fan, my deskmate, loyaly sat by my side with his back turned talking to some other boys.
I felt really embarassed because I sat there the center of everyone's attention because of my foreigness, but I couldn't say anything to all the conversations around me saying "American" and the oh so subtle stares. No one approached me or even met my eyes, so I just looked at my dictionary some more feeling my ass become numb from the hard bench. I didn't want to stand up during the break.
Of course, during one of these breaks the entire school goes outside for flag raising, and our introduction where unfortunately I would have to stand up. In front of the millions of students and teachers. There was one more obligation at flag raising. After standing up I'd have to go up to the mic and speak to the entire school. Despite what one might think I was actually looking forward to it. At least I'd have an opportunity to introduce myself, and then maybe one person out of the 5,000 in front of me would approach me. Well, I expressed my eagerness to be friends with them and play basketball maybe, but upon my return to the class the situation remained the same.
I guess I learned how those ESL kids who come to Brookline High School, or any high school, feel, and it's really not any different than you'd expect. The awkwardness of being alone sucks. I figured this kind of feeling that was ubiquitous among new students. However, I was wrong.
Before class had even started the next day, I received a present from a girl in my class as she hustled by my desk. She dropped a book of paper cuts on my desk leaving me no time to recover from my surprise and say thankyou. After the first class was over and the break had begun, I worked up my courage and traveled across the room to thank her and ask her name. As she began to write down her name for me, about 20 kids surrounded me offering up their own names. It seemed as if I'd taken down whatever divide prevented them from quenching their curiousity. During the next break pretty much the entire class surrounded my desk asking questions like "Do you have a girlfriend? How old are you? Can I be your friend? What's your cell phone number? Do you want to play basketball?" I answered all of them accordingly, "No. 18. Of course, I' d love that. 13689293640. Yeah, I really like basketball."
At recess or lunch or whatever, I joined my class and played basketball. By then I'd developed quite a fan club. The game I played in was surrounded by 40 kids watching the "wai guo ren" play basketball, which I modestly proclaim to be by far the best at, (at least in this game). I have to admit I've been drinking up this attention with a crazy thirst. Today, during PE class we watched a NBA basketball game and I simply asked one question to one person and the whole class was asking about me various topics. Mostly: basketball, computer games, and college (which I include my already declined Stanford in b/c its the only college among my list that they recognize).
I wonder when my superstardom will end. Will it? Despite what my parents and teachers have taught me about modesty, I'm greedily relishing it. Isn't it amazing that in China, the new kid is the cool kid not the loser like in American schools. It's not only that he's cool, but he becomes the most popular kid in the school, the one who in the movies has the hot girlfriend and cool car. I'm still waiting on those two things, but I'm sure they can't be too far off with the way things have been going. The others in our group haven't taken the kind of popularity that I've had. I'm pretty sure it's just b/c they're not seeking it like I am by playing basketball. They too are being surrounded and being asked questions, and I'm sure the groups around them will only grow once the Chinese students realize that they can ask us anything.
Another thought, I feel horrible that the students from Xi'an who visit the US receive the exact opposite reaction from the Brookline students. If anything, BHS students are a little repulsed by ESL kids. Perhaps this is a problem with living in such a culturally diverse place, we tend to take for granted the wonders of the people different from ourselves.
So the fireworks are still going off outside my window, but today is the last day they'll be going off. I just got a text message from a kid who says he's in my class. He wants to know what I'm doing.
(of course my euphoria does extend beyond my superstardom. our afternoon classes have been exhilarating. we did kung fu the first day, chinese cooking the next, and paper cutting today. but those are all future entries; it's time for bed.)
this pic is from the airport in beijing. i know it's a little passe, but i figured by now you'll forgot what we looked like anyway. did i get a haircut or is it just tied back?
