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Dance Auditions December 11, 2009
So on Friday, because of the dance performance, we got to leave school early, which was about 1 and we all hopped onto a bus to Beijing #55 high school. There was a band that had 2 people on the electric guitar and 1 person on the guitar and a electric piano, and one on drums. Only one girl was singing and she was pretty good, except sometimes she was too quiet.
A group of 5 or 6 Korean boys were doing a hip-hop routine. There was one girl we picked up from the Beijing #80 middle school who danced alone. The school we went to was really small and it was not an international school.
The auditorium we performed in was nice, but it was different than I thought it would be. Instead of an audience, the only people really watching were the judges. Other school group’s came and went. These later on, we realized, were the try-outs. The real performance is later and the best performances will perform in front of a real audience.
We were able to watch a few other performances though. There was a poetry reading, play, and a few dances. One was a group of 15 or so reciting the Chinese pledge of allegiance. I wasn’t sure though. Another was a Cinderella play, but it was a little different than the actual story. One group did a hip-hop routine with all boys and they did okay. Another group was all girls and they also did something similar. Our groups, besides us, did pretty well. It was fun going somewhere else for a change. Coming back, the traffic was horrible and it took us over an hour.
On Saturday, I went out with friends to buy souveniers. We went to Yashow and Soshow, by subway. The subway system here is pretty easy to figure out. On the subway sometimes there are disabled people who ask for money. They are not like the poor people I saw in America, a lot of them have mutilated limbs or are blind. There are always lots of foreigners in Yashow from every part of the world. The places are now partially decorated with Christmas decorations. We even saw two people dressed up as Santas.
Classes December 11, 2009
The four kids from Boston left last week, and we had a class party for them. The class bought food and we had music. There was supposed to be dancing, but no one wanted to to so it wasn’t very fun. At the end, everyone was taking pictures together and saying goodbyes. We were sad to see them go.
Our class now has 9 people; before it had 13. It is somewhat quiter, but the Kazik guys in our class make it lively. Everyday I go to dancing during lunch and practice with 5 other people. Two of the girls are german and the other 3 are Kazik, 2 girls and 1 boy. Our dance is not that good and in the background 4 Korean guys are singing. Their singing is not the best. There is another group from our school also performing their dance is more hip hop and looks way better! I wish I could be in that group…
This weekend I stayed at my friends host family with her. We went out and got a lot of souvenier shopping done. The silk market is a very big touristy market, and we went there. We realized if you make friends with the shopkeeper you get better deals.
Everday’s schedule is different except that we never switch classrooms only for computer, driving and art. We have 10 minute breaks; those go by very quickly. My favorite teacher is my intensive teacher because, in her class, we actually learn. Somebody broke a window during the break we are not sure who it is, but if they don’t step up we might all be punished….A lot of the guys in both the German/Kazik class are very wild.
Snow and Visitors December 11, 2009
It has been awesome this week!! It has now snowed about 3 times! One night we had snow and a thunder/lightning storm. The weather here is crazy. Someone said that, in China, there is no fall, the season switches straight to winter. That is so true. It has been pretty low key here. Sadly if it snows here, they do not cancel school. They will not cancel school. The only way they would cancel school was if you couldn’t get the door open.
We had a snow ball fight and the principal came here and told us that the workers work hard to clean the ground. I was surprised becasue it was warm and a lot of the snow was evarporationg anyway, but it is so fun and not even the Chinese students can help it. It is nice the school is so close. The school is only about a 2 minute walk from the dorm.
Dance lessons have started up again and we finally learned the whole dance. Now we just practice. Some Germans, who all came from the whole school, came on Wednesday and are staying for about 2 weeks. They have been constantly sightseeing all of last week and today they sat in on our class. There is about 16 of them, 12 girls and 4 boys. They will leave soon. However their host families kids will go to Germany for winter vacation and stay with them for 2 weeks. So it is an exchange. The Boston kids will leave soon and there is a karaoke party tonight for them.
