一道初二英语“根据首字母填空”题：often plays chess with his friends ,but s____ he goes shopping .After lunch he a____ sleeps for an hour .
pcUU61YH84
He often plays chess with his friends ,but sometimes he goes shopping .After lunch he always sleeps for an hour .
为您推荐：
其他类似问题
sometimesalways
sometimes 有时always总是 经常
He often plays chess with his friends , but sometimes he goes shopping . After lunch he always sleeps for an hour
扫描下载二维码Study Abroad in
At sixteen years old, ten months, at a moments glance, seems as if it is an unimaginably long amount of time. Well ten months ago I stepped onto a plane bound for Shanghai, China and now, that unimaginable amount of time has passed in the blink of an eye. I have just boarded my flight back to Seattle, Washington. Where my friends and family await my return from China and ponder the question of how I have changed and who I am now. Likewise in this pivotal point in my high school and educational career, I would like to take some time to ask those same questions to myself, before I re-enter my life in the U.S.
 Ten months ago, when I was preparing to fly to China I knew I would change as a person, but had no perception of how, except it would be life changing in its effect. I admit I I was entering into a great unknown future. I was unsure of every aspect for the next ten months of my life except I would live them in a new country surrounded by new people. So far in my life it has been the greatest endeavor I have undertaken, and I can speak one hundred percent truthfully in telling you it has been life changing.
 Looking back on myself before China I feel as if I had a curtain placed in front of me. The world was huge, mysterious and maybe terrifying. Through my exchange program that veil has been lifted and my view of the world has expanded, broadened and has been saturated in greater detail than my younger self could have foreseen. That realization has inspired a hunger of curiosity. I feel as if the world is small enough that any part of it and every experience held within it can be explored. However, it would take someone hundreds of lifetimes to discover all the treasures and magic available to your senses. I want to travel from the most remote islands to the largest cities spread all around the world. Take every path of life, whether it is religious, spiritual, virtuous, dangerous, untamed, fantastic, random, bewildering or just simple and slow. To sound cliché I have realized the world IS my oyster and anything I want to accomplish is a little hard work and dedication away. I will never have an adequate amount of time to follow all of these dreams, but I can take one path and I can live my life to fullest and richest extent possible.
 The next step in my life is to move forward. As the person I am now I don’t know where I will go or how I will get there, but I am sure it will be filled with hardships and achievements. I know I will face forks in the road some easy and some harder but if I just keeps moving forward I will end up somewhere in our marvelous world. Of course I will do my very best to be happy and feel fulfilled in my life, but I don’t think that means I have to end up with money, materials or pieces of paper denoting parts of my life. I just have to take on the world and fo and this idea would never have been realized in my life without ten months in China. So besides the tools I have gained in China, such as mandarin Chinese, people skills, travel skills, or just appreciation of humans in general, I will take this knowledge with me as one of the greatest treasures I have been given by this experience.
 So now, if I ask myself the question “who am I?” My answer is still Frederick Spangler Kayes, but now that statement carries with it a new person with a new outlook on the world. As my friends and family start to be acquainted with the new me, they will realize I have changed a great deal in mind and maturity. However, there is always more I can learn and places to grow as long as I keep my mind and heart open. When I look back on my life, as an adult years in the future, I will see this point in time as one of the most paramount moments of change in my life. The unimaginable length of time, ten months, has become tangible, real, and has past. My life before and after China will be as contrasting as black and white, and it all began with an idea to venture out in the world to see something wonderful.
     June 29th (Monday) to July 1st (Wednesday) China had a small holiday, which meant I had school Saturday and Sunday. However, when I arrived at my host family Sunday they told me we would take a trip to Jiyuan (济源) to climb one of the five sacred mountains in Henan Province, which made me really excited. A month before my host family and I went to Shaolin temple (少林寺). I showed a lot of interest in climbing the mountain to the highest temple, but the day we wanted to climb, it rained, so my family did not want to make an attempt. I convinced them we should try because it only rained for a short time and not very hard. When we started it was afternoon and my host family did not want to spend so long on the mountain so we turned back before reaching the top, which disappointed me, but was alright because they scenery wasn’t so great on a cloudy and foggy day. So when my family told me I could climb a different sacred mountain I was ecstatic.      My family had a couple of chores to do before we left the house, so we left to Zhengzhou in the evening. The drive was about 200 kilometers and it took approximately two hours to make the whole trip. When we arrived it was starting to get dark and we met up with a few of my host father’s friends which he knew because they were dentists, like him. Then, as I am now accustomed, we had a large meal for dinner with lots of merriment and comradery between friends. During the meal we talked about the town and area as well as the mountains nearby. With my stomach comfortably stretched to its food capacity limits, by delicious dishes overflowing the table in front of me, we left the restaurant and crossed the street to pile back into our cars. After a short drive we arrived at a hotel, ready to receive us for the night. I was told to get as much rest as I could tonight because tomorrow we would be climbing Wangwu Mountain.     