Gao Kao Before the Real Gao Kao

Twenty-nine Americans in China trying to do King Fu. Yes, I know it’s a little funny and a little awkward.

Part two of our Kung Fu attempts, but this time we have sticks. Watch out.

Yesterday 吴璨 got her test scores back from her exams. She was a little disappointed because last year she placed 11th out of 1000 based on her test score, but this year she placed 67th out of 1000. She indicated that she was going to have to study hard this summer so she can get into the high school she wants to go to. I can understand her struggles a bit, but the pressure to work hard and do well seems more apparent in Chinese culture compared to American culture. One major reason why this cultural difference exists is because of the large population, forcing people to work harder to be who they want to be and go where they want to go. As an American, I’ve worked very hard this year to do well in my classes, to do well on the SAT, to be accepted into NCSSM, and to be a NSLI-Y scholar. However, when there’s over three times the number of people, working hard from a young age to stand out and make it to the top is vital. Here’s another example of this necessity to work hard: 吴璨 informed me that her twelve year old cousin took a test to get into the Experimental School of Suangliu Middle School, but out of about 10,000 applicants, she was not one of 880 people chosen to attend. Less than 10% were accepted! Getting into the school I’m attending on the NSLI-Y program is like being accepted to an Ivy League College. I got my AP Scores the day before, so I was trying to explain to her about the tests we have to or choose to take in America. It’s all very interesting. I’ll step off my soap box now. This morning it rained. Actually, I will correct myself, it rained all day. Despite that, I went for a run before class and arrived to class a little wet and a little tired. Any who, this afternoon we got to try Kong Fu. We learned some pretty basic moves and even got to use sticks. Doing cross training never hurts. After school, 吴璨, some of her friends, and Chandler, Annette, and I headed to a restaurant near the school for dinner. We ate bowls of noodles in a clear broth. Based on my experience with Chinese restaurants, food in China is SO much cheaper than in America! My “small” bowl of noodles that was probably two meals worth of noodles was only 6 yuan which is equivalent to less than 1 U.S. dollar. Food for our group of nine to ten at this restaurant cost about 10 U.S. dollars in total. After a cheap and satisfying meal, we returned to 吴璨’s class for Chinese math class. Two girls in her class gave me little gifts. One of the gifts was a nice book mark shaped like a feather with a blue tassel, and the other gift was a shadow puppet picture in a nice frame. I honestly feel like a celebrity, having people stare at me and want to talk with me and want to give me gifts. Another one of today’s highs was that my host dad told me that my Chinese sounded like it was improving. I’ll take any little bit of encouragement I can get!