So after two months in the
Orient, I finally caved and decided to rejoin social networking, and of course,
start a blog about anything and everything that pops into my
head.
This is a blog dedicated to - at
the risk of sounding VERY cringe-worthy - carpe diem. At the age of 21 and
having just graduated from 3 years of easygoing, SATC-watching bliss I’ve
realised that there are quite a few exciting places to see and things to do
that mean becoming a ‘real person’ should wait a while. With little else to do
I decided to pack up shop and move from Sunny Suffolk to China for a year to
teach English. My new home for the year is Fuzhou – a coastal city and the
capital of Fujian Province, with a population of over 7 million people.
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| Me: pre-departure - feeling very excited/absolutely terrified |
If I were to describe my
experiences thus far in one word it would be... mindboggling. Before this visit
I had never been to Asia and boy is it different from anything I’ve seen
before! To be honest I don’t know where to begin, so I’ve compiled a list of
the top 10 culture-shock factors for me to get the blog ball rolling:
1. Trips to
toilet town: OK, so a man visiting China is fine and dandy like sour candy, but
unfortunately for a gal, life is a bit trickier on the toilet front (I’ve sure
found anyway). In China (and other areas of Asia I believe, but don’t really
know) the toilets consist of a porcelain bowl in the ground ready to be
squatted over – you must also remember to bring your own loo roll or you'll be sorry! When I first arrived I
was appalled and disgusted at this system, but after actually using the public
toilets here (though very infrequently I’ll admit) it’s actually fairly
liberating! Sort of like being one with nature, but not really as there’s still
a flush.
2. Visiting
the supermarkets: Wow. Just wow. Witnessing a rat scampering along the floor
near the fresh fruit and veg and the live fish in tanks taken and left to
suffocate in carrier bags while the customer pays have probably been the most
memorable moments of my visits to my local shop. I do miss Sainsbury’s a
little!
3. Celebrity
status: I’m pretty sure this is only really in Fuzhou and other less famous cities/towns
or rural areas (that is, non-tourist places), but as a foreigner you are a
celebrity; people staring, people taking photos, the whole shebang! I’m stared
at all day, everyday by everyone passing me by really. It boggles the mind that
most of the people staring have never seen - and may never again see - someone
in real life that wasn’t Asian. Boggles the mind I tell ya.
4. The
language: AMAZING. I absolutely love the Chinese language! I think it looks and
sounds so nice, and it is in no way as impossible to learn as people have made
out. In Fuzhou they mainly speak Mandarin, but there is a local dialect as well
– which is apparently incredibly hard to understand so perhaps I won’t bother
with that just yet. I have found living and working here in China has given me
an amazing opportunity to learn the language – being surrounded by it all day, everyday means you definitely need to pick it up! I have a few basics down in
speech, but reading and writing is another kettle of fish...
5. Rules of
the road: Well this one took a little while to get used to; the road safety –
or more accurately lack of – is INSANE. I’ve heard it’s different in other
cities, but here in Fuzhou, anything appears to go. Pedestrians walking blindly
into the road, scooters on the pavement, scooters going against the traffic,
cars on the pavement, buses packed LITERALLY like a tin of sardines with
passengers (horrible experience) – you see it all!
6. Rich as
Croesus: As I think everyone knows, value for money in China is very different
to home – with the bus journey always being 10 pence, a taxi ride being no more
than £1.50, a beer costing about £3.50 and a delicious meal being as cheap as
£3 – coming from the West you feel pretty rich! Though money is also quite
strange here too – like the ice coffee I get too many times a week costs around
£1.50. Great price compared to home, but normally more expensive than a taxi.
Bizarro.
7. Personal/public
hygiene: Now this one is a biggie for me. As much as I’ve already mentioned the
toilets, I’m sure you can imagine (though you may not want to) how disgusting
they can be... Though to be fair to China, I have been pleasantly surprised a
few times with how clean they are. Despite having bins (for normal and recyclable waste) every few feet, litter is abundant here. There’s also the issue of dog (though I
secretly suspect human) poo seemingly everywhere. Another fairly common sight is that of small children (maybe around 2 years old) dropping off
some timber in the street while their parents monitor.
8. Gobbing:
Semi-related to the above point, but so very, very disgusting I felt it
deserved its own section. Only really seen with older men and women but
absolutely REVOLTING. There you are, innocently walking along the street and
you hear someone around you spitting. You can barely walk a few feet down any
path without seeing spit on the ground. On the street, on a bus, in the
supermarket – there appears to be no etiquette as to where/when this disgusting
habit is acceptable. SO GROSS.
9. On the
town: Another interesting cultural observance is the way in which a big night
out (LOL) goes down here. There is a lot of drinking on the men’s side, but of
the Chinese women I know, only a few of them actually drink, or like going to
bars. China also has the ‘smoke anywhere you want’ policy (unlike the lovely UK
with our smoking ban), which, as a non-smoker, I find very annoying. I love the
bars here though and as I mentioned, a beer goes for around £3.50 a bottle and
a cocktail is around the same. Thus far I haven’t visited what we Westerners
would consider a club (with a proper dance floor and everything) – so I am
intrigued about that! Another note in this section is the KTV phenomena. KTV –
karaoke – is HUGE here. And I flippin’ love it!
10. FOOD,
GLORIOUS FOOD: last, but certainly not least, is the Chinese cuisine:
absolutely phenomenal! Real Chinese food totally wipes the floor with Chinese
take-away, I’ll tell you that for free! Not only hot food, but everything from
snacks to supermarket food is SO different here! Not that I’m getting bored of rice
and noodles at all and I’m really getting the hang of chopsticks now, but I am
starting to crave some home comforts – mainly a roast dinner omnomnom. Oh and
fish and chips, that would go down a treat right now.
But despite a few negatives, I
bloody love it here. Everything is so incredibly different to the UK and I’m
loving the contrast. It’s made me realise how a lot of things are actually culturally relative – and how there really is a whole new world out there! Far
from considering it as home yet – and to be frank, it probably never will be
– China has blown my mind in a very good way.
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The city of Fuzhou - view from Gu Shan (Drum Mountain)
(Sorry, it was a little misty that morning) |
Over and out for now
xoxo