The next morning my whole family was up bright and early, every person had a big smile on their face including me. We met up with the friends we had met last night and they brought us to a small street food restaurant dishing out soups and steaming stuffed buns (包子) to hungry people. Then we went to a dental office where I learned my host father would not be accompanying me to the mountain. He would stay with the other dentists and do some work business. The group going to the mountain would be my host brother, mother, a new friend of the family we met that day, and I. We started our trip to the sacred mountain which turned out to be quite a long drive of a little more than an hour. When we arrived at the foot of the mountain we had to buy a couple tickets to enter the park, so I had a little time to get out of the car and stretch my legs. The day was perfect, the golden sun blazed brightly high in the sky and not a cloud was in sight. We grabbed our tickets and got back into the car to drive a little way to a place we could park before starting on the mountain. After we parked and disembarked the car, we grabbed a couple water bottles then my host mom told me it would only be me and my host brother climbing the mountain. My host mother and the family friend would be cheating by taking a cable lift to the peak. That disappointed me a bit but I could still have my fun by hiking up on such a miraculously perfect day. So we parted ways, then my brother and I began our struggle up the mountain. We began on the trail that was very destroyed in a large amount of places. Many Chinese families that were attempting to make the trip looked as if they had bit off a little more than they could chew. After the first 100 meters they had already sat down, breathing very heavily, and were starting to break out the snacks they had brought. I absolutely loved the hike, it was a little too hot on such a nice day but the view I had because of no obstruction from clouds made up for it and more. At one point my host brother and I came into contact with about fifteen monkeys near the trail, but suddenly I realized it was about twenty because some of them were carrying young children around with them. The monkeys were a little too aggressive and attempted, once, to take food from a Chinese man passing by them. After that I kept my distance from them but took a lot of pictures and admired how casual they acted when humans were so close to them. When we had gone more than halfway to the peak my host brother met one of his friends, from the area, so we continued the rest of the hike a little slower talking with each other. Upon reaching the top we met up with my host mom and the family friend. They had made it the top about twenty minutes before us and had already surveyed the surrounding areas. I however took my time to be amazed and awestruck by the scenic nature all around us. Then we continued to the temple on the highest point of the mountain. Near the temple a reporter was taking a video about Wangwu Mountain and he asked me to say a Chinese sentence into the camera. So I am not sure if I made to Chinese television or not but it is quite possible somewhere you can find me speaking Chinese with the wrong tones to thousands of people. We had lunch at the top of the mountain then my mom told me she didn’t want to have to wait for my brother and me to walk back down the mountain so she had bought tickets for us to take the cable lift back down. After waiting in a couple of long lines we made to the bottom of the mountain and checked out a couple of museums they had made about the area. Before long everyone was back in the car heading to find my host father and his companions. We found them in an area filled with trees covered with yellow flowers having a picnic and playing cards. Together we played cards for a little while longer then all got back into our cars and drove off back to Jiyuan (济源). When we all arrived back in the city we went to have dinner together in a noodle house. First they brought us cold appetizing dishes, and then a large bowl of noodles filled with tasty spices, sauces and vegetables, however, my family had to finish the meal quickly because we had to get back on the road to Zhengzhou. So we said our goodbyes to the group of friends, mounted back into my families car and embarked on our journey back to Zhengzhou. I fell asleep that night back in Zhengzhou feeling accomplished because I had to the chance to climb one of China’s sacred mountains, Wangwu mountain.
This is my class in 郑州四中 (Zhengzhou si zhong) Zhengzhou No.4 Middle School. They are 高一 (gao yi) equivalent to the 10th grade in the US. Every morning they, about 70 students, wake up at 6:00 AM get ready for the day and head out of their room for breakfast. Then they can go to their classroom and review yesterday’s material or study the subjects they have today. They also have the option of doing some morning exercise if they are inclined too. At 7:30 they must be in the classroom, other classes have to come even earlier than my class maybe 7:00, but my class is 7:30 and this is the first moment the teacher will check on them. However, most students will be in the classroom much earlier than they are required for extra studying or completing homework. Next they have all their morning classes, each period is 45 minutes long and each day their classes change depending whether it is Monday-Friday they also have class on Saturday and review classes if one subject is poor on Sunday. At 9:50 they have a 30 minute break where they are required to go out to the track and exercise or jump rope/distance jump. After the morning classes at 12:00, they have lunch. Lunch is two and a half hours, they can choose to stay out of the school for the majority of the time or they can stay in their school dormitory but the dormitory is locked from 12:50-1:50 so students can rest and study in peace for an hour if they choose to. At 2:30 classes begin again, they have class till 6:10 with another break after two periods for exercise to keep students healthy and awake. Then they have dinner from 6:10-7:30 when then they have to be back in their class for night class. In night class they can start on their massive amounts of homework given to them during the day’s classes. Their class teacher will keep track of them during night class and make sure they study and work hard the entire time. At 9:50 night class ends and they must return to their dormitory for the night. At 10:30 the students should turn of their room’s lights but they can keep desk lamp or any smaller lights on. Almost all of them stay awake because they still haven’t finished the overload of homework given to them during the day. The students will stay up till 12:00 or later to finish their homework or till they can’t possibly stay awake any longer. The next morning they will get up 6:00 with the morning wake up bell and their school day will start again.