Cold! December 11, 2009
So, a few mornings ago it snowed…yes, snowed. It was the 1st of November, and it snowed. That day was really cold!! The temperature was somewhere around 7 degrees Celsius. A lot of people drive in China, even if there is snow. I was worried about going back to the dorms in the snow, but my host family said it was no problem.
After I got back to the dorms, I went and visited a friend who had stayed in the U.S. for a while. She is doing well and we went to her apartment and then went out to dinner. We had dinner at this nice Chinese restaurant. I talked to the family and we had a lot of left overs . Afterwards so they gave them to me.
On Monday and Tuesday we had mid-terms and had to have tests all day for the classes. It is great now we don’t have P.E anymore because of the cold weather. Instead, if we do well on the dictation (day to day tests we have) we can go back to the dorms. If we do bad, we have to stay after class and do self-study.
On Friday, I went to my host family and we went shopping so I could buy a winter jacket. We walked around and because I bought the jacket I got a free pearl they cut right out of the oyster. My host family gave me 2 of theirs because they have so many.
On Sunday, we went out to the Lama Temple, Confuscious Temple and Prince Gong’s garden. There were many people at the Lama Temple and everyone had incense and was praying. One of the Buddhas was really tall!! We found some incense laying around so we used that to pray. The Confsusious Temple was really empty and one charm you could right your wish on and hang around the palace was really expensive!! It was 100 yuan! That is a lot!!
After walking around there, we went to Prince Gong’s place and that had a lot of tour groups. It was pretty and there were a lot of exhibitions inside Temples. Toward the end we went to Yashow and just walked around. Today is the first day of Winter so we had dumplings and they were yummy.
Beware of Illness December 11, 2009
So because of the changing seasons, our classes, and others, have been getting semi-high temperatures and colds, however the school has been taking extreme measurments. Anyone with a temperature of 37 degrees Celsius has to go to the clinic and stay in a hotel for 7 days quarantine, just like at the beginning. The German/Kazikstan class–the other language class besides ours–had about half of its students get sick and they went to a hotel.
Afterwards some students in our class got sick, and then they cancelled school for a week. On Saturday, we were supposed to go out and go to an International Festival. At the festival they told us there would be International students from other schools dancing, singing and games. However, because my roommate got sick, they felt my body was not well and held me back while whoever was “healthy” enough went!
My roommate had the flu and went to stay with our guardian, however they assumed I caught something, too. I stayed and did homework until everyone came back. I was so mad because now, a few days later, I am perfectly healthy!!
The other day my host mother called me and asked me what day would be better for me to go out to dinner with them, because the father had come back. I responded with which day would be better for them. They said wait, they will ask their father, and then hung up. A few minutes later the dorm mother comes knocking on my door telling me to change clothes and hurry up!!! My host sister is waiting at the gate for me and we go back to their house. I was so surprised because I had no warning on that!!!
My host sister was getting a new laptop and we waited at the house for it to come and then went out to dinner. The dad is nice and he talked to me a lot, but he smokes and there was a can of beer I saw on a desk, but all Chinese dads drink and smoke. We went out for Peking duck and a bunch of other dishes. The food was great. There was duck, a carp that was weird looking, but good, mushroom soup, vegetables, salads, tofu and other stuff I don’t know the name of. Most of it was really good. There was a turtle soup on the menu, but, thankfully, we didn’t order that.
My host sister had the brains from inside the duck. I said no because she was eating it straight out of the head. I also had deer meat. Sadly it was good. After dinner they drove me back to the dorms. The dad is leaving on this coming Wednesday, so I hope to see him again. He doesn’t stay very long. He told me he is the manager of a Chemical plant, or something, in Nanjing.
This whole week we have to stay in our dorm rooms during school hours, except during lunch. We are supposed to get up at the time school would start and we have to be studying the whole time!! Today the teacher checked up on us way too often. I do not have a roommate, so it is weird being alone in the room for so long. It is even worse because I am not allowed to go and study in another room. The teachers also gave us homework from each class. There is a lot and we are having midterms the day we go back to school.
I don’t like this week, but I got a care-package from home so I am happy.
