Chinese Friends

I met Zoe, a senior who seem around our age, and Lang, a husband who had one daughter.  Zoe seemed to understand English easier than Lang and she would often talk to him in Chinese to help with the confusion, but Lang would constantly look up words on his phone.  Zoe told us that there was no activities like sports, theatre, or any after school activities, she said that at her school they would start class at 6:30 and end around 5, they would then have a break where they would go home and have dinner and come back to school to study until 10.  She said that she would have loved to have gone to school here where she could have free time and have a dedicated hobby.  I told her about being in theatre and that I have been part of 5 shows, soon to be 6 and she was amazed by that.  I also talked to her about my family, and how I love reading, which she too loved.  Lang however did not talk a lot. We tried to show them around the majority of the school and they seemed to be interested in band, choir, orchestra, and theatre.  For choir I showed them our robes and our practice rooms and Honeycutt was in the room to show them the orchestra room, in which they plucked some of the cello strings.  In the theater, I showed them the classroom, the view of the stage from the audience, the workshop, the loft, and a view from backstage.  Zoe seemed really interested in this and started asking me if she could see the show when it is done.  She was amazed when I showed them the new theater being built. They asked a lot of questions about what happens after school, in which I told them that some people stay and practice for sports or other activities, and they were surprised that people could just leave once school was done. I already knew how hard the school system is in China but meeting someone who had to go through that process just made it seem more realistic.  If we had more time I would have loved to show them the library and the science classrooms.  I would have enjoyed hearing about more of a life in China and the types of architecture and popular nature parts of the country.