My Chinese class is full of students who are extremely hard workers and fully dedicate themselves every day to their education. They learn much more and faster than my classes back in America but all the classes are more focused on memorization and my class is very large, leaving no place for students to think critically and ask questions. Also almost every kid in my class is extremely stressed and feels like they can’t possible keep up with all the information given to them in the day, and the homework in all their free time. They also are tremendously nervous and even more stressed around testing time. Chinese parents will very disappointed in their son or daughter who doesn’t score at the top of their class or slacks off even a very little amount in their school life. However, my class’s work ethic and diligence has taught me a lot about how I can succeed in school.
I have now traveled out of the bustling and rapidly growing city of Shanghai to the heart of Henan Province to a city called Zhengzhou. While Shanghai is considered one of the prime places in China along with other cities like Beijing and Hong Kong, I have found that Zhengzhou while it may not contain the sheer wonder of a modern metropolis hold its own advantages and benefits toward my Chinese experience. The largest difference in Zhengzhou, which I experience on a daily basis, is my school. The two schools while both being completely dedicated to the education of their students could not be more different of an experience for me. First of all in the Shanghai school every day I was attending international classes with a large amount of overseas students from around the world. In Zhengzhou I attend Chinese classes in morning, where subjects such as history, chemistry, biology and english are taught to me in chinese along with my Chinese classmates. Then in the afternoon I have Chinese tutor class specifically for the two other international students and me. The second largest difference between my Shanghai and Zhengzhou high schools is that in Shanghai I was not allowed to leave the campus for any reason other than a medical emergency or dire need of something I could not obtain within the school. In Zhengzhou I am allowed to leave the campus during my lunch and dinner breaks respectively. My lunch break is from 12:00 to 2:30 and my dinner break last from 5:15 to 9:00 when I am expected to be in my dorm and am not permitted to leave again. The reason my free time allotted for dinner is so long is because in Zhengzhou I do not have to attend the night study class given to the Chinese after their dinner, while in Shanghai I did attend for the benefit of studying and completing homework. Even though I do not have night class in Zhengzhou I still study characters and do homework, just on my time, which I feel greatly increases my productivity because I don’t feel forced into the class every night as well as it gives me a less stressful environment to complete my studying. Also the ability to leave the school campus and try my handle on the Chinese language with locals as they ask me questions or I attempt to buy something from them has greatly improved my ability to speak Chinese as well as understand it. A third difference that does not completely originate from the schools but more from their location, is that in Shanghai a much larger majority of the people I meet can speak and are willing to speak English, whereas in Zhengzhou less people know English or are willing to speak it, which forces me to utilize my knowledge of Chinese. I feel this is very advantages to learning Chinese which was one of my main goals in coming to China. Overall, the two schools vary greatly from each other but both have their own strengths and weaknesses. From my point of view Zhengzhou No.4 Middle School is more beneficial to my Chinese language learning experience as well as my insight into Chinese culture and traditions. That being said, Shanghai holds its own beneficial qualities such as being a little easier to live in as a beginning entrance into China, because its culture is more modern and you experience less culture shock while exploring it. I would consider from what I have seen of China so far that Zhengzhou is much closer to “real” China than Shanghai, because of Shanghai’s rapid growth into a world city. However, both have given me amazing experiences and have supplied me with wonderful high schools to study China.
Happy New Year! (新年快乐!) We have now entered the lunar year of the snake. Leading up to the New Year the largest mass migration of people in world occurs as hundreds of thousands of Chinese families return home for the Spring Festival. I had the pleasure of experiencing the festival first hand with my Chinese host family as we traveled 200 kilometers away from Zhengzhou to Zhenkou my host father’s home town. However, we began the festivities in Zhengzhou, I woke up the first day of the festival, the 9th of February, and was bestowed with a traditional envelop filled with some money. I thanked my host family then in turn gave them gifts I had prepared for them, a calendar from Washington where I live, a small pouch filled with some nice smelling herbs to bring good luck, and a couple large bags of white rabbit candy ?. Then that night we went to the house of my host moms parents and family. When we showed up, the small apartment was filled with smiling faces and the smell of a delicious meal being prepared.  We conversed for a small amount of time (For me that means an endlessly struggle to understand and answer the flood of questions being asked of me in Chinese). Then we all pulled up stools around a small table covered with traditional Chinese dishes and began the first Festival feast. Afterwards my family said their goodbyes and left back to our house where we blew off some obnoxiously loud but satisfying firecrackers and retired for the night.The next morning we woke up at 7:00 ate breakfast, got ready and got in the car headed for Zhenkou. When we arrived in Zhenkou we parked next to a couple large buildings and got out of the car. I wasn’t sure what was occurring but soon two cars more cars parked around us and familiar faces from a family portrait in my host house appeared smiling from the doors. We said a few simple greetings and then ventured through a large revolving door that lead into a warm atmosphere of scrumptious smelling Chinese food. We continued into a cozy room with a round