Well, there is this thing called Culture Shock...

It's been a long time since I last updated.  Sorry.

Briefly, I want to talk about something that happens to all expats living abroad.  Commonly it's called culture shock, but in long term cases it's more like culture stress because it's not really a shock.  Maybe they call it shock because it's like the pschological term for shock: a state of being disoriented, withdrawing, and being irratible or anxious.  That pretty much describes culture shock.  Culture shock is inevitable when moving or spending time in another country and usually it hits 1-3 months into your time there.  It happens.  I stopped writing my blog when it hit.  Then I never really got back because finals started.  I'll talk more about that later.

There is a list of stages of assimilating into a different culture.  The goal is to get to level 4, but it's possible to be in multiple stages in different degrees.

Stage One:  Everything is exotic and shiny.

Stage one is really fun.  It's the honeymoon phase of moving to another culture.  Everything about chinese culture was interesting and exciting.  Mainly because it was so different that novelty really gave everything a shiny glimmer through my rose tinted glasses. 

Stage Two:  Everything is confusing and annoying.

After the shine wears off, the honeymoon is over and things aren't so fun anymore.  Chinese culture is really confusing on many levels and after being stared at the 10,000th time, or being yelled at in Chinese for doing something wrong that you didn't know about, or having another awkward moment with a random Chinese person, living in China is really not fun anymore.  It's dirty, and different, and this is when you really start craving food from home hard core, like cheese and not-boxed milk, turkey sandwiches, good beer and coffee,  pizza sauce that wasn't sweet, and rainbow chard (well, maybe that was just me).  Normal food.

This is where culture shock really gets you.  You start complaining and grumbling more than normal, you become irritable and annoyed constantly, you start withdrawing and watching movies alone in your room.  I was constantly tired and slept all the time.  The emotional stress takes a toll on the body and a whole bunch of people got sick.  Things are just rough.

Stage Three: Acceptance

Stage three is the light at the end of the culture shock tunnel.  Once you force yourself out of bed and out of your room, you establish routines that make life understandable and stable again.  My routine includes going to get a real milk tea latte every day.  (Maybe twice a day).  You find the things that remind you of home and make you happy.  You find the things that you like about Chinese culture (like tea to go everywhere).  You get to know your chinese friends a little more and have them explain some of the things that are confusing about Chinese culture.  You accept that the Chinese do things differently and that's okay.  Different is okay.

Stage Four: Assimilation

The goal for most people in their international experience is this level.  Assimilation is taking part of the foreign culture and adding it to your own personal culture, participating in Chinese culture as a whole.  This happens the best when you fluently speak the language (which I absolutely do not) but can happen to anyone who makes an effort to understand the culture.  Assimilation is literally a change in thinking and habits, in subtle ways you starting thinking more Chinese, seeing patterns or subtexts that you didn't see before.  You not only accept that things are different but understand why.  This understanding of the culture makes you appreciate it more.

In general, I'm in stage three moving into stage four.  However, I am still experiencing all stages depending on the event or encounter.  Some people that I know are still in stage two.  Stage two can make or break a person, living in a different country shows you many character flaws that you didn't know you had.  It's rough, but a really good growing experience.

I hope to start writing again, now that I'm on vacation in the States I have easy access to blogger, which is blocked in China.

More to come!

No Place to Rest my Head

I hate traveling. I mean, the getting from point A to point B part of traveling, not the visiting new places and people. I have had my fill of dirty airport floors and the smell of airlines: recycled air, germs and BO. Gross. I am also envious of people who can sleep on airplanes. I can't. The first time I went to China, I took two NyQuill liquid gels and slept for seven hours which turned out to be a record for me. My friend Neil has a great picture of my with my face planted in Fluffy (my pillow shaped like a polar bear) and drooling.

There was blackmail involved. But he took pity on me and only resurrects it once every two years.

Needless to say, I have Tylenol PM handy. Sleeping is preferable, even if Neil will be waiting with a camera, again.

I finally found Neil (fellow Sias teacher and friend from my first trip to China) in LAX and he was already equipped with his camera.  He had been in the airport already for six hours.  Needless to say we were happy to see each other.

Neil and I met up with most of the other Sias teachers traveling on our flight in the check-in line. With my bags checked with no overweight fees (which are $220 to $300 per bag!!!!! I nearly had a heart attack when I found out), we made it to the plane with no problems and had a rather uneventful flight.

I took Tylenol PM like a good girl and managed to sleep some. More than I expected, on and off for 8 hours. Not restful, but not too bad. I haven’t seen any more blackmail photos from Neil yet, but I’m sure he has at least one new one. He slept only 3 hours.

Stepping off the airplane in Guangzhou reminded me how different China is from the USA (and especially Seattle). The air was thick with moisture and I could feel my hair curling as I walked to Customs. The smell is different: part earth, part pollution and part Chinese person. Not a bad smell, but distinctive.

We only had two hours until our next plane took off and we didn’t have our connecting boarding passes yet. After some misdirection and our group splitting because Whitney has a misplaced bag, we arrived in line too late to make the 8:00 am flight. Talk about having to trust the Father right off the bat, we had only been in China for less than a half hour before I was turning over control. After much waiting in line, we finally all got on the 11:00 am flight, which gave us plenty of time to check in, drop off our bags and make it through security. After another (shorter) uneventful flight, we arrived in Zhengzhou.

After collecting our bags, ten cheerful Chinese 'Culture Students' came to meet us and load all our luggage in a little bright yellow van.  These students are juniors at Sias, English majors, and part of the new teacher reception team that will help all the forgein teachers settle in.  They lugged all my luggage up four floors to my apartment and will take me shopping to help get all the supplies I need.

Seeing them reminded me the reason why I came back to China.  There are a lot of things in China that make me uncomfortable.  But teaching these students who are so eager to learn and excited to interact with Americans is why I love coming here.  My students in Tai'an were the same way. 

I am super jetlagged (woke up at 3.30 am) and a little overwhelmed, but optomistic. 
I will post about my apartment tomorrow, it needs its own post, for sure.  Pictures will be included.