Devin

Devin DiCarlo (丁立文)

April 8th

Today was my first day of school. I slept well last night. I slept from 8:00pm 到(to) 6:00 am. When I woke up in the morning, I called my Dad and my Mom. Then, I sat down for breakfast. At breakfast we had fried dough, boiled eggs, fried sesame balls, and watermelon. My sibling, Harry, brought me to the middle school where I met with my other classmates. Once we were all together, we got our uniforms and walked to the field to perform speeches. The uniforms were extremely comfortable, (Andrew looked really good in his) and I wouldn’t mind at all if our school started to wear them. We walked to the bleachers and stood next to the podium for what seemed like hours. Even waiting for our speech was intense! I was very nervous to be in front of 2500 students, but I went up there and tried my best. Once I finished my speech, the crowd of students roared with excitement. After the speeches, we went to a room where we were introduced to the principal and other important people. It was one of the most awkward interactions that I’ve ever had. Every time one of the important person spoke, we immediately would look at the translator. We would do this over and over again. It was the worst when they would laugh because we would have to wait for the translation, then fake laugh. When the introductions were done(which was 很无聊), we were given a tour of the school. During the tour, when we walked by old people they stared at us in disgust. I’m not sure why they don’t like us, but in the streets I’m sometimes greeted with a stare of hatred from old people. That night I asked why they did this, and Harry told me, “Maybe they are slow. I think they aren’t open to new things.” After the tour, we stopped at the high school and I met my High school sibling. His name is bill and he is 友好(nice). I ended up having a free block with Luc, so we sat in the room and did work together, until it was time for lunch. For lunch, I had noodles, spicy noodles, rice, and a pancake thingy. The food was 美食(delicious).

After we ate, we went outside and played basketball with the 8th graders, and their skills were exceptional. Everyone scored in the game but me. Andrew is extremely skilled at basket ball but hesitant to show off his skills. He is a humble guy, but we really needed him during this game. So, he want off. We played many games, and even though we were always out numbered, we won every time because of Andrew's elite shooting and passing. I hope that by the end of the trip I will be much better at basket ball. After playing basketball, we went to a 5th grade presentation for Chinese opera. It was really boring, and Lucas and Keita couldn’t control their laughter.

After school, I decided to practice basketball with Mr. Reddington. He has been helping me with my basketball a lot. It has been very nice of him to choose to help me get better, rather than playing a game with the others. When we were done, I found Harry and walked back to the house with him and his friend Henry. Henry is a very funny boy, and I hope to see him again soon. He stayed over at the house until 9:00. We had dinner with him which was rice, chicken, and soup.

In China, I stick out like a sore thumb. I am a very small (no pun intended) minority in China, I think it is very cool, but I also feel a little out of place. Being one of the only Americans for miles and miles is very strange, but I think that the attention that comes with being a minority is cool. This teaches me what it is like for some people in the world and now I can put myself in their shoes. I now know what being an extremely small minority feels like. It is a new experience that I will get used to overtime, but I will always remember how it felt. I have been asking Harry and his friend about Japan. I’ve been asking them this because I have a research project on it. It seems that they still haven’t forgiven Japan for invading China. Henry says he doesn’t like the Japanese (sorry Keita), but Harry doesn’t like or dislike them. One thing that was extremely surprising to me, was that they don’t know about North and South Korea. We were talking about their 地理课(geography class) and they asked me if I knew the countries around China. So I told them the countries I knew, but when I said South Korea, they said to me, “There is a South Korea? I thought it was just Korea.” It was extremely surprising that they don’t know that there are two Koreas not one.

