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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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A Sunday on the Mountain

Today was our second day off during the six week program. We have two Sundays to relax and spend time with our host families. Other than that we are active each other day either doing work, or practicing Chinese somehow. The last week of the exchange we will be touring alot of Beijing and Shanghai, so we'll all be walking around each day. So it's days like these where I have time to sleep in....but my body is so used to being on the go and only sleeping at night that I can't find it in myself to actually take a nap right now when I have the chance. So I decided to write about my day instead! This Sunday my host family took me to a very nice restaurant owned by my host mom's childhood friend which is located in the mountains. Last week I met the family of the owner. I met him, his wife, and his daughter who is my age. Her name is Gua Yi Jie and she's really cute and nice. She goes to the Foreign Language school, the program that NSLIY visited earlier in the program. Nainai (Nainai means Grandmother in Chinese) the family's cousin, and YeYe( this mean grandfather) also joined us on Sunday. So when we arrived to the restaurant it was my second time seeing the family. Once we arrived to the restaurant we parked and sat inside for a while, drinking tea like usual. I wanted to mention that tea is a huge thing here. I've been taken to a few houses and all of the house owners have Chinese tea sets and the same small cups and kettles. Tea is basically the way of life here and I don't believe they use any teabags here whatsoever. Everyone has these bags of what appears to be leaves and herbs, then they put it in the special Chinese kettle and let hot water filtrate through it, and then the tea is poured in small cups for everyone. People even carry these specially made jugs for storing hot water so there can be tea on the go as long as they bring the tea kit. I think I've had tea almost about everyday here so far. Usually during the weekend Huang Baba (baba means father in Chinese) usually offers me tea before I go to bed and it's really calming. Returning to the previous subject, the dining area was split up into different rooms that all led to tables where people could sit and eat outside. Because we were so high up on the mountain, we could see the entire city and all of the surrounding mountains and tall buildings that lined the horizon. It was absolutely magnificent! Sitting there being able to look out at an even greater view really continued to remind me how wondrous of an experience this is and how this city continually seemed to keep challenging me with new gorgeous views of Xiamen literally around every corner. I can honestly say that Xiamen is the most beautiful city I've ever seen in my entire life. I've already fell in love with all of the palm trees here, it's making me consider moving to California even more. But that's besides the point. After we had a small tea break apparently they had planned on hiking up the mountain. Once I paid more attention to what my host family was wearing they had prepared by wearing tennis shoes and exercise shorts. But of course I hadn't received the memo and I had dressed slightly fancy to go to this restaurant on the mountain. But either way I was still excited to hike up the mountain with everyone and see the wonderful view. As we switched from side to side trying to stay in the shade, a few things occurred. For one, the mountain was full of luscious green plants and trees, there were flower bushes at every turn and huge rocks. There were trees growing on high mountain ledges and a few wild chicken cock-a-doodle-dooing as we walked up the mountain. I honestly felt like I was in a Studio Ghibli movie or even an anime. The scenery was just so amazing that walking up the mountain felt ...dreamy and fictional. I couldn't believe these were views people saw every week! The view of the city to the beautiful plants and vivid green grass....it was all just so really surreal and magical in a sense. While we were hiking we also ran across this flower that everyone pointed out to me. It sort of looked like a lantern because the middle part of the flower with the pollen grew downwards, but the petals grew upwards. Plus they were all red like Chinese lanterns are so that was really cool as well. We also took a few photos on the way and saw a snake. As we were hiking upwards, all sweating and hot, we finally came across a temple gate. Mind that I had no clue we were even hiking up a mountains yet alone if we even had a destination. So once I saw the red and gold gate I was slightly surprised. After taking group photos at the temple gate, we all continued uphill a little more and then we came across this very small Buddhist temple. Everyone gave a few small bows in front of the small Buddhist statues while I rested for a little while. Apparently there was a national cave here and we all looked inside of it for a few minutes. It was really nice looking and had small tables, though there wasn't much to it to describe. While we were resting I heard the loud popping of firecrackers. To my surprise this was a popular spot to buy and shoot off fireworks. So the next thing I know my host father walks out this small store next to the Buddhist temple and has this gigantic roll of firecrackers in his hands. Him and the owner I mentioned earlier both rolled them out. Though both of them were too afraid to light it so Yeye had to walk over and light it himself, and then he simply walked back like the boss he is while firecrackers exploding in the background. It was pretty fun hearing the firecrackers though. Since we were up in the mountains and near a cave the sound was pretty amplified. Following the firecrackers we soon left the small temple and headed back down the mountain. The trip down the mountain seemed to take way less time than the way up. On the way back I took lots of amazing photos and videos. Though there wasn't really much to hiking down the mountain than there was hiking up. Once we reached the restaurant again, we all sat inside this time so we could feel the air conditioning. Now it's going to be a bit of a challenge explaining all the foods they served, but I'll still try anyways. They set out duck soup, this egg and asparagus type of soup (it was pretty good!), a big thing of seasoned chicken, a plate of small bite sized shrimps, these stripes of pumpkins that were in the form of like pizza, some unknown vegetables, seasoned eggplant, seasoned fish, this soup with beef and mushrooms, and of course rice. I don't think I missed anything, but yes it was ALOT of food in all honestly. The chefs just seemed to keep on bringing out more and more food. But it was definitely a feast! After dinner everyone sat around the table and talked. I picked on a few aspects of their conversations but not much. Gua Yijie and my host sister both taught me this game that Xiamen local people enjoy playing during the Mid-Autumn festival. They use six dice and a bowl and each time someone drops them in the bowl. If you get four 4s then that's the luckiest roll a player can get. And then if you get all the numbers in order during one roll ( like you get a 1,2,3,4,5,6) that's second highest. Then it's three 4s, two fours, and one four. And the goal is to try and get the luckiest roll you can. It was pretty entertaining in my opinion. After we played a few rounds everyone started packing up and getting ready to leave. The car ride out of the mountains was a blur considering I was so tired from having climbed the mountain that I fell asleep the entire way home. Once we returned home, everyone had an hour and a half nap. Here it's pretty common to return home and take a small nap after lunch. Though of course I'm writing this so that shows how my nap went..... After everyone's nap, Chen Mama cooked dinner. She made noodles with small pieces of duck and asparagus. It honestly tasted like an absolute amazing version of Hamburger Helper! After dinner we all changed back into our clothes and took a taxi to a piano concert. I wanted to say it was a pretty nice and simple taxi. Nothing dirty or anything. I'm actually in another taxi on the way home as I write the rest of this entry. Once we arrived to the piano concert we went through a small metal detector and wiggled through a big crowd to get to our seats. Apparently me and my host sister had VIP seats in the front, so that was really awesome! Chen mama sat more in the back with the family from hiking earlier. The piano concert was played by a rather passionate French pianist named Richard Clayderman. He played multiple songs with four other Chinese violinists playing with him. There was also a guest Chinese traditional flute player, a group of children who played piano very well, and also a Chinese traditional instrument player (it looked like a guitar in a way but it wasn't) that played along side him during their turn on stage. He played a few French songs, some popular songs from famous Chinese singers, the Titanic soundtrack, and a few others. But all of them were in his own style which in my opinion was pretty groovy and uppity. Of course not the Titanic soundtrack but everything else. The entire stage had amazing lighting with bunches of different colors to match the mood of each song. He also spoke French and English inbetween a few songs with a Chinese translator speaking after him. It was funny because my host sister couldn't understand his English with his heavy French accent whatsoever but I could understand most of what he was saying. After the concert me, my host sister and mother, and the family of three with the daughter my age all walked out the huge crowd together to go hail a taxi for me and my host family. The family of three lived down the street so they simply planned to walk. After a long struggle of trying to hail a taxi my host sister just used an app on her phone to call an uber. Me and Guayi Jie had our goodbyes, it was pretty sad to wave goodbye to her as the uber drove off. She was really nice and funny, though sadly she isn't allowed to have any social media. After a really fun night, it felt great to finally be going home. But of course the night couldn't end so early. My teacher, Wan laoshi, (laoshi means teacher) had planned to visit tonight around 9pm to ask the family how things have been and help explain a few things about what we've been doing in school and how the students can be tired sometimes. All the teachers were assigned to different houses to check up on the families. Because I was so tired I didn't catch a majority of what Wan laoshi said, only a few words since she was speaking to my host family in Chinese. They all talked for a what seemed like a long time but was only about half an hour. After the small visit I took my shower and went straight to bed afterwards. But yes that basically sums up last Sunday. Currently everyone has been preparing for the goodbye ceremony, our last OPI, preparing our final Chinese culture presentations, and preparing to leave Xiamen to go to Beijing this Saturday. So this week had definitely been busy. Each class (beginner, intermediate, advanced) will do a performance together, each interest group will do a performance together, and a few students will have some performances of their own. And of course our host families will be the main audience and get to enjoy the last time seeing their students. The next time I update will probably be on the flight to Beijing so I can explain how to goodbye ceremony went. August 3, 2016

