Brookline High School in China

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?

posted by dAVID @ 4:18 AM