Beijing Student Visit

The Students From Beijing

          I was sitting in my room one routine Thursday evening in February doing my math homework when my phone buzzed. I lazily reached down and flipped it over to read the text message my friend Brennan had sent me and my friend Chandler, "Guys we're hangin out with the Chinese bois." I had forgotten that a group of students from an elite school in Beijing were staying with some of my fellow classmates, and was immediately woken from my precalculus stupor. I had never truly interacted with teenagers from China before, and was enticed by the opportunity of experiencing a classic California night with a group of friends from the other side of the world. I met them after school on Friday and was astounded by the blatant similarities between our cultures. The more than 10,000 kilometers separating us seemed to dissolve and conversation immediately flowed. As we played basketball, ping pong and football in the humid Los Angeles air I nervously tested my Mandarin skills and was met with kind smiles of approval. As the activities slowly gripped our aching stomachs we decided on taking them out for a truly American tradition, barbecue. Sitting down to eat a massive pile of ribs, brisket, and mac and cheese, we effortlessly chatted about girls and the struggle of finding love. Daniel, one of the students that had arrived earlier that week gave a heartfelt expose on his romantic tendencies that made us all giddy with the warm feeling of a classic love story. Conversation slowed as we finished the last of the cornbread and began to sit back with bellies full of smoked delicacies and soda. Nearly comatose and dying of laughter we stumbled into an Uber headed for Griffith Observatory. As the food coma lifted away, my eyes were opened to not only the shimmering lights of Los Angeles, but also the shocking lack of time we could still share as a group. In the short while I had known these fantastic people, I had grown to feel for them as brothers. As we said out final goodbyes at the bottom of the hill, a pang of loss struck my chest. There were too many questions to ask in one night, too many jokes to tell. In the space left by my new Beijing friends, a raging fire was lit. These experiences are too valuable to miss. An announcement in morning meeting or a sentence in Mrs. Williams' bulletin doesn't do these encounters justice and taking these experiences for granted is a terrible injustice. The knowledge I gained from only five hours was immeasurable. While math class may teach you how to solve problems it doesn't teach students how to be understanding or how to be appreciative of cultural differences. Only through pure one on one interaction is this possible, and everyone should take part.

(Daniel pictured in a grey sweatshirt)