From November 8-14, we had our homestays. My host sister is a college student at Shandong Normal University and she lives over an hour away from school. When I first met her, her family brought me flowers-a very heartwarming gesture. I spoke with my host sister for a little bit while her big aunt drove us to her home. Since no one else in the family spoke English, I mostly spoke with my host sister.
The first place we went was her grandparents’ apartment, the place where we would be sleeping, and dropped off our stuff. She showed me around the place and it was a very nice home, there were three bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room with a large T.V., and one bathroom with a western toilet. Her grandparents weren’t there when we arrived so I didn’t meet them until I went to her parents’ apartment. I had a bedroom to myself and she placed the flowers in a vase on the window. They also provided me with snacks in case I got hungry.
When my host sister and I walked to her parents’ apartment, I was bombarded with her whole family. The first night of the homestay, I met ten people (my host sister, her parents, her grandparents, both her aunts and their husbands, and her younger aunt’s daughter) and was overwhelmed by their warm welcome. The apartment was filled with friendly chatter and merriment. Everyone was very welcoming and kept telling me to eat more food before the real dinner began. There was so much food in front of me, I didn’t know which one to eat first. Then my host sister’s mother brought out all different kinds of bread and showed them to me.
All the bread that one of my host sister’s aunt gave her parents. The breads all look so different and they were telling me the shape of some of the breads.
When dinner was all ready, we sat around the table with a plethora of dishes to choose from. My host parents kept asking me if I could eat meat, fish, and spicy foods just to make sure that I could eat everything they cooked. It turns out that it was my host father who made all the food. During the course of dinner, I don’t remember picking out my own food, people kept putting food on my plate or telling me to eat something. At the end, I was so full and couldn’t eat anymore. Unfortunately, I had forgotten about the noodles. In China, when people meet each other for the first time, they serve noodles to represent the longevity of their friendship and when they leave, they serve dumplings to symbolize a safe trip and separation.
After eating so much food, my host sister and I went for a walk to help digest all the contents of our meal. We walked for an hour and she showed me around her neighborhood.
On the second night of homestay, there was a mix up with Morgan’s host family. They were unavailable for the first night of homestay. Morgan’s host brother and my host sister are friends so we all met up for dinner. We went to the mall and had traditional Shandong cuisine, which included kidney. We all tried it but I did not like the consistency and could not eat a lot of it. The rest of the dinner was familiar and every dish was delicious. Afterwards, we went and got dessert (also at the mall). Due to some circumstances, Morgan had to stay with my host family for the night.
Throughout the homestay, I kept meeting new people and they were all very friendly. I met my host sister’s older aunt’s daughter who works as a nurse helping in delivering babies. She was very shy and quiet but then again, we couldn’t really communicate with each other. Then I met my host family’s friend’s son who is a middle school student. When I first met him, he was very shy and didn’t talk to me much even though his parents wanted him to practice his English with me. We ended up WeChatting each other in the same room and he felt more comfortable with that form of communication.
By the end of the homestay, I felt like I had met everyone in their family. After that experience, it made me realize how different home cooked meal is compared to the street food or the cafeterias. At the end of the week, I was grateful for the family inviting me into their homes and allowing me to experience what it’s like to be in a Chinese home. I got to witness just how close my host family was and how every dinner was an occasion to hang out and be with family. The closeness of the members was very evident and it made me miss my own family. Nevertheless, it was a great experience and I’m grateful to have been able to be a part of it.