By Jillian Suprenant
I dare you to find a child cuter than my new six-year old sister.
It has only been a week, and Jessie (and the rest of my host family) has already stolen my heart. Jessie, full of energy and consistent questions, has become my shadow. She is always nearby, either dancing on my bed to make me smile or asking “Shā mă?” when she wants to learn the English name for an item.
Although we can’t communicate with words well, I see a younger version of myself in her. She loves music and dance, is curious about everything, and hates being ignored. She also has an endless amount of sass and never tires out. To all the mothers out there: I finally get it. Children are absolutely amazing, but also incredibly exhausting. I also now understand what is meant by the sentence “Children are always listening;” after hanging out with me for a week, Jessie has begun to say “Aiya-oh my gosh” and once even walked into my room, looked me directly in the eyes and inquired, “What are you doing?” in perfect English.
It is also interesting to see the personality differences between Jessie and her sister, Sunny, in 8th grade. Reserved, shy and serious, Sunny keeps her sister in line and helps her non-English speaking parents communicate with me by being a translator. She gives me space when I need it, teaches me Chinese whenever the two of us have a spare moment, and checks in on me to make sure I am doing ok. The process of connecting with her has been much slower than it has been with Jessie, but after watching A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song and singing karaoke with her in the mall, I can feel the two of us beginning to click.
I spent the first full week with my host father because my host mother had to travel to Guangzhou for work, and during our time together I learned that he is 1) a wonderful cook and 2) a wonderful dad. He made delicious breakfasts and dinners, made sure Jessie dressed and got to Genius Kindergarten on time, and did laundry every day. After a phone call from Hsiao-Mei about my bum knee, he sat me down and rubbed traditional Chinese oil on it to restore proper circulation and make it feel better. He assigned me a Chinese name, Jia Mei (which translates to “auspicious beauty” in English) that matched his children’s names and spent one of his evenings trying to teach me how to write Chinese characters. Fun fact: Chinese is HARD.
My host mother, likewise, is so amazing and generous. One of her first statements to me was “I have a mindset much youngerthan my age” which I believe is the google translate version of “I’m a cool mom.” Her fashion sense is unreal and the love she has for her two children is palpable and touching. During her work trip, she spent time learning English so that she could better communicate with me when she came back. She bought a new mattress for me, and a water purifier so that I could drink cold water. She helps me walk when my knee starts hurting and holds my hand when we cross the streets, so that I don’t get hit by cars (side note: crossing the street is the scariest part about China). Yesterday, she proudly informed me that my chopstick skills greatly improved from the first day, and when we visited the Chen Family Memorial Archway, she read me the Chinese version of historical plaques as I read the English version, so that I could match up the translations.
This week also marked the first week of teaching our extracurricular classes. I would be lying if I said it was easy. My Wednesday class is a breeze; teaching American sports to a group of students who love P.E. and America is fun, although it did include me suffering from a frisbee to the face. Acting class, however, is a different story. Most of the students do not understand English very well and the class is four times larger than my regular classes, so maintaining order is difficult. Andrew, my teaching partner in crime, and Amy, our student assistant for the class, are incredible. The class basically consists of me explaining things to the kids, the kids not understanding, and then Andrew and Amy having to translate everything I said on the spot. I truly do not know how I’d do it without them. The class is tedious and tiring, and its 4:40-5:40 time slot at the end of the day doesn’t help. To be honest, I have no idea how we are going to pull together something for the final show. Stay tuned.
Again, I find myself incredibly grateful for my teammates and the bond I have formed with them so far. This past Friday, we threw our teammate, Evan, a surprise 19th birthday party during our lunch break. We decorated Hsiao-Mei and Yanan’s office, dressed in floral Hawaiian gear to celebrate his home state, played his favorite music, and bought him cake. Seeing how happy and shocked Evan looked upon opening the office door will most likely be one of my favorite memories from the trip, although I feel like I’ve been saying that about everything I’ve experienced so far during my time in Zhuhai. Whether at home with my host family or at No. 9 with my program, I truly feel like I am a part of loving community and I can already sense just how hard it is going to be to leave in July.
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