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!

October Holiday: Beijing part 2

Ironically, my favorite thing about Beijing is not Chinese.  When I was visiting the Bell Tower I stumbled across this little American style coffee shop that looks like it dropped out of Seattle.  It has a courtyard with tables and chairs in the sunshine with a little dog running around people's feet.  The whole place had the cozy but run down feel of my favorite coffee shops like Fremont Coffee Company or Cafe Ladro.  Inside had these huge posters of old movies and bookshelves filled with old books (all in Chinese, unfortunately for me).  There was this cute little white kitten that sat on my lap for a while before jumping out the open window.

I have really been enjoying the expatriot life but I do miss living in Seattle pretty much every day. It was really good for my soul to drink hot coffee in the hot sun and pretend like I was back at FCC during finals.  Plus the cat and dog were super cute and I got some cuddle time.

The day after the coffee shop I went on a tour of the traditional historical sights of China.  First was the Summer Palace.  I met some people from Spokane to hang out with, which was awesome.

The Forbidden City was also a zoo, most of the reason why I went with a tour was because I didn't want to stand in line for 3 hours to get in, which is what would have happened had I gone on my own.

There were a lot of Chinese tour groups because it was the National Holiday and we followed this really cute group of students in their uniforms.  Chinese kids are funny and are just like American kids on tour, not paying too much attention.

I went to this place that my students all called 'snack street' and I can't remember it's real name.  However, it has two blocks of crazy things to eat on a stick.  I went with two of my new friends from Spokane who kept my company on the Forbidden City tour.  We ate some normal stuff, like pork filled buns, dumplings and chicken on a stick, as well as some pumpkin cakes which are pretty good (but better and cheaper at Sias).  This picture has some of the weirder stuff like sea stars, sea snake (ate it!), shark (ate that too!), sea urchins, silk worms, scorpions, octopus, sea horses, ostrich, deer, whole pigeons, chicken hearts, intestines, tofu and the like.

I took my dad to snack street as the first thing off the airplane.  Half way through I realized that maybe that was a pretty intense 'welcome to China' but he handled it pretty well.  We did find some pretty good kung pao chicken at resteraunt near by.

Dad and I climbed the Great Wall too, but he has the pictures from that, so maybe that will be a later post or a facebook only deal.  When I say climbed, I mean CLIMBED.  Now we are both Real Men.  Or at least that's what my students said to my dad when we talked about climbing the Great Wall and I didn't wan to be left out.  Saying that I'm now a Real Woman doesn't quite feel the same.  (Don't get angry with me, feminist friends!!)

And of course I made plenty of new friends during my time in Beijing, especially the ugly stone dragons that ward off evil spirits. They are just so ugly they're cute!!

October Holiday: Beijing part 1

My dad come to visit me during the National (October) holiday, which was super awesome.  I traveled from Zheng Zhou to Beijing by myself to meet him and them bring him back to school.  Dad actaully ended up being a couple days late, so I tooled around Beijing by myself, eating as much foreign food and cheese as I could.  (Hello Starbucks and a real latte!!!!)

The first day I was there I walked around Tianamen Square and people watched.  It never ceases to amaze me that Chinese people do things differently than Americans.  Obviously I know this to be true, but seeing it can be a totally different thing.  Of course, I made a list.

6.  Pop a squat.  Chinese people don't sit on the ground.  The ground is gross, I have said this many times.  So, the Chinese have developed a way to sit without touching the ground.  They squat with their feet flat on the ground.  Its pretty amazing.  Ive really only ever seen little kids do it in America, it requires being pretty skinny and small boned, something Americans don't always have.  This position is also required for the use of a squatty potty, and I am getting better at it.  But I still don't find it restful.

5. Umbrellas in the Sun.  Contrary to America's obession with being tan, Chinese women are obsessed with being pale.  On sunny days there are just as many umbrellas and parasols as if it's raining.  They don't understand the concept of sun bathing or tanning (Christina, don't come to China) and they often put bleach or some sort of lightening agent in lotion or soap to make your skin whiter.  Hence why I brought lotion from home.

