June 22-23

So I could not get the internet to work in my dorm yesterday, so here are two updates:

Friday, June 22
Our first HBA test! We have a cumulative test every Friday for like more than 3 hours with 2 hours for written and 1 and half for oral. It was actually pretty okay. I thought it was going to be this super hard exam, but it was manageable.

On Friday night, we met our Chinese host family. I was actually more nervous than I was expecting to be. I think I was nervous simply because of the fact I am Chinese - I feel that there is a greater amount of pressure on me to behave in a certain way. I was afraid that my host family might not think I am American enough or Chinese enough, so I was extremely nervous about meeting them. Like the exam, it actually turned out pretty okay too. Both of my "parents" are professors and they have a daughter in 11th grade. They are both very nice and understanding of our busy schedule, and they offered to take us to lunch when we have no planned activities. I keep on saying "us" because another girl and I share the same host family, and she's a third year student. We also visited their house/apartment, which was really cool because our host family lives on the top floor, which is the 18th. I have never lived that high before so I thought it was really fantastic. When we met her daughter, she was preparing for her hui kao, which is kind of like PSAT, but it's not to prepare you for the SAT, rather, it simply exempts you from certain subjects. It works this way because Chinese high school students must decide whether they want to major in social studies/language arts or science/math. For the Chinese PSAT, you take tests on subjects that are not of your major interest during 11th grade. Then when you reach 12th grade, you can focus on the subjects you are interested in and of which you will be taking on the SAT (or gao kao) so you can score better. It was really interesting to learn about the high school system in China from an actual Chinese student.

Sat. June 23
We climbed the Great Wall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We went Simatai, a section of the Great Wall of China, and boy, was it steep! I could swear that I was tired already after only 5 minutes! What's interesting about our trip was that we met a lot of Chinese peasants who are eager to get us to buy things like fans or souvenirs from them. What's more interesting (and discriminating) is that they only talked to those with blonde hair/blue eyes/any attributes that look foreign. They never approached any of us who look/are Chinese. One of my friends at HBA felt a bit insulted because she's foreign too, and the fact she is Chinese does not change the fact that she grew up in America and speaks English perfectly. While it's nice to not have people bug you to buy their products, it was a bit annoying how discriminating people are.


The Yalies!

Rachel Mak!

How beautiful...