1.The Food – mostly! It’s a mixed bag. On one hand we have the wonder of street food…but we also have the stinky oily cess pools that is what other street food is served from. We have the myriad of steamers, baked goodies, stuffed buns and oodles upon oodles of cakes and sweet breads and candies, then we have the cold slops and boney to the max meat that is present on our trays in the school canteen. We have the delicious multitude of Chinese dishes that we are slowly learning about, then we have the unknown potentially disastrous minefield of animal parts; which raises the question, will we boldly go, where no sane(or more accurately, no aware..)Westerner has gone before.
2. The People – On the whole I find the Chinese people to be extremely interesting. They are so extremely different to us in so many ways it’s hard to describe in just a few words. There are so many of them…so many. It’s so hard to comprehend just how many there are and I have tried before. They’re not just over there, across the street in one massive horde – no, they’re everywhere, absolutely everywhere. Everywhere you go is an absolute hive of activity. Every street is teeming with people. Every shop has at least 4-5 store workers, even when the store is the size of a shoebox. If you see a truck on the side of the road receiving repairs, there’ll be usually one guy working on it, and at least 5 other guys standing around, talking, adding input, you name it. On the corners of streets, men sit on their motorcycles just…I don’t know what, just chillin’ out really.
3. Shopping – I like it but the novelty is wearing off. There’s some really interesting things to purchase in some really interesting places, but most of what you see is just repetitions of the store/s beside it. We are always on the lookout for interesting ‘chinese cultural’ type items, BUT, it feels kind of weird/wrong/pure touristy buying these things when there’s really not much to see culturally around where we are currently. It is just weird. Back in Melbourne, none of us would shop in an Aussie tourist shop – we’re feel like idiots – but we also don’t have a rich 5000 years of culture in Australia either – we’re not even at 300 years if memory serves. China on the other hand, has one of the longest histories on the planet and most of us western folk know very little about it. It is depressing when you read about things such as the cultural revolution where much of this was destroyed. What we have in our area I guess is modern China in its dirtiest form. I do find the shopping interesting however. It is very different from home. I don’t think I would enjoy it permanently though. Bargaining can be fun, but on the whole what is on offer for sale is the equivalent of what was on sale at a shopping centre that Courtney, Sam, Jess and I went looking through in Springvale once upon a time.
4. Feeling Unique – I have never felt this way before. When I am walking down the street, I am the ONLY one of my kind. All eyes are on me. I am usually a reserved person. I usually die a little on the inside when I am the exact centre of attention and all of my life I have tried to avoid being in that position – even on birthdays! So now here I am and all eyes are on me. Here I am standing before 1500+ different kids a week in groups of around 55 and I don’t feel particularly daunted. I guess it’s different in front of a culture so different to ours than in front of your peers, but it is almost surreal all the same. Here I can literally reinvent my personality if I so wanted. I could be some kind of musician, or sportsman or whatever the hell I wanted. I could be a big rough and tumble fireman if I wanted to(though clearly I am not) – but to the Chinese, I AM! It is the weirdest thing ever. They perceive all of us western people as being big and strong. They often assume height = strength and my students see me as exactly that. I can actually understand how a celebrity would feel now. I can also actually understand why it must also shit them to death. Having been here over a month, it’s still uncomfortable being watched by absolutely everyone. If they’re not just sneaking a quick glance, they are full on staring, or pointing you out to someone else to make sure they don’t miss you. I feel surprised at how little they have seen of western people here. While I am not fond of it, I know that this is practically one of the few places on Earth where I could actually experience this. I can feel unique, special, different and interesting. I can have people look at me in wonder. When I pick up something at the supermarket, there’s always someone checking it out – what does the white man eat??? Wowowow he knows our language!(well a teensy bit). So yeah, when I go home to Australia, I am back to being just one of the crowd again. I do plan on savouring the unique feeling at least a little bit, as I honestly cant think of anywhere else where you would experience it. Even the remote villages in Africa would be used to tourist buses pulling through them, but here, this country has literally been largely closed off since almost forever, and their stares just show the reality of it.