#Nsliy #nsliy 2016 #nsliy China #China Xiamen #nsli

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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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Odd Occurrences in GuLangYu

So far in the NSLI-Y program I've experienced many things. But for this entry I've decided to talk about my epic journey of Chinese snacks! After two days of traveling to Quanzhou and visiting Xiamen's local high school, we all finally jumped back on the road of having a normal schedule. After classes were over and dinner was now in the past, I decided why not go on a small snack hunt. There is a grocery store down the street from our dorms that carries many odd snacks. As I walked through the store, I saw the casual Yogurt, Mexican Tomato Chicken, Cucumber, and even Texas grilled BBQ Lays chips. But that day I decided to taste Seaweed flavored Lays chips. I can honestly say that the company pinpointed the seaweed taste just right. I also had the chance to try a few other things during my stay here. So far one of my favorite drinks is a peach flavored sports drink that I have yet to learn the name of. Ive also noticed that many of the Chinese sweets here are slightly more sugary than American sweets. Such as the chocolates or the ice creams. Yet there are so many surprising flavors to run across in every form! From apple soda to squid chips, and even tons of different flavored biscuit snacks called Pocky. I've even seen and tried cheese wafers, which doesn't taste anywhere as bad as they may sound. I've seen duck legs in plastic sealed bags sitting on shelves like jerky. I've run across squid, octopus, and even fish jerky as well. So far my favorite snack are these little donut things that have somewhat the texture of puffy Cheetos but without the cheese and are sweet. They're in this white bag with pictures of little donuts on it and they are amazing! I also have to mention the ramen situation and how incredibly delicious the cup ramen is here compared to cup ramen in the USA. For one, there's always a tiny fork that comes inside the cup ramen so you can eat without having to scavenge for utensils. Second, the flavor seems to be a lot more rich than the cup noodles back in the US! Even the packaging is impressive. It isn't a styrofoam cup like usual, but a material made to feel like a real ramen champion! There's also dry ramen here, which I wasn't aware or its exsistance until now. Though if one doesn't know what dry ramen is I shall explain. Basically it's like ramen but the bowl is designed for you to pour out the broth in the end since the noodles have already soaked up all the flavor. It's absolutely amazing and I love it! I have yet to try the majority the snacks I hope to try, but my snack journey has not ended. I hope to improve my snacking skills by the end of the exchange, though I've pretty sure I have already. Also I should mention that it's been about a week since I last wrote and so much has happened. We all just got back from a trip to GuLangYu and so much happened and it was amazing! Yet there is so much that's happened inbetween this post and the last that I also want to share, and I have so little time to write. So I think since it's still fresh in my head I'm going to summarize GuLangYu as best as I can for now and then talk about the rest of what happened during the time I haven't wrote anything. Basically, GuLangYu is on the other island of Xiamen. There's a very famous statue of Zheng Chenggong, who was a very successful general back when Xiamen was a military zone, and stands on the seashore. We all rode a ferry to the other island, and split into five groups. Me and a few members of my group were told to wait as our teacher went to the bathroom while everyone else walked ahead. Though after ten minutes and no sign of anyone, I went to the bathroom to check if the teacher was alright or even there, but to my surprise she was no where to be seen. So me and three other NSLIY students (Andrew, Riley, and Phoebe!) continued on our way, figuring we'd run into someone from the program. The entire experiences slightly reminded me of the situation in the Shanghai airport a few posts back.... Luckily a few of the college tutors that were accompanying us to the island found us and we met back up with our teacher. Apparently when she came out of the bathroom she hadn't seen us and ran ahead with the rest of the group, not knowing we were still waiting by the bathrooms. Either way, we all ended up exploring the shopping streets of the island together and I can honestly say I saw so many new things. While we were walking around the stores our friend Riley stopped to buy some food. He bought fried squid on a stick and Andrew had fried potato on a stick. Luckily I was able to try both and the fried squid was very tasty! Greasy, but very tasty! I also found a Turkish ice cream place and the owner that scooped my ice cream was hilarious and kept tricking me each time I would try to grab my ice cream cone. Everytime I would try to grab the ice cream cone there would be another one and I would be holding an empty come while he would take back the ice cream that I truly desired. He eventually gave in and handed me my ice cream, but it was really funny. A few other things I experienced was the usual fascination with my braids. I was walking past a store when one of the employees asked my friend about my braids. But understanding she was asking about my hair I used my best Chinglish to communicate to her that I could somewhat understand. I eventually ended up drawing a small crowd and let them feel my braids and tried to answer their questions as best as I could. But I can't even count how many compliments I've received about my hair and how many questions! I've noticed that China, or at least Xiamen, has a problem with stray dogs. As we ventured through the island I counted at least 12 stray dogs. I wanted to mention something that really surprised me though! Younger children, usually no older than 5, often have a slit in the back of their pants so they can squat and use the bathroom whenever they need to in public. Well today I saw this in action. As we were walking we saw a father helping his son poop in the middle of the street. This is a closed in path with stores on each side, not like a street with cars or anything. But when I say the middle I don't mean at the side of a building or in a corner, I mean on the middle of the pathway between the stores. I knew it was a common thing but it was my first time witnessing it, so the whole thing gave me shock! We watched our friend Justin bargain for a red star hat and lowered the original price 10 kuai down. We sampled a few foods such as dried pineapple, dried meats, and other things. But other than that we saw some of the cool knickknacks in some of the shops, and took photos together! I also wanted to mention we went to the island around night time so we could see all the buildings from downtown Xiamen lit up at night across the water. We were able to witness a lunar eclipse, too which was absolutely stunning. After a long day we boarded the ferry once more and took a bus back to Xiamen. It's currently 12 am and I really need to go to sleep, but I really wanted to finish an entry soon. Next I plan to talk more about the classes and how my everyday life has changed since the last time I wrote. I'll be moving with my host family tomorrow so I'll definitely write about that. All I know is I live about 15 minutes from the campus and I have an older host sister who is 19. Look forward to more updates! Finished July 20, 2016 (Also the 21st since it's past 12am but....yah) Posted July 30, 2016