Day 13 (Friday): We started the day off eating breakfast at the Hotel. From there we went to a farming village. Today, I brought my speaker on the bus so we could listen to music. The village school was in good shape, which I did not expect after having seen the farming community it was in. While we were in their School, they showed us their library. It turned out that a lot of the books that they have are actually from Wayland donations. My old teacher Ms. Mills helped out in this organization. They had pictures on the wall of people who volunteered. I look everywhere, but I couldn’t find Ms. Mills

Surrounding the village, was a very rural farming area. Many buildings were not in good shape, but the school was very well kept compared to its surroundings. We later found out it was created more recently. At the school, we sat in on different classes. One of them was singing class. Personally, I thought their singing was very interesting, but it was a good gesture to welcome us. In the English class, we got to sit in on the fifth-grade class and help them with their English. I thought that it was a cool experience to teach a few kids. I helped some kids with their English pronunciation. After those classes, we joined in on the students in morning exercises. Before the exercises started, I had a conversation with one of the teachers(in Chinese of course). She asked me very simple questions, so I understood all of them. She asked about China and if I liked it. She asked where I lived, where I’m from, and how old I am. When I finished answering her questions, she wanted a picture with me, and so did other teachers. A lot of kids came up to me and asked for my autograph. I still couldn’t get over the fact that all these wanted me to sign my name in their notebook. One kid wanted me to sign my name on his arm(which was crazy). The entire time Liu Lao Shi, my Chinese teacher, was filming. Even though I am getting used to the fame, I still love it.

After we visited the school, we went to eat lunch at Charlie’s House. The lunch was good, I also met Charlie's nephew who was very cute. When we finished eating, we went to this lake for a few hours, it was awesome. We walked around half of it, but then we ended up getting boats and riding them around the lake. Since Luc had his speaker with him, we blasted music across the water for all to hear. We played some songs that we sang. Many people stopped along the bridges and stretches to see what we were doing when we went by and decided to film us. When we were done exploring the lake, we then visited a calligraphy museum. There, we practiced calligraphy and learned about it. Which followed into dinner. Dinner was actually really fun. For the third time I had hot pot, and the entire time I was eating from the hotter pot. It was really good, and this time they made us 6 batches of noodles, but they didn’t really have watermelon. Instead, you had to ask for it and wait a few minutes until you got it. Btw watermelon is a necessity in Hot Pot. When you eat something very spicy just eat the watermelon, and it will go away(it also tastes very good). After eating, we explored the night market and got some food along the way. I ended up getting dragon balls which I gave away 6 and only got 4. I bargained for them and got them for the price of 13 yuan. I really enjoy the night market and would like to go again sometime.

Day 27 (Friday): Today, I woke up at 430 am. For me, it was way too early. I was kinda mad that we had to be up at this time, but I pushed through it. I got ready very quickly, while it took Harry a little time to wake up. We left the hotel that we were staying at and went to the college mess hall to eat. I ate this Jian bing looking thing, wasn’t very good. We then got on the bus and drove for a few hours to get to this huge place that had two mountains with a river flowing in between them. I was asleep the entire time, so I never saw the drive in through the mountains.

As soon as we stepped outside, everyone started to shiver because it was 60 (so cold….. not). In the morning I was chilling in my shorts and sweatshirt. Throughout the day, it ended up getting hot very quickly, so I was glad that I was putting on shorts. Harry’s mom bought us water guns which were a big mistake. The first chance I got, I filled up the gun with the blue crystal clear water and fired it upon Harry and Henry. I had the most fun here out of the entire May Day trip. There were many rocks that we got climbed. We were there from 700 am to 1100 am.

The first thing that we did was follow the river all the way to where it ends. At the end of it, laid a crystal clear pond sitting below the face of the mountains. Before we got there, there was this very steep and massive rock that you know I had to climb. I jumped onto to it with only handholds, Harry followed. I then quickly scrambled up the side of the rock to get to the top. I was kinda scared, but I made it to the top in less than a minute. At the top, it was very sketchy, so we immediately tried to find a way down. At the end of the river, there was supposed to be a waterfall, but it wasn’t flowing. I asked why, and they told me that it may be there was a drought. It wasn’t until later in the day that it started to flow again. We then ventured to another side of the place that we haven’t yet explore.

