The Newtown International Center for Education hosted delegates from China this year from September 30 to October 9. In total, 28 people from our sister school came over to get an authentic American experience by living in the homes of students and doing everything with them. This year, NHS learned that they would be receiving ten more students than expected, meaning they had to find more people willing to host. I have been in N.I.C.E. since my sophomore year so I volunteered to host. In preparation for their arrival, I attended all of the informational meetings and learned about the basics of caring for another human being, the essentials being this, Google Translate will be your best friend, relax and take it easy, and you will cry when they leave.
We host delegates and in return, when we send students to other countries over April break, they are hosted as well. For the first time since N.I.C.E. was started, the Chinese delegation arrived during October as opposed to winter. This is because during their stay, they plan field trips around the area, like going to Manhattan and Yale. However, the delegation decided not to come last year in favor of coming at the beginning of the 2016-2017 year, due to the fact that New England winters are harsh and they often had to cancel trips.
The night of the opening ceremony, the families were gathered in the NHS Cafetorium, waiting for the delegates to arrive. My delegate was a sixteen year old girl named Jiang Ruilin, but she preferred to be called Hadrain. She was quiet and tired from the long bus ride and flight, so we got her stuff and went home. After that, we spent all of our time making sure she was comfortable and teaching her as much as we possibly could about America. We went bowling, ate a variety of food, went to the Danbury mall, and watched softball games. I broke my ankle the afternoon of her second full day in America, so Hadrain got an unexpected look into American medical practices. Other than that, she met my friends, followed me around school, and went on all of the field trips with the rest of her group.
The hardest part of the visit was the language barrier. A few years back, N.I.C.E. decided that they would only allow high school students to travel since the middle schoolers barely understood English. The high schoolers are better, but they still only understand basic words and grammar, making in depth conversations hard. Taking English in their school is often the driving factor for their journey over here.
“I came because wanted to improve my spoken English and to understand the local conditions and customs as well as to make some friends. However, because there are words I do not know, talking through a mobile phone is troublesome and can’t accurately express ideas in a timely fashion,” Hadrain said.
She admitted that the thought of living with a stranger for a little more than a week did not phase her because she knew we would be around the same age and therefore would have more in common. Hadrain was right, we had similar taste in music and spending time together was fun because having her with me allowed us to do things we had not before. At the end of the trip, she explained that the main differences from China and America and some of them were more simple than I thought.
“The taste is different from Chinese food to American food and I saw the unique buildings in the United States. The architecture here is very different than back home. Another difference in in school, we aren’t allowed to bring mobile phones to class and we don’t have much time to discuss topics in class. We also stay in the same classroom for every class. The most important thing though is that we aren’t allowed to fall in love,” Hadrain said.
The last day of her trip here was full of sadness and when she left for JFK, there were tears in all of our eyes. Hosting her was an eye opening experience that I would full heartedly recommend to anyone who has the space. Before she left we exchanged phone numbers and she texted me when she got back to China. Going in, I was apprehensive about how we would manage, but by the end of her journey, it was just like she was another member of the family.
Image Courtesy of My Family