Homestays

It have been awhile since I've had down time to rest and compose my thoughts. My life has felt crazy and busy since I arrived back from the gorge and entered into homestays. I now live with two college teachers, about my parents age, who do not speak English. I fill the empty room where their daughter used to live but now works in Shanghai. My new location is another college behind Minzudaxue, the college where I used to live in dorms and still take my Chinese classes. Very convenient! A large handful of my group also resides here, though the campus is pretty large and I have yet to find everyone. However, my friend Ali lives right upstairs. At the initial pick up last Friday, my Chinese parents were both working, so I was immediately adopted by Ali's parents and her 25 yr-old brother. When my homestay father came to pick me up, two hours later, I already felt settled in. Fortunately, our families have banded together- I get to enjoy more company, a brother I can relate to, and a friend to share all the awkward or exciting things that go on. That first weekend Ali and I went to a wine-tasting event with her brother, were extras in a Chinese movie (separate from homestay life), went to a Chinese wedding, visited the Flower City and the new university city (all the universities in Kunming are in the process of constructing beautiful new college campuses an hour away from the city).

That weekend, I really got to know my homestay father. He is an animated scholar with a thick Shanghai accent and therefore extremely difficult for me to understand. I appreciate and enjoy his company, but I find it hard not to get frustrated with my Chinese since our communication is so jumbled. My homestay mother was busy that first weekend and it wasn't until the beginning of the week that I really met her. She is an active, independent, Chinese philosophy professor, who deeply misses her only daughter, making the big bucks in Shanghai. Between these two teachers, I feel taken care of, carefully scrutinized, and back in highschool.
Ultimately, I am finding this experience very insightful as a direct look at Chinese parenting, the one-child policy, and the Chinese culture of labeling. They hold deep-seeded generalizations about certain types of people, for instance, I am a Jew, and Jews make money, so they all must be very smart.

Ali with her mother, me with my father:

The Flower City:

The wedding:


Constructing new universities:



Minzudaxue's new campus: