Sunday, August 28, 2011

A Home in Nanjing


We arrived in Nanjing on a Sunday. There we met our host family, well part of my host family. We got to Nanjing on a train from Xi’an. At the train station, my host sister and mother came to pick me up. As soon as we left, we went to eat pizza hut for lunch. Pizza Hut in China is like an Applebee’s in America, but better. On our ride home I found out many facts about my host sister. Her name is Fanny and she is 15 years old. Her birthday is on August 13th and she lives with her grandarents and mother. Her father also lives with them, but only when he comes home from work in another city.

Once we arrived at their home, I was greeted by the grandparents. I slept in Fanny’s room while she slept with her mother. The rest of the day went smoothly, I took a nap while Fanny finished some homework and then we watched movies together.

The next morning, I went to school with fanny. At her school, school begins at 7:20am and ends at 5:00pm. Each class is 45 minutes long with 10 minute breaks between classes. While in class, the teacher lectures and students are not allowed to ask questions. Teachers back home would really enjoy that. Fanny’s classmates were really friendly. For the rest of the week the school organized specific classes for us: calligraphy, ping pong, martial arts, bamboo dance, kite flying, pottery, etc. Many of these classes were challenging, but fun. We also went sightseeing with the school. We visited Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum, the Nanjing Massacre Museum, and we also toured around the Confucius Temple.




However, the best part of my time in Nanjing was the time spent with my host family. Although my family spoke little English, I felt welcomed and part of the family. I will never forget one of the last conversations I had with my host sister:

Fanny: Only three more days.
Me: Yes, it went by so fast. I wish we had at least a month.
Fanny: No
Me: What do you mean no? Why not?
Fanny: I wish it was a lifetime!

Monica

No comments:

Post a Comment