In China there are good days and what many expats have coined “China days” which means days that you really feel the challenges of living in China. I feel lucky that I have had mostly good days and not very many China days. There are so many funny experiences you have when you are in a place that is culturally, geographically, and linguistically foreign. Simple things or tasks can turn into hilarious, or frustrating depending on your outlook, experiences that bring to mind the famous line from Wizard of Oz, “Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore.”
While I am making great efforts to learn Mandarin, I can still only speak a handful of words and can tell a taxi how to get me home or turn left, turn right, go straight, etc. but I cannot read any characters aside from the one for yuan the currency because I have seen it so many times. So basically I go through my daily activities not having any idea what anything around me says which can be quite funny. Luckily people here are helpful and it is amazing what you can accomplish with gestures and pointing, and calculators to talk about prices. But there are moments when you really feel the language barrier. I’ll give examples to illustrate.
There is a small mall a couple of blocks from my apartment that has a grocery store, as well as clothing stores, shoe stores, a restaurant and a tea shop. One day on my way to the grocery store I thought, I’ll buy some tea! That sounds like a good idea. I had about an hour before I had to head back home to get ready for class that evening. I pointed to some tea and the shop girl sweetly said to me in English, “tea”. I nodded in understanding that yes, I knew it was tea and I did want to buy it. But instead of packaging it up for me she proceeded to brew the tea and serve me an elaborate tea ceremony. Oops! It was very nice actually and it allowed me to take some time and slow down and enjoy the flavor of the tea. Then the shop girl and I had a funny two language conversation where she said something in Mandarin and I responded in English and we went back and forth for awhile while we sipped our tea. I don’t have any idea what she was saying and I don’t think that she knew what I was saying either but in the end it didn’t matter too much. After about 25 minutes I really did have to go and I asked how much I owed. She was very sweet and did not charge me for the tea. She and the other girls were so surprised to see me and maybe they sensed that I had not realized what I was “buying”. I left chuckling to myself but glad that it had happened anyway.
Another funny thing I have realized is that certain things I thought were universal are really not universal. When asking how much something was, I repeatedly had people use their hands in what looked like a hang loose surfer sign with pinky and thumb extended and all the other fingers closed. It has taken me awhile to figure out that this means seven here. After the number five, the Chinese gestures for numbers differ from ours. Who knew? Thankfully almost all vendors here have calculators that you can use for bartering purposes.
I am also getting used to seeing the little kids in pants that split up the middle (no zipper or anything just open) who stop and pee wherever they are. Forget diapers – who needs them when you can just squat wherever you are and go? Ah well, less waste in the landfills right? For this and other reasons, you basically just don’t touch or set anything on the ground.
Another huge difference here is people’s relationship to food and animals. Chicken feet is a popular dish and the other day at a little mini grocery, I saw pre-packaged chicken feet for easy snacking. Forget slim jims – this is more natural and fiber filled snack ; ) This actually reminds me of another funny experience! I woke up one morning to the sound of roosters crowing and they sounded really close! Now keep in mind that I live in the middle of a very large apartment complex with maybe 30-40, 12-story apartment buildings. It is not rural by any means. I was quite cranky because I was still trying to sleep. I work evenings sometimes until 9 pm and so I go to bed late and get up late as well. I finally decided to get up and shower but the crowing continued. When I left my apartment I had a laugh because there were two roosters on my next-door neighbors’ ground level patio. I thought to myself – I hope that doesn’t last long and by the next morning they were gone. So either they were dinner or they were given to someone else but I have a feeling it was probably the former.
When these kinds of things happen happen, unless I am cranky or tired, I usually just laugh to or at myself and the situation because that is the best thing to do. Still I do find it surprising that after having been here two months I still feel like sometimes I have no idea what I am doing. I wonder when I go back home though if I will have gotten so used to the differences here that it will feel strange in the good ole USA? Hmm, we will see.
While I am making great efforts to learn Mandarin, I can still only speak a handful of words and can tell a taxi how to get me home or turn left, turn right, go straight, etc. but I cannot read any characters aside from the one for yuan the currency because I have seen it so many times. So basically I go through my daily activities not having any idea what anything around me says which can be quite funny. Luckily people here are helpful and it is amazing what you can accomplish with gestures and pointing, and calculators to talk about prices. But there are moments when you really feel the language barrier. I’ll give examples to illustrate.
There is a small mall a couple of blocks from my apartment that has a grocery store, as well as clothing stores, shoe stores, a restaurant and a tea shop. One day on my way to the grocery store I thought, I’ll buy some tea! That sounds like a good idea. I had about an hour before I had to head back home to get ready for class that evening. I pointed to some tea and the shop girl sweetly said to me in English, “tea”. I nodded in understanding that yes, I knew it was tea and I did want to buy it. But instead of packaging it up for me she proceeded to brew the tea and serve me an elaborate tea ceremony. Oops! It was very nice actually and it allowed me to take some time and slow down and enjoy the flavor of the tea. Then the shop girl and I had a funny two language conversation where she said something in Mandarin and I responded in English and we went back and forth for awhile while we sipped our tea. I don’t have any idea what she was saying and I don’t think that she knew what I was saying either but in the end it didn’t matter too much. After about 25 minutes I really did have to go and I asked how much I owed. She was very sweet and did not charge me for the tea. She and the other girls were so surprised to see me and maybe they sensed that I had not realized what I was “buying”. I left chuckling to myself but glad that it had happened anyway.
Another funny thing I have realized is that certain things I thought were universal are really not universal. When asking how much something was, I repeatedly had people use their hands in what looked like a hang loose surfer sign with pinky and thumb extended and all the other fingers closed. It has taken me awhile to figure out that this means seven here. After the number five, the Chinese gestures for numbers differ from ours. Who knew? Thankfully almost all vendors here have calculators that you can use for bartering purposes.
I am also getting used to seeing the little kids in pants that split up the middle (no zipper or anything just open) who stop and pee wherever they are. Forget diapers – who needs them when you can just squat wherever you are and go? Ah well, less waste in the landfills right? For this and other reasons, you basically just don’t touch or set anything on the ground.
Another huge difference here is people’s relationship to food and animals. Chicken feet is a popular dish and the other day at a little mini grocery, I saw pre-packaged chicken feet for easy snacking. Forget slim jims – this is more natural and fiber filled snack ; ) This actually reminds me of another funny experience! I woke up one morning to the sound of roosters crowing and they sounded really close! Now keep in mind that I live in the middle of a very large apartment complex with maybe 30-40, 12-story apartment buildings. It is not rural by any means. I was quite cranky because I was still trying to sleep. I work evenings sometimes until 9 pm and so I go to bed late and get up late as well. I finally decided to get up and shower but the crowing continued. When I left my apartment I had a laugh because there were two roosters on my next-door neighbors’ ground level patio. I thought to myself – I hope that doesn’t last long and by the next morning they were gone. So either they were dinner or they were given to someone else but I have a feeling it was probably the former.
When these kinds of things happen happen, unless I am cranky or tired, I usually just laugh to or at myself and the situation because that is the best thing to do. Still I do find it surprising that after having been here two months I still feel like sometimes I have no idea what I am doing. I wonder when I go back home though if I will have gotten so used to the differences here that it will feel strange in the good ole USA? Hmm, we will see.