It turns out that my first day of school wasn’t actually an official day of school. It was just a day where students receive their textbooks and clean their classroom. I met some classmates who were really nice, and then afterwards I went out to lunch at McDonald’s with my host brother and his friends. After eating we played this Chinese card game (which I won every time), and I was actually inside a McDonald’s for over three hours. Only in China…
This past Saturday I woke up really early and went to the driving range with my host mom. I just sat there while she golfed because it was way too hot. Afterwards she drove to a huge parking lot in between a bunch of traditional Chinese buildings, and I thought we were at a shopping mall. It was actually my first touristy experience in Tianjin (and I took no pictures… oops)! The place was called Tianjin Shi Jia Da Yuan. According to my ticket, it is “the first mansion in the north of China” and “the first theatre in the cnit mansion,” whatever that means. It was a lot of fun to walk around it and see traditional Chinese buildings, though. I also saw a bunch of pictures of Mao and a miniature performance of the Beijing Opera.
On the way home from Tianjin Shi Jia Da Yuan, my host mom bought some patties with meat for me to eat. I only noticed that the paper it was wrapped in said “donkey meat donkey meat” after I had finished. For dinner we went out for hot pot, which I had been dying to try. We mostly had lamb, and it was fantastic.
Saturday was my host father’s mother’s birthday, so my host family and I traveled to Hebei province. It was about a two-hour drive, and I met my host father’s entire family. I think there were about twenty people total, and so I think you readers should know what that means by now. Food. Lots and lots of food. So much food. Too much food. After eating all of this food, everyone napped. Perhaps it was a Chinese siesta?
When we left Hubei, I thought we were on our back home. It turns out I was wrong once again. We went to the Tanggu district of Tianjin to meet my host mother’s sister, husband, and son. At their house we ate more food. My host parents left my host brother and me there, and they just kept feeding us for what felt like forever. On the train ride home an adorable girl no older than four peed on the door two inches away from my foot. Her mother held her there to pee.
Today was my first real day of school! My host brother and I were late (woops), but we somehow managed to sneak into our class’ line in the schoolyard. All the classes stood in lines and listened to different administrators talk, and then they all sang the national anthem. It was really awkward because everyone wore the school uniform except for me.
My first day of school was pretty fun. I enjoyed meeting everyone and seeing different parts of the school. My school is located in a really convenient area; for lunch there are many restaurant options. Some of my classmates and I went to a skewer and soup restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately my class doesn’t do eye exercises (more on this later), so the day just ended after my last class was over.
Tomorrow I’m going to Shanghai with my class. We’re going to see the EXPO and meet another school. We’ll go to Shanghai Tuesday night and arrive Wednesday midday.
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