OWEN Blog, April 10

Daniel and I are living in a homestay on this trip. Our house has two floors, and we sleep on two separate beds in one room on the second floor. Our host family consists of a host dad, brother, grandmother, and grandfather. We communicate mostly with our host dad and brother, since it’s hard to understand our host grandparent’s dialect.

We got to know our host brother pretty early on in the trip. He is in his last year of college, known here as “da si.” Apparently, seniors in college here are completely set free to do whatever they want, so even though school is still going on right now, our host brother decided to return to his home and plays video games and scrolls tiktok (“dou yin”) the whole day. From the outside, it may seem like he is lazy, but once you get to know him, you realize that he doesn’t really have a choice.

He is a CS major and the main language he codes in is java. The issue in China is the pure amount of people and competition for the limited number of job openings. It’s very similar to the CS job market in the US, but from what I hear talking to people in China, the competition is a lot worse. Our host brother has not been spared, and it is close to impossible for him to find a job; without this opportunity, he doesn’t have much to do after college other than just stay at home.

Our host brother showed us the code editor he uses to code: “Trae CN.” Something Daniel and I found super interesting was the fact that the editor had a built-in AI model specifically for coding. Our brother demonstrated the feature for us, prompting the AI to code up the snake game in python. It was amazing to see the program work on the first try and create a fully functional game, even if it was not very pretty. Another thing our host brother told us was that they needed to pay a lot of money for access to these code editors, unlike the US where programs like VS code and Thonny are completely free. Our brother kind of regrets learning java and wishes he tried python, since it is better geared towards AI, which he believes is a massive part of the future.

We got to know our host dad a little later into the trip. He likes to invite us to have tea after dinner or after we finish showering. He is extremely caring towards us and often goes out of his way to go to the small town nearby to buy food he thinks we like. His wife is working away from the house in a bigger city, so we have not met her. I don’t think our host dad fully understands the idea of GSL and why we are here, but talking to him, he believes in the importance of new experience and stepping out of your comfort zone, as it makes you a better-rounded person. He also believes in working hard, as it’s the only way to get where you want. However, it does have its limits in China, due to the fierce competition. 

Our host dad shared how our host brother was often ranked number one and two in his classes in school but is still struggling in this job market. Our host dad shared how when he was a child, farming was still a relatively good method to make money, but now, making money is all about using our brain. Right now, our host brother is learning how to drive and will possibly join the military in the near future.

I’m very thankful to my host family for being so generous and hosting Daniel and me, and I hope to continue getting to know them and conversing with them.