We arrived at the school at almost exactly 9 AM. The car pulled up to a lot in the campus of the school, and there were already many students, ranging from 12 to 17 waiting outside for me to arrive. I should probably mention that the vast majority of these people had never seen, much less had the opportunity to speak to a foreigner before. As I got out of the car, the teacher told me that I should go up to them and attempt to communicate. I approached a small group of students, who were all visibly shy and nervous, and said good morning. Before they had a real chance to reply or engage in dialogue, a girl comes running and screaming across the lawn. She runs right up to me and shouts “Hello!” I respond only “Hi, good morning.” She immediately shouts back “I really like you!” I said “Wow! I really like you too!? --- How old are you?” “Uh, Uh, 十四um, uh fourteen!” I smile and complement her on her English and her courage to come and talk to me. No sooner, I am whisked away into the school and brought to the room where I will give my lecture.Following the teachers and administers, I navigate through the wide hallways and up four flights of stairs on the way to the room, all the way I am tailed by a sea of eager dark haired pupils chatting nervously and excitedly. I turned around a few times on the way just to smile and admire my shy audience.
This classroom was bigger than the one the night before and more and more students were packed in. I think, realistically, closer to 250 people overfilled the space. The seats were quickly occupied and only standing room remained, but was soon also taken up. I began my lecture talking about and showing pictures of my hometown, Akron ---I call this my hometown when I am away from Ohio, because North Georgetown just doesn’t seem to cut it---. It soon became apparent that I was not going to be able to speak above this large crowd without the help of a microphone. So, the speaker system was set up and I was handed a mic.
It took about 20 minutes to tell about my home but then I encouraged students to ask me questions again. Since this was a new group of students, some of the questions were the same, but I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with the wonderful questions that these students asked. My favorite this time, was a student asked me about the political relationship between China and the US. Being right up my alley, I was overjoyed at this question… However, I was careful to answer it in the least political manner and still be honest at the same time. I said “that for the benefit of China and America, as well as the rest of the world, it is best for our two countries to engage in a friendly relationship of mutual respect and transparent engagement.” This statement of course had to be translated. Although, this could definitely be a sugarcoated answer from me, it still reflects my ideas and still seemed to placate the teachers and officials that were listening.
After the first round of questions, I talked a bit about the major holidays in America: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and the Fourth of July. I talked about the origins, the tradition celebrations and then my own personal celebrations. This also took up about 20- 30 minutes and was followed by a shorter round of questions. Then I concluded by talking about my lifestyle as a high school student in America. The students and teachers were surprised and shocked by this. In China, the students’ sole purpose is to study. There is no chance for the students to participate in sports or extracurricular activities, much less have a part time job. Students are at school from 7 AM to about 7 PM and often study until 11 PM in order to complete all of their assignments.
After about two and a half hours of talking, I had become quite tired and I think this became apparent to the teachers who said that we would wrap up there. However, it was not really over. When the students were dismissed, some came up to ask if they could take a picture with me. Others asked me to sign my name and leave them an inspirational message. When the rest of the students saw this happening, they immediately thought it was a great idea, so for the next 20 minutes, I signed innumerably autographs and posed for countless pictures. Being foreign in China, especially rural China, is a strange kind of celebrity. My only claim to fame is that I am different: White. To my credit, however, I do have a heroic beard and a shiny bald head which makes me that much more interesting to look at.
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