On Class, Cuisine, and Culture Shock
HIGHLIGHTS (for the skimmers)
I arrived in Beijing about a week and a half ago.
There are about 25 other American students here, from all over the country. They're all pretty cool.
I started class on Monday.
I also took a language pledge on Monday, so I haven't spoken any English since then.
I'm in class from 8:25 to 3 almost every day, with Saturday and Sunday off.
Therefore I'm in class about 22 hours a week, 20 of which are entirely devoted to Chinese language studies.
My roommate came late, I met him on Tuesday night. He's awesome.
I'm thinking about writing for CET. More on that later.
For all my friends who just got engaged! I swear, it never rains but it pours. Did day 40 pass already or something?
That I would be diligent in my studies, so I can learn to express myself in Chinese, so I can be a witness to the people around me. My program title is Intensive Chinese Language, and it lives up to the title. I've probably learned 120 new characters in the past week alone. It'll be at least 150 next week.
For my classmates and I. Culture shock is not fun, and everyone here is going through it, myself included.
For safety. More on that later.
For health. Getting sick in Beijing isn't easy, it's inevitable. Several of my classmates have already caught colds of varying degrees. I have thus far managed to avoid it, but I know it's coming like a freight train. There's no stopping it, and it'll probably hit hard.
For adventure. The best way to look at most problems here is as all part of the adventure, so pray my attitude would be that of an adventurer for the Kingdom of Heaven.
That always, God would be glorified.
DETAILS (for the procrastinators)
Surprise! The details of this post are also going to be bullet points. They shall be things I love about Beijing, things I still haven't gotten used to, and things I may NEVER get used to about living in Beijing. So,
Things I love about Beijing:
The food. This is always one of the top things students who come to China mention, and rightly so. Some of the food here is odd, and not all of it is clean, but it's all quality stuff. I've had some of the most delicious things I've ever put in my mouth since I came to Beijing. And the best part of it is:
The cost. Nothing here is free (well, almost nothing), but things are on average 20-40% cheaper than they are in the States. The exchange rate is currently 6 kuai to a dollar (chabuduo [roughly]), and you can easily feed six people for less than 300 kuai (at a pretty nice restaurant, furthermore).
The community. China is steadily growing more westernized, particularly in big cities like Beijing, so western individualism is becoming more and more commonplace, but a group mentality is still the norm. What that means is that you have a strong sense of cohesion and bonding within the group you're a part of (CET students and roommates in my case). We always do things together, and seek to include as many people as possible. We formed a tight community really quickly when we arrived, and it's remained pretty strong since.
The city. Beijing has at least one of everything, it's truly a global city. There's always something new to see or to do. This weekend, a bunch of people went to the Water Cube, and the Olympic Stadium, for example. We also went to the Summer Palace, which is where the mountains around Beijing kind of begin.
The weather. Fall is the prettiest time of year in Beijing, as there aren't any sandstorms, the pollution remains pretty moderate, and the temperature starts to really cool down from the sweltering heat of the summer. Overall, we've had some pretty fantastic weather since we arrived.
The subway. I had never used a subway before I came to China, and the idea of taking an underground train intimidated me to no end. I have no idea why now. The subway here is remarkably clean and easy to use, and you can go practically anywhere for 2 kuai, which is about 30 cents.
Being a guest of China. There's this Chinese cultural quirk, where because I'm painfully obviously an American on a brief sojourn in China, a lot of the Chinese people around me feel the need to personally make sure my stay in their country is as enjoyable as possible. Therefore they're eager to help me find my way somewhere, or tell me where to buy something, or help me with my Chinese (they really appreciate the fact that I'm trying to learn their language). I've had this from waiters, storekeepers, even sometimes people on the subway!
Chinese. I can't tell you what a relief it is to be among people that speak Chinese! Last semester, I was growing pretty dissatisfied with how little I had the chance to exercise the Chinese I was learning in class. It's not like learning Spanish, where you can say something and somebody around will understand you. You have to actively seek out people in America who speak Chinese in order to practice. Here, everyone speaks Chinese, and I practice 24/7.
Things in China I still haven't gotten used to:
The people. There are 30 million people who live in Beijing. 30 million. 30 MILLION. That's five times the size of New York. Heretofore, the largest city I'd been to was Atlanta. Beijing is 70 times the size of Atlanta. Beijing is also 100 times the size of Raleigh, and 517 times the size of Chapel Hill. Beijing is also 520 times the size of Davie County, and thirty thousand times the the size of Advance, my hometown. A lot of of people liver here. This leads to:
Personal space issues. There aren't any. Because there is none. Picture this: it's Lenoir at high noon. With a tour group coming through. And someone's trying to drive a car through to grab some pizza. While 10-15 bicyclists are trying to go the other way. And a taxi trying to slip between them to go a third direction. And a bus that's parked in the middle that can't really go anywhere. That's an average Beijing street. Don't believe me?
This happens surprisingly frequently.
The dirt. Beijing is, for the most part, not a clean city. Some parts of it look like some of the upper-class parts of Malibu, but the majority of it is just dirty. There's trash everywhere you look, and organic refuse abounds. Also, plenty of things are just not as safe as they are in the States due to this. You have to be careful about street food vendors, for instance. If they cook the food right in front of you, it's probably fine, but cold food, raw fruits and vegetables, and anything they might have washed in tap water is really not safe to eat. Also, if you're at a restaurant, and something falls off your plate onto the table, leave it there. It's Chinese custom to just use the table as a refuse pile, so people spit bones, cartilage, things they find in their food, and sometimes just loogies on the table, which is usually not disinfected afterward.