4. Kids in Split Pants.  I may have mentioned this already, but kids pee on the street and little kids don't wear diapers, they wear crotchless pants.  It's always funny to see a kid in his or her parent's arm with their little bare butt hanging over the side of their arm.  Parents must get peed on all the time, though I have never seen it happen.  They do have a particular way to hold their peeing baby so they don't get splashed on.  When Dad and I were in Xi'an we took the bus to our hotel and the baby next to us started peeing on the floor of the bus.  Of the BUS! Dad nearly got off, and I am so jaded that I hardly even noticed untill the little stream of pee threatened my shoes.  Needless to say, most of my shoes are not coming back to America and are not allowed in my house.

3. Picture taking.  Chinese people, like Japanese people, are intense about their photo poses.  There is always a peace/victory sign involved, usually on both hands.  They also need to stand right next to whatever it is they are taking and point to it.  They also don't wait for you to finish your picture before walking in front of your camera.  I have had my picture taken by many people, some with me and some from afar.  My friend Jess with blonde hair attracts more attention than I do, which I'm kind of grateful for.  Though I do get asked if my hair curls naurally pretty often.

2. Purse Holding.  When couples go shopping or out together, the man always carries his woman's purse.  For extended periods of time.  Even if it's frilly and pink.  I think it's a way for him to stake his claim.  But men in the US would never get caught dead holding a woman's purse for more than 2 seconds.  For the most part.  That's something that I appreciate about Chinese culture: men are not threatened by things like holding purses or other things that would be stereotypically 'gay' in the US.  Of course it can go a little too far, like pop stars in pleather playing sparkly guitars (yes, it IS too far, Jess).  It does through off my gaydar but I don't mind.

1.  Matching Couple T-Shirts.  I have mentioned this in one of my early posts about campus, but my favorite thing that I have seen here have been couple t-shirts.  Chinese valentines day was right before I moved here so I saw a lot at the end of August, but I did find a few in Tiananmen Square.  There appears to be a rule that couple t-shirts cannot be innocuous.  They need to be a bright color (mostly purple or yellow and ocassionally pink!) and very distinctive.  I took this picture of the first couple after seeing two other couples with matching shirts and being too afraid to take their picture.  I shouldn't have been shy, I think they like the attention more than I do (which isn't too hard).  I found the second at snack street (more about that later) and asked if I could take their picture.  They got one with me too, so I guess it was a fair exchange.

The next day I went to go see the pandas at the zoo.  Needless it say it was a zoo with all the people there (get it? yeah? yeah?... it was a zoo at the zoo...?  I hear you laughing Holly Allan).  But seriously, it was crazy.  Expecially in front of the pandas.  Below is a picture of the area when you first get into the zoo and it was packed like that as far I could see over them. I fought the valient fight to get in to see the pandas and the big ones were boring.  They just slept while a thousand people took their pictures.

However, the baby pandas were freaking ADORABLE, I wanted to take one home in a basket.  They had just gotten fed so they were chowing down on their bamboo leaves and rolling all over themselves while doing it.  These were the pandas who were from Sichuan where the earthquake hit before the Olympics.

This post is turning into a beast, so I'm going to leave you with one final thought before taking a break.  That thought is: PANDA HATS.  They are amazing and I bought three.  I first saw this girl wearing one at the summer palace and I HAD to take a picture with her.  It turned out she spoke pretty good English and she told me that they were selling them all over Beijing.  I found one not ten minutes later and picked two up for 30 RMB (less than $5 for both) and wore it all day.  Amazing.  I still have it and I wore it to my first couple classes after the trip and my students thought it was hilarious and crazy that their teacher would wear such a cute panda hat to class.  It has come in handy when we sit on the roof to talk and drink beer.  Very warm and fuzzy.

First Week of Classes

Finally the time has come that I get to do what I've moved here to do.  Teach!

I have switched the topic that I'm teaching from Oral English to Western Composition and have moved into the academic realm.  Does that make me a professor now?  I hope so.

I got my schedule and found that I had been scheduled for one more class than my boss, Nathan, had promised.  He said that my contract stated that I need to teach 12 hours and so the school is enforcing that.  So, that is going to be approximately 282 students and 282 papers I will need to grade at midterm and at the final.  Joy.  Thank goodness for rubrics.

The blessing for me is that I don't have any 8 AM classes.  And I only have one 10 am class.  Here is my schedule for the week:
Monday:  4-6 PM
Tuesday: 2-4PM
Wednesday: 10-12 AM; 2-4 PM; 4-6 PM
Thursday: 4-6 PM
Fridays: FREE!

So Wednesday is my heavy load, but I'll just wear my dansko shoes and get through the day well supported.