5. Zhen zhu nai cha – or milk tea for the uninitiated. This stuff just rocks. I think this is what I will miss the most when I return to Australia, although they might actually have it in the more Asianified places. It’s basically a plastic cup with some jelly balls in the bottom. They seal it with this weird contraption then give you a nice thick hard plastic straw which you plunge through the lid. You drink it hot and can even buy multiple and micronuke them later should you get a craving. I cant even think of what it tastes like, but it’s vaguely reminiscent of chocolate milk. I didn’t like the jelly ball things at first, but now I chomp on em like a pro. (Yeah I said I chomp on balls)
6. Kids & Oldies – The kids – anything from 12 or so right down to the toddlers, are absolutely adorable. Never have I felt the need to just pick up random kids and give them a hug. The toddlers are padded against the world whilst the 12 yr olds are just plain innocent and cute. Every one of them is adorable, I am not sure what happens to them in adolescence or moreso adulthood… The Chinese life cycle seems to be something like, born cute as hell, grow into a fugly then return to cuteness once you age, because the oldies are almost as cute as the kids. They’re small, they’re wrinkled, they hobble around together in parks on weekends. They stand there, staring off into space having their slow-paced conversations. They’re up doing Tai Chi. They’re riding around carrying loads of things on their bikes or shoulders that we ‘younguns’ wouldn’t touch. Hopefully someday soon I will gain the confidence to actually ask people on the street if I can take their photo. I want to remember these dear old folk forever. There is something just so inheritantly peaceful that radiates from them.
7. Culture and meaning – Chinese culture is very different from our own; that much was obvious from the day we first arrived here. I like the fact that everything here has meaning. Every name, every garden layout, every building, it all has a deeper meaning to it. To us, we name a baby because we like the sound of it. We build a garden because it looks good. The Chinese seem to operate on different levels. Whenever I have asked someone’s Chinese name, they have firstly told me it, then immediately gone on to tell me what it means. Mr Pan’s wife, Yu Lan (Pronounced OO LAN) is a type of flower, which we have since worked out is actually a magnolia. Another English teacher I met, whose English name I can now not remember, her name was after a famous Chinese poet’s ‘red dream’ or some such. Chinese culture is a topic that again cant be summarized in a single paragraph.
8. The language – Chinese as a language is very interesting. The characters have always been really appealing to westerners(just look at how many people have tattoos they wouldn’t have a clue what they meant). The spoken language is likewise very interesting to listen to. Like English, you get your good speakers and bad speakers. Some sound quite precise and almost musical – very nice to listen to, whilst others speak so fast it’s just a messy jumble, or others again who literally shout-talk, which again is somewhat unappealing. I wish I could speak the language, I wish I wish I wish. Even just at a slightly higher level. Right now I know some words and phrases to get me by, but nowhere near basic conversational. I wish I knew just enough to have a basic conversation, this can be so frustrating.
9. Environment – Now this is a mixed bag. While there’s the obvious pollution and neglect issues – I find it interesting at the same time. This is a place unlike anywhere I have been to ever. I haven’t been anywhere in the world before so likewise have nothing to compare it to(and I don’t count a family holiday to Fiji as anything other than that). Previously, my only real views of poverty were what I did see in Fiji. Here were tiny villages, or dirty little towns, filled with islander looking folk. It’s not much, but for the age I went there, it left an impression. The main reason it stuck in my mind was it was so different from home. But China blows that memory out of the water. Here is an environment that is just so utterly different it’s hard to take it all in. When it clears up(like today and yesterday), it can be quite beautiful in its own way, but most of the time it’s just smoggy old jam-packed China. I can’t wait to see more of the country at any rate. I enjoy witnessing it’s differences to things that are familiar. I am sure that will wear off at some stage however.
10. History – I like most history and I find Chinese history very interesting. If anything I just wish more of it was visible. When I look at the hustle and bustle in the streets, then see old period movies set in the earlier days of China, I can practically see the place as it was. I can imagine the people doing the very same things they are today in exactly the same ways. I actually think that over the years, the real Chinese people have changed very little. To them life is just about which job is done next. They’re always busy, working to support themselves and their millions of tiny communities. It really is very interesting.
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