Their apartments are comfortable, but like many homes in the city, do not have a backyard. Instead, they like to go to the local park to play!
During the week, both Anna and Michael need to focus on school and are not expected to do chores. However, on the weekend Anna likes to help her parents cook and clean. Michael also helps sweep the house but would prefer to eat his mom’s food and just do the dishes after.
Anna’s dad works as a factory mechanic while her mom works as a teacher at another school. Michael’s dad is an engineer at the local water plant while his mom works at a daycare.
Classes do not start until 8:30 am, but most students and teachers arrive by 8 am, with students in charge of cleaning their classrooms and sweeping the school grounds in the morning before their first period. Lunch and naptime is 12-1:30 pm, and on Wednesdays the whole school gets a half day. Unfortunately, the 5th graders like Anna and Michael and the 6th graders do not get the half day on Fridays. While the school day ends at 4 pm most other days, Anna and Michael like many of their classmates usually go to after-school homework help (安亲班 Ān qīn bān) or take extra English classes at “cram school” (补习班 bǔxí bān) from 4 pm until 6 pm or to as late as 8 pm. Exact timing for this depends on when their parents get out of work, but most students their age are enrolled in either a homework help/care center or cram school.
