Alisa was a participant on the 2016 NSLI-Y Chinese Summer program in Zhuhai, China. She is currently a NSLI-Y Alumni Representative and will be participating in the NSLI-Y Chinese Academic Year program in Kaohsiung, Taiwan this year.
冬天的时候我（有一点开玩笑的）问了我妈妈我能春假去中国吗。我的朋友们想去佛罗里达和波多黎各，请了我跟他们，但是我对这些地方没感兴趣。我妈妈，令我吃惊，说应该可以。我爸爸也说过我应该去看我的奶奶应为他八十多岁了，我差不多八年都没看见他了。所以我们定了我春假会去深圳!
我学中文的时候常常记得因为我家是中国人我多幸运。这样，我就能春假回中国！我在深圳跟我小叔带了两个星期。从深圳到珠海子要做一个小时的船，所以我去了珠海看我的寄宿家庭，老师们，和语言伙伴。
我一到珠海就觉得跟以前不一样。身在的Alisa觉得这个天气可太热了，但是上个夏天的Alisa会觉得这春天的天气还太凉了。我跟我小叔走到我寄宿家庭的家看到了一个星的酒店！我没在珠海的时候做了一个星的酒店！这可真疯。我阿姨做的饭还是非常好吃。我的叔叔还是警察，但是阿姨现在有工作了。我妹妹现在学习身在更紧张，明年得靠高考了。我特别想他们，在他们家吃饭，聊天，和睡觉像个梦想一样。洗澡，刷牙，跟妹妹聊，都像以前一样，但是这起还是有一些区别。几乎是一样的，但是我夏天在这里住跟我来看他们查九个月。
我中饭去了北师大珠海分校吃饭了。学校看着一样，但是现在我不是这里的学生。在我以前的教室里看有一些中国学生上课呢。我从窗外看了看，里面的老师看见我了，我不好意思的走了。
跟老师们和语言伙伴吃饭的时候发现我两个老师和亨利的语言伙伴都毕业了！他们下个学期会去英国学研究所，去深圳打工，和在中国学研究所。我们聊天聊的可开心了，但是老师们两点得走因为是坐火车过来的。我小叔请我们喝 Comebuy。我们分手的时候喝着奶茶，就像夏天一样。
Back in the winter, I (jokingly) asked my mom if I could go to China for spring break. My friends had invited me to go to Florida or Puerto Rico with them, but I didn’t really want to go to either. My mom, to my surprise, said I should be able to. My dad also said that I should go visit my grandma because she’s almost 87 and I haven’t seen her in 8 years. So it was settled, I would go to Shenzhen to visit family for spring break!
I often find myself remembering how lucky I am to be studying Chinese as a Chinese American. Because of this, I got to go to China during spring break! In Shenzhen I stayed with my uncle for two weeks, and since it’s just an hour-long boat ride to Zhuhai, I went to visit my host family, teachers, and language partners.
When I got to Zhuhai the city felt different. Present-me thought the weather was extremely hot, something Zhuhai-me would have laughed at. While my uncle and I were walking to my old host home I saw that there was a brand new hotel, right outside my old apartment compound. During the months I was gone, an entire hotel was built!
That’s crazy. My host mom’s cooking is still absolutely delicious, and I would eat lunch with my teachers and language partners the next day. My host dad was still a police, but now my host mom had a job. My host sister, Starry, was insanely busy with schoolwork as she’s taking the GaoKao next year, but we still got to hang out. I missed them all so terribly, so being in their home was like a dream. It almost felt the same, but there was still a nine-month gap between when I last saw them and now.
For lunch the next day I went to BNUZ to meet with my teachers and language partners. Everything looked the same, but the odd feeling that I felt in my host home followed me. I guess the continuation of everything, after I left, felt strange; now I was practically a tourist, rather than a student. And even though the city will always be a part of me, things would still feel different than they used to. I went to my old classroom and watched the lesson from the window for awhile. The teacher saw me which was a little embarrassing, and it was time for lunch, so I left.
While we were chatting I learned that both my teachers and Henry’s language partner had graduated! Next fall they will be in graduate school in England, teaching in Shenzhen, and in graduate school in China. Since they had already graduated, they rode trains into Zhuhai to have lunch, and had to leave at 2. We all got Comebuy, a popular bubble tea chain that has a store on campus. Me, Henry, and Paige used to go there every chance we got. As we said our goodbyes, Comebuy in hand, it almost felt like the summer again.
Here is a video Alisa made from her summer program in Zhuhai: