Update from Hunter

Staying with a new family is one of the most fun yet nerve wrecking things on the trip to China. 
There are so many factors involved; the food, the home, and especially the language barrier. It is hard to eat when you feel so full you may burst. When your homestay offers pineapple and sunflower seeds, you have to eat them. And when you ask the name of the fish that they have in the tank next to you, they might say it's name is "晚饭” which takes you about 5 minutes to realize that means dinner. But that is the fun part! 

It is so interesting to see a live so different than yours, and to experience a day through someone else's eyes. Because after the fish encounter, you can go see an ancient limestone cave and go to a very interesting restaurant that serves snails and ice cream on white bread. That is all part of the Chinese experience. 

Of the most difficult things, the language barrier probably takes the award. It is hard to not hear English for a day, and to be immersed in very quick, very advanced Mandarin. When you go out with your host and his friends, the Chinese is very fast and you can only pull out a few words. But in China, the friends talk to you in English, and give you the chance to practice your conversational Chinese. Everyone is so nice, and so friendly. 

When you go back to your homestay's apartment with his friends, they even want you to play poker with them. But if you are a little tired, it is ok to go to sleep. That is one of the easiest parts of the whole thing. With the jet lag, hours in planes and busses, and no stopping point, sleeping for the night comes very easy. 

And when you get homesick, or miss your friends and teachers very much, you realize you can always see them the next day at school. When this happened to me, I just asked myself, "When are you ever going to do what you are doing right now again?", and the feeling washes away.