When to When?

7-6. Seven in the morning to six at night.  The school day for a typical student at the Jiamusi number one middle school lasts eleven hours, from seven a.m. to six p.m.   After one day spent at home, bonding with my host father, I left for my first day of school at about six thirty in the morning. 

First, I should clarify a few things.  In China, Middle School is equivalent to US high school.  The ages of the students range from 14 to 18.  In China, the middle schools are all ranked. The smartest kids go to the number one school and the second smartest to the number two school and so on.  And in China, school is taken very seriously. 

Upon arrival at the school I was escorted to my class.  As I entered the classroom, all sixty-five students gave a tremendous applause! (How is that for making me feel welcome?) 

My School

Two students sit at each desk, and I found my place in the back of the room (thank God) where I was assigned a “desk mate” who I later found out is considered to be the class athlete.  Throughout the day he tried to teach me a few words as I mindlessly stared at the gibberish on the blackboard.  You can’t imagine how slow time passes when you can’t understand anything being said!  Finally, lunch came along, and I had the opportunity to catch up with the other exchange students in the “canteen”, the school’s questionable cafeteria (even by American school’s criteria!).  After only an hour, it was back to the books. 

It is amazing how you are treated when you are from the west.  People stare at you, try to take pictures with you, say hello to you and try to have a conversation with you.  Girls giggle when you walk by and guys try to ask you about American athletics.  Also striking – but not surprising is the great deal of respect they have for the United States. 

What is surprising is that they seem to fear American boys.  After being told repeatedly by many different teachers and AFS volunteers that relationships between boys and girls are not allowed in Chinese schools, I asked my Finnish friend if he thought the warnings were a little extreme.  He said that although he heard about the rule from previous studying, it had not been mentioned to him by any AFS volunteers or teachers.  Mystified by this, I asked my German and Italian friends, and heard the same thing.  My final conclusion is that they stereotype American boys as sex obsessed and good at wooing girls!

I am concerned that the next day I was viewed as being a little flirty with two girls in my class, and as a result all 65 students were yelled at.  Either that or they were yelled at for talking.  Or the teacher was just being really loud.  Who knows?! 

My Chinese has been improving though, as has my relationship with my host family.  On my birthday, after a long day at school, my host father picked me up and brought me to an unknown building (well, most of them are unknown to me at this point).  I assumed it was just a typical errand and followed him upstairs.  We entered a private dining room where I found my host mother, aunt and brother. They told me that the other AFS students would be there soon and that we would celebrate my 17^th birthday!  While in America I am considered to be 16, in China they celebrate the first birthday when you are born – so here, I just turned 17.

After a delicious, multi-course meal, each one of the host families (although I had barely met them) gave me a birthday present.  My host brother and father gave me a tiger piggy bank (as it is the year of the tiger).  My host aunt gave me a pencil holder, and my host mother gave me a tiger glass.  I also received another pencil holder made of a special kind of nut, which is only available in Jiamusi, and an ornate pottery bull, detailed with different kinds of luck.  My German friend was kind enough to give me a gift that I can describe only as a holographic time telling laser pointer of sorts.  My Finnish friend gave me a much needed bar of chocolate (chocolate is not very common in China). 

It’s great to be seventeen!  My only regret is that I skipped my sixteenth birthday…