After a few hours’ flight, we finally arrived in Louisville. The host families are very nice, they got to the airport very early in order to pick us up. Anna and her father and her sister all came. Anna said her mother prepared chicken soup at home. That’s so sweet, because I hadn’t ate anything during the flight. Maybe because the essay I wrote about myself, they played Taylor Swift’s songs all the way home. “Trouble, trouble, trouble”. Yes, I like Carrie Underwood as well by the way. I heard Mr. Rogers asked Anna to ask me if I like Carrie Underwood. When we got home, there was already a bowl of chicken soup on the table waiting for me. That was me drank American chicken soup for the first time. Indeed, it’s really different from China. But it’s very delicious anyway. Then I gave them the gifts I brought from Jiujiang. It seems that they really like them. Mrs. Rogers even gave me a “American hug”. Because it’s not very late, Anna asked me if I want to play Wii. Actually, I had no idea what Wii is. It turns out to be something like a video game. We danced “call me maybe” at first, but I looked stupid, so we started to play “band hero” I guess. We had so much fun!
The next day, Anna took me to her school, Louisville Collegiate School. Then we met Mrs. Wade. She was going to give some classes to her students, and we also took part in them. For the first Chinese class, we were supposed to be asked question by the students. One of them asked me if I had a blog, then I said yes. After the class, I showed them my blog, it’s pretty awkward because I haven’t written anything for years. Then we took 4 more Chinese classes that day. Their Chinese is great, though Chinese is very difficult to learn. After school, Anna drove Morgan and me to buy some hot chocolate. It’s sweet but it tasted good. Anna said one of her friends will come and paint nails with us. And she asked if I had painted my nails before. Of course not. Because of the school rules, we are not allowed to paint our nails or use any make-up. But it might be fun, I thought. At night, Natalie came. She is a very nice person. They asked me to pick a color, the blue one looked pretty, so I picked the blue one. I have never painted my nails, so Morgan offer to help.
She is patient and careful. While we were waiting for the nails to dry, we had some girl’s talk. It turned out that painting nails was really fun!
On the weekend, we slide on the hill. In Jiujiang, I have never slide. So I looked forward to sliding a lot. We took out a thing made of plastic used for sliding from the garage. Then we set off.
On the way, we talked about lots of things. Such as accents in China, her sister and her trip to China. On the hill, there were some people sliding. Anna slide with me at first, but it feels still scary. Got home , we made a huge snowball together. We intended to make a snowman at first, but for some reason, it didn’t work. But the snowball is really big, Morgan and me roll it to the stairs, so that everyone who drives by could see it. Just after a few hours, Mr. Rogers drove back home, he asked: “Did you guys make that snowball? I saw it on my way home.” “Haha…Yes, it is!” This special Sunday night happened to be the super bowl night. Lots of people came that night, we had a great time together. It’s funny that the most exciting part is Beyonce rather than the game. Beyonce is awesome, I totally agree.
It was school day again. YES! We have Spanish class! I always think Spanish is a fascinating language. We were sent to four different groups, there are only two people in each group actually.
They will teach us Spanish and we will teach them Chinese. My partners are two girls who are patient and nice. They taught me how to write and speak “ruler” “pen” “pencil” “paper” “horse” in Spanish once and once again. But I’m not good at memorizing so it still took me some time to remember these words. Then I taught them how to speak these words in Chinese. They are very clever, and they spoke just like local people. Because it’s my last day stay with the Rogers, they took me to ride horse. At the airport I said I have never rode a horse and I want to ride horse. I didn’t think they think highly of it. Morgan showed me around the stable and introduce the horses belonged to them to me. It seems everyone in Louisville are good at riding horses. Wearing the helmet, I started riding. Riding is so cool, it makes me feel like the knight in the past.
After 5 days I was sent to another host family. It was sad to say goodbye to the Rogers. They were really good to me. They all gave me a warm “American hug”.
The other day, Diana asked me to go to a chemistry class. So did I. I guess this class is mainly talk about the change of state related to the temperature and the pressure. I didn’t memorize any word about chemistry before I came to Louisville, so most of the time, I was guessing. Their class is greatly different from China. Every student can ask or answer question at any time during the class, which is not allowed in China. So American class is more free and it’s more about students.
Instead, in China, teacher is the spotlight.
After school, Colleen picked me up. We went to the kinder garden where Mrs. Orr works together. Then we went to Colleen’s house together. Through staying with them did I know that dinner is very important to Americans. Mrs. Orr said no matter how busy they are, they would always make some time to have a good dinner with families. We did pray before dinner. Mr. Orr said some prayers. I couldn’t understand what exactly he said. But I think it’s something good, something they wish for, something they believed in.
The next night we went to play bowling. Because Colleen was busy with her homework, so her brother Kevin took me there. It’s also a new thing for me. Kevin is really nice, he not only taught me how to bowl but also said I was good even though I knew I was bad. The most important thing is that all my friends came. We finally got a chance to talk about our experience. Principal Wang from the No.1 high school is good. He could really play it well for the first time.
Mrs. Wade organized a parade for the Chinese New Year. Everyone dressed up in Chinese style.
Also, the Dragon dance was performed by all the students who took Chinese class. We went around the school, from kinder garden to high school. Then some middle school students joined us, which made our group bigger. At night, we went to KCD for a dinner. It was a big meal. For the first time I felt at home. Get together with my friends in Jiujiang ,my teachers in Jiujiang and my new friends I made in the U.S.A., it’s just like getting together with my families at home. After the meal, there was a show for us, Chinese students’ talent show. It was great. At the end of the show, all the students from Jiujiang, including me, sang “:superstar” with Liz, Carly and Colleen. It was perfect. It showed the friendship between American and Chinese.
One night Mrs. Orr told me some Kentucky stars. I have never thought that Jennifer Lawrence was brought up in Louisville. What is more exciting is that Mrs. Orr promised me to take me to her old house to have a look. One day, when I was walking the dog with Colleen, suddenly, she said: “That’s Jennifer Lawrence’s old house.” I was surprised. I can’t see Jennifer Lawrence though, seeing her old house is awesome as well.
All good things must come to an end. I have to say goodbye to the Colleens. It’s a pity that I can only stay for a few days. But our friendship will last much longer than that.
Thanks to both my host families, I did lots of American things. I got my nails painted for the first time. I play bowling for the first time. I ate raw vegetables for the first time.
American lifestyle is different from Chinese. For example, they take showers in the morning, we take showers in the evening. They eat with fork and knife, we eat with chopsticks. But as for food, I have to be honest, I like Chinese food better. Maybe because people from different areas have different taste. I just can’t get used to the American food very well.
The two weeks I spent in Louisville let me know that there is a place called America, and people there are very friendly and nice. They also yearn for other cultures. They advocate freedom and equality.
I really miss the two weeks that I spent in Louisville!
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