#Nsliy #nsliy 2016 #nsliy China #China Xiamen #nsli

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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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Odd Occurrences in GuLangYu

So far in the NSLI-Y program I’ve experienced many things. But for this entry I’ve decided to talk about my epic journey of Chinese snacks! After two days of traveling to Quanzhou and visiting Xiamen’s local high school, we all finally jumped back on the road of having a normal schedule. After classes were over and dinner was now in the past, I decided why not go on a small snack hunt. There is a grocery store down the street from our dorms that carries many odd snacks. As I walked through the store, I saw the casual Yogurt, Mexican Tomato Chicken, Cucumber, and even Texas grilled BBQ Lays chips. But that day I decided to taste Seaweed flavored Lays chips. I can honestly say that the company pinpointed the seaweed taste just right. I also had the chance to try a few other things during my stay here. So far one of my favorite drinks is a peach flavored sports drink that I have yet to learn the name of. Ive also noticed that many of the Chinese sweets here are slightly more sugary than American sweets. Such as the chocolates or the ice creams. Yet there are so many surprising flavors to run across in every form! From apple soda to squid chips, and even tons of different flavored biscuit snacks called Pocky. I’ve even seen and tried cheese wafers, which doesn’t taste anywhere as bad as they may sound. I’ve seen duck legs in plastic sealed bags sitting on shelves like jerky. I’ve run across squid, octopus, and even fish jerky as well. So far my favorite snack are these little donut things that have somewhat the texture of puffy Cheetos but without the cheese and are sweet. They’re in this white bag with pictures of little donuts on it and they are amazing!

I also have to mention the ramen situation and how incredibly delicious the cup ramen is here compared to cup ramen in the USA. For one, there’s always a tiny fork that comes inside the cup ramen so you can eat without having to scavenge for utensils. Second, the flavor seems to be a lot more rich than the cup noodles back in the US! Even the packaging is impressive. It isn’t a styrofoam cup like usual, but a material made to feel like a real ramen champion! There’s also dry ramen here, which I wasn’t aware or its exsistance until now. Though if one doesn’t know what dry ramen is I shall explain. Basically it’s like ramen but the bowl is designed for you to pour out the broth in the end since the noodles have already soaked up all the flavor. It’s absolutely amazing and I love it! I have yet to try the majority the snacks I hope to try, but my snack journey has not ended. I hope to improve my snacking skills by the end of the exchange, though I’ve pretty sure I have already.

Also I should mention that it’s been about a week since I last wrote and so much has happened. We all just got back from a trip to GuLangYu and so much happened and it was amazing! Yet there is so much that’s happened inbetween this post and the last that I also want to share, and I have so little time to write. So I think since it’s still fresh in my head I’m going to summarize GuLangYu as best as I can for now and then talk about the rest of what happened during the time I haven’t wrote anything.

Basically, GuLangYu is on the other island of Xiamen. There’s a very famous statue of Zheng Chenggong, who was a very successful general back when Xiamen was a military zone, and stands on the seashore. We all rode a ferry to the other island, and split into five groups. Me and a few members of my group were told to wait as our teacher went to the bathroom while everyone else walked ahead. Though after ten minutes and no sign of anyone, I went to the bathroom to check if the teacher was alright or even there, but to my surprise she was no where to be seen. So me and three other NSLIY students (Andrew, Riley, and Phoebe!) continued on our way, figuring we’d run into someone from the program. The entire experiences slightly reminded me of the situation in the Shanghai airport a few posts back…. Luckily a few of the college tutors that were accompanying us to the island found us and we met back up with our teacher. Apparently when she came out of the bathroom she hadn’t seen us and ran ahead with the rest of the group, not knowing we were still waiting by the bathrooms. Either way, we all ended up exploring the shopping streets of the island together and I can honestly say I saw so many new things. While we were walking around the stores our friend Riley stopped to buy some food. He bought fried squid on a stick and Andrew had fried potato on a stick. Luckily I was able to try both and the fried squid was very tasty! Greasy, but very tasty! I also found a Turkish ice cream place and the owner that scooped my ice cream was hilarious and kept tricking me each time I would try to grab my ice cream cone. Everytime I would try to grab the ice cream cone there would be another one and I would be holding an empty come while he would take back the ice cream that I truly desired. He eventually gave in and handed me my ice cream, but it was really funny. A few other things I experienced was the usual fascination with my braids. I was walking past a store when one of the employees asked my friend about my braids. But understanding she was asking about my hair I used my best Chinglish to communicate to her that I could somewhat understand. I eventually ended up drawing a small crowd and let them feel my braids and tried to answer their questions as best as I could. But I can’t even count how many compliments I’ve received about my hair and how many questions!

I’ve noticed that China, or at least Xiamen, has a problem with stray dogs. As we ventured through the island I counted at least 12 stray dogs. I wanted to mention something that really surprised me though! Younger children, usually no older than 5, often have a slit in the back of their pants so they can squat and use the bathroom whenever they need to in public. Well today I saw this in action. As we were walking we saw a father helping his son poop in the middle of the street. This is a closed in path with stores on each side, not like a street with cars or anything. But when I say the middle I don’t mean at the side of a building or in a corner, I mean on the middle of the pathway between the stores. I knew it was a common thing but it was my first time witnessing it, so the whole thing gave me shock! We watched our friend Justin bargain for a red star hat and lowered the original price 10 kuai down. We sampled a few foods such as dried pineapple, dried meats, and other things. But other than that we saw some of the cool knickknacks in some of the shops, and took photos together! I also wanted to mention we went to the island around night time so we could see all the buildings from downtown Xiamen lit up at night across the water. We were able to witness a lunar eclipse, too which was absolutely stunning.

After a long day we boarded the ferry once more and took a bus back to Xiamen. It’s currently 12 am and I really need to go to sleep, but I really wanted to finish an entry soon. Next I plan to talk more about the classes and how my everyday life has changed since the last time I wrote. I’ll be moving with my host family tomorrow so I’ll definitely write about that. All I know is I live about 15 minutes from the campus and I have an older host sister who is 19. Look forward to more updates!

