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Writer's pictureHalden Levin

A Dog Named Potato • 一隻狗名叫土豆

Updated: Jul 3, 2021




Hello, my name is Halden Levin, and you are listening to Little Dragon’s Journey. 你好!我叫李靜辰,你正在聽小龍的旅程。


Transition Music(音樂)


This is a blog post from Little Dragon’s Journey:


A Dog Named Potato


“In just a few days, I'm going to be living with my Chinese host family. Through the NSLI-Y program, students are given a family to live with throughout the duration of their program. On occasion, students have a different living situation depending on the country, program duration, and year. My Chinese family consists of three people directly: 吴建锋 (Wú Jiàn Fēng), 邬俊 (Wū Jùn) , and 吴璨 (Wú Càn). 吴璨 (aka Charlotte) has been communicating with me these past few weeks through email and WeChat. So far, I've gleaned that 吴璨 likes spicy food, the color pink, and is two years my junior. Her father works at the train station, and her mother works at the police station. I've also learned that they have a dog named 土豆, which means potato (hence the name of this post).


As a welcoming gesture, I have purchased and made a few gifts for my host family with the help of my family here in the states. For 吴璨, we bought The Cats of Mrs. Calamari, and my sister made her two scrunchies: one pink and white striped and the other red with white polka dots. You may be wondering, "Why The Cats of Mrs. Calamari?" The answer lies in the name of their dog, 土豆 (aka Potato). Upon learning they had a dog named 土豆, I told everyone in my family. Everyone. When I told my mom, she remembered that Everett T. Gangplank had a gigantic white dog named Potato in the "The Cats of Mrs. Calamari". This was one of my favorite books as a child and still is to this day, so I thought it would be a nice present for 吴璨 since she's learning English as well.


For 吴建锋 and 邬俊, my dad and I went to R. Riveter, a company that's known for employing spouses of military personnel to make handmade purses and bags, to purchase a few gifts. At R. Riveter, we purchased a nice pouch/purse for the mom and a comfy tee with a picture of a town right next to my hometown for the dad. Everything I'm gifting is made in the USA. If you give a gift to someone who's from another country, make sure its unique to your home country or hometown. Those kinds of gifts are more meaningful and representative of who you are and where you come from.


In addition to the aforementioned gifts, my dad and I made little panda charms (pictured above). We purchased scrap leather, some of which was from R. Riveter, and used wood and acrylic to laser engrave a panda design I made in Adobe Illustrator. My panda inspiration came from the inside of a box of Panda Puff EnviroKid Cereal. There was a picture showing you how to draw a panda bear inside the cereal box, so I cut open the box, took a picture of the graphic, and used Adobe Illustrator to trace the outline of the panda bear and add text. We had some issues with the leather, so we mainly used wood and acrylic to make the panda charms. I used some of the leather and some orange yarn as ties. These trinkets will be for my host family, friends, and teachers as a little memento serving as a reminder of this summer and this experience.”


This is my first 2018 reflection in a while. Much has been going on, so there has been much to reflect on in the present moment.


One recommendation that is made is that, if you live with a host family, you should give them a gift to express your gratitude to them, as well as share your culture. Back in 2018, as I mentioned, I decided to gift my host dad a t-shirt from a local business, gift my host mom a leather pouch from the same local business, and gift my host sister an English book, as well as two handmade scrunchies. Also, with the help of my dad, I made and gifted handmade leather keychains in the shape of panda bears.


What about this year? This time around, since my host family is comprised of five individuals, I decided to gift my two host brothers Chapel Hill t-shirts, gift my host sister three English books and three handmade scrunchies, and gift my host parents coffee mugs purchased from a local potter. Potter is a funny word; a person who makes pottery is a potter, not Harry Potter. Anyway, there are some similarities between the gifts I gave back in 2018 and now.


In my opinion, gifting clothing is rather difficult, especially when you don’t know the gift-recipient very well. What size do they wear? What color and pattern do they prefer? Do they even wear t-shirts often? Maybe a nice button-up would be better? Needless to say, the safest bet is to gift medium-sized t-shirts, but if you can, try to get to know the recipient a bit or a least get your hands on their picture. Luckily, medium happened to fit my host dad and host brothers quite well.


Both times, I gifted English children’s books. I feel like English children’s books probably suit my current host sister than they did for my last, since Wu Can was fourteen or so when I lived with them, and my current host sister is only six years old. However, as a Chinese language learner, I love reading children’s books in Chinese; the language and content is easier to understand. Right now, my host sister can only speak a little English, including red, watermelon, apple, blue, and some other miscellaneous words, but when she starts elementary school, she will likely begin learning English. Before I leave, I would love to read those books to her.


This year, I really wanted to gift pottery mugs to my host family, as the pottery scene in NC’s Piedmont region is something I really cherish and is a part of NC culture I love. However, getting two pottery mugs, as well as a few other trinkets for teachers and friends, in one piece over to Taiwan was incredibly difficult. I decided to carry on my pottery pieces in a bag separate from my backpack, and I held on to the pottery for dear life. Every time I heard a clink or pottery, I nervously checked my bag to make sure they were still in tacked. Needless to say, nothing broke, and all is well. I don’t regret my decision, but if I decide to travel with pottery again, I will package it much more carefully.


Regarding Potato, the pup, and pets in general, my current host family does not have any pets, but I’m happy to have the experience of living with three host siblings. I’m used to having more people in the house, so I love the extra noise and messiness (not to say that I think my host family is super noisy and messy just that more noise and action is inevitable with more people living together). Also, a few weeks ago, I was in contact with my host dad in China, and he sent me a picture of Potato.


Transition Music(音樂)


Please visit haldenlevin.wixsite.com/littledragonjourney to access the transcript of this episode, and know you are always welcome to contact me through my website, email, or social media. Thank you for joining Little Dragon’s Journey. 謝謝你們參加小龍的旅程。拜拜!

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