China 5
Weird foods: Duck intestine and quail eggs
homesick dream: I dreamt my dog died w/o me there
Obviously food has been a major cultural experience for everyone in the group. Whether its experiencing weird foods or dealing with dietary restrictions, everyone has at multiple times throughout any given day realized the omnipresence of food in our lives. For me, I have made to rules to live by in regard to my education of culinary culture. I proudly title them the Diarhea Right of Passage:
1) Try everything on the table. Don't ask question until after the food is consumed.
2) Finish everything set before you.
Both rules are hard to follow, believe me. Personally, I find the second much harder because the Chinese tend to set about three meals worth of food before you at any given moment, not to mention it might include a dish that is less than appetizing. However, upon making these rules (before I arrived in China mind you) I decided that "unappetizing things" must taste good to someone and all I really had to do was imagine myself in that person's shoes. For example, I'm not the biggest fish fan especially the kind of fish that reaks of......well, fish. Of course my second day here the main dish was, what do ya know, fishy fish! Well, I pulled pulled out my perverbial Chinese food shoes and put myself in them. I imagined myself having eaten this food for my entire 18 years of being and all of a sudden I caught a somewhat paletteable taste in the pungent fish. Needless to say, this strategy is also very useful in eating things that normally wouldn't be eaten like cows stomach.
Anyways, in my study of Chinese culture I've realized that in order to learn about a culture one has to be the culture. I believe my first big step in the Oriental culture has been to "xi guan" myself, or become accustomed, to real Chinese dishes. Luckily for me, my light Chinese eating habits in the United States (as my father is 中国人）has guarded me from the negative effects of cultural culinary immersion. However, some members in the group have overcoming the hardships of their immersion. These obstacles include gagging, choking, stomach aches, burning mouths, etc. Yet, none is more rewarding to overcome than diarhea (i know that can't be spelled right). The loosening of one's bowels is something that requires the utmost discipline and concentration, and yet, because of its effects, even the most weak minded of people tend to rise to the occasion.
In fact, I almost wish I could have gone through the Diarhea Right of Passage if only to have that marking moment of "this was when I became culinarily immersed in China." Alas I am without such a trophy, but can proudly claim that even a Boca Grande burrito sounds a little foreign to me.
china 4
weird food: chicken stomach
good food: "bi jiu" (dumplings with soup inside of them)
weather: snowy (I guess we brought it with us b/c Xi'an doesn't have much snow.)
a little reminder: I can't read any comments my void of readers might make, so if you wanna chat send me an email at celtics186@hotmail.com because I'm getting really lonely here 13 hours in the future.
wow life is hectic in china, but i guess i like it better that way. I'm dreading the moment when I fall into the stiffiling boredom of routine.
I've started caligraphy lessons with my host mom. She gave me a caligraphy book where you fill in the outlines of characters and the strokes are numbered. Of course this is the same mom who annoys the living shit out of me. She follows me everywhere, stands over my back when I'm on the computer (like right now but I think she's still working on translating the first few words), forces me to eat, unpacked my suitcase for me, makes me wear long underwear, and has recently walked in on my naked while I was changing and kept on coming into my room saying "Mei guan xi, Mei guean xi" ("It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter"). So of course she makes me do my caligraphy right handed which, for a lefty, is not the easiest thing to do. My right hand has zero dexterity. I can't even hold the brush still in my hand. It shakes so much that i can barely put it to the paper. Nevertheless, after having her hold my hand steady for me, I was able to slop out some characters. My mom decided that now I have to do three pages a night under her guidance. I grudgingly agreed thinking that at the very least my right hand will build up some muscles. But caligraphy itself is very interesting.
Originally, I had no idea why the hell writing characters was supposed to be such an art, but after attempting to write many characters I've discovered it truly is something you've got to master. You really have to anticipate how the brush will spread the ink onto the paper. You got to know when to press, to flip, to squish, to turn, lighten, to fill... You can't watch the brush as it makes the character you have to look ahead of the brush and anticipate what kind of move best fits the character you are filling in. There an innumerable amount of ways to do the same stroke. Hard, soft, quick, slow, slanted, straight, etc. I guess in it's highest form you really can speak volumes through the painting of just a few characters.