July 20, 2016 (Also the 21st since it’s past 12am but….yah)

#nsliy #nsliy 2016 #nsliy china #china xiamen #nsli

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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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Visiting A Local High School

On Tuesday we were fortunate enough to visit a local school in Xiamen, China! We were invited to Xiamen Foreign Language School and it was pretty snazzy! The program basically had a normal day with one language class from 9:00am-12:00pm like usual. But after lunch we all headed off to a bus around 1:30ish and went on a one hour drive to the local school. On the way we were able to see some of Xiamen's main ports as we crossed this big bridge. Basically Xiamen is sort of an island, so a bridge is necessary to drive to downtown Xiamen which is part of the rest of the mass of China. As we drove it was so calming and beautiful to see all the mountains and the small differences here from the USA. For example when one is on the freeway here there aren't tall beaming street lights. The lights are on the small bumper things that follow the shape of the road and point diagonal to light up the roads and the cars. Sort of like red carpet lights and it's really cool looking. Once we arrived to the school we were greeted by a few students who speak excellent English, a few teachers, and the main director. Two of the students were able to play their instruments for us, though sadly I can't remember the name of the instrument. It looks like a very old style violin but instead of holding it on their shoulder it's meant to be sat on your upper leg or your lap. The principal of the school discussed some of the achievements of the school and the students there, each student also introduced themselves in English and answered a few of our questions. After a short discussion, we all split into five groups and toured the school, each student being a chaperon for one group. My group had a senior student by the English name of Lisa. Her English was absolutely amazing! She had no accent whatsoever and sounded as if she lived in the US all her live even though she was only able to visit the US a few times in her life. The high school's campus was astonishing, I almost couldn't believe it was a high school. There were even small signs with different famous poets' faces and inspirational sayings on them. We were also able to sit at the desks of typical Chinese high school kids and tour the classroom. The teachers there also use the big screen instead of chalk boards. (though there was also a chalk board in the room) The classrooms weren't all in a big building but on the side of several buildings. So for the one we visited, we didn't have to travel up any steps or anything. It only takes one step to walk from outside into the class room. But luckily they do have air conditioning in their classrooms. After the small tour we all went to an auditorium where a few students were giving a presentation to other kids who may be interested in attending the high school. Before I go on, the program previously had a few students (who volunteered) to preform in a talent show to show the Xiamen students our talents. Not everyone had to preform but in the end we has three groups that preformed. Our first performance was a group of students from NSLIY singing Viva La Vida, with a student names Rachael playing the guitar while a few other people sang. The next performance was two NSLIY students, Samara and Joy, who dancing to a very calming though slightly sad sounding song. I'm believe their dancing was a mix of ballet and a story telling kind of routine. The third performance was a big group of students dancing to the song, "Ni Shi Wode Xiao Pingguo" Basically everyone danced in the song except for a few other students who watched. Since there's only a dance for a certain part of the song, the other parts everyone free styled. I saw the Russian kicks to the famous Wip and Nae Nae by the wonderful Camille. Even some of the other Chinese students joined in and danced along. After we showed our talents, the Chinese students hosted a series of games. The first game was for a group of NSLIY students and Chinese students to compete against each other and try to make a certain words with their bodies. I remember the Chinese students having to make the word NSLIY and the NSLIY students having to make the initials for the national language school. The game following that one consisted of two pairs of partners. They both stood facing each other. The audience and one person was shown a word while their partner had to guess what the word was by listening to the other person's explanation of the word without actually saying it. It was hilarious. Especially since the other partner had no clue what the other was trying to hint at half the time. After the games we all said goodbyes and exchanged a few WeChat numbers with the students that gave us a tour of the school. I still talk to one of the girls by the English name of Bella! That was basically the adventure of Tuesday. So much has been happening and I have so much to write about but I've been way busier than I thought. But I do plan to write a bit more next week since we move out of our dorms on Friday and into our host family's houses! June 12, 2016 (Though sadly finished and posted June 17, 2016)

#Nsliy #nsliy China #nsliy 2016 #China Xiamen #nsli

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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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A Breezy Typhoon Shadow

For once I've finished my homework early, which by now is a very rare occurrence. There's supposed to be a typhoon passing north and mid Fujian province, but luckily for us Xiamen is located in south Fujian province. We'll still get some of the heavy weather though. The program wants us to stay inside tonight but other than that most of the staff seems to be taking this pretty lightly. I personally don't mind which ever way things go. If the typhoon is big enough to cancel class I wouldn't mind in the least! But then again class is fun in my opinion so I don't mind another normal day. But other than natural catastrophes, the program has already had four days of normal classes and such. So I figured since I'm used to the normal schedule now, it would be the perfect time to talk about it! Originally, I was placed in the Intermediate high class, but I personally have a hard time processing what people say to me in Chinese because I have to translate it to English in my head. So it takes even longer for me to process what they said, mentally translate it, and think of a response to say back. The entire mental process takes quite a while so a lot of times I'm just standing saying um as my brain tries to comprehend sentences. Since all the other students in my class could easily translate and respond to the teacher in a quick amount of time, my teacher noticed and asked if I wanted to try moving down a class to see if I did better in a lower class. To my surprise, I've been in the intermediate low/ beginner classes ever since. I know mostly all the new vocabulary we learn, but it helps to practice the tones and learn how to use the vocabulary I know the correct way. Plus it helps me learn the grammar of Chinese sentences and such. My teacher's name is Yang, so I call her Yang Laoshi because laoshi means teacher in Chinese. Yang laoshi is awesome and is really nice and funny. The people in my class are pretty cool, too. I suppose I should start off with defining my day to day schedule a bit more. -I wake up at 7:00am since breakfast takes place at 8:20am. -After breakfast I usually stop by my dorm, or find something to do until 9:00am. -Class starts at 9:00am and it's right next to my dorm building so it's almost less than 5 minutes away. -Class is from 9:00am-11:50am with small breaks inbetween which I usually spend studying the context we just went over, taking a snack break, or mingling with my other classmates. -Lunch is 12:00-1:00pm. Following lunch is a 30 minute break. It really varies on the day and what I feel like doing here. Today I spent this half an hour running to the grocery store with a group of friends. But I'll elaborate on that later. -A culture class led by Mr.Chen is held from 1:30pm to 2:30pm. Usually here he teaches us facts about the country of China and certain aspects about the culture and it's history. Today we learned about Confucianism, which is basically ethnics about the basic good qualities one should reach for in life. Confucius taught people about morals, the value of family relationships, he molded the country's government and society, and basically just taught about people and life lessons. -From 2:40pm to 3:20pm is Interest Group. Basically we all have about three options of what activity we want to do each week and we sign up for all of them at the beginning of the stay. I choose calligraphy (but with pens, not brushes. I'm doing that next next week!) and a Chinese university student taught us how to write characters and we ended up writing the Xiamen University anthem on these fans in characters. We also drew the last character of our Chinese last names on these erasers and used them as stamps and printed them into the paper fans. -With a ten minute break in between, tutoring is from 3:30pm to 5:00pm. This is when university students studying to major in teaching Chinese to foreigners help us do our homework and work with us to improve our Chinese. They usually speak in Chinese 90% of the time since they're here to help us practice our Chinese, not to practice their English. So they can only use English if maybe they really need to explain something to help us understand. Tutoring can sometimes be one on one, or a small group to one tutor. Sometimes the tutors even walk around and switch from person to group to person again, etc. -After 5:00pm is a one hour break. I usually go to my dorm for a small while and rest or go to the bathroom. Sometimes I'll go visit the grocery store or maybe sit outside and draw. It really varies in all honesty. Today me and my roommate finally washed our clothes. So we spent the hour doing that and they're all currently hanging up in random places in the room at the moment. But that's beside the point. -Dinner is at 6:00pm and after we eat dinner and all we basically have the rest of our day to ourselves. -Curfew is at 9:30 and a chaperon comes and knocks on everyone's door to make sure we're in our rooms by then. I usually find it comforting to fall asleep to Beatles music. So yeah that's basically my day. We weren't allowed to leave the dorm building after dinner today though since they want to make sure we're safe from the effects of the typhoon. So far the only things that show typhoon here is the super intense wind. It's supposed to rain tomorrow apparently. There were even students going to the grocery store to stock up on food and water just in case. I found it funny, but I'm personally not very worried about it since it won't hit Xiamen directly. I also really quick wanted to make it clear that Tumblr is not available in China unless one had a VPN, which I don't. I'm having a friend post my entires on this blog for me. Just in case any of you future NSLIY children consider blogging on Tumblr. Wordpress works here though if a VPN is out of the question! Well that's all for now. Maybe I'll explain more about the grocery store and my snack adventure next blog. July 8, 2016

