Noodles and Notes
My carving of noodles without ink.
Today I heard, and it has been confirmed, that last Friday, when I went with a sizable group to Nurie's party, that most of the people who did not come to the party went to the mall and drank alcohol at some point when there. One of the rules we were told before leaving is that drinking is an absolute no. In certain circumstances, it's more understandable why you might drink, such as if you were with your host family and they offered you a small glass, but even then it's best to say no. What's worse is that someone drank so much that they threw up and had to go to the hospital, and another person drank so much that they blacked out.
This was highly reckless and unacceptable behavior. As NSLI-Y Ambassadors, we're representing America, the AFS-USA organization, the school we're currently attending, and our host family. This not only looks badly for the individuals involved, but also for the group as a whole. The ungrateful person I mentioned before was the one who got so drunk that they had to go to the hospital. It befuddles me how in the world this person got accepted, and how the others involved could act so recklessly and disrespectfully.
The person who went to the hospital risks going home early, which I believe they fully deserve. Their actions have put undue stress on the host family caring for them and have caused our group as a whole to look poorly.
I will step off my soapbox for the second time.
After a normal day of class and review, we had our last organized cultural activity. One amazing Chinese invention, among many, is block print. This was pretty much the first version of the printing press. This form of printing involves using carved blocks placed into frame to print scripts and text. Carved blocks were also used to print images. For our activity, we were given soft, white boards to carve with v-shaped knives to make images. The teacher provided us with some images from online we could trace, but I was feeling adventurous. I tried to think of one icon that I feel encapsulates Chinese culture to a degree. Noodles are something that my host sister loves and many people in the Sichuan province, as well as in other provinces in China, love as well. Noodles don't encapsulate every part of Chinese culture, but they are certainly an important icon.
After two hours of practicing and singing, 吴璨, Nurie, Ben, Brennan, Taylor, Nurie's host sister, and I headed to a little noodle place across the street from the school for dinner. We headed to the convenient store first for drinks, and I tried to pay for my host sister. That did not work out. I also tried to pay for dinner, and that also did not work out. Anyways, the noodles we had were different. Anytime I've had noodles here in China, they have always been in broth, but this time they were not soup-style. The noodles were in this shallow bowl with a brownish sauce on top and some chickpeas, peanuts, and herbs added. It was pretty tasty, but I was really craving some more fruit and vegetables. A little while later, we headed home, and of course, we finished the day off with a bowl of, you guessed it, plums.