My First Observations

My first blog post! At this point I have been living in China for just under two weeks. I moved to this small city in China (that’s in Chinese terms, it has a population of 1.6 million) from a small city in New York State (that’s in American terms, it has a population of about 24 thousand). This small difference brings me to the topic of this wonderful first post, the differences I have observed between China and America.

As you read this I want you to know that I do love it here, I enjoy the excitement of trying to figure out things and learning how to get around in my new city. Without a doubt choosing to come here is one of the best decision I have ever made. So although some of these observations may show some of my distaste for the Chinese way of doing certain things, it is no more different than my distaste for the way certain things are done in America.

These are just a start, I’ll post more in a few days! With more pictures!

1. You Want to Know What I think? Wait, I Haven’t Thought Yet

Despite my many travels to places near and far I have never moved to a truly new place. Born and raised in the same small city in NY the first time I moved was when I went to college. Even then my college was only two hours from home and more similar to my area than different. I consider moving to China my first real move. It is the first time I have to challenge the way I think and do things. I can’t imagine a place more different than NY.

So it was with this constant bombardment of new information that I navigated these first two weeks of life in China. As my friends and family kept asking me about my experiences I found myself unsure how to explain them. It was as if I couldn’t process what I was seeing and experiencing. I’m going to chalk that up to jet lag, but now that I’m over it I can finally process what I’ve been experiencing.

2. Why is the Sky Blue? Oh Wait, It’s not.

Growing up in the Hudson Valley and going to College in the Berkshires, I never put much thought into the color of my sky. Except perhaps when enjoying a colorful sunset and in 7^th grade when I learned scientifically why the sky was blue. One can say my circumstance blessed me with a beautiful sky that I took for granted. Although I did definitely notice when it wasn’t blue; the dark sky before a storm, the white-ish grey color that meant snow was on its way. The one thing that I did know was that a lack of blue in the sky generally meant get prepared for some precipitation.

For never paying much attention to the beauty of a blue sky, I found myself quite surprised that the first thing I noticed upon walking out side for the first time was the color of the sky. It was a white-ish color that I don’t believe I had ever seen back home. A friend and I mistakenly took it to mean precipitation was on its way. After a few days we figured out the color came from something else. At first it wasn’t so bad just different like so many other things we encountered. However I must say that first day of blue sky that we saw was amazing! I hadn’t even realized I missed it until I looked out my window and saw a beautiful blue sky. As excited as we were others warned us not to get used to it and just as quickly as it showed its self it disappeared behind the white haze. Now I just wait for another glimpse of its beauty.

3. Sanitary, What’s That? – Eating Street Food

Having been offered wonderful opportunities for travel throughout my college career I’ve been to many different countries. From the Middle East to Europe and south to the Caribbean, I’ve been many places.  Before traveling I always to a fair share of research (my friends might say I go a little over board) but it’s this research that keeps me sane while traveling. It wasn’t until I arrived in my new Chinese city that I realized travel books are written more for people who are traveling through places, not planning on living there for a year. I find myself constantly at odds with what the travel books say. All the expats that live in my building love street food and eat it often. Yet all the travel books told me to stay away.

It is with this internal struggle with what the right/safe/healthy thing is to do that I experience street food. In my experience it always looks and smells very good. Yet the area where these carts are set up generally are not the cleanest. Streets in my small Chinese city are covered in garbage and there are generally piles next to the street cart where they through their waste. The food is always prepared by someone who wears no gloves or cap to keep their hair back and use utensils that have touched everything they have in the cart.

Most the time as I’m ordering it I wonder if I should actually eat it, but I do and to my luck and surprise I have yet to be ill in this strange place. So for now I continue to venture to the street food carts and play charades until they understand what I’m ordering.

4. You Want Me to Pee Where?!?

As I’ve mentioned before and I’m sure I will mention again I have had the opportunity to do some traveling, one of the first differences I’ve always noticed when traveling to a different country is that country’s bathroom amenities. They’re never quite the same as home but most of them are similar. My first experience with a toilet that I didn’t know what to do with came in France when my tour group stopped at a rest-stop along the highway. In the bathroom I saw a stall sign that had a toilet on it and next to it what I thought was a shower. An older woman I was traveling with kindly pointed out to me that it wasn’t a shower at all, it was really a squatty potty. I learned that while I’m not a big fan of the “golden arches” in America, McDonalds abroad means one thing; American style bathrooms.

A friend of mine warned me of the prevalence of squatty potties in China after his trip to Beijing this past June. However in my naïve state I assumed I would be able to find American style bathrooms by going to American chain restaurants. Boy was I wrong, in my two weeks being here (and I’ve been searching) I have only seen one American style toilet outside the building I’m living in and was told of two more. To my horror the McDonald’s golden arches have let me down.

5. Yes, I’m Foreign. Hello to You Too!

I tried to prepare myself as much as I could for my move abroad. I read books, studied basic Mandarin, even spoke with people who had done the same program before me. I learned a lot, particularly from meeting with program Alumni (thanks again for all your help!). I was told numerous times by many sources that everyone will want to say hello to me.  An alum of the program compared it to the way people often moo at cows as they pass by; everyone in China who can, will say hello as we pass by.

Its true, I’m said hello to probably twenty times a day as I walk around outside. I never realized how many different ways hello can be pronounced. Sometimes I’m not even sure they are saying hello but they generally follow it up with ni hao (mandarin for hello). Perhaps in the future I’ll begin to find this annoying, but right now as I wonder the streets repeating to myself the new Mandarin words I have learned, I find the hellos very comforting.