Saturday, May 29
Today is graduation day for Tommy, an exchange student from China who is staying with Pastor and his wife. He is 17 and speaks good English, having been totally immersed in it since last August. He is also a very interesting character. An only child, he lives with his parents in an apartment. A couple of things indicate a stark difference between China and the USA.
One is that Tommy had made a password for Pastor's computer with the date 1945 in it and they could not figure out what that was for. Tommy said everyone knows this important date—it is when China defeated Japan in World War II. Um, his information is all wrong since China did not defeat the Japanese; they left China after the USA defeated them.
The other is that one time they were watching the Sound of Music. When the song "I am 16 going on 17" was shown, Tommy said, "Where did that come from?" In the Chinese version, it is completely cut out since 16 year old girls are not allowed to marry; in fact young people are not to marry before they are 23. Tommy said, "That explains why Liesle had wet hair in the next scene. I always wondered about that." He also said that the movie ended after the wedding. China did not show the rest of the movie about why the Von Trappes left Nazi Germany.
The local school gave him a Certificate of Completion so he could have the experience of graduating from an American School. Apparently there are no ceremonies for this accomplishment in China.
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