Oh lovely day (Marcus)

You probably guessed from the vibe in Courtney's last post that today wasn't terribly great; in fact, it outright sucked. China can be a most frustrating country at times. Not every day mind you, but some days it's just all too hard.

Some days are completely fine. Some days are fun and we come home feeling tired yet happy at what we have seen and done. Some days we have terrific experiences and people interactions, whilst some days they couldn't possibly be more negative and like Courtney said, we want to just pack up and leave. Some days are just so incredibly trying that the cultural differences are just too much and the thought of being home is just too irresistible. I guess the culture shock continues on for far longer than you actually expect, and when faced with the reality of life living here such as days like today, it all comes together and slugs you one between the eyes.

As we have said before, we go up and down depending on circumstance. If Courtney is feeling particularly phased by being stared at or the calls of Hello!!! - I generally absorb that feeling and mirror it. If I am feeling frustrated by other 'Chinese' things, likewise Courtney will pick up on it and begin to feel the same way. It's difficult not to then turn on each other but to date we have mostly avoided that - of course a few niggles here and there is human nature and unavoidable(unless you live in happy teletubby land or something - you know the green hills with bunnies jumping around).

Today it was a combination of issues with the airline tickets mixed in with other random events...such as the canteen. We still boggle at the fact we have little to no relationship with the majority of the people we work with. Courtney went and had lunch in the canteen- a common event of late as we try and save money for the holiday. As she's sitting there, a table of around a dozen kitchen workers all turn to watch her eat as they are eating their own meals. I mean what the fuck! They have seen us almost every day for five months, how the HELL are we still so amazing? The way they stare not only makes you feel incredibly self-conscious and vunerable, but it also comes across as outright rude. I dare any westerner to come here for a period of time and NOT be phased by this at least once.

Secondly, the other teachers all sit together in large groups around their own tables. They have this incredibly bad habit of coming and taking a chair from your table with absolutely no word at all. No, "Is this seat taken?" (Of course they know it isn't, they wouldn't sit with us would they!!), not even a smile or even a nod, NADA! They just simply walk up to the table, grab the chair and move it over to the table with their friends. This simple little gesture I have witnessed a few times and it really gets to me. I don't care if they are in fact shy or what, it comes across as outright rude, no matter what culture you're from.

The staring is another primary feature of our stay here, compounded by Courtney's experience with the Chinese in the taxi the other day. Their comments how they have never met foreigners who live in this district confirmed what we already assumed. But it just never seems to get old to them. To us, as above, we have our days where we feel impenetrable to it, and other days where we feel vunerable.

A few examples of how staring can really get your goat. I think even the most confident of people could get rattled by it. New Zealander Matt's friend Rick came to visit Matt the other week. We all met in Rockies bar in the New District for burgers and pizza(and it was great food, cept expensive). Rick made a comment, "They were all staring at my feet, and it was making even me feel uncomfortable," and it bloody does!! I feel the same. If i am wearing shorts(which I live in nowadays) and everyone is looking at my feet(like my students also do) it starts to make me wonder, what the hell are they looking at??

We went to this local chinese fast-food/take-away restaurant the other day. We don't know the name, but it's colour scheme and staff uniforms are all orange - it is known as the Orange Place for lack of a better naming convention. Courtney made the utter mistake(in my opinion) of picking a table to eat at that was on the 'left' side of the room. The side which of course looks down to the kitchen counter where no less than 8 or so staff just linger.

I think in most Chinese restaurants you have an average of 42 staff. Of those 42, 1 is the chef, 1 is the waitress, the other 40 just stand around in the restaurant pissing around with their mobile phones.

So back to Orange place, we sit down to eat and I had attempted to tackle the dumpling dish again. These little bastards are incredibly hard to eat with chopsticks as 1. they're kind of slippery, 2. when you bite them they are full of nuclear hot juice and 3. trying to take a little nibble of the side and drain the juice while maintaining a hold on the dumpling is near on impossible for a western monkey like myself. So while I am fighting these damned dumplings, of course I have the undivided attention of the entire kitchen ensemble. And believe me, these guys don't sneak a peak, they just 100% stare and LAUGH while you're eating.

In a lot of restaurants we'll immediately grab the attention of all around us, and they'll generally get bored once they realize we can in fact order food and moreso when we can in fact eat using chopsticks. Once they realize that, the novelty has gone out the door. Occasionally we'll pick up a hanger who just can't stop watching - love them.

We were in another restaurant where we ordered a few random dishes including a noodle dish. Now this turned out to be hellishly embarassing. I can honestly say I have no experience picking out completely submersed wet noodles from a bowl with chopsticks. Dry noodles a la Noodle Box no problemo, but the slimy octopus-esque kind, hell no! My first experience was at the Chinese wedding we attended and it was extremely embarassing. After 5-6 attempts, I could NOT pick the slimy stuff up with the chopsticks no matter how my Chinese peers coached me. the whole dip the chopsticks in and twirl maneuvre just eluded me.

So we're at this restuarant and the noodle dish rolls out. We wanted noodles to try something different as we generally just ask for Beef, Pork or Chicken(though we're shying away from Chicken as it's becoming an increasingly bad minefield of body parts). So I am digging into this noodle bowl and I notice the security guard outside the window watching me. I stop and return to another dish, wondering how long he has been watching and what he saw of my already gathering mess. He's gone so I try again, in go my chopsticks, pull them together and twist and grab a huge mass of noodles. We're looking like a winner when the damned bastard slithers away and slops all over the table. Without even thinking, pure instinct I immediately turn to look over my left shoulder and spot the fucking waitress trying not to piss herself. I knew she'd be watching, I just knew it! I felt completely and utterly mortified. Earlier she dropped a glass she meant to put onto a cabinent as she was too intent on watching what we were doing.

The cultural differences we experience on a daily basis are a constant challenge to staying sane in this country. It can be so difficult not to outright have a go at the way the Chinese live their daily lives as they are so incredibly different to our own. As Courtney said, each person seems to have one distinct role and that's it - beyond that role, they know nothing else(or so it seems to us.)

In the supermarkets, you have practically 2-3 girls standing on each aisle doing nothting. You have one person there to weigh nuts or lollies, you have one person allocated to putting things in bags. You have a person there to stamp this piece of paper, but NOT that piece. It gets to the point of being ridiculous. It is clearly the product of over-population.

One of the people at the chinese language courses we used to attend said that in China they employ for the sake of employment, not efficiency - exactly the opposite to how we do it back home.

The waitresses at the steak coffee place we frequent are no different, although I really do not care for them. They rarely if ever smile, and the waitress we always get looks outright surly. The other night we had a most Chinese experience when it came to ordering two beers. We ordered our food then I ordered two Tsing Dao beers - Tsing Dao being one of China's local beers and i have to say is bloody fantastic - particularly when drank with chinese food(a combination I would never have guessed pre-china). Anyhow, out the beers came, along with one glass. The waitress put both beers before me then proceeded to pour one into the glass...then walked off. Uh hum, I called her back, "Another glass?!" to which she grumpily went and got another glass then I poured one for Courtney also.

In China, the women do not drink - only the men - regardless, we have ordered beers in two's in every meal since being here and not once have we experienced this level of...I want to say stupidity but i'll just say, vagueness(although in reality im saying stupidity.)

Of course, I had to grab a photo of it before she came back with the second glass, I just love these random scenarios.

So here's me kicking back with my two beers while Courtney enjoys her water. I said to Courtney, I should have started drinking the beer from the bottle, cramming both into my mouth at once like it was the normal deal, but that would have been too good...next time.