Host Family: Day 6

Hi everyone!!!

Soldier's tag is white. 

I wake up, eat breakfast, and my 妈妈mama tells me to clean my room because the housekeeper is coming. I assume I misunderstood what she said but I clean my room anyway because that's what she instructs me to do. Afterwards, 爸爸Baba drives me to school  and we talk all the way. I say obvious things like 我们在隧道里面 "we're in a tunnel"。He points out a vehicle with a special military licenses plate saying "巨人的车“ solider's car. I ask him what he liked to do when he was little. He says he likes to play baseball. I tell him that I've never played baseball, but that I play volleyball. We start talking about my sisters 姐姐和妹妹。He says that my youngest sister plays sports at school and that my other sister doesn't play sports at all. I asked him why she's always sweating when she comes home and he says its because she exercises with her personal trainer. When I ask him if he exercises, he says of course. At night I drink beers. He does his lifting motion for me and I start laughing. I tell him his muscles must be big. He laughs and before we know it we've reached our destination.

On the drive home conversation is feeling more forced because we're both tired. I ask if he has any Beatles music. He taught me how to "you got all of my love". 你得到我最好的爱。

Pre-dinner dumplings

I walk home to see the housekeeper cleaning my room and my newly cleaned pairs of converse. They have been had washed, dried, and re-stringed with new strings. I am extremely grateful, but my mother doesn't take too many thanks. She just says  不用谢 which literally translates to "I don't use thanks" (aka the Chinese "you're welcome).  妈妈 的朋友 My mother's friend makes spicy food for me because they know I like it.

There's a special kind of enthusiasm is Chinese hospitality that goes above and beyond that of  American (including southern) hospitality. My favorite part of the day was recognizing the irony of my family cleaning the house before the housekeeper cleans the house. It's as if they are trying to lighten her load or impress her with their cleanliness. Its...different; let's just call it a culture shock ^_^