Hosting Chinese and Japanese Students
Through the GIP Program, I have had the amazing opportunity of hosting fellow teenage girls from both China and Japan in the past few years. Having never been to Asia, I had decidedly stereotypical impressions of what Asian people were like as opposed to Asian-Americans. This experience is one of many examples in which the media and the information I had previously been exposed to gave nowhere near the whole story about people from another country.
I first hosted the girls from Japan in my sophomore year. I was able to connect with them by talking about music, movies, and our friends. They were so excited to drive in our convertible and meet our dog, Pepper. I learned about their lives, families, and schools back in Japan, which were fascinatingly similar to my own. They brought me some interesting snacks and even taught me how to do origami (they had to redo my cranes though- they were that bad).
When I hosted the students, I was not only able to learn about another culture, but I was given a new view of my own. When showing my girls around Poly and Pasadena, I was given a time for reflection and appreciation. One of my classmates spoke Japanese but didn't initially tell the students she was hosting, so she could hear what they were saying about Poly. She said she expected them to be talking about obese Americans or something like that, but really all they kept saying was how pretty our little campus is.
I was able to host the girls from China for a little bit longer in my junior year. They spoke amazing English, which made connecting with them
somuch easier. They had even seen American TV and picked up some slang (one adorably said "OMG" at just about everything). They made jokes with my friends and fit in surprisingly well for being raised in what I consider to be a country very different from America.
I got some fascinating information from my new Chinese friends. They study for hours on end after school, vigorously preparing for the 高考 (gaokao- the extremely rigorous college entrance exam that essentially determines one's academic future). While places in America have snow days, they have smog days. Perhaps the most interesting was when they refused to express their opinion on Trump by claiming it was simply none of their business.
Through hosting foreign students, I was able to humanize the previously-mysterious countries of China and Japan. Now, when I think of China, I don't think of intimidating communists, I think of Fairy and Angela teasing each other about their secret boyfriends, and when I think of Japan, I remember Mari and her pet ferret. I encourage anyone who has this opportunity to take advantage of it!
I first hosted the girls from Japan in my sophomore year. I was able to connect with them by talking about music, movies, and our friends. They were so excited to drive in our convertible and meet our dog, Pepper. I learned about their lives, families, and schools back in Japan, which were fascinatingly similar to my own. They brought me some interesting snacks and even taught me how to do origami (they had to redo my cranes though- they were that bad).When I hosted the students, I was not only able to learn about another culture, but I was given a new view of my own. When showing my girls around Poly and Pasadena, I was given a time for reflection and appreciation. One of my classmates spoke Japanese but didn't initially tell the students she was hosting, so she could hear what they were saying about Poly. She said she expected them to be talking about obese Americans or something like that, but really all they kept saying was how pretty our little campus is.
I was able to host the girls from China for a little bit longer in my junior year. They spoke amazing English, which made connecting with them
somuch easier. They had even seen American TV and picked up some slang (one adorably said "OMG" at just about everything). They made jokes with my friends and fit in surprisingly well for being raised in what I consider to be a country very different from America.I got some fascinating information from my new Chinese friends. They study for hours on end after school, vigorously preparing for the 高考 (gaokao- the extremely rigorous college entrance exam that essentially determines one's academic future). While places in America have snow days, they have smog days. Perhaps the most interesting was when they refused to express their opinion on Trump by claiming it was simply none of their business.
Through hosting foreign students, I was able to humanize the previously-mysterious countries of China and Japan. Now, when I think of China, I don't think of intimidating communists, I think of Fairy and Angela teasing each other about their secret boyfriends, and when I think of Japan, I remember Mari and her pet ferret. I encourage anyone who has this opportunity to take advantage of it!
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