其实她们经常会聊这样的话题，因为她俩都有相似的经历，特别是她们都上过中国学校！So it is indeed really fun to talk about it. Many foreigners in China have had this experience.
They both attended a Chinese school. Maelle started from kindergarten all the way to 5th grade (从幼儿园一直到五年级). Selah attended Chinese kindergarten and then attended primary school (小学) for 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade (从幼儿园一直到三年级).
（梅莉和她的双胞胎妹妹）
01. Unique experiences
Selah said “the first time I felt different is when I realized that I was the only one in the whole school that looked like me (全校没有一个人长得像我一样), and kids used to call me a 芭比娃娃.” (Because Selah has blond hair.)
（小时候的Selah）
“But I realized when it came to things that holidays and all. Christmas was a big deal for my family. If it happened to be in the middle of the week we would often skip school to celebrate as a family (如果它碰巧是在周中，我们经常会不去学校，然后全家庆祝圣诞节).” “当时我们中国学校的同学都不怎么会特别庆祝这个节日，但是过年的时候当然就不一样了！”
02. Interesting stories on campus 校园趣事
(1) Distinctive appearance 与众不同的外貌
Selah问梅莉：“你还记得第一次上学的时候发生了什么吗？”
Maelle: “The first time I was in Chinese school I do not remember because I was very young, but I remember some of my classmates would touch my hair because it was different, or even ask me to give them a strand of hair because they thought it was gold (有一些同学甚至会问我要一根头发，因为他们以为是金子) haha!”
Selah: “Me too! They actually did that exact same thing to me, and they would use my hair as bookmarks (书签)… but they would lose it so I would always have to get new ones for them (给他们一根新的), haha! Especailly for other little girls, they would touch my eyelashes (眼睫毛) too, and say that it looked like a horse!”
(2) Cultural differences文化差异
Maelle thinks one of the most memorable parts of school in China was some cultural differences she encountered (她遇到的文化差异).
“我们小时候掉牙的时候会把掉的牙齿放在枕头下面，然后会得到钱，当然那是爸爸妈妈给我们的，但是我们不知道。我们以为是tooth fairy（牙仙子：传说中如果儿童把脱落的牙齿放在枕下，牙仙子会在他们睡着时把牙齿取走，留下硬币）。”
Selah: “This is the same for Christmas, as we did Santa and Christmas gifts (我们做了圣诞老人和圣诞礼物), but other Chinese kids did not celebrate this. I had to learn that just because something was normal for me, does not mean it was for them (对我来说习以为常的事，并不意味着对他们也是)!”
(3) “We're all the same (其实我们都一样).”
Selah: “I learned everything with the other Chinese children though, like 古诗 and regular (常规的) 语文课 so my teachers loved hearing me 背古诗 because it was so different for them.”
这些对于梅莉来说是a core memory（一段核心记忆）！She remembers learning pinyin, and the Chinese characters with all of her Chinese friends at school. “很小的时候我们就和我们的中国同学一起学拼音，怎么写字，不同的偏旁等等。这真的很有趣。当时我特别地喜欢语文课，小时候我没有怎么去想我是外国人，像Selah说的一样我们都是小孩。”
Selah: “In fact, the teachers always used to laugh, because I would eat more food than all the other kids at lunch (我午餐要比其他孩子吃得多). 我小时候非常喜欢吃鸡爪 and would eat it off my friends' plates (还会吃我朋友们盘子里的). My teachers thought it was so funny! That is hilarious (太搞笑了)!”
See you next time！
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