There are definitely a lot of things in China that are weird
to me: squat toilets; traffic rules (or lack thereof); trash piles on
sidewalks; people spitting really loudly in public; etc. My survival strategy, though, in order to
keep my own sanity, is to not judge ANYTHING by Western standards but rather just
accept things as I see them.
Squat toilets really aren’t that bad, and I hear it’s more
natural for your body than sitting on a toilet (Peace Corps volunteers learn quickly
to get over qualms about talking about bathroom stuff so I apologize if this is
TMI).
The traffic is chaotic without a doubt but there is a rhythm
to the madness, which I am adapting to every day as I ride my bike to
school. People pull out of driveways
without looking for oncoming traffic. Cars move in to the bike lane to pass
other cars. Cars pass other cars- that
is a BIG thing here, even on narrow two lane roads with lots of curves (like
the one along the river I follow to get to school). I have only been biking to school for a week
but I already feel like I kind of understand the flow. It’s a matter of being assertive, especially
when making left turns. The best thing
is to get in the turn lane, especially if there are already cars there waiting
to turn. Then you just go with them and then get back to the right side (“bike
lane”). If not you have to wait at the
cross walk which can take a long time.
You have to be alert of what’s going on but also just keeping doing your
thing. Like when cars are zooming past me honking like crazy I don’t freak out.
And actually it’s nothing personal, but it’s just how cars communicate. This
makes a lot of sense! In America people only honk if they are angry or annoyed,
whereas in China it’s a whole other language by itself. You honk to let someone
know you are about to pass them; you honk before going around a curve; you honk
to alert another car or biker of your presence.
It’s not unfriendly, and as jarring as it can be, it makes sense to
communicate with your horn and not just express negative emotions. By the way, every time I can make a left
turn without having to use the cross walk I get super excited- it’s like a
little victory of integrating into the society here! As for the trash piles and public spitting,
that is still really gross to me and I don’t know if I will ever be cool with
it but at least I am learning to ignore it.
Let me just say that it is great to be an easy-going and adaptable
person when traveling. I am so grateful
to not have any special dietary needs. I
can eat whatever is handed to me and I generally don’t get an upset stomach
(knock on wood). Some of the things that other volunteers complain about don’t
really bother me. Like some people still avoid the squat toilets, because their
host families have Western toilets, and there is one on campus, in the Peace
Corps office. I got over my aversion to
that the first full day in China. I will admit it was a little off-putting to
me when I first arrived but once I did it, I no longer worried about how weird
it was. It’s just what you do. Plus you can’t not go to the bathroom, so why
not just get over it? The one thing that
is sometimes hard for me is the heat and humidity. Fortunately, most days it’s overcast, which
means that although it’s still hot and humid it’s a little more bearable. Yesterday, on the other hand, was super sunny. Normally I love sun but here it’s just makes
it darn near unbearably hot and the mosquitos come out more and everyone smells
bad. Being super hot and super tired
from the intense week of training and language learning made me a little crabby
yesterday!
Speaking of language, today I was invited to join another
beginner class that moves a little more quickly than the class I am currently
in. Which is exciting because it means that I have made progress and it’s been
noticed by the language teachers! I am sad to leave my class because the
atmosphere is very light-hearted and we can laugh at our own mistakes. I like those classmates. However, it will be
nice to move a little bit more quickly in learning the language. I can often understand when my teacher asks
us questions and generally I can respond appropriately. Communication with my host family is still
hit or miss but I am getting used to the questions/statements my host mom asks/makes
every day, like what did you eat for lunch, do you like it, eat more, and eat
slowly. There are still times when I
stare blankly at her after she says something even if it’s something she’s said
half a dozen times before, but it’s getting better.
Chinese is actually pretty logical and many times a word
will be the combination of other words: for example, delicious (hao chi) is a
combination of good (hao) and eat (chi).
Makes sense, right? I am starting to pick up on the pattern. It is crazy to think that I just started
learning Chinese a week and a half ago, and I now know a stack of vocabulary
flash cards that is over an inch high. I
can order food in a restaurant, I can call for help, I can hear a phone number
and right down the correct numbers, I can distinguish (some) individual words
and sounds I hear people say, I can introduce myself and other people, I can
say if I like or don’t like something, I can say if I want or don’t want
something, I can bargain in the market…
The Peace Corps definitely does a great job of giving volunteers a crash
course in a new language. It may seem
odd to some people that I am in China knowing that I am a Spanish major, but I did
request Asia or Eastern Europe because I wanted to experience a brand new
culture and learn a language I know nothing about. It is so exhilarating to me to see that I can
be placed in culture as extremely foreign as China, and with a language as
COMPLETELY foreign to me as Chinese and see that I can adapt and learn. Wow, what other joys will this experience
bring??
I am so grateful to
be here. The other volunteers are all
exceptional people and every day I learn something from them. We all come with such different backgrounds
and experiences. Many are like me in
that they just graduated college this May, or within the past year. However,
several have Masters Degrees have taught quite a bit in the US and/or other
countries, like Korea. We have several
Grad students in our midst as well. They
are all so smart, and definitely fun to hang out with. I feel that I can hang out with anyone from
this year’s group of China volunteers and be completely content. That’s comforting, seeing as how we will be
each other’s support group for the next two years! I think we are doing a
really good job of supporting each other on our bad days and through our
struggles. It’s hard sometimes to
explain to people back home what we are going through here, but we all
understand each other. Whether you’re
experiencing diarrhea, homesickness, frustration with the language, anxiety
about teaching, or whatever, there is someone else here is going through or has
gone through the exact same thing.
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