table already holding some small appetizing dishes. There our meal began, as soon we had started to pick at the appetizers more plates filled with food were brought to the table as well as deep bowls filled with delicious soups adding to the aroma of the room. After an hour the large table was overflowing with half eaten dishes but every single person sitting around the table could not eat another bite. At this time the meal was considered concluded and preparations were made for leaving our snug feasting room. Everyone headed out back into the cold getting into their respective cars, but we were all headed for the same destination. After a short drive everyone arrived at my host grandparent’s house and settled into the living space for some family time spent together while the food settled. Everyone spent the afternoon and early evening conversing about their lives while I tried to the best of my ability to tell who I was and why I was in China. I received some relief when my younger host cousin and I improved each other’s language ability by writing and speaking Chinese attached with its English counterpart. After the sun began to set it was time for another meal and we sat around a smaller table and had a modest but delectable dinner filled with traditional Chinese dishes. After which our family made our separate ways to places where we could rest for the night. My family and I went to my host uncle’s house and were graciously given a few rooms to call our home while we were Zhenkou. Then we watched TV together until everyone was ready to retire for a night filled with glorious sounds of blasting fireworks and welcoming firecrackers of the New Year. Waking up it fully dawned on me that I had left the last lunar year and entered a new year filled with new experiences. Also I took into account that I was halfway through my five month program in China and now that I was becoming so accustomed to the life I feel as if leaving would be like leaving home again. However, I did not have much time to dwell on the aspect because my host family rousted me to a quick breakfast then we were out the door heading off to another exciting day. First my family with my host uncle, aunt and cousin went to the local shopping mall to get some new outfits. One tradition of the New Year i families will also get haircuts and do some spring cleaning to have a fresh start in the New Year. Then my family proceeded to my host grandparent’s house where we met up with the rest of the family and enjoyed a scrumptious lunch prepared by my host grandmother and aunt. Afterwards everyone except my host grandparents mounted up in their various cars and we all drove to a large sport center on the outskirts of Zhenkou. The sports center was a huge building with pictures of a large amount of sports with their English and Chinese names. Outside the building was a tremendous amount of people running around and engaging in the free activities provided. There were about six basketball courts, eight ping pong tables and a couple of tennis courts. Almost every possible spot for someone to be playing basketball or ping pong was full so I immediately ran into the fray with my family. I played ping pong being at a huge disadvantage with a boy who was about my age but who never missed the ball, compared to me who could rarely rally the 3rd rebound from my extremely talented friend. Then my uncle began to play with me, we both being untalented at the game had a wonderful time of running after the light ball as it flew away from table an uncountable amount of times. After some time I became interested in trying to shoot some hoops at a free basket left on the basketball courts. I proceeded to try my hand at scoring some points and soon I was joined by a few members of my family then some other Chinese men who had the same idea. Before long we had a small group of people all competing on the hoop with a couple basket balls. I made some Chinese friends and tried my very best to use my handle on the Chinese language to have a few interesting conversations with the basketball players. Soon about four hours had gone by and everyone was ready to set down their ball or paddle and head back into the city. Before going back to our separate houses it was time for another meal so we all returned to my host grandparent’s house for a well-deserved meal that filled the small table we sat around with traditional Chinese food. Afterwards we all returned to our respective houses and my family watched a movie together before we retired for another night filled with the sound of fireworks.I was rousted from my bed early the next day. I was told to get ready quickly and eat breakfast because we had a long day today. I prepared myself, then had a quick and tasty breakfast with my family before we got into the car and rendezvoused with the other half of the family. Next we headed out into Henan province’s countryside. A flat land dotted with farms and dwellings strewn across the large areas between cities.  My family then told me we were going out into the countryside to see another of my host uncles, and after we met up with him we would continue to one of the first Chinese palaces which once held an Emperor. Naturally this excited me and I welcomed the time in the car with my host cousin because I could practice simple Chinese. Before long we turned off the main highway through the country and drove onto a simple road leading to a few separated houses. Then we split again onto a dirt road rumbling along for a little while before we stopped in front of one of the houses scattered across the endless fields. We walked up to the house and were given a warm greeting from another uncle. He was obliged to show us around the area while the family caught up on their lives recently. I even had some time to explore a bit of the fields that covered the vast expanse of the land. Before I knew it we were back in the cars and heading off to our next destination, the Eastern Han dynasty emperor’s palace. Our little convoy of cars made a stop before the palace to pick up a quick lunch, and then about 5 minutes afterward we arrived at the magnificent place. The preparations where made for entering the area including getting a guide for the family, unfortunately the guide spoke completely in Chinese so I couldn’t gain much from her tour. However, from the first moment I walked into the palace it was breathtaking. Wonderful architecture created every inch of the walls and the most amazing part was the gates that led deeper into the center, which were accompanied with signs in English and Chinese containing their name along with information about them or a short story. As we traveled further into the inner sanctum the constructions became larger and even more intricate. Even though it was obvious some repairs had been done to the scene, they still held a beauty only old and mysterious buildings can contain. At the heart of the palace there was a moderately sized building with a statue of a god inside. Many people lighted incense before the god, as well as donate some money and pray on the kneeling steps before him. While the statue of the god was a magnificent creation, around the room was twelve different stone carvings of the most meticulous and intricate detail.  Here was when I most felt my lack of ability to comprehend the Chinese language. Our tour guide spend a good twenty minutes going around the room while telling captivating stories about animals, men, and gods that related to each picture. My family was enthralled by the stories and showed everything from laughter to some sadness. I contented myself with thoroughly examining the carvings in their artistic beauty. The tour continued with the burial mound as well as Chinese characters carved into a large section of one wall and a few statues. Soon our tour was complete but we could continue to explore parts of the palace that our tour had not covered in the very large area. We decided to look at large garden area on the right side of the palace which was supposedly recreated to match its older counterpart. I’m not sure whether it was accurate or not but the garden was wonderful and calming to explore. It was covered with scrubs trimmed into varies animals including the twelve animals of the zodiac. It also contained a large amount of trees but since it was the very end of winter and beginning of spring none of these deciduous trees contained leaves. I’m sure going to the garden in summer would be an even more rewarding experience. Our group began to tire so we headed out of the palace and began our arduous drive back to Zhenkou through the country. Arriving at the city it was getting dark so we drove to an attractive restaurant and entered the refreshing atmosphere of food, laughter and merriment. Again we headed into our own room with a circular table adorned with a rotating glass circle containing a few cold dishes already set for us. Sitting down around at the table I had little idea that a feast of monstrous proportion was about to commence before me. I have never seen so much food placed on a table in front of me before. Meats of every animal, any vegetable you could desire and steaming bowls of soup crowded every inch of our table and soon the plates had to be stacked on each other to allow even more piles of food to be placed onto the overwhelmed circle. The festivities lasted until everyone had a full hearted laugh and was near to bursting from the rich and mouthwatering barrage of dishes placed for us. I would have happy hired someone to roll me out of the dining room but unfortunately my Chinese wasn’t good enough to ask so I contented myself to rise slowly and following the proceeding of my family out of the restaurant. Instead of returning to my host grandparents’ house before heading home like I was accustomed to, everyone went directly home due to our long and event filled day. Once home my family wasted no time in preparing for bed and happily drifted off to a fatigue and food induced slumber. I woke up the next day refreshed and cheerful, but also a little sad because it was my last day in Zhenkou. The majority of the day was spent with the family as a whole, spending time at my host grandparent’s house. Except for a small amount of time where my family went to a park and tried our luck at flying kites and playing a few of the carnival like games set up around the area. Meals where filled with joy and the overall happiness of being together as a family during the festival. Before I knew it the day was drawing to a close and every family returned home for the night. My family spent some time together in the living room watching TV, feeling close and talking about our great expectation for the new year. Another night passed and I was packing my things the next morning ready to leave the people who had so willingly accepted me into their family’s traditions, customs and kindness. Once again we gather at my grandparent’s house, but this time for a farewell parting. I tried to say a meaningful goodbye to every person of the family who had made my spring festival such a wonderful and eye opening experience into the Chinese celebration. I took pictures with everyone person to remember them by and told them they were all welcome to come to America if they found an opportunity to. Then my family was back in the car, packed and ready to go. We waved our final farewell to the rest of the family and we head back to our home in Zhengzhou.
At about 10:30 P.M. Wednesday December 19th my roommate and I are getting ready to drift off into peaceful sleep. Suddenly I start to recognize shouting, yelling and commotion outside our dorm. I throw on some clothes and rush out of my dorm building to behold hundreds of high school student, standing in the courtyard between the dorm buildings, gawking in an upward direction toward my dorm. I push my way into the mass so I can get a clear view up and I am awestruck at what I beheld. Smoke billowed from several windows mounted at the top left of my “home”. I rushed back inside the building to alert my other roommates, grab my passport and important documents. Then I struggled back out into the mosh pit developing outside the horrific scene. Half the people standing outside had their phone’s cameras point at the top floor, which was now streaming smoke from almost all of the windows across the hall. I stopped a moment to see if I could grab a quick picture but my phone was at low battery and would not allow any pictures. Also many of the school officials trying to control the riot-like conditions were yelling and scolding students for taking video, telling everyone no pictures or videos of the fire were allowed. This entire time I was expecting to hear an alarm system or fire sirens to announce that the building was on fire. But just like me, nobody was alerted by an alarm just the sounds of the commotion.
Eventually fire trucks and firemen appeared at the scene and all the students were instructed to go to their designated classrooms in the school buildings. While many students had immediately run from the fire to seek safety, the large mob that had taken it as an entertaining sight milled awayfrom the dorm buildings to the other side of the school. At this time I received a frantic call from my supervisor who needed to know all the Xubo students were found and accounted for.  Since she called me first, the task of running around and finding every Xubo participant fell to me. Being international students we weren’t quite as orderly and not every student went immediately to the classroom so it took some time but, much to the relief of my supervisor, every student was found and safe. When every international student was locked in our classroom the school began their process of head counting and making sure everyone was accounted for, while students whispering created schemes and plans of what they would do now that our dorm building was torched. Relief to some and disappointment to others at 11:20 P.M. it was announced everyone could leave their classrooms and head back to the dorms. Returning to the dorms was a lot less eventful than everyone indicated it would be. I looked up at the slightly charred top floor of the building which had been ablaze 40 minutes ago wondering if it was truly safe to enter the building. But, sure enough, everyone filled into their dorms as if it was a normal school night. In the dorm my roommates and I could not sleep, awakened by the sudden turn of events we talked about stories with fire and about how unsafe this fire was without a single fire drill or alarm system. We decided togo to bed with the last thing said being “I hope they let us sleep in because our dorm building was on fire”.
The dreaded morning came with sweet light given by the sun to the world around me, different from the light cast by the fire into the night. I called my head teacher and asked if we got any extra time off this morning because of the disaster the night before and because we were all so tired. Sherespectfully told me “No”. So we all groaned as we got ready for a day of school and all our classes. During the classes everyone was told we had a fire drill after class today, our first fire drill of the year, and that our dorm supervisor, the women who had told students to stay in the dorms when the fire had first started, would give us some instruction on fire safety. By the time of the meeting everyone was buzzing about how if the fire had occurred several hours later in the night it would have had much more serious punishments to how unprepared our school was for a fire. She gave us our safety instruction and then asked if we had any questions. I asked “Why was their no alarms system to notify an entire building of students that there was a fire”.  She answered “The other school officials and I are very sorry for these circumstances and it won’t happen again”. She continued to tell everyone there was an alarm system in the building but that accidently it was not triggered during the entire duration of the fire.
This was a wild experience in China and to be honest doesn’t help me sleep at night when I know that the same heating unit that had an electrical fire is in every single room of our entire school. However, in the end I am just relieved that nobody was hurt in the incident and that hopefully my school can learn from this fiasco.
(Here is a complete list of rules I have recieved about my stay in China. Any parts of the blog that are in (parentheses) I have added into the rules. Any spelling mistakes or grammatical error found in this blog are actually mistakes made in the documents given to me. Enjoy!)
Rules of Behavior for Students at School
I. School Attendance
Arrive at school on time
Students are only allowed to leavecampus with teacher’s permission during school time (Once a week I can leave)
Be on time for every class.Tardiness, leaving early, and skipping class will lower your score.
II. Behavioral Expectations
Be friendly and cultural sensitive
Wear clean uniforms at least for the top
Slippery is not allowed (Maybe Slippers?)
Kissing and Hugging are not expected to be seen on the campus and outside of campus
Smoking, drinking alcohol and drugs are not permitted in China.
Respect teachers and behave appropriately
Protect the environment in public areas and take care of public property. Any damage, indemnify for the cost of them.
Obey the class rules, keep quiet and no interruption when the teacher is speaking.
Complete assignments in time.
Mp3, Mp4, laptops, mobile phones and any other electric devise are not allowed to be used during class time. (The take computers and/or Pads away and give them back to use for one hour every night)
Food and beverages are not allowed in the classroom building, auditoriums, gym, computer rooms or other teaching areas.
 At lab time, listen to the teachers and follow the lab rules.
Follow the clean-up rules to keep the classroom clean. (Strict cleaning schedule)
Follow all “Boarding Regulations”. (I will tell you these later in my blog)
No sleeping in class. (The agony!!!)
III. Discipline Code
Students are not permitted to chase on the stairs, run in the corridors or play unsafely.
Students should walk quietly in the corridors.
Students are not permitted to possess, handle any object that is considered potentially dangerous object/  material in the school setting. i. e. skateboards, chemicals, fire
Non-School students who enter the school participate in school activities should get teacher’s permission. (My school has a strict no-outsiders policy, for students….)
IV.  Remarks
The above regulations are applicable and in effect at alltimes on the campus during school-sponsored events off campus, and in thevicinity of the school. Students who violate the rules will be subject todisciplinary measures.
If you breakthe rules at first time, Xubo will give you an oral warning.
For thesecond time, we will give your written warning.
For thethird time, Xubo will TERMINATE your program immediately.
About leave system
According to the program rules, once you ask for leave for your studying, including the 1day sick leave, you MUST inform your supervisor in advance, and fill in a leave sheet.
Your request must be approved by Xubo and the school.
Once you take a sick leave for more than 1 day, You Must submit the medical report from the hospital to Xu Bo and school. (They will make you go the hospital and pay the medical fee even if you have a harsh cold and need a couple days out of school)
 If none of above paper, your leave is treated as absent from the class.
If it happens at first time, Xubo will give you oral warning
If it happens at second time, we will give you a written warning.
If it happens a third time, Xubo will TERMINIATE your program immediately.
