Last Wednesday, we came back to Kunming and moved into our homestays. We were all a little nervous because we’d been on our own for quite some time. The language barrier wasn't really calming our anxieties, either. None of us can speak Chinese, and we were told that some of the families don’t speak any English. When the moment finally came, we were all waiting in a room at the university we’ll be having our seminars and lectures at. One by one, our host parents would walk in the room to greet us. It was really adorable to see how excited they all looked as they came in.
I’m very happy with my homestay so far. My host mother is an English teacher and my host father is a police man. I have a nine-year-old host brother, too. I was only told his English name—Leo. He doesn’t speak any English. My host father’s mother also lives with us and does all of the cooking. I’m lucky to have an English speaker in the family. She can speak it pretty well, although not fluently, but enough to be able to say everything we need to say to each other. I think she understands what I'm telling her, at least. I don’t know anything about my host father, though. I literally have not seem him once since he left the house after dinner the first night I arrived.
I live in an apartment in the university area. In Kunming, there are several universities in close proximity to one another. I walk through different universities to get to different places. My bedroom in the apartment also functions as my hos family's study and computer room, so Leo does his homework in here. My host mom uses the computer to prepare her lessons. So far, I’ve been fine with the lack of privacy. Although I felt a little awkward last night because my host mom was working on a powerpoint while I was lying in bed reading. I wanted to go to sleep, but didn’t want to be rude or make her feel like she needed to leave. So I just decided to quietly put my things away and close my eyes without her noticing. It ended up working out just fine.
There are two bathrooms in the apartment—a squatter and a non-squatter. The showering situation has been a little unfortunate. The first time I tried to shower, the drain didn’t work and I ended up flooding the bathroom. Also, the water here is heated by solar and it hasn’t been sunny or warm enough to heat it up. Apparently we have a gas heater, but my host mom doesn’t know how to work it. So I haven’t been able to shower for a few days. Until today, when I decided that it was past necessary.
Food is very much a part of the culture here. It’s definitely different than American Chinese food. At most meals (except breakfast), each person gets a bowl for rice; the main dishes are placed in the middle of the table. You take individual bites from each dish with your chopsticks, and keep refilling your bowl of rice. When my rice bowl gets below the halfway line, more is shoved in. There is no asking, only feeding. But I’m not complaining—every meal is all-you-can-eat!
The weather has been in the 50s and cloudy pretty much everyday. It wouldn’t be bad, except there is no heating anywhere. Often, it’s colder inside than outside. I wear my fleece jacket basically all the time. Even so, my host mom will always tell me to put on more layers. My host family gave me a pair of wool slippers to borrow, too. Sometimes when I forget to wear them, my host mom will tell me “I’m worried that your feet are cold, please wear your slippers.”
I’m excited to see more of the city. We had some time to explore it yesterday, but there’s a lot to see in a place that five million people call home. Today was a free day, so I rode around on the bike my host family is letting me borrow. I was looking for a water bottle, sweater, and dental floss and struck out on all three fronts. I know water bottles and sweaters exist here, but I’m convinced that they don’t sell dental floss in this country.
We begin our English teaching assignments tomorrow. I’ll be teaching classes of 8th graders, sophomores, and juniors with Mary and John. Classes are 40 minutes each, and we teach two each morning. We developed our lesson plan for our first week and we’re going to talk about different regions of the US, trying to incorporate the grammar lessons from the students' textbooks. It’ll be really interesting. I’m excited to meet the kids!
It’s only 7:45, but I’m ready for bed. That seems to be the way things are working on this trip: I feel like an old person. The rest of the family is doing work on the computer about three feet away, though; so it looks like I’ll be up for at least a little while longer. Tomorrow morning, I’ve got another noodle bowl to look forward to and hopefully we’ll have the spicy stir-fried vegetables and bean curd tofu to add. They’re both growing on me.
For now, I think I’ll go fill up my hot water bottle and snuggle into the Donald Duck comforter on my rock hard bed. Sweet dreams!
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