School

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School. The name it self often makes you tired and queasy looking for excuse not to go. I, on the other hand, could not wait to get into the school routine. It would allow me to begin working out again, see my friends every day, and have something to do for the day. It turned out to be more than I could handle for the first couple days.

So, where to begin? I suppose at the beginning of the school day.

Every week day my father wakes me up at 5:45 or 6 AM so I can roll out of bed, put on my uniform, eat a quick breakfast of rice and some sort of meat. I will walk down to the bike while it is still dark. Fumble around for the key to unlock the bike lock, and take off. Back home, I need a shower in the morning to wake up, but the 40 minute bike-ride in the frigid morning air wakes me up just fine. The bike ride is nice thought, we get to see the city and sun wake up. At the beginning of the trip, there are few bikes in the bike lane, but at the end we struggle not to get separated by a wall of slowly churning bike riders. Also, some time along the trip, I can look up and see the sunrise. It is beautiful: the pollution really accentuates the colors.

So we park and lock the bikes and usually make it to class before 7:20. I take my seat in the back with three of the other Americans (Elliot, Nicole and Ting Ting) and wait for morning exercises.

Morning exercises the most communist thing I have ever been a part of. The people go out and line up in rows and columns according to what class they are in. I, and the rest of the Americans, take then end of the row. The entire school--all 2000 kids or so of them—is outside on the basketball courts. In the cold air we wait for a teacher to begin directing us what to do. The teacher steps up to a platform, in front of a microphone and begins the exercises. The first couple days were rough because we had to learn the different exercise they might have us do. My favorite is the march. All two thousand kids start marching and it sounds like an army. The next step was figuring out when to stop. There were many instances of doing an extra move: all two thousand kids would stop and then one of the Americans would stick up his hand one more time. It happened to me once (if you lose focus for one second…). Anyways now they are making us dance this very complicated dance. I get into it, but some of the kids don’t even bother.

The morning exercises don’t warm us up much, so we are all eager to get back inside. This is when the fun comes to an end and everyone has to study. The class consists of about forty kids. They sit in rows and columns. But the weirdest thing is that the kids don’t move between classes. There are no electives, you don’t chose what classes you want, there are no frees, no lockers (you desk is your locker). You behind one desk all day every day, and wait for different teachers to come to your class to teach you the lesson. It is like a combination of High school and Elementary school…same class room all day, but different teachers for each topic. They study: Physics, Chemistry, Math, English, Geography, History, PE, and Chinese. English class is the most fun because we can understand everything…the entire lesson is taught in English. There are some good stories that came out of English class, like how the Americans and English teacher argued about which was right. I’ll save that for another time.

Lunch is always welcome. At 12:05 we make our way down to the cafeteria in the Elementary school building. The American’s are suppose to eat with the teachers in their own section. The food is good… better than what the students are eating. So we have until 1:20 before we have to go back to the class. We often spend the time with the other children on the “playground.” Which is just one small structure of rings, ropes, and bars. We are a big hit with the elementary school children…it is kind of sad to know that they speak English better and we speak Chinese.

We go back to class at around 1:20 and wait for the next three lessons, until school is dismissed at 4:00.

The first week I took my usually took my bike back. But there were some days when I wanted to walk home for the exercise…and how I got it. It took me a good hour and thirty or forty minutes walking fast pace to get home. I collapse on the couch and watch TV or something.

This schedule was primarily for the first week of school. By the second week the group was able to miss out on some of the classes and do classes like Calligraphy, Art, Geography, Chinese and what-not with the other Americans. It is fun to talk about, but will have to wait for another day.

This may not have been the most interesting blog to read, but its purpose is to set the scene for the many stories that will come.

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Comments

[elliot]

morning exercises
some kids dont even bother? like who? :D

[Mike C.]

my mother got into a car accident with an Asian woman today.
Sounds like they're trying to make the school experience better than it is...which is a little disturbing. Glad you're enjoying the weather, too. Also, have you ever considered writing a memoir?

[Ethan]

My bad about the sc falling through, although I heard you and Mike coudn't get it together anyway. Right now I'm in Madison, Wisconsin for the weekend visiting the university. I stayed for some of the weekend. The only reason any of this is relevant is that it makes me qualified to pass this judgement: The chinese highschoolers have it harder than any public university I've been to. The whole school experience sounds like the last thing I would ever sign up for. And the fact that you like aspects of it is astounding...and very Luke. Keep writing, they're very entertaining. Peace. -Ethan

[Michaela Yule]

Your blogs are always interesting... even when they're about school. Sounds like you're doing great, glad to hear it! I don't know if I could survive... We miss you!

[Carv]

Yo man, long time no talk. All of those school rituals they make you go through sound really interesting, and very foreign. I would give anything to see you dancing along with 2000 chinese kids. Also, thats a rediculous amount of biking/walking time between your house and school, but i guess thats cool if you really want the excercise. I dont think i would have been able to handle that, the school days are really long and I'm sure there is a big work load. Well it seems like you are handling everything pretty well over there, and I'm sure your chinese is getting a lot better. Definately keep writing these blogs, its good to hear from you. Alright, later. - Carv