#Nsliy #nsliy 2016 #nsliy China #China Xaimen #nsli

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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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A Sick Day In Xaimen

So for me the Fourth of July wasn't the best day. Basically I was ill most of the day since I'm not used to the humid heat here at all. I come from Ohio so it makes sense why my body needs time to adjust. But I decided to write about this day to show what happens if you're feeling sick. Plus there were a few highlights of today as well I wanted to share. First off, let me explain what the room looks like. So it's small and there's two beds next to each other. They aren't the softest mattresses I'll just say, but I'm getting used to them. There's two wooden desks and above each are small square compartments where each person can put their belongings. There's a small closet and a bathroom as well. There's also a window that shows an amazing view of the campus. I can literally see mountains from my bedroom window and tall building and trees. It's a magnificent view with the Cicadas singing most hours! The bathroom consists of a shower, a toilet, and a sink. But for the shower there's not a bath under it like in an American bathroom. It's one of those showers where you move the shower head around to where you please connected to this big water tank on the wall. But when you take a shower water gets everywhere since there's no walls or anything. Me and my roommate basically just wipe the floor after our showers. So I basically woke up with my stomach hurting a little, but I figured it would go away soon. We all meet down on the 2nd floor in the lobby to go down to breakfast together. We have to walk down this flight of stairs outside to get to the cafeteria. Since I was feeling even more ill when I walked outside, the humid heat of Xiamen seemed to smack me as I stepped out the door. I only ate a few pieces of cut up potato and a bite of this breadstick sort of bread. Luckily a nice friend of mines, (Catherine) helped me back to the lobby to buy some water since she saw I wasn't feeling the best. After feeling even worse after breakfast, we all hopped onto an air conditioned bus that would take us around to each destination. We first stopped by this Buddhist temple that was absolutely amazing. There was huge golden statues of Buddhist gods that stood for different things in life such as wisdom, health, love, etc. People were bowing to them and praying and there were also bowls of fruit next to the statues, too and other foods. We all took group photos and then did this thing that's tradition to do at the temple. So we all got a stick of incense, lit it with candles, bowed towards the temple and made a wish. Of course my wish was to feel better soon. We then split into groups to climb this mountain that apparently had an amazing view. I personally had to stay at the bottom of the mountain since I was feeling very sick and knew I wouldn't be able to make it. I sat down next to this Chinese lady. Now, almost everyone is interested when they see me, a foreigner, walking around. So I glanced at the lady who seemed to be staring at me, and to my surprise she was just feelings my braids and talking to the man next to her about them. I looked her in the eye with a confused expression that read, "Why are you touching me...?" But she just smiled and let them go. I even turned around once and saw her taking a selfie with me while I was half turned the other way. Because I wasn't feeling the best I really didn't care in the least. As I sat at the bottom of the mountain I just kept getting even more glances which is always entertaining to see people do double takes. My group finally returned from their mountain hike and we walked back down towards the buses since it was time to go to the next stop. As I was walking down the stairs I just kept feeling worse and worse until at the bottom I threw up on this really nice floor inside the temple. Yang laoshi helped me by having me sniff this bottle of traditional Chinese medicine that apparently helps you if you're feeling dizzy. After cleaning myself up for the most part a few of the teachers got an officer to get a janitor who cleaned things up. I felt so bad for vomiting on the temple floor but when you gotta go you gotta go I suppose.... I felt better afterwards though. It seemed my wish I made earlier had come true in a way. Boarding the bus once again we left for a traditional Chinese fortress. But still feeling ill (though I felt a tad bit better from throwing up earlier.) I sat out with a student volunteer who we call by her Chinese name, Yi Fen. She had traveled with NSLIY back in 2012 I believe and returned to help the program. Me and her sat by the entrance as the group went ahead. Apparently she wasn't feeling the best either. As we sat down people gave us two foreigners the strangest looks and some even tried to say hello in English as they walked past! The most memorable moment was when this ENTIRE tour group of maybe 30 women swarmed in front of us and squatted down to take selfies with each of us one right after the other. It was actually pretty fun as each posed differently and said ni hao. It was like being mobbed by the paparazzi in all honestly. After one took a photos and it looked like they were all done another jumped out from no where and squatted down to take another photo. Of course Yi Fen asked if I was okay with taking all these pictures since if I wasn't she could shoo them all away. But as long as I could sit down I was fine with anything. After maybe an hour of playing in the dirt with a stick and getting odd glances, our group returned and we again boarded the bus. By this time I was still feeling sick and just wanted to return home. So I asked our director, Mr. Chen, if I could return to the dorm to rest and he agreed I needed to take the rest of the day easy. So we agreed that after dinner they would send me home. Dinner was very interesting. I couldn't eat most of the dishes, but it was fun to see other students' opinions of the dishes. We were served fried shrimps with the heads still on, bamboo shots and dry meat that was marinated, this mashed vegetable called Taro, these really delicious thin noodles called Mi xin which translates to rice thread, a few more unfamiliar vegetables and some soup. It all looked really delicious, but with my upset stomach I only ate some of the broccoli on the sides of the dishes and a few of the vegetables that were served. I also tried some of the mi xin noodles which were super good! Mr. Chen noticed my new found love for these noodles and ordered one of the servers to box it up for me to take to my dorm in case I was hungry again. If I could put all the things I ate at this lunch together and mash it up, it would be about as big as a lemon haha. I was sent home after lunch around 2pm and a student helper from the university took a taxi with me and we returned to the dorm. In case I became worse the student teacher sat in my room as I slept. A different student teacher woke me up for some dinner they sent from the restaurant the group had ate at around 6pm. It was a bowl of vegetables and rice since they knew my stomach wasn't feeling the best. I have no clue what type or vegetables they were though. I asked the student teacher but they didn't know what the vegetable was called in English. But it was very good regardless! After taking an hour to eat, talking a bit to the student volunteer, and letting my food digest, I retuned to my slumber. I woke up once again at 2am to go to the bathroom and I've been up since. So yeah, that's how my Fourth of July turned out. But after sleeping for about 11 hours straight I feel much better! I think it was just not been used to this heat and having been traveling at airports for almost 36 hours, both of those factors took their tolls on me. Classes start later today and I'm excited to see what they'll be like! It's currently 4:30am and I decided why not blog?~ June 4, 2016

#Nsliy #nsliy 2016 #nsliy China #China Xaimen #nsli

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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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Stuck In The Clutches of Shanghai

I've decided I probably won't write everyday. Though I have to talk about yesterday because it was one of the most chaotic days on this trip so far. Basically after leaving the hotel in Shanghai, we all boarded a bus to go to a different Shanghai airport. Though a new thing I learned about China is that to control the traffic, cars with certain license plates aren't legally allowed to drive until 5am or else they receive a ticket. Since we woke up at 4am to go to the airport we had to all sit on the bus for a while. We ended up having a small karaoke session and having people sing Chinese songs like, The Dui Bu Qi Song, or Ni Shi Wode Xiao Pingguo. It was very entertaining for a group of 30 half awake students. We finally left for the airport and this is where things became a bit crazy. The entire group started checking their bags in individually since the group check-in was apparently out of service. But it seemed the employees couldn't get all of the students through in time and basically this consisted of students scurrying to get their baggage through and sprinting to security to get to the gate in time. As my turn was approaching, I waited for the man to finish checking my passport so my bag could go through. I soon heard yelling and my director, Mr.Chen, talking with a small group of managers. Basically by the time it was my turn the gates to my group's flight was already closed. So me, and six other students and two of the teachers including Mr.Chen were officially stuck at the airport while the 26 other students had made it to the flight from Shanghai to Beijing. This sounds like a pretty bad and stressful situation. But in all honesty this all actually turned out much better that it seems. Security was able to book us a flight at 3pm, 9 hours from the 6am flight we had just missed. Mr.Chen treated us all to Cantonese food from this really cute restaurant in the airport. There I tried this yellow dumpling type of food called liaoxia baozi! It was amazing and I can't wait to eat it again! I also had these thicker noodles with these little fish balls in them and vegetables. Also I ordered watermelon juice! Now when I ordered the watermelon juice I was expecting some type of artificially flavored juice that somewhat tastes like watermelon. But to my surprise when they set my cup on the table it was purely squeezed watermelon juice! I seriously could taste the freshness of the watermelon that they couldn't of squeezed less than an hour ago. I also tried some milk tea and to my surprise it tasted very odd. But I don't know how to describe it. It's not chocolatey or anything like people think it is or what it appears to look like. After eating lunch we all explored the airport with the other chaperon, Ms.Yang. Though we all call her Yang laoshi since laoshi means teacher in Chinese. As we explored I can honestly say that I learned SO much from Yang laoshi! She taught us some useful phrases, words, helped us correct our grammar, and all in a fun and exciting type of way. While having fun around the airport we all ended up eating dinner at the same place. I ate some delicious cooked goose on top of rice. I never knew goose tasted so great! At dinner we also played this very interesting game. Basically someone picks a number and writes it down. Then you try to guess the number closest to it without guessing the actual number. If you guess the actual number you have to show the group a talent of yours. During the first round, one of the fellow students, (Sam) lost and ended up showing us his mad Rubic cubes skills! Finally, after dinner we all went to baggage rather early to once more to catch our flight. We made it though check in and customs and finally were waiting by our gate at the airport. It was super crowded by the gates and almost every seat seemed to be taken. So, like we did back in the previous Shanghai airport, we had no choice but to camp out on the floor. From simply watching the people around us, I can say that Shanghai travelers are brutal!! There was this one flight attendant that me and the other students named Glasses since he was more of a slender man with glasses. It seemed like the crowd was out for his head every time a flight was delayed at the gate we were sitting at. He was pushed by people, shouted at, shoved, I'm even going to assume threatened. There was one bigger Chinese man who seemed to enjoy getting in Glasses's face the most. I clearly remember looking through the crowd and seeing this bigger man holding glasses by the collar and yelling into his face that was only a few inches away. We all felt so bad for Glasses that day. Though luckily he stayed calm during the whole ordeal and didn't seem to start any arguments on his own. Finally after maybe two hours of this security came over and calmed the crowd. Our flight was to board by 3:15pm. Though seeing how a few other flights that were supposed to leave before us had been delayed we already knew our flight would be affected. Once again the crowd rallied with lots of yelling and such. The gate employees soon passed out complimentary cans of free iced tea as an apology to the angry crowd. While all drinking our free iced tea a little girl maybe that was maybe about two years old ran over to us and waved hi. But what surprised me is that even though she appeared to be purely Chinese, she had dark blue eyes! Little blue eyes gave us all hi fives and scurried away to kick a can around before returning to visit us later. It had hit 5pm and once again our flight had been delayed. Of course yet another yelling crowd appeared to swarm Glasses and this was when security had finally appeared. This time to calm the even angrier crowd, we were all given free complimentary meals that consisted of rice, vegetables, what looked like two big meatballs, and some mystery meat. I personally only ate the rice and some of the vegetables. After a free meal we were exhilarated to finally take a bus to our flight around 6pm. In Shanghai, you enter a bus that takes you to the plane and you then have to walk up the stairs into the plane. That's what we did, and we were so excited to finally be going to Xiamen yet so tired at the same time. Once we boarded the plane and sat down I was out like a light. When I woke up I looked down to see they had served us dinner which was this thing of sweet bread, a small candy bar that tasted like a KitKat, and these crackers that I personally didn't care for. We were all finally escaping Shanghai for good! Since I slept almost the entire 2 hour flight it didn't seem very long to me of course. We arrived at the Xiamen airport and got our bags from baggage claim. We then met up with two of the other teachers from Xiamen who's names I cant remember just yet. They showed us the way to a small bus that would take us to Xiamen University. Though Yang Laoshi and two other students fell behind and we waited for them. Once we were finally off towards the university, the city of Xiamen was lit like a Christmas tree as we passed some of the bigger buildings. All in all we arrived to the university, got our room keys and a small box of fruit, and went to our rooms to meet our roommates. My roommate's name is Camille and her previous roomate had moved, causing me to be her new roommate. And I could honestly say I couldn't be happier with my current roommate! After finally unpacking and talking to Camille for a while as I ate some food the university saved for me, I took my shower and slipped into bed. Though up be honest even though I'm finishing this entry two days later, that day was much too hectic to not write about! June 3, 2016 (Finished June 5, 2016 at like 2am)