A few minor lifestyle changes. In China, it's customary to hand-wash and line-dry your clothes, which is what I've been doing. It's a rawther time-consuming process. Also, here's a picture of a Chinese toilet:
No, you don't sit on it, you squat over it. I haven't mustered up the...whatever you may call it to actually use one of these yet (the dorm also has western-style toilets), but it's definitely on the China bucket list. Also, whenever you use the toilet, you must bring your own toilet paper, because the bathrooms do not have any. Also, like in much of the world, you don't throw your used toilet paper down the toilet, you throw it in the trash can. Unfortunately, the trash is only taken out once a day. Further unfortunately, it's not taken out on the weekends. Further unfortunately, today is Sunday, which means the smell is getting pretty intolerable to my American nostrils.
Also, in China, because of the group mentality, they don't really serve individual portions, because when people eat out, they do so as a group. So, if you order a dish, it'll be enough to feed about three people. Therefore, eating dinner involves coordinating with other people what time you want to eat and where. Otherwise, you'll be stuck in your room chowing down on ramen again, which is NOT any better here than it is in the States, and unhealthy even by Chinese standards.
Chinese. Although I can communicate pretty effectively, my Chinese isn't really adequate for me to express myself well. Therefore, I can communicate things I want, what plans I have, and what I want other people to do, but I can't really express what I'm thinking and feeling yet. It's a frustrating, but necessary stage in the learning process, and I'm sure that will change as the semester progresses, (especially as my Chinese gets good enough for me to start thinking and dreaming in it).
Now for the list of things I may never get used to. Fortunately, this list is small, and I hope to pull several things off of it by the time I leave.
The pollution. It's bad, no two ways about it. Currently the Air Quality Index at the US Embassy is sitting on a solid 184, which is pretty standard for Beijing. In the US, if it goes above 150, people start freaking out. If it gets above 200, a mask is recommended if you go outside, and over 300, it's officially considered hazardous. As in, nobody needs to go outside for any reason at all, ever. Last March, there were a couple of days where it peaked out at over 800, which I think is the current world record. It maxed out both the Chinese monitor, and the US monitor. Fortunately, as I said, Autumn is the best time of year for pollution, and hopefully the pollution levels will remain pretty low while I'm here.
Exercise. Most people in China don't exercise, so there aren't many places to do so. I have yet to find a good place to go running, but I hope to find a public park that will suffice for my needs pretty soon. The tricky thing about it is that I have to time my runs for when the pollution is lowest, because running through pollution 是不健康。But, they say exercising in pollution is better than not exercising at all while we're here, as it can really help your body repair itself. It's also important because of my next point:
Dietary changes. Starch. Starch, starch, starch, starch, starch, starch, starch, starch, starch, starch, starch, starch. Starch and carbs. I swear, I'm so glad I'm not a paleo diet guy, because that diet would be impossible to keep here. You either eat a lot of noodles, or you eat a lot of rice. I prefer noodles, but I miss eating salad. Obviously, you have to watch how you eat vegetables here, and you can get fried or steamed vegetables anywhere, but good, clean, raw fruits and vegetables are terribly hard to come by. However, dumplings, little cakes, anything with rice, noodles in all forms, and fried, oily foods abound. Trying to get a balanced diet here is not easy at all, but I think is doable with practice and a little help from my Chinese friends.
Crossing the road. It's extremely dangerous. In China, pedestrians have to yield to cars, meaning your senses need to be on red alert at all times when you're on a crosswalk. Also, people in Beijing rarely heed existing traffic laws, making traffic patterns even harder to predict. For instance, because there are so many bikes, both pedal and motorized, there are usually pretty wide bike lanes with a median separating them from the rest of traffic. However, it's pretty commonplace for a taxi driver who's been paid a little extra to get to the destination quickly to jump into the bike lane, speed to the front of traffic, and cut everyone off at the light.
The party. There's no drinking age in China, and pretty much everyone at CET loves to go out. I have thus far have limited my drinking to an occasional beer with dinner (Chinese beer is absurdly cheap, and not bad, truth be told), and the bar/club scene doesn't appeal to me, although I have gone out with them before. It's half funny, half really annoying being the only sober guy in a group. I still haven't figured out how to deal with this one.
No English music. I've re-discovered my love of classical music, but this is a really hard aspect of the language pledge. I'm afraid I just don't like modern Chinese music, because it either takes after western bubblegum pop, or it has this weird, uniquely Chinese, kind of feel that's a mix of orchestral and singer-songwriter, and it feels really kitschy and overdone. Nobody here sings the blues, or picks a banjo, and singing loudly is considered rude in most circumstances. I like Chinese folk music, but it seems the only people who still play that are the blind beggars on the street, or musicians holed up in tourist attractions, and they don't play very well. It's more of a way of getting attention than a craft.
Well, I believe that about wraps the last week and a half up. If you read this far, you deserve some sort of award. This blog post got rawther out of hand. But, I hope through my pictures and words and word-pictures, I've managed to give you some sort of an idea of what my life in China has been like. If you have any questions, or just want to chat, send me a facebook message (I don't have a phone in China, because all the people I would want to call live in the same building as me. If you've called/texted me in the last week, I didn't get it, I'm sorry), or an email. I'll post my mailing address either here or on facebook in the next couple of weeks, and you guys can send me actual mail if you feel like paying international shipping fees.
But really, it helps me to no end to know I have people who love me and care about me enough to keep up with me even while I'm kind of out of sight, out of mind. I love China, but I miss Carolina's bright fall colors and crisp, clean, autumn wind. I love the fountains here, but I miss the rivers there. I love the food here, but nobody makes an omelet like Miss Pam, or a rack of ribs like Sam Mabry. I love the city lights, but I miss the stars. Likewise, I love the people here, but I miss you all very much, and know you're in my thoughts and prayers always.
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