Dorm life rules a.k.a. “Boarding Regulations”
Lack of respect for the teachers or unreasonable to the teacher.
Wear slippers outside of the dorm building
Stay in your room without asking a leave and without any reason
Did not come into your room and leave your dorm on time
Did not show when the dorm mother check your room every night
After night class, eat outside
Did not go back to your room at 9:50
During the weekend spend your night outside without asking a leave (I stay at a host family)
Invite person who is not from our school to stay overnight at your room &considered as breaking the rules twice&
 Did not scan your card to come in or go outside your dorm building and the school’s main gate. (You have to scan your card every time. They have people hired to stand and watch you scan, even when i am carrying bags they made me put down everything and get out my card just to scan for them)
Play football, volleyball or basketball in the dorm building yard
Break the public equipment on purpose, you need to pay according to the degree you break. (I think you pay whether or not it was on purpose)
Lose your key or remote of your airconditioner, you need to pay 50 yuan
Find cigarette or alcohol &Very serious, according to the degree to give you punishment&
Boys go to girls dorm or girls go the boys dorm &very serious&
 The school strictly forbids having a relationship between boys and girls. (Even a hug gets you in a rediculous amount of trouble if the wrong teacher sees you)
Break one piece ofrule, deduct 3 points (Yes this is a point system… (-.-)
Hygiene and Appliance Requirements:
All dorm residents alternate responsibility for the dorm’s sanitation on a daily basis.
The floor must be swept on a daily basis. &2 pts&
The bed must be made on a daily base. (which means flattening your sheets against the mattress, and they will check this!) &2 pts&
The desk must be made tidy, it is not permitted to stick up unhealthy pictures, magazines, ect. &2 pts&
All items must be places in drawers and cabinets. (I once left my book out and they got angry at me) &2 pts&
Damp or wet towels and clothing must be placed on the balcony to dry. (Good thing outside it is freezing cold, it helps dry my clothes) &2 pts&
The bathroom must remain tidy. &2 pts&
It is not permitted to pile up belongings on the balcony. &2 pts&
Appliances: AC, heat lamp &5 pts each& ; room lights, desk lamps, foyer lights and bathroom lights. &1 pt&
Any time the water heater or AC are on but not in use, points will be deducted &including on weekends&
All electronics that are prohibited to be left out, including power strips and battery chargers, will be confiscated. (Computers or gaming devices are just prohibited completely)
The school will use its own discretion when considering punishments for violations of school rules. (They will just try to punish you by taking your money)
Point Explanation: if , before winter break at the end of January, 2013, these whole points deducted have reached points as a result of breaking hygiene and appliance rules will have 100 RMB withheld from th Those whose cumulative deductions reach 100 points will have 300 RMB withheld from t Those whose cumulative deductions exceed 150 Points will have 500 rmb withheld from their security deposit (Everything we gave), and will not be allowed to live In the dorms next semester.
Suddenly I am awoken. Like a slap sent from my eardrum the loud and obnoxious alarm of my roommate pierces the quiet peace of my dreamland. I muster the strength to slide one eyelid open and peer diagonallyacross the room to one of the four beds in my dorm. I see my roommate hopelessly lost in dreams of his own, as his alarm, on the desk below, continues to awaken the other two drowsy victims of its vibrational onslaught. The roommate to my left mutters something under his breath as he turns over and protects himself in a fluffy shield of pillow. While the other, now accustomed to the task, rolls out from under his blankets and vaults from his bunk bed, proceeding to silence the relentless beeping, with a hard smack on top of the alarm. Then he wakes the still fast asleep owner of the sleep destroyer and climbs back into the snug warmth of his bed. The three of us that had suffered the alarm will now go back to sleep for another hour, while the “early riser” begins to get himself ready for his day. After the precious hour of time I still had to sleep is over. I have fifteen minutes to prepare myself before I must rush out from the serenity of my dorm into the somber droll of school.  I wear my school uniform as I briskly stride across campus to meet with the rest of the international students. After everyone has arrived, I move out onto the field for the raising of the flag. After the national anthem has played and the flag is raised, a speaker gives some announcements (In chinese). Then another song begins playing across the field and I prepare for my morning exercise. The speakers count one! Two three! through eight (Really yi, er, san through ba), as I follow along with a series of learned motions that match the eight seconds of repeated counting. The exercise ends after the last chain of movements has been completed, and the man on the stage announces I can go to my classroom to learn. Yippee!