My friend Jess also has mornings free, so we've been doing coffee in my room in the mornings.  (Send me Stumptown coffee ground for french press!!)  This first week is pretty chill for me since I teach the same lesson every day, so it has given me time to post blogs and have leisurely mornings drinking coffee with Jess (who only teaches Thursdays and Fridays) and cleaning my apartment (between having people over and the fact that China get so dirty so fast, I'm cleaning something almost every day).

The two majors that I teach are Business English and English Translation.  My Business English students are called Bridge students.  They have been at university for three years earning their AA degree, but they got a high enough GPA that they had the option to continue to get their bachelors degree in another two years.   I have found my bridge students to be more outgoing than my English Translation students, even if their English isn't necessarily better.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that there are a higher number of men in the Business English classes, the average number of men in the English translation classes is 2.5 out of 49 students.  English related majors tend to be heavily female dominated, except for buiness English.  Chinese women are notoriously shy at first in the classroom, it was like pulling teeth to get them to say anything on Wednesday.

I planned a class discussion about writing to get their juices flowing about writing and its uses, but having had experience in Chinese classrooms, I knew I needed to warm them up to speaking in class first.  Chinese students rarely speak in their normal classes.  The teaching style in China tends to be based on the idea that the teacher is the teapot of knowledge and the students are the cups into which it is poured.  There is no 'cooperative discovery' of knowledge that is so prevent in many classrooms in America.  So students really like that the classes taught by American teachers not only have the glamour of being taught by an American but also much more interactive and interesting.

So, I had students break the ice by asking me questions they wrote down about America, or what I think about China, or what hobbies I have, etc.  Questions Chinese students ask are pretty typical, and I now can predict what is coming.  There is always a question on how I like China, do I like Chinese food, what is the most impressive thing I have seen in China?  How is China different than America?  Is America like what they have seen in American movies?  (NO, I do NOT sleep with a gun under my pillow). 

Then all the really cute little girls will start to whisper and giggle behind their hands and I know either: a) that question is coming next if one of them is brave enough to voice it, or b) that one isn't brave enough but they really do want to know if I have a boyfriend.

Keep in mind, that while these students are 19 and 20 years old, Chinese young people under the age of 25 are incredibly sheltered and repressed.  They are forbidden from dating in high school and college by their parents, who want them to study and get good grades on their final exams to be able to get a good job.  Some students do date, but they absolutely keep it secret from their parents.  And Chinese students are pretty amaturish when it comes to this; in many aspects teaching Chinese university students is like teaching middle school in the States.  Both the language and the emotional maturity are about the same, though Chinese students have life skills and smarts that are certainly in level or higher with their counterparts in the States.

Anyway, usually some girl (and occasionally guy) gathers up enough courage to ask me if I have a boyfriend.  But this time, two classes asked it in a totally Chinese, clever, indirect, and roundabout way.

One girl said she knew that rings could be significant in American culture (they are not in Chinese culture), did I have any rings that had any special meaning or that was given to me by a special person?  Needless to say, I was impressed.  I told her no, that I was not wearing a ring on my left ring finger so that meant I was single, and no I do not have a boyfriend (which I said with a dramatic sigh and got a laugh).  Of course, the next question that comes is always:  Do you like Chinese boys?  and everyone snickers again.  And I say that it doesn't matter is he is Chinese or American, if I meet a good man that I like, then maybe I would date him.

The second class went about it a different way.  After a long discussion of countries I have been to, one girl stood up and asked if my boyfriend got annoyed that I traveled so much and we were parted for so long.  Then the same conversation followed as before, and everyone had their curiosity satisfied. 

There is a sort of tension that builds up during this question time, so I feel its better to get it out of the way so they stop thinking about it. 

Chinese people are also incredibly romantic.  Something that is totally corny in America would get a warm welcome here in China.  In some ways its really cute and in some ways its a set up for failure because of the unreasonable expectations tossed around.  You thought America was bad.  China is worse.

I'll take a picture of my favorite dating custom at a later date and post it for you to see.


Here are some pictures of one of the buildings I teach in, building 13.  I teach on the third and sixth floor (uh!) and also in building 12 which is the next one over that is identical.

Here are some of my students and what the inside of my classroom looks like.  This is an English translation class, so pretty much all of the students are girls.

Coming next:  Top Five Favorite Chinglish Student Names.  Stay tuned!