#Nsliy #nsliy 2016 #nsliy China #China Xiamen #nsli

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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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Ah, this entry is basically going to be a sum of a VERY LONG 14 hour flight from Newark, through the what seemed to be the North Pole, through Russia, and even Malaysia, to end up huddled in a group on the floor of a Shanghai airport. The long day began with me walking down the lobby stairs exactly on time to catch some breakfast and a ride on the shuttle bus to the airport. After getting patted down and struggling through customs, we all were able to board the plane after a long wait in line. The flight itself was....quite the experience! I will start off by saying I rate the flight and it's service a good 4.5 out of 5 stars! Once we got on the plane I apparently was in the very last row of the plane. Longingly glancing at the first class seats with big tv screens, free slippers, and seats that allow you to lay completely down, I continued to my row. Now I really can't complain seeing how I had a great time on this flight and the last row ended up being the most convenient and cozy! We even had a decent amount of movies to choose from the screen in front of each person's seat. I ended up watching the Incredibles. But in the warmth and coziness of Disney I ended up falling into a much needed slumber. Though when I woke up everyone around me was already at least half way finished, if not done with their recent meals that were passed out. Of course the one time I went to sleep on the plane ride was the time the crew decided to pass out meals. Though of course I called over an attendant to kindly ask for a meal. For dinner we were served Chicken, vegetables, and rice which was amazingly good for food in general in my opinion! I also read some of Tyler Oakley's Binge, and drew a little. Also with the majority of passengers being Chinese, we even has a few people come up to us and chat with us in Chinese. Now, even though I personally may of had a one sentence conversation in Chinese with a lady who had a simple question, I still participated in speaking Chinese with other natives. I watched many of my new acquaintances also have conversations with native speakers and followed the group conversations as I attempted to translate in my head as each spoke. Other than periodic one hour naps and mingling with the other NSLIY students, me and two others also enjoyed studying some Chinese together and helping one of the Intermediate Low students with a few basic phrases. The plane ride was pretty fun in my opinion, though very tiring. Turbulence wise it was rather bumpy when we crossed what seemed to be the North Pole, but wasn't too bad a decent amount of the time. We could even see scattered pieces of ice on the ocean as we flew past. After getting off what seemed to be a never ending flight, we all arrived at Shanghai airport. But sadly our flight to Xiamen was cancelled because of weather issues in Shanghai and we all ended up sitting together on the airport floor for about 5 hours as we tried to figure out how to work around the situation. In the end we all basically traveled for 24 hours straight, so by the time we left everyone, including myself, we're walking zombies. In that seemingly very long and exhausting five hours I mingled with more of the other students, bought pear juice from a vending machine, and watched as Chinese people tried to be sneaky and take pictures of the strange group of foreigners sitting in a circle. We all frequently bonded over trying to figure out the wifi, though only two or three people found a connection in the end. There was one instance at the airport that especially made me think. For lunch I went to eat ramen at a Japanese ramen shop in the airport. But we were told to buy our food and head back. So I tried using basic Chinese and talking very slow English with the waiters to ask them if they did takeout. But with awkward silences and confused faces I realized that I couldn't tell them what I needed to. In a way my goal of being able to hold a conversation in Chinese suddenly had more of a booming importance. I couldn't simply express myself in this situation, what if things were more important? I didn't have a wifi connection at the time and my dictionary was all the way in my luggage bag. (Though now I will make sure to carry it around!) But the ramen was absolutely great and amazing and I wish I was able to finish the rest of it! In the end, I passed out and took a 20 minute nap on the airport floor (which felt gorgeous) and our advisor Mr.Chen was able to find us a hotel for the night Currently, I'm sitting in bed in that exact hotel in Shanghai writing the rest of this entry. Sadly we all have to get up at 4am to catch a flight to Xiamen so I should really be sleeping. But then again this is the first time I've had wifi the entire trip so I didn't want to miss the chance to write a post. Hopefully next time I blog I'll be writing about my first experience in Xiamen! July 2, 2016

#Nsliy #nsliy 2016 #nsliy China #China Xiamen #nsli

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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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Orientation and WeChat Invasion

Currently at this exact moment I’m sitting at a hotel in Newark with a few of the other students in the program. Most of the students are currently playing mafia but I’m just chilling out a few meters away from them. I met my roommate (Her name is Shanna. Heya Shanna if you’re reading this :D) Everyone is pretty nice so far and I’m happy with the group of people I’m surrounded by. Generally in groups of teenagers there’s always those few kids who you know is going to cause trouble someway or how. But surprisingly enough I don’t get that vibe from anyone here. Everyone seems so genuinely interested in the culture and ready to learn something new! Also WeChat seemed to be King as our social media to use for China. So all day it was everyone adding each other on the popular social media called WeChat. So far it seems very nice and useful as an app!

Yesterday I arrived in New Jersey and actually saw Don King in the Cleveland airport before departing. For me the plane ride was only an hourish and when I arrived to the airport me and my mom met one of the chaperons by baggage. She was holding a huge sign that said NSLY and such. (My mom was one of the few parents who attended the orientation). Me, my mom, and my chaperon took a small train and then a shuttle bus to the hotel. They had some pizza waiting for us students and I basically set my things in my room and then met some of the other students. We all ended up playing cards, specifically BS for a while and that’s a summary of how the first day ended. Also just to add, it personally was just really cool hearing about where everyone was from. We all talked about our states with pride and compared odd slang words and fast food restaurants and cultures and such. Me and one other human names Skyler are the only two from Ohio, but there seems to be many Californians odd enough.

Orientation on the other hand was actually pretty fun! It wasn’t just talking and lectures, but groups activities and mingling as well. We first got up early for breakfast, which first off let me say the food wasn’t like normal meh hotel food. Each meal we received was, in my opinion, quality food! I’m going to try to summarize an entire day of information consisting of 8am-6pm. Our main instructor, Jianguo Chen, gave us all packets that consisted of all the students bios, the rules, Code of conduct, our basic schedules of the next six weeks, and other important information. He in a nutshell went over all the information while telling a few past stories/student experiences to help us better understand the importance of the rules. Like for example he told us all a situation that happened in 2007 or 2008 where a group of four students sneaked out at night once and attended a night bar, but then were immediately sent home when found out. He shared small stories to show us how serious the program is with fooling around. We also found out that the programs started in 2007 and has drastically changed since then. Also each student costs about $10,000 for the US government so it makes sense why rules are strict. Other than explaining rules we all had a different piece of colored paper in our packets and that split us all up into groups of five. My group ended up being the yellow team in which we named the Bananas! We all had to compete in charades and the winners earned the right to having to be ready by 8:10am instead of the losing team which has to be ready by 6:50am for the flight to Shanghai tomorrow. My group won third so I have to be ready by 7:30am. :) After that we all had to take the language tests that help place you in your correct level class. In my opinion it was pretty difficult but I got Intermediate High, so I’m satisfied with my placement. There were so many characters I had never seen and most of my answers where in pinyin and lacked tone marks….. But hey, what matters most is the improvement shown by the end of the program.

After the orientation we had about three hours to just hang out around the hotel. And that exact free time is what lead me to writing this blog entry! :D I wrote this throughout the day so now I’m just lying in bed watching TV with my roommate.

I have a 15 hour flight tomorrow so I suppose I’ll get some sleep for the long ride. I didn’t have much time to write this entry as organized or…not as boring as I ended up writing it. But that’s of course because I was at orientation all day. I’m seriously hoping Tumblr works in China because I don’t have a VPN. But we’ll see! I plan to blog tomorrow on the plane hopefully.

June 30, 2016

#NSLY #China nsliy #China Xiamen #China study abroad #exchange student #nsli #nsliy 2016

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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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Endless Love and Packing

Since I will be leaving for the other half of the Earth in about three weeks....It seems this is the perfect time to start packing!

So far me and my mother have bought a huge suitcase from TJ Max. I was also able to purchase a pocket sized Chinese to English dictionary and a book to read on the lonnnng plane ride. (I purchased Binge by Tyler Oakley because how could I resist?~) I will be going to shop for a new camera, clothing, shoes, etc. With my aunt this weekend. It’s always better to pack early in case you forget something. Then there’s always time to go be and purchase it. But there’s no way I would be able to get all of the things I need for this experience without all the love and support from my family and friends!

My grandmother hosted a goodbye party for me and my family last weekend. Numerous people came to the party and handed me cards with money and wishes of good luck on my exchange. If any future exchange students reading this are struggling to figure out how they’re going to purchase all the things they’re going to need to travel, trust me. Hosting a family gathering and asking for donations or cards is an excellent way to receive help. You also receive a lot of wonderful advice from people who love you and that will help you get through your experience. Also many had questions about the exchange anyhow, so it was the perfect way to answer them all at once. I even had some of my family’s work friends giving me small donations as well. I was just so amazed at how generous and encouraging people could be in the situation! I can’t even explain how grateful it makes me feel to know my loved ones have my back and the whole party was just a great experience.

