China 30: Arch Rivals
Memo: Next trip bring a digital camera. Sorry I haven't had any pics lately.
Chinese: xi guan ("she gwan") - connections. In China your "xi guan" is a mark of status. Everyone who is anyone has xi guan and tries to show it you as much as possible. My host mom's xi guan got me a plane ticket to Hong Kong for half off.
I can't believe it's already Saturday; the last week went by so fast. There's nothing that really stands out, and if I really think about it the classes are only getting slower and slower, but the days are becoming faster and faster. I guess as we get more used to our schedule the faster it seems to go by.
Last night we went out to Dong Da Jie (East Street) which is about the equivelent of Newbury St. in Boston. Gaelen came this time because we were going to have dinner and then meet up with the Newton North HS students who were visiting Xi'an. Because we weren't even on American soil, we put all rivalries away and became good old hosts.
The Newton groups exchange is based in Beijing. This year they only have three students as opposed to the usual 5-6. Also, Newton sends two teachers as opposed to Brookline's one, so these three students has 2 teachers with them. We met them at their hotel on Dong Da Jie. They were about an hour late, but that was cool b/c me and Lauren had some intense cell-phone game competition. (I currently hold the record in "Snake" with a high score of 2287.)
When they showed up, we sat around in the lobby for a few minutes before deciding to split off from the teachers and show the kids around. Their group is made up of 2 boys and a girl and two female teachers. We took them across the street to the club that we went to last week but it turned out to be a bust. It was a little before 9 so nobody was dancing, and we didn't feel like sitting around doing nothing. So we took them to the Muslim corner and showed them around. We were able to compare our experiences which was fun and useful for my research paper which is on the history of the BHS exchange w/ Xi'an.
I have to admit after talking to them, I was very thankful to be with this group. First of all, I got the impression that the student-teacher ratio was a little to intense. And yet, I also realized how engaged, if not studious, this group is about being IN China. I heard how they do much at school, and how the boys in the group had only gotten worse at Chinese if anything. It also seemed that the school and families in Beijing didn't take as much initiative in showing the Newton kids China as GaoXin does. After hearing about their trip, I felt a lot more secure to be with the kids and teacher that I'm with who keep us concentrated on really making the best out of our stay in China. So, in by biased Brookline mind, I find the Brookline Exchange to be the better program despite the Newton Program's longevity. Then again, I'm hardcore Warriors fan not a Tigers fan.
Today, Saturday, we went to Ban Po Village which I guess was a matriarchal village a few thousand years ago. It was lame. It was entirely reconstructed. The village was made up of concrete buildings covered in sticks and dried grass. The roofs of these huts had clay relif sculptures of naked women with gigantic breasts getting eating by wolves and snakes. There also was a marine exihibit there and silk for sale. Celine, Gaelen, and Sara all bought some silk scarves and pajamas. I wasn't very impressed by any of this "historical" BS.
Tonight I think we're gonna see if we can find a Chinese movie theater. I think we all kind of miss that atmosphere, yet somehow I can't see a Chinese movie theater being anything like AMC theaters.
posted by dAVID @ 1:29 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home