Just lately I've been in touch with one of my oldest friends through email - she lives in Shitai, Anhui, in China. I first met her when I was about six, when my parents sent me to school in China for three weeks. Although I moved to the UK when I was three, by the age of six, my Chinese, especially my Mandarin, was already pretty poor. Nevertheless, I was sent to the local primary school where I was supposed to be treated like the average pupil. (That was the intention; it didn't quite happen.) The first morning was particularly frightening - I wasn't allowed into the school gates because I didn't have a "红领巾" - a red tie; the symbol for a good student. Anyway, one of the teachers came to pick me up from the gates and took me to what would be my classroom for the next three weeks. My form teacher was called 叶老师 - she was a really lovely person. I remember a couple of weeks on, I went with a few school friends to her house to tidy her garden for her. There was a music teacher who was horribly scary - she was about six months pregnant, and instead of shouting, she resorted to hitting the desk with a very loud bamboo cane. PE surprisingly a very fun lesson; we just sat outside and played games. Every morning I walked to school by myself, and came home at lunchtime, then went back to school in the afternoon. On the way, I'd quite often buy small snacks on the street. Seems quite weird to think that I had all that independence when I was only six in China. That definitely would not have happened for at least a few more years if I was in the UK!
I could go on, but basically, school in China was an amazing experience, and I'm actually quite surprised how much of it I can remember. So, the friend I was recently in contact with was the top student in the class that I joined. She was also the nicest! (About not being treated like an average pupil; many classmates tried to bribe me to be their friend, because I was from the UK, hence I was "cool". A group of classmates once followed me back to my house, which was really quite weird.) When I went back to China two years later, I met up with her again and it was awesome fun. Haha I contacted her not through email/telephone, but just by turning up at her door! I think it was pretty lucky that I could still remember how to get to her house, which was actually on the other side of town I think. Following that, it would be quite a few more years before I would see her again. That was four years ago I think, and it was only for about half a day. After then, we finally exchanged email addresses. However, by that time, school pressures meant that she had barely any time for anything but study. So now, we only send a couple of emails twice a year; once at Chinese New Year, and once at Mid-Autumn Festival. She is still a very high achiever in school, but that comes at a price of dedicating almost every second awake to study. I guess that's just the way the Chinese education system works.
Anyway, I really miss her. I can't wait for the Summer to come...
Also, apologies for noisy picture today; it was so dark in my room!
