‘Let’s write down a typical day at high school,’ I said. We sat down and recollected every montage in high school. We wowed simultaneously when we exchanged our papers: ‘your life was so different from mine!’ Here are some highlights.
- I only went home at the weekends as I studied in a boarding school while Kevin commuted by bike every day.
- My school day usually began at 6.20, one hour earlier than Kevin’s.
- At 7:20 while Kevin was enjoying breakfast and shower, I was busy with the leftover homework and then the morning reading in a crowded classroom.
- During the break in the morning, Kevin usually chatted with friend while I had to do some wonderful radio gymnastic exercises with other 2000 students.
- His lunch time was about sandwich while mine was filled with a warm meal and a nap.
- He played computer games in his free time in the afternoon until dinner at 18:00. After my classes over at 17:00, I would do sports, have dinner, and wash clothes by hand in 2 hours before the night study at 19:00.
- The lights-out system in the dormitory required me to make everything done before 23:00, then I went to sleep in a 10-men room.
Later I asked two more Dutch housemates to share their high school life. They told me there’s no typical high school day since ‘every day was different’. But in general they had more free time; sport training, part-time work, or watching TV, their night life seemed more colorful. But none of them talked about study at night, when I was usually buried in piles of homework. It’s funny to them get shocked by my "militarized" school life. It’s far more hilarious than they thought. Maybe one day I should be the bridge and send the Dutch kids to China to experience it. Vid of the week: Maybe it’s time for Chinese to have such a kind of program too.