ABROAD IN
Monday, July 17th: On the morning of the 17th, I woke up to the sound of my older sister’s alarm (6:35 am). The night before, my older sister told me she would come with me to the subway. She works at 新街口 which is a big shopping center in Nanjing, and it is where I transfer subway trains, so I thought she would just get off there. However, I didn’t know she was “teaching” me how to get to NJU until we were at 新街口 when I asked if she was going to get off. I already knew how to get to NJU using the subway because I did it all the time before arriving to this family, so I felt really bad when I realized that she had woke up early for me to show me the way to NJU. I asked her if she wanted to get off (after I told her I knew how to get there) and she was like “Oh no, it’s ok! It’s too early anyway”. Ahh I felt bad. But, it was good bonding time. She was saying how it’s ok that she came with me to the subway because she’s “like my mom”. It’s kind of sad, the real mom isn’t home a lot, so she was telling me how her little sister often depends on her, and how she is like the mom to her sister. She then went on to talk about how in America kids are more independent, and how parents may not care as much if kids went on subways alone, etc. But, I don’t really think that is true. My parents don’t want me to go alone on the subway and get lost. Also, I think kids here take the subway so often, and are often left alone too. But, then I responded by telling her that my mom is Chinese, and we had a little conversation about that until we reached the school. At school, we were assigned homework to introduce an idiom the next day. Not too hard. Also, today the Koreans arrived ahaha. There are about 40 Korean high school boys that arrived and are studying at Nanjing University (NJU) on the same floor as us. When the Koreans and the Americans get together, it’s so funny. We all have this handshake that we do together when we see each other, and everyone knows it. Anyways, after 4 hours of class, we went to lunch. We got 水饺s which are dumplings. I also got a fruit bar for 4 yuan. We headed back for Taiqi class. That day, taiqi was a little boring. Everyone was kind of sleepy. I tried hard to memorize the routine today – I think I am getting a little better. After Taiqi class, I went running with Alexandra at the gym. I ran a solid 5k so I felt pretty good. I went home afterwards because it was late. The only thing is that it’s so hot every day, so walking with a heavy backpack and a bag is pretty tiring. I enjoy the subway though I get to see people and it’s more bustling, which I like. Later that night, my host dad made me some really good noodles and stew. There were two chicken heads and chicken feet in it. You could make out the beak and the eyes, too. I tried eating a chicken foot. It wasn’t bad, but I physically was struggling to eat it. When my mom came home hours later, I wanted to tell her how I thought it was hard to eat. So, I said “很难吃“ which literally translates to its hard to eat. But, the connotation to that is that it tastes terrible, which is why it is hard to eat. I quickly realized my mistake and corrected myself, but I was told my mom really likes eating chicken feet so I felt bad leaving it unfinished in my bowl. My mom also brought home some more peaches that night. While my sister and I were eating dinner, (before my mom was home and after my dad left) my sister brought up this lake near the house, and I asked if she wanted to go walking to it. She agreed, so after dinner, we went walking. Coincidentally, we ran into Justin and his host family on the way to the lake, so we all walked together. We switched directions and decided to walk to 紫金山 instead of the lake, though. I’d been to 紫金山 before, but it was still pretty and I had good conversations with Justin and my sister. After coming home, I showered and did some homework.
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Andrea 施安雅17-year-old XC runner and boba tea lover living in Seattle but studying abroad in China. Also, I have a cat! Archives
August 2017
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