I beginning to think my little host sister has a crush on me. She keeps asking me for pictures of JUST me, and her and my little brother always get in fights when he says "he has something to tell me." My little brother is really cool. He reminds me of a monkey. Always plotting something. His cousin, who he calls his sister and is the same age, is much better at English than him and does most of my translating.
In other news, the China group has really been getting along well. Everyone has so much to talk about in the past few days we have all been laughing and shouting every time we meet. I think a lot of it has to do with us finally being in China and by ourselves. I know Edna's been feeling homesick, and I have to admit there are times I'd love to be back home w/o my pug-like mom looking over my shoulder. Celine's been sick the past couple of days, but been having a good time w/ her family. Ian has been going around with his little brother doing all kinds of things like lighting firecrackers and training the family's new dog. Lauren has been living the high life; apparently her dad is the founder of the entire city of Xi'an or something. Christina's appartment has three floors which is a rarity in China. Sara and Isaiah have been their usual selves. And Gaelen has been impressing the entire group with her fluency in chinese. All in all, I'm pretty sure everyone in the group is having one of the best times of their lives despite the snow and homesickness or sickness, or whatever difficulties accompany this kind of trip.
dAVID
china 3
weird food: frozen corn on the cob
odd habit: i've taken to smuggling my toothpaste into the bathroom when I brush my teeth b/c my host mom has been making me use their fish flavored tooth paste
alright, so once again i'm lacking a good amount of time. For some reason I can't personally view this blog; I can only write things (I think). So unfortunately I can't read any of your comments (not that anyone was actually reading this blog when I left). If you REALLY want to talk to me you can email at celtics186@hotmail.com .
so since i last wrote i've done a shitload. I went two hours out of the city to Fa Mun Se where the Buddhist worship a finger bone of the Buddha. I pulled out a couple of kow tows in front of various Buddha statues and donated money to this commericialized temple. Then we went into the true countryside and I saw people that probably everyone in Brookline would consider extremely destitute. It makes you feel real bad to see these people who are so much poorer than the people just a few kilometers away in the city. The people in the city, like us, simply drive in to their villages kicking up dust in order to get the Shaanxi noodles. There is a classist sense about it.
Anyway time is short. The past few days i've been exploring Xi'an. Xi'an is mad crowded with every western commodity available. Yesterday I worked on my bargaining game and got this guy from 50 yuan to 25 yuan for a old red book of Chairman Mao quotes. I probably still got ripped off but i did it all in chinese. I really got a good game face.
china day 2
alright, i don't have a lot of time again, but heres another little story. today i met up with the group and we had a banquet. we got cell phones and chinese silk jackets. this was the first time that we've seen each other since we were wisked away by our families at the Xi'an airport. everyone had a lot to say about the 12 hours we'd spend with our families so far. topics included the lack of shower curtains, food, parental guidance, and as my host brother sits here attempting to translate this into chinese i'm gonna end this update early because he's pretty good at it.
odd food: ox blood
dAVID
china
Ｈｅｒｅ Ｉ ａｍ ｉｎ Ｘｉ＇ａｎ Ｃｈｉｎａ． Ｉ ｄｏｎ＇ｔｈａｖｅ ｍｕｃｈ ｔｉｍｅ． Ｉ＇ｍ ｗｉｔｈ ｍｙ ｆａｍｉｌｙ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅｙ＇ｒｅ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｎｉｃｅ ａｔ ｌｅａｓｔ Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｔｈｅｙ ａｒｅ． Ｉ ｄｏｎ＇ｔ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｕｎｄｅｒｓｔａｎｄ ａ ｓｉｎｇｌｅ ｗｏｒｄ ｔｈｅｙ＇ｖｅ ｓａｉｄ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｐａｓｔ １２ ｈｏｕｒｓ．
Ｗｅｉｒｄｅｓｔ ｆｏｏｄ ｔｒｉｅｄ：ｔｏａｄ
ｏｄｄｅｓｔ ｆａｍｉｌｙ ｔｈｉｎｇ：ｔｈｅｙ ｄｏ ＥＶＥＲＴＨＩＮＧ for me.
