During the Dragon Boat holiday in June, the HNC participated in Nanjing’s annual dragon boat race and held the annual end of the year barbecue at the HNC. Levi Johnson, one of the members of the student committee (
banwei), was instrumental in organizing the barbecue and also participated on the cheer team for the dragon boat festival. For this post, I have asked Levi share his memories from the photos of the Dragon Boat Festival weekend.
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| The Dragon Boat team competing in their festival race |
Levi: First what comes to mind when I look at this photo from the race is teamwork and the team spirit of the HNC that was represented by the group. I see the preparation they put into that day. I see the workouts we had together, I see the sweat, the breakfast, the team meetings, the 油条 and pancakes, and I see the leadership of Mykael and Maguire. Most of all, I see the pride of representing the HNC.
I remember the excitement of watching the team give their utmost effort to win those races and their excitement afterwards. They encouraged each other. I see a particular story of one member who got hit in the face with a fish during the race. I remember Jake teaching the team how to row a paddle. Most people looked at him like it was obvious, but then realized how difficult it was in actual practice. By the time the race came, we had perfected it.
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| The cheer team performing at the barbecue |
Levi: I remember the first time we got together to discuss this dance and how many initial ideas were tossed out. At the time, I remember kind of doubting myself. How in the world will this come together to be anything productive? How will we put something together that is beautiful to listen to and watch? There were so many different ideas, songs, and directions. I reflect on the importance of Taylor and Nathan in leading the way—Nathan put together the music by taking all the ideas and each person’s particular song interests and mixed them together. Every song was intended to solo out different people, so we would all have our moments to shine. He did a really good job of putting it together with Taylor. Taylor is an amazing dance teacher and encouraged us all to be ourselves and telling us it’s okay to mess up. She always said, “If you mess up, don’t worry. You just made your own solo.” She gave her utmost effort and was always so positive in helping us learn the routine.
I see a lot of teamwork, again. I remember the excitement of performing together. Everyone had their own flavor and their unique style of dance. None of us really had much dance experience at all, except for Taylor, and she really gave us confidence to perform well in a short time and to represent the HNC to our best ability.
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| End of the year barbecue |
Levi: There was a great amount of preparation and hard put into the end-of-the-year barbecue by the four of us on the student committee (
banwei) who planned the event. I’m also thankful for the administration’s help particularly in organizing it all. A lot of good conversations about the semester and plans for the summer were had over good food and good music. I feel professors and students alike enjoyed the break amidst pre-finals. It was time to relax and catch up and look forward to the summer and each of our coming plans.
The burgers and hot dogs, grilled by the grill masters, provided an experience in taste that is not natural to China but very familiar to many international students. I believe overall it provided insight into the American barbecue experience to our Chinese classmates. I felt, for a little while, that I was in America with the smell of the charcoal on the grill and the feeling of summertime. We sat on the grass and listed to the band while others were played Frisbee on the lawn. It truly was a perfect way to cap off the Dragon Boat Festival weekend. It was great to see both Chinese and American students having a good time over delicious food.
Written by Tarela Osuobeni, Certificate '17