                After I get to my classroom’s building I have to ascend three flights of stairs to reach my locker and books. Then I drag myself into the classroom, and prepare myself to ward off the approaching boredom. My first class starts at 7:50 AM. The next four hours blur together as I pass in and out of conscious thought learning through a possibility of four different chinese language classes all with separate books and homework. If I am lucky I will have PE, art, history or music mixed in-between the language classes.  After all the morning classes are finished, I am given a little over one hour to eat lunch and snatch some rest in my dorm. Then I head back to my classroom for three periods of afternoon class. I am usually more alert for my afternoon classes though they are just like my morning classes, chinese language mixed with “break” classes. My afternoon classes end at 3:30 PM but through my organization I signed up for extra chinese tutoring classes. At 3:30 my tutor shows up ready to teach me more chinese. During my normal classes, I have to divide my focus between chinese characters, pinyin (the vocal sound) and the meaning of the word. However, with my tutor I mainly focus on pinyin and the meaning. This allows me to try my best to have conversations and grab every scrap of meaning that I can. My tutor ends at 5:30 PM and by this time I have had about eight and a half hours of chinese language learning. My head is frothing with language and my eyes are tired of deciphering characters. I welcome another meal and head back to my dorm for another quick rest, but all too soon I struggle outside into the dark for my night class. My night class starts at 6:30 PM and lasts till 9:15. The other students and I are expected to stay quiet and study this entire time. So I buckle down for the last hours of the day and try to review all the chinese I had learned during my classes. I must also study 10-20 new characters because almost every day my teacher will give a chinese dictation quiz to make sure we have been studying appropriately. At 8:00PM, I am given a short break, and then I am allowed to use my computer with painfully slow wifi. I answer emails and write any essays or paragraphs my school has asked me to write for homework. The final minute ends at 9:15 and I am released for a final time. I have freedom, so I put on a pair of shorts and run out to the field where some other international students and I do a workout before I am confined to my dorm. At 9:50 I am expected to be in my dorm and getting ready for bed, at 10:00 the school turn of the lights. If I need to get something done I can turn on my desk lamp, but I am usually so exhausted all I can do is take a shower and brush my teeth before I collapse into my bed. In one day I have had around 11 hours of class with a large majority of that time spend learning Chinese language. I set my alarm for the coming day, knowing I have learned more chinese than I could hope to retain. I drift off to sleep ready towake up and have another day in a chinese boarding school.
Wow! My first week in Shanghai has come and gone. I have been completely overwhelmed by the hordes of people and sheer magnitude of the city. The little Chinese I already know has not been very helpful when I try tocommunicate with people. It is obvious I will have to study the Chinese language with dedication before I can converse with Chinese speakers. One of the best parts of this orientation week so far is all the other abroad students I have met who are spending a half year or whole year in China. I have met new people from Germany, Belgium, Italy, Thailand, Denmark, and the United States. Everyone has their own story and life all over the world, but we are all meeting in Shanghai, China. Every chance I have had I have eaten Chinese cuisine. There is a plethora of chinese dishes and I want to try as many of them as I can while I am in Shanghai. On the subject of food, one of the most fun experiences I have had so far in China was making dumplings! Nine other international students and I crowed around a small table while our teacher brought out a large bowl of pork mixed with herbs along with a mound of dough. She proceeded to slice off pieces of dough. Then with precision and grace she would flatten them into perfect circular patties with a roller. After she had a stack of the flawless creations she took a spoonful of filling and delicately placed it in the middle of the patty. She continued to squeeze and fold the dough meticulously around the pork until only an otherworldly and divine dumpling caressed the palm of her hand. She worked her culinary magic a couple more times and produced a row of dumplings each better than the last. After she determined she had shown us the process enough times she invited a couple of us to try ourselves. Eagerly, a few students took pieces of dough and a roller attempting to recreate her works of art. Almost immediately they regretted stepping up to the task. Rather than smooth, circular patties, their dough became lumpy, square rags. Stupidly I decided I would try the second half of the process, so I picked up a patty and delicately placed some filling in the center. I did not know it yet but I had already failed because I had put more pork than my small patty could encompass.  Then I tried to follow our teacher as she pinched and molded her heavenly masterpieces. I made the first pinch without much trouble, but by the second I knew my dumpling would look awful. In the end instead of finely folded dough that curved ever so slightly to create such an appetizing dumpling. I had created a monstrosity with pork spilling through the warzone left between both sides of “connecting” dough. The other students had just as much luck as I did in their attempt at creating dumplings. However, after all the horrifyingly mutated dumplings were created. We boiled them all up and had a scrumptious dumpling feast. My orientation weekhas been a complete blast and I hope the rest of my trip abroad is just as exciting and eye-opening.
It might surprise you but the small pouting boy in this picture was me at the age of three. That was the last time I was in China, and now I'm about live in Shanghai for&ten months. Before I go I want to create some goals to help guide me and push me forward. First, I need to set a goal for one of the most challenging aspects of my&ten months, language. Becoming completely fluent might be impossible. However I bet by the end of my adventure I can have an engaging and informational conversation with a native Chinese speaker. Second, I want to set a goal for my academic achievement in China. Most of my class will be in Chinese making it very hard for me to make a classroom based learning leap during the year. I still want to gain loads of knowledge about how Chinese students learn and about the Chinese schools. I also want to learn something new about China every day. Another academic goal I have is to earn enough credits in China so I can graduate from high school back home. Third, I know I cant make it through China all by myself. I want to make a person goal of meeting as many great and amazing people as I can. Also I want to return thefavor of kinship by helping at least one person every day. Just thinking about China makes me ambitious and ecstatic. I can't wait to go!}