A big part of the Peace Corps goals and expectations for its volunteers is that we establish good guanxi, or relationships, with Chinese people, starting with our host families.  They are meant to be the support system we would normally get from our family in the US.  The goal is cross-cultural exchange: we teach them English and American culture and they teach us Mandarin and Chinese culture.  I am striving to do my best to establish good relationships with my host family.  As it’s only been a few days it is still kind of awkward with the language barrier, but we can communicate the important things through isolated words, poor grammar, and gestures/charades.  It definitely pushes me to be creative in my communication!  Their English level is maybe just a little bit better than my Chinese level.  My problem is that I can’t always remember Chinese words just after hearing them. I need to hear it several times, say it several times, see it and write several times.  Many times they ask me a question like, “Do you like?,” “Did you sleep well?,” “ Do you want?”  Even though I have heard those questions several times by now I often stare back at them with a blank look, and then they say it in broken English. Good thing they are really patient! It's also nice to see that they are trying to learn English, too. We are in the same boat. I think it would be harder if they had no interest in learning English.

I try to also be patient with myself and keep a sense of humor, which is easy for me, as you may know.  I enjoy joining them in their evening walks around the neighborhood and observing all the people walking around.  I’m not used to that, because in Ventura everyone is pretty much in their homes in the evening except for a few people out walking their dogs or exercising.  But here it’s so hot that the whole community takes to the streets to walk and chat.  That is kind of nice. I have always wanted to live in a place like that, and to know my neighbors.  One night we walked to a little shop to get a house key made for me, and while the guy was carving it, I talked with some young kids who are learning English. I taught gave them high fives, which they loved, and taught them to say “what’s up” which I am not sure that they understood!   I also watch Chinese TV with my host parents, and one night we watched Up with Chinese subtitles!  I have gone with my host dad to watch him fly his model airplanes with his buddies.  I really want to be a part of their routines and activities! I am hoping to learn mehjong which is a popular Chinese board game.  I also review what I learn in my Chinese lessons with them, and they help me with my pronunciation.  I think I am really lucky with my host family because some of the other volunteers live with families that are less patient or less understanding of personal space. My host parents don’t seem to mind that I spend hours on my computer, on Skype or reading materials for my Peace Corps training sessions.  My host dad is really funny and he loves American culture. He loves the movie Kung Fu Panda, Celine Dion, and KFC.  The other day he demonstrated to me the difference between the way Chinese and Americans eat: the Chinese people shovel their food and make a lot of noise slurping their noodles. But Americans will take a bite, put their fork down to say something, wipe their mouths, and then take another bite.  It was really funny to see him do impressions of both groups!