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41 new best friends

China Friends host family NSLI-Y

There are 31 other NSLI-Y participants, 4 teachers, 4 chaperones, 3 host families, 2 host parents, and 1 tutor that have all become my best friends these past few weeks. As the program comes to an end, I have been thinking about how much I will miss these people. I am used to seeing these 41 faces everyday, all day. I'm used to waking up and seeing their face first thing in the morning, laughing at our inside jokes, and sharing funny stories. I remember how lonely I felt when I first arrived in Newark because I did not know anyone. I called my sister and friend and told them I wanted to go back home, that I didn't want to go to China, because I did not like anyone on the trip. I was wrong. Without some of the people on this trip, I probably would have gone crazy due to a mixture of culture shock and loneliness. Of course there are some people on the trip that get on my nerve, but here are the people I will probably miss the most; 

Skylar Baker: 

I'm sure all of you have read my blog and come across the name Skylar Baker a few times and have noticed that we have gotten close this past month. Even since PDO, Skylar and I have been together. Skylar is from San Francisco and I from Maryland, so naturally we have a lot of conflicting views. He is also very passionate about his views and beliefs on many topics, which contrast mine a lot. Even though we get into arguments, meeting him has given me more knowledge of other people's perspectives. His passion to learn more has encouraged me to study deeper into the things I am interested in and work harder to get to where I want to be. Not only has this trip given me insight on Chinese culture, but also other American cultures.  

Over this past few weeks, Skylar and I have become inseparable. From the first real day in 厦门, July 4^th, we noticed numerous similarities between our personalities, preferences, and attitudes. First off, we both dislike seafood. He hates it so much that, on his application to NSLI-Y, he wrote that he was allergic to seafood. His dislike for seafood is just like mine, but to another extreme. Therefore, on the first day when we went to a seafood buffet, we bonded over only eating rice for lunch. We have an ongoing jokes as well, about the things in China that are so different than in America. For example, the showers. Prior to coming to China we both loved taking showers and feeling clean, but after showering in China you do not feel clean. First of all, the entire shower situation in the dorms was hard, since you could use the toilet and shower simultaneously. Secondly, the water here always had an underlining feeling of dirtiness, no matter if it was from the sink or shower. Therefore, we would say, “way to ruin showering, China”. We would then replace “showering” with other objects, verbs, or places. Although it may sound negative, we love every part of this trip. We came to China excepting such culture shock that when we actually landed in China and didn’t feel too shocked, we were confused. Being in 厦门 has surprised me. I think all Americans have a stereotypical picture of what China is like in their mind; crowded, dirty, old, etc. Before coming to China, I thought China was a place filled of really rural and really urban areas with skyscrapers and tall apartment buildings. Although some parts of China may be like this, Xiamen, is a beauty city that has a topical feeling to it with its palm trees and oceans.

I thank you, Skylar, for being my other half on this trip and putting up with me for almost 5 weeks now. Thank you for being full of humor and making it impossible not to be happy around you. You have truly made me a better person and taught me appreciate everything in life.

Merrick Gilston:

Merrick is from New York, the Upper East Side to be exact. When people ask him where he is from, he tells them that he lives in "Gossip Girl", the popular teen TV show that takes place in the Upper East Side. Generally speaking, most kids from this part of town are rich, stuck up, and full of themselves. Merrick though, is an exception. I admire him so much because he is surrounded by so many people yet he has made himself unique, dedicated, and different. At the beginning of the trip, many of us kids and the chaperones thought he was another New York rich kid, but through the course of the trip he has proven that he is so much more.  

Looking back on PDO, I remember Merrick as a completely different person. I thought it was a mixture of a jock and nerd that was obsessed with working out. He brought a container filled with protein supplement to “stay in shape”. My first real interaction with him was after we were placed in the same group, the Orange Team. Chen 老师 was calling out students to read aloud from the NSLI-Y handbook. He called on one girl, who is so posed and collective. She sat up straight and read aloud how we were “NEVER allowed to go into the ocean”. Along with her great posture, her voice sounded like one of those voices you hear over the loud speakers at concerts. Merrick and I, not knowing each other, made eye contact and telepathically said, “omg she sounds like a flight attendant”.  

Sydney Chin:

Like the other people I mentioned in this post, Sydney is also in the same group as me. Without this grouping system, I would not have had the chance to become close with so many people. After landing in Xiamen, my roommate, Daysha, was still at the Shanghai airport (she was one of the few kids that didn’t make the flight). Therefore, I was left without a roommate. I looked around and Sydney was standing alone so I walked up to her and asked her if she wanted to be my roommate, and she said yes. Pretty simple right? But that’s how we became friends.

Sydney is like the little sister I never had or the twin that I never had. I say she is more of my little sister, first because she is the youngest on the trip (going into her sophomore year of high school) and secondly because she cute views on everything, like a little girl. Like in my previous post, she is terrified of all bug. When we spotted the cockroach, she immediately jumped over to me. Me, being like an older sister/ mom, went to get someone to help us.

Becoming close with Sydney has been so entertaining. Watching from the sideline while Skylar pranked her day after day was like watching a comedy. Without her, China would not be nearly as fun. She has been so enthusiastic with taking pictures and adventuring all over campus. She drags me on long walks with her early in the morning or late at night to see a certain building on campus, because she “hasn’t seen it yet”. I think I have walked over 100 miles because of her.

 万老师/ 姐姐:
Wan Laoshi is my favorite chaperone. A bunch of students and I call her Wan jiejie (as in older sister) not only to show respect but also because we wish she was our host sister. She is 21, just graduated from 厦门大学 and is a genius. She works for 百度 (China’s Google) and does the math and statistics for the site. Not only is she super smart, but she is also hilarious. She has better humor than most of the kids on the program. When we are on field trips, she looks like one of the participants, not just because she is short, but also because she is always talking to us laughing. She is always the first one to know who likes who in the group and who dislikes who. Now that we do not have dorms, she allows students to go into hers during our lunch break to rest and relax. In one week exactly, we will have to say goodbye to Wan laoshi because she is not coming to Beijing and Shanghai with us. In September she told me that she is going to Syria to teach Chinese. I know she will be excellent at it.

At the beginning of the trip, I didn’t know who Wan laoshi was because she was not at our PDO in New Jersey (she met us when we landed in Xiamen). About 3 weeks into the trip, Skylar “discovered” her and told me how funny she was. After talking with her for a few minutes, anyone would notice her humor. She calls herself a “wild child” because she wants to “live more and see more” without restraints. She also desires to “talk less, see more, and experience deeper things”. She is such an intelligent women who has a great heart.

Camille P.L.:

Through these past few weeks, Camille and I have been close but not too close. Even though I don’t spend too much time with her, she is an inspiration to me. Both her parents are janitors, and here she is, in China on a full scholarship. Not only that, but she is also from a very bad part of Florida. Since she has excelled in school, she was able to get all of her credits when she was a sophomore in high school, allowing her to take full time classes at her local college. Therefore, in 2017, she will not only be getting her high school diploma, but also her Associates Degree. After that, she hopes to go to a big University and study there. She has proven to me as well, as everyone else on this trip, that no matter where you come from you can succeed and do great things. Meeting her has made me so humble, because if she can do so many greats things, especially given her situation, then why am in complaining.