4, 3, 2, 1...
I didn't plan on making three entries today, but it seems that on these days of climatical endings we tend to go through a lot. A little while ago, my friend camilo came over at 1 AM in the morning to give me going gifts from him and sara. Camilo and I had this amazing bike trip this past summer in France for about month, but since then we really haven't chilled together at all though I still consider him one of my closest friends. I guess that kind of stuff happens in high school when you're constantly in different classes and meeting new people.
I was touched. I mean tear jerking touched. Funny how something so small can really move you. To not be remembered is maybe one of the scariest things about leaving. Nobody likes to leave early when the party really starting to bump. Sara wrote me a card that said "since I wasn't gonna be here of V-day" she got me chocolates and a little stuffed dog. Honestly, who does that? She has been one of the nicest people to me since we met. (Then again, maybe the gifts really meant "Haha. You loser you don't have a anyone to share Valentines day with ;) .)
So where does this leave me with 6 hours till takeoff? Damned if I know. At this point the rollercoasters about to go down that huge hill and there's nothing I can do about it so for all intensive purposes fuck it all. Whatever will be will be. If I vomit the whole way down, I'll have a cool story to tell. If I love the adrenaline rush, I'll remember it forever. Hey sera sera.
Next time will be from China,
dAVID
thanks racoon and camilo
7, 6, 5...
So I'm done with everything I need to do before I leave, and I can't fall asleep. It's snowing out and there's that really quiet calmness that always comes with snow. I can't stand it. My head is really beginning to race. Questions are arising. What am I going to do without speaking Chinese? Am I comfortable in this group that's going to China? Am I forgetting to bring something? What's going to happen here in Brookline while I'm gone? What's going to happen in China? I can't stop thinking these questions. So what emotion are these tied to? Nervousness? Excitement? Anxiety? Doubt? I don't know how I feel. All I know is that the questions keep coming and the snow falls tediously slow.
Why am I going to China? It's like the moments before going down a huge rollercoaster, or at least lets hope that it is.
dAVID
10, 9, 8, ...
Tomorrow we take off. It's dayslike these where we act most natural and grateful. I was at the high school yesterday for the Chinese New Year celebration where they'd give us our send off. As I watched them perform amateur versions of the lion dance and chinese dances, I looked around and saw these Greek carvings above our heads that I never really took the time to see before. Turning round, I saw faces I'd seen but didn't know. And most of them were smiling and laughing at the antics of the ChineseAmericans tossing a fantacized lion head around to a drum beat. I felt SO good to be part of Brookline High School. Everything is celebrated here. It is so easy to forget the simple things of our school in the everyday repition of our schedules and homework. The fact is Brookline High offers more than an array of amazing classes; it offers an atmosphere that truly does create security. Sure, we do have things to work on, but I was proud to be standing there watching people at ease.
Right now I'm listening to an Usher song and the lyrics entirely match with my sentiments. (Pop music DOES have value despite claims that it is simply part of a lower echelon of culture.) The chorus goes: "It's the simple things in life we forget... why do you make something so easy so complicated, searching for what's right in front of your face." How often does this happen? The fact is perhaps I'm going to China to do something that I could do right here in Brookline. Perhaps, in the search for "life", for "who we are", we miss all those good things that tell us life's lessons. Maybe if I was just able to see the smiles and laughs and BHS more then I wouldn't have signed up to go to China. As seniors in high school, we all are searching to be enriched if only to make a more attractive offer to prospective colleges. In this quest to be enriched, we can do some pretty crazy things hoping that maybe a certain experience will transform us into a Da Vinci, a Renaissance man or woman.
