School!!

As promised, here's the second post. Hopefully this is easier to write than the last one. Lol

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Uniform shirt and pants...

School. Freaking scary on its own. Teachers, fellow students, projects, homework... You know the vibe. Or at least you think you do until you add in that extra element of not understanding a WORD your teacher is saying.... Unless it's my English teacher, Allen (I hope I got his name right lol) He goes back and forth between English and Chinese, seemingly at the drop of a hat. Its pretty nifty :)

Anyway,  I was a tangled mess of nerves when I went to school this morning. I felt self-conscious in my uniform (you're SURE it's not too big?) and like I stood out like a sore thumb (well duh you did Kathryn. You're tall and blond. Not much you can do there) My steps were quick as I made my way to the councilors office. He lead me to my class and that sickening feeling in my stomach deepened.

What if they don't like me?

Shirt, skirt and socks. Perfect for hot weather

What if they can't speak English?
What if I totally bomb my speech in front of the entire school?
OH MY GOD, WHAT IF?!

I told you I was a mess.

"This is the new exchange student. She's from the US" said Mr Chen.

Or at least that's what I thought he said. I don't quite speak Chinese.

The girls in the room looked at me. I looked at them, you know, that awkward expectant look that near decides it all. Then they were all surrounding me.

Whats your name?
Where are you from?
Do you speak Chinese?
Are you a rotary student?

All a sudden I wasn't feeling so ill. The more questions I answered, the better I felt. I met Winnie ("like Winnie the Pooh" she was quick to assure me) who was a fellow rotary kid. She was one of the potential outbound students. She was the girl who, for all intents and purposes*, held my hand for that first hour or so.

Now that's not to say the rest of the class wasn't interested. I had quite the crowd around my desk, each girl a well of questions and information both.we all chatted until it was time to go to the opening ceremonies.

The only good thing about
this is my hair...

Now that was interesting. Leanne and I sat on stage with the staff and watched as the girls quite literally filled the auditorium. I'm pretty sure the amount of people in that room broke several fire safety laws. Maybe they're different here. Lol
As an overview, the ceremony consisted of the national anthem, the school song, select students taking photos with the principal (who is freaking adorable) wile holding awards of some sort, an introduction of the teachers and of the resident exchange students, aka me and Leanne.

Now for the details.

During the teacher introductions, the students would scream and cheer for their favorite teachers (read: crushes) It was freaking hilarious. I feel like a lot of American parents would get their knickers in a twist over such blatant adoration for the attractive male staff. Either way, They have good taste ;)

Now, Leanne and I had to give a one to two minute speech about ourselves. That was a riot. Leanne wrote hers out and I completely winged it. Mine went something along the lines of;

Principal: *handing me the mic* English or Chinese
Me: English.
*laughter*
Me: 你好! My name is Kathryn. I'm 16
*collective gasp/murmuring*
Me: *thinking* Okaaayyyy. What did I say wrong? *keeps talking* I'm from the US, Oregon to be specific. Now I dont speak a lot of Chinese but I hope to learn. You all seem super fun and I'm excited to be going to school here.... Thank you..?

Not bad right?? I'm hoping not. I got a lot of cheers afterwards. That has to be a good sign. :)

After that we went back to our class and I started talking with two girls from my class. (I feel really bad for not remembering their names :( )

Guess what we talked about. Yah. That's right. Boys.

This is my default flirting face. Bwahahah kidding.  

Do you like Serbian boys?
Uh. Sure? I don't know if I've ever seen a Serbian boy.
Oh. What kind of boy do you like?
Ummm...Europeans? Africans. Yah definantly Africans.
*Squealing laughter*
What do you think of the last guy on stage?
The one with the long hair? He's hottt.
*more squealing*
We like you a lot.

I was pretty much on cloud nine after that. These girls are amazing. They helped me get lunch, taught me some Chinese phrases, and even went as far as to have someone sitting next to me and translating parts of our history and ethics(?) classes so I could get the gist of it all. <3 <3

I'm so excited for tomorrow!!

Till next time!
K





*Notice how I used the phrase right Mom? ;)