As I stared out the window at the pitch-black night sky on my 14-hour flight to China, I realized I was incredibly anxious about meeting the students. I was worried that they wouldn’t find me outgoing or energetic or funny enough, or wouldn’t think I was “American” enough, or just plain wouldn’t like me. When we met our first students at Guangzhou Zhixin High School the next day, though, my nerves were pushed to the backburner thanks to my first buddy, Jane. She was incredibly sweet and earnest, always trying to make me feel welcome. Her English was absolutely phenomenal, and even though she knew I could understand some Chinese, she constantly strived to practice and communicate with me in English.
My nerves didn’t completely vanish, however, until the middle of the tour of Zhixin High School and its stunning Chinese-style architecture. One of the students was introducing the beautiful Lotus Pond, when she forgot some of her lines due to her own nervousness. At that moment, I realized that however scared I was, the Zhixin students were even more nervous. Still, they were willing to put themselves out there and try their best to make us feel comfortable and welcome—and their job was even harder than ours, because they had to speak in an unfamiliar foreign language. If they could do it, then why wouldn’t I be able to? I thought back to that moment often for the rest of my time in Guangzhou, using it as motivation to always keep trying to reach out with a smile on my face. Whether it was on the night cruise listening to students introducing the major Guangzhou landmarks, eating delicious food with Yuki, or partnering with Alice to try my hand at Chinese ink stamping, I did my best to form a genuine connection with the students I encountered. The results were extremely rewarding. On the last day, one of the students I met, Nico, asked me to be her godsister. I had never felt so touched, and even after leaving Guangzhou, I still text her almost every single day, giving her updates on what I’m doing in Zhuhai.
In Guangzhou, I also realized how much I really didn’t know about Chinese culture. While I might eat Chinese food at home in America and (occasionally) speak the Chinese language, Chinese customs are an aspect I completely do not understand. On our last day in Guangzhou, Principal Gan invited us to eat at a delicious dim sum restaurant. Right before, Hsiao-mei and Yanan gave us a crash course on Chinese culture: don’t sit in the host seat (the one facing the door), don’t start eating until the most important person begins, stand up when the host enters the door, serve other people food before yourself, when you gan bei keep your cup lower than the other person, the list goes on and on and on. I now know the basics of how to conduct myself at a fancy banquet, but I still have much to learn about Chinese culture.
I’m so blessed to have had this opportunity to form bonds with the Zhixin students and learn about Chinese culture, and I cannot thank the Win-Win Education and Zhixin staff and teachers enough for making this possible. I fell in love with Guangzhou—with its amazing food, kind and welcoming people, eager students, and beautiful buildings and architecture—and I wish I had more time there. In the future, I definitely plan to come back to Guangzhou, and if possible, I hope to visit all the students I met here again!
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