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Isabella Shary
Staff Writer
News
HOLIDAY 2014
An OCSA Globe Trotter
While juniors here
at OCSA will spend
the year learning the
history of America,
Samantha Good (IM)
is spending her junior
year abroad in China
learning about the
history of the country
she will call home for
the rest of the school
year.
Through School
Year Abroad (SYA), a
program that allows
high school students
to spend a year
away in a variety of
countries, Samantha
is experiencing a
completely different
lifestyle than the one
she has known for all
her 16 years.
Samantha, who is
attending school in
Beijing, China, lives
with a host family that consists of a
younger sister, Catherine; her host mother
"who doesn't speak
any English, so [they]
communicate in an
odd mixture of Chinese and hand gestures" with Samantha
sometimes having
to look things up on
her phone; and her
host dad, who has
picked up phrases
from American movies, quoting lines such
as "I'll be back" as he
Illustration by Julia Choi
departs for trips.
She commented on
the differing perspectives on school saying, “Here students
have a much better
attitude. Everyday
when I ask my [host]
sister how school was,
she says ‘Great!’ and
really means it."
Typical Chinese
fare at her house includes an assortment
of homemade plates
from her host mother
with a take-whatyou-want-and-put-itin-your-bowl type of
system. "I'll normally
have a bowl of white
rice, some type of
meat.... and some
type of vegetable,"
she said.
Her experiences
haven't been all
school and home
though. The first week
of October is National Day, a week-long
holiday in China,
similar to the 4th of
July. Samantha got
to go camping in the
mountains of rural
China with her host
family where they
spent several days in
Buddhist temples.
She has also received a bit of attention as an outsider:
"The first weekend I
was here, my dad
took me to Tiananmen Square. People
would stop me and
ask for pictures, and
once, a lady handed
me her baby so she
could take a picture
of me with him. Asian
babies are incredibly ke'ai (cute), so
I didn't mind too
much."
Is she missing anything from home?
A little bit, so she’s
bringing American
traditions with her in a
few places: She and
a few other American classmates are
planning a school
dance, since Chinese
students don't have
homecomings and
proms.
In general, though,
she said, "I've fallen
quickly and deeply in
love with China and
its rich history."