Also, I received some of my first Warm-Up homework from NSLIY! Basically NSLIY asked students what level of Chinese they believed they were in and for now we would be set in that class. Currently I’m in Intermediate 1 class. I had to make a new account on Quizlet so I could join my class and we had two lists of words to learn. The task was to complete "Flashcard", "Learn", "Speller", "Test" and "Scatter" for both lists by the end of the week. NSLIY also gave us an optional list of phrases we could learn on Quizlet if we choose. On it were sentences like, “My phone battery is low”, “Don’t worry”, or “I’m very nervous”, etc. Personally I think I may need to move up a class because most of the words were already familiar to me. But we will be further tested on the information we have learned on Quizlet at the Pre-Departure Orientation at the end of June. The score of our PDO (Pre-Departure Orientation) test will be counted as part of our program academic performance evaluation. So regardless if it’s too easy for me at least I’ll be able to score well on my first graded test in the program! :D

The fact that I’m going to China to experience a once in a lifetime adventure still hasn’t hit me yet. Even when I go on Facebook to check the NSLIY China alumni pages and see other people in the same situation as me posting questions and sharing their excitement. I know that something extraordinary is about to happen but I still haven’t found that feeling of genuine excitement yet it seems. I wonder what’s taking my body so long to realize what’s happening....

June 9, 2016

#nsliy #nsliy china #nsliy 2016 #nsliy xiamen china #NSLI

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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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The Never Ending Cycle of Emails and Forms

I just finished my Oral Language Proficiency Interview over the phone. I nervously prepared for it by sitting down on my bed and eating chicken noodle soup while I waiting anxiously for the phone to ring. Through to sum up the interview it wasn't too bad. For me it was basically me saying "Wo bu zhi dao" (I don't know) and Qing ni zai shou yici (Can you repeat that?). Though luckily, there were numerous questions I did understand and was able to answer without a struggle. I honestly think I may be placed in easer an advanced beginner or beginner intermediate. But the interview it self was sort of fun for me. More or less it was me trying not to laugh at how ridiculous my responses must of sounded to some of the tester's questions. Other than the interview I had only minutes ago, NSLIY had been bombing my email with numerous forms to be filled and sent and copied, etc. Though I can't complain since it'll all be worth it in the end. So far I've had to fill visa forms, traveling forms, send a small self biography, Emergency Treatment forms, Agreement forms, Student Code of Conduct forms, Medical forms, send a passport, birth certificate, insurance numbers, assume plane tickets, etc. It's not too bad since my mother is helping me of course but it's still numerous emails. I remember back when I was in the treacherous waiting period between December through March just waiting for NSLIY emails. Now I'm being flooded with them! My mind and body still have not completely realized the fact that I'm traveling to the other side of the world this summer. Though I don't expect to receive that feeling yet. There's still time before I leave. I actually recently received my confirmed flight times for when I leave for New Jersey for orientation. I'll be leaving on June 29 and returning to the same airport August 13th at like 11pm. I'm really hoping I'll have a new camera by then so I can post higher quality photos on this blog for all my family and buddies to see back at home while I'm away. Also apparently I will having a goodbye party with my family on June 4th so maybe I'll be able to take some photos there and post them here. School will be ending this week and hopefully I can focus much more on studying Chinese before I go since I won't have to be worrying about other subjects. Until then I suppose I shall continue to wait for myself to realize the true reality of the amazing adventure I have in store... May 22, 2016

#nsliy China #nsliy summer 2016 #nsliy #nsliy 2016 #Xiamen China nsliy

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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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Receiving a Rather Undivided Attention

It's been about a week since I started this blog. But there's been quite a few unsuspecting things that's occurred. For one, it seems my summer exchange is somehow attracting more attention that I estimated...... It all started when I returned to school after spring break and told my Chinese teacher, the wonderful Zhang Laoshi, about my acceptance into NSLI-Y. She was so excited for me and told the entire class of my accomplishment after giving me a hug. It's really funny because it seems her excitement has spread through the rest of the school haha. I've had some of my peers just come up to me and give me a random congratulations. When I would ask them how they knew, they would say the Chinese 1 and 3 classes were told of my accomplishment too by my Chinese teacher, Zhang Laoshi. And that they should be more like me. I remember earlier this week another one of my peers came up to me with the same, "Congratulations!" And when I asked them about it they showed me how the School Superintendent had tweeted about me on the school's page. Plus the school band's Twitter had reshared it as well. Even some of my teachers like my Biology teacher and Photography teacher came up to me and randomly congratulated me. Now I'm not complaining, who could possibly complain over gaining attention from achieving a serious accomplishment such as this?~ I will say that I seriously wasn't expecting this type of attention, but I shall still count this as part of the NSLI-Y experience. Either way, it's all thanks to my Chinese teacher Zhang Laoshi for showing me this program anyhow. So I don't mind in the least who she tells. On another quick note, I found a Facebook group for other kids going to Xiamen this summer, so that's a plus. It seems everyone continues to ask me the same question about this exchange, "Aren't you super excited?" And of course I'm excited, but I feel it's only natural that my body can't exactly grasp the fact of what's happening at the moment. I don't think I can physically be as excited as I know I truly am until I leave my familiar surroundings and sit in that seat on the plane that will take me away to the other side of the Earth. But for now I can only SAY I feel excited, because I know that I am, I just don't quite feel that extreme excitement yet is all. Being in a completely different world for six weeks seems to be something I can't entirely grasp or even fully imagine until I'm there..... April 9, 2016

#nsliy #nsli #nsliy china #nsliy 2016 #nsliy China 2016 #Xiamen China #nsliy 2016 finalist

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watsoninxiamen · 9 years ago

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The Simple Beginning...

I suppose I should introduce myself before starting this blog. That’s usually what bloggers do in these instances it seems…

My name is Daysha but here I shall go by Day. I am an NSLI-Y finalist and I will be traveling across the world with a government paid scholarship sponsored through the U.S Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. I was notified in an email on March 28th that I would be going to Xiamen, China through the University of Delaware this summer. I will be studying abroad in China for six weeks while attending language classes and experiencing Chinese culture first hand. I can still remember when I first got the notification actually. I had turned my phone off all day since I was at an indoor water park with a few friends. We were in line to get some ice cream before leaving and I had finally turned on my phone. So naturally I went to check my email first.

(For you future NSLI-Y semi-finalists, you will come to understand what it feels like to check your email at least five times a day during the extremely slow and sluggish months of March and April. It will become as natural as breathing after a while, but no worries. You aren’t the only one, trust me.)

But once I saw I got the notification I literally screamed in the middle of the line and people looked at me like I was a spoon with legs. But it was worth it in my opinion. I just accepted the finalist email yesterday and sent proof of my passport so I’m all set!

I really want to make this blog to remember this amazing experience I’m about to go through. Since I was younger I always loved reading travel blogs about exchange students and how they experienced different cultures. I would sit and stare at the amazing pictures of scenery and laugh at stories of culture shock. Reading blogs about Japanese exchange students literally became my hobby. Now my hobby has shifted towards reading NSLI-Y blogs, but that’s besides the point. To be able to join this fascinating world of bloggers and help readers better understand the world of China through my eyes is an exhilarating thought in all honesty. I’ve never been out of North America, but it’s been my dream to go to Asia since I was in 4th grade. To know one of your childhood dreams is going to come true- my goodness it’s a feeling of such excitement.

Oh goodness, if only the first post is this long I don’t want to know how long my posts in China will be haha. In conclusion, I will be leaving to go to orientation around the end of June. More specifically around June 28th.

Blog to you guys later :)

March 30, 2016

#nsliy #nsliy China #Xiamen China #nsliy summer 2016 #nsliy 2016 #nsliy 2016 finalist

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