Maybe the answer lies not really in any experience you've had, but in rather in yourself and your ability to live life. I remember in The Things They Carried the narrator says that the time when he truly was living was in Vietnam only inches from death at any given moment. Perhaps the most enriched person is not one who has felt the soil of every continent beneath his feet, but the one who can live life like death is around the corner, the one who can love life and take in the beauty of the world around him or her.
Other notes: Despite all my rantings about not taking life for granted I'm fuckin excited to be going to China and nervous. I can't speak chinese for my life so i'm hoping my proficiency in sign langauge will become much greater when I get back from China. Also, to the exorbant amount of people reading this blog thanks for not reading it. To end, I already miss Brookline. C'est la vie, non?
My rec bball team is nasty, and I'm pissed I can't be part of the team when the win the championship; I don't have anyone's email in Brookline so don't expect much contact unless you email me at celtics186@hotmail.com; and my goddamn college shit isn't going very well because it seems everyone is missing at least one crucial thing; peace
dAVID
Last Weekend
So this is my last weekend in Brookline and I've got a lot of stuff to do. Yesterday we threw my friend a surprise birthday party where I was the distraction. It was cool. Today, my family's having my friend Camilo's family over, and we're gonna watch the video about the trip we took in France that I finally finished. I think a lot of our friends our gonna come over too. Then, on Sunday, I have an interview with Tufts and the Superbowl where I'll see all my friends again. So this last weekend is pretty good, yet for some reason it doesn't feel like a last weekend because everything that's happening is focusing on other people so I feel a little forgotten already. Yesterday at the surprise party, one my friends was shocked to discover I hadn't left for China yet.
I also got to start working on my projects.
go pats!
dAVID
Jitters
Up until today I've been so unworried I was beginning to worry. I was glad to be done with all my work. I was glad to be trying something new. I was glad to be getting away from Brookline High and Brookline. I was even glad to leave my friends and my self-consuming social life. I was glad to be leaving. But I wasn't nervous, not in the least.
I suppose nervousness also entails excitement, and by that I guess I wasn't even excited to be leaving for China. I was simply glad in the same way I'm glad after finishing a huge project after staying up the whole night.
An interesting things happened today. We were in the library doing research for the "waste of time projects", and I suggested that we get lunch in ChinaTown. For the first time, the group seemed to be enthused without the encouragement of our teacher, Gaelen. We decided to tell Gaelen we wanted to get lunch, went up, told her, and left as a group. (minus Isaiah and Edna who were at a meeting) On the train, we were managing to avoid maintain awkward small talk, and everyone was engaged in real conversations.
Maybe it was just me, but I think the group has finally coalesced as more than classmates. So anways, after this experience I'm starting to feel excited and, as I said before, the excitement is bringing nervousness too. I realized today that I suck at Chinese. There's no better way to put it. I suck. The fact that my host family still hasn't responded to my introductory email yet is really making me nervous. What if noone's there to pick me up at the airport?!
Mais c'est la vie, non?
dAVID
Last day of school
First of all, I think I'm going to be the only one writing on this blog despite my efforts to include the group, and the fact that no one really reads or comments on this blog site is discouraging.
Anway, today was our last day as BHS students of 2005, and for most of us it was our last day a a high school student. It was a bitter sweet day. I mean the fact was everyone else was really happy FOR me but they weren't done w/ school themselves so there wasn't that wave of adrenaline and giddiness that'd you'd expect on your last day of high school. I guess the best part was hearing about all the work all my classes had lined up. It seems like all the teachers use the day after midterms to organize all "the legistics"; "legistics" though always a good time waster usually turn out to be harbingers of deadly amounts of work. So, on the day after midterms I was able to avoid the double whammy's of both getting your grades back and realizing there's little light to be seen at the end of tunnel.
I've got no HW tonight besides choosing the topic I want to research for my pre-departure project, which I'm beginning to see as just a device to make us do something academic b/c we truly don't have enough time to start an in depth project in less than two weeks. So I'm probably gonna avoid choosing any of the topics I want to research and save them for when we actually have time. I'll do your typical chinese research on food or martial arts b/c easy reads.
dAVID
