The actual teaching part - standing there in front of the kids, interacting with them, laughing with them, it was very enjoyable. Walking around the school as the complete centre of attention was not so much. While it had it's novelty value, it did get old after a while.
For example if you look at the larger version of this image below, this is what I saw every day as I approached class from the lake. A sea of students. The photo below is actually a fraction of the number of students normally in this area. Now you think - that doesn't sound so bad, but just imagine that as you walked in amongst them, every single one of them - and I mean every single one of them reacts to you. The girls giggle, the boys go all goofy. Their body language changes, you get hello's left right and centre to the point where you feel like an idiot as you're just walking along going, "Hello! Hi! Hello! Hi! Hi! Hey! Hello! Hi! Hello!"
Courtney and I are not big fans of being the centre of attention - hell I don't even like being it on my birthday. For us this whole China experience has been well and truly stepping outside our comfort zones. It has taught us a lot, given us a lot of new perspectives on different things, but I guess most of all it has shown us just how valuable our home country is to us.A lot of people - or perhaps all, go away then say, "You don't know how good home is until you leave..." which sounds kind of cliche as it's like, the 'in' thing to say - but in China - it couldn't be truer.
I think it takes a certain type of person to really live here and immerse yourself. I honestly believe those coming here looking for Chinese wifes - aka the majority of the expat community, are exactly that type. Having a day in day out translator breaks down a large portion of not only the language barrier, but the cultural barrier. Different people want different things. Myself? I wouldn't stay here any longer than a year tops, if even that.
If I was coming back to do it again, I would be armed with considerably more knowledge than when we first arrived. For one I would likely only live in one of the larger cities - Beijing or Shanghai - perhaps a handful of others, but I would have to see them first. I would make sure that where i worked/taught/whatever I did had other foreigners likewise working there. I would make sure that where I worked and where I lived were both in very close proximity(ie 5 minute walking distance) from the actual CBD.
Our district is only 7km's or so from the CBD; it really is very close. When we first looked at Wuxi as a location on google maps, Dongting/Xishan district is only really as far out from the centre of the CBD as say Richmond/Hawthorn is from Melbourne CBD. That's very workable. What we didn't know however, is this particular district is basically considered 'country,' by Chinese standards. It is in no way an inner suburb, it's effectively the boonies. This has played a very large part in our overall China experience - both good and bad.
On the good side we've been able to really experience true Chinese life. We can honestly say we have seen how they really live their day to day lives - and lived around them. On the bad however, it's also put us in a location where we're effectively stared at 24/7 and have never really felt welcome.
The Chinese as a culture are interesting, but they are sooo different to people back in Australia. So different! They can be both extremly generous, friendly and surprisingly approachable, but at the same time extremely infuriating. This is a country where basically anything goes. We still see things on a daily basis that just makes us crack up.
Through everything we have experienced we have kept our senses of humour and I think that is the key to survival here. If you cant look at the funny side of things, you're toast.
So today we're off to Shanghai to stay for three nights with Mum who is on the plane as I type this. It's a surreal thought to think we haven't seen her in something like 7 months as it only really feels like a few weeks at best. Back home we don't even regularly see each other month to month as we live in the city and she doesn't, but still.
We had to queue for around an hour yesterday for train tickets as every man and his dog was out there trying to buy them first thing in the morning. Wednesday is the national holiday, and yesterday was five days before it. In China, you can only buy your train tickets five days before the day you wish to use them - so yesterday was the day.
The Chinese don't seem to mind queuing one little bit - perhaps because they're used to it. I also suspect they just enjoy being around each other. I can't say for sure as it's never really obvious to us who is friends with who, or who knows who previously, but it seems from our point of view that every single Chinese person in China is happy to just go up to a complete stranger(Chinese) and start conversing. They also seem to incredibly enjoy giving and recieving directions or guiding each other into reverse carparks. They're an odd people - one I don't think I could every truly understand completely. Whenever I try and give them an overall description that really explains them - my head starts hurting.
So we're off to Shanghai for the next three nights, back to Wuxi to show Mum around for another 4, then off to Shanghai for yet another 4 or so nights, then we're flying back to Melbourne on the 8th October.
The weather as Courtney posted has become decidedly cooler and well it's going to be a trip of an experience returning to normality.
China has gone by in the blink of an eye, but man, this country is just crazy.
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