We quickly discovered that there was a glass observation deck hanging 1000 meters in the air. We tried to find an entrance, but it was closed. Then, we saw another entrance, and with an hour left, we raced to the glass deck. We went up so many stairs, but when we finally got up, it was amazing. We had a view of the entire area while hanging over a waterfall. I got nervous though when I looked down through the glass bottom. We were only there for a few minutes before we had to go back. So we headed back. We had 30 minutes to get to the bus that was pretty far away, so, we booked it. I ran down the stairs so fast blasting music the entire time. I went down so fast, that when I finished, I had to wait ten minutes for the others to catch up, leaving us 15 minutes to get to the bus. We ran all the way back and had just enough time. My host mother was very paranoid. When we got on the bus, we took off to Beijing. It took us from 1100am to 830pm to get there. When we got there, Henry’s dad picked us up, and we went to a hot pot style restaurant. We ate, then I went home and called my parents.

Day 35 (Saturday): I woke up at 6:25 today, ready to leave for Keita’s family’s house. I wore a collared shirt, and khaki shorts (gotta dress to impress). I made sure to trim my nails, gel my hair, and brush my teeth. Yesterday, I grabbed Keita’s jacket by accident, so I made sure to bring it with me. I had breakfast, then we left at 7:20. In the car, I ended up falling asleep. When I woke up, we were in this extremely rural outside of Beijing. A few minutes later, we got to the heavily secured entrance. Once we got through the gates, it was like a whole different world. Nicely trimmed hedges lined the sides of the road, and a golf course laid in the middle of the complex. The convent store had a fountain in front of it while being decked out by marble. As we drove to Keita’s house, we saw many other houses. When we arrived, Lucas, Keita, Helen, Zoe, and these two other boys were waiting for us. Keita then showed me a tour of the house. Lucas and Keita had slept over the night before, so they knew the house already. It was a very nice home. Similar to their apartment, they had nice marble flooring and a chandelier in the living room. I sat down on Lucas and Keita’s bed that they used, and it was so nice compared to my bed at my home. After the tour, we walked around the community for one hour. On the way, I got to catch up with Lucas since I didn’t see him the day before. We walked to the convenient store and back. When we got back, we went to the back yard and played card games. We played while drinking tea from a porcelain tea set. Our card game quickly turned into showing off our magic tricks. Each of us ended up doing at least one trick, but I think that Keita did it the best. He actually has pretty good sleight of hand and was able to trick me a few times. After playing, my mom came over to us and told us that they were starting to grill kebabs. So, we went over and waited for the rounds of lamb kebabs to be cooked. Zoe, Keita’s little sister, got us a picnic 毯子(blanket) to sit on. The smell of the charcoal burning fresh 羊肉(lamb) was overwhelmingly delicious.

We talked with the other kids there and gave the other kids some more vocabulary to pass time. Round after round of kebabs kept coming and coming. They were so juicy and delicious. Personally, I think that Chinese kebabs are the best kebabs around. After 30 minutes of a Tabata of eating, Keita’s Mom came over to us and told us that it was time for lunch. I was like, the kebabs weren’t for lunch? Because of the kebabs, I wasn’t very hungry for lunch, so I didn’t eat that much. When we finished eating, we threw a tennis ball around. One of every 5 passes would go into the brook behind their house. Multiple times we struggle to get the ball, which usually ended up with getting our feet wet. We also played soccer with Keita’s siblings and friends. Of course, we absolutely destroyed them. Helen’s friend that was really good at English (that I don’t know the name of) kept on trying to get the ball, but it was more like trying to take out our legs. Every time that you would have the ball, she would walk up to you and try to kick the ball. Her reaction was so slow, that she ended up just kicking your leg over and over again. My legs became numb from her, but when she left, we could peacefully play a game of soccer. Outside, I couldn’t stop coughing for some reason. I seriously thought that I was going to cough up blood. I love China, but it’s air quality is very poor. I was on the floor for minutes at a time just coughing. Zoe brought over a picnic blanket, and we sat down and listened to music. At 6:20, we ended up leaving. I said goodbye to everyone and shook their hands because I’m a polite boy (impressions matter). Today, the Mao poster came in the mail, it is glorious. It’s absolutely massive as well. Tomorrow is mothers day, and I don’t know what to get her, because today Keita’s Mom gave her flowers. I’ll probably buy her chocolates or something. That’s all.

Day 37 (Monday): Today, we went on a safari with the 12th graders. In the morning, we met up at the high school before leaving. There I got to talk to Peter who was my brothers host sibling. The bus that we got on had very little people on it. When we got into the zoo, we walked to a stop where we were going to get picked up. A train cart thing picked us up bringing us around to each outdoor exhibit. The train ride was really cool and you could get really close to some animals. Halfway through the ride, we saw bears mating. It was actually hilarious. After the train ride, we walked to this other place in the zoo. At this place, we got into a car that was surrounded by a cage, so the only thing that would be separating us from the animals was a chain link fence. The first animals that we visited were the bears. The bears jumped onto the cage car a few inches away from me. They were impressively big, and they were only black bears. I wondered how big grizzly bears are. We then visited the lions. The ones that came up to the car was the female. Keita hissed at one of them, and it responded with a hiss and swat at the cage. When we got to the male lion, we growled at it until it growled back in a low angry snarl. On the rest of the tour, we saw some tigers and emus. I vlogged most of the trip to the zoo. At the zoo, I talked to Peter some more, and he told me that he would take me to lady chai’s noodles soon with his dad. After the ride, we visited a lemurs exhibit. The lemurs are actually really cute and soft. I kinda want one now. Right after the exhibit, a stupid bee had to sting me right in the thumb for no reason. It is still swollen now, 24 hours later, hopefully, tomorrow it will go away. When we got back, it was 2 o’clock. We all made a plan that we will meet at the wu mart at 3 to go to the silk market. Since Lucas and Keita couldn’t get into their house, they came over mine. They didn’t enjoy my house as much as theirs as their houses are much larger. It is very strange because, in America, my family would be the richest in the China boys group, but in China, I am with the poorest family without a Dad. It’s interesting how things flipped. Anyways, we walked to wu mart, met up then went to a subway station. In the station, we asked a few people where the place is that we wanted to go. Finally, after many attempts, we were told that the station was Yong an li. So, we hopped on a train, and 14 stops later, we arrived. What was surprising, was that the silk market was in the same building as the subway station. The first place that we stopped at was a shoe store. There, they had a bunch of fakes of nearly any shoe ever. I personally got Balenciagas and Yeeyz for 250 yuan each. Call me mister haggle, because they started me off with one thousand yuan, and I played hard bargaining to a cheap price. What I found works best, is the good cop bad cop thing. One of my tricks was to point out random things that are wrong with the shoes. I know nothing about shoes, so all of the things I pointed out were made up. For example, I told them that some lettering was actually a millimeter to the left or right. You gotta be ruthless in order to get the goods. Anyway, after our shoe excursion, I bought a wallet for 80(original price was 450 yuan). We then found this store that sold shirts that we could get really low. We became friends with the people who ran it, so we got some shirts for 20 yuan. They even gave Andrew a free shirt. After our day out in the market, we headed back. In the train car, it was extremely crowded, it was almost impossible to move. When more people started to clear out, we played I want it that way and sang to it. When we got off, all of us except for Lucas went to dinner at the kebab place that we ate at a week before. I ordered two orders of steak kebabs, and one order of lamb kebabs. I was mad because Andrew took the steak kebabs that I ordered. I ended up just eating the lamb ones, they were still really good, but I was really looking forward to the steak ones. I got home at around 9:20 but didn’t fall asleep until 11.