When you live abroad,
it is unavoidable that you will encounter bizarre things and there will be a
lot to get used to. This seems to be especially true in China. Every day I experience a range of emotions,
from elation to frustration and confusion.
I love exchanging smiles and greetings with the students on campus and
the shop vendors outside of the campus gates.
Little things make me very happy (like how excited my students got when
they learned I have three brothers and that two are twins). However, there are definitely plenty of
things that just don’t make sense to me.
The washing machine in
my apartment is a fine example of bizarre inexplicableness. Before doing a load of laundry, I hook up a
hose to the faucet to fill the machine with water. Once the load is done, I have to turn a dial
to empty the water from the machine.
Now, all the washing machines I’ve seen in the States will rinse the
soap off the clothes and wring the clothes so they are not sopping wet when you
pull them out. Also, when the water
drains it goes into pipes and you don’t have to worry about it. Here, though, my clothes come out completely
sopping wet and soapy, and the water drains out of the hose onto the
floor. I have to stand there with my
foot against the hose to guide it toward the drain (although I’m going to look
for a brick or something heavy to keep it in place). It doesn’t make me angry- in fact, I think it’s
rather amusing. But it does mean that washing laundry is a much more hands-on
affair than it normally is! It also
means that my excitement at having a bathtub is not because I can take a bath,
but because it gives me a place to rinse my laundry and wring out the water
after its time in the washing machine!
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| Washing machine, with the hose aimed toward the drain. It's actually a Chinese squat toilet. The hose is not long enough so I have to stand there and use my foot to aim it toward the hole, otherwise it just pools on the floor. |
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| My washing machine, with the hose hooked up to the sink. |
At my site, the only
foreigners are Mary and I, so naturally the people here are very curious to see
foreigners. I am new so I get a lot of
attention. Also, Mary says that I fit their
idea of an American more than she does because she’s middle aged, and more than
the previous volunteer did, who had dark hair because her father was from
India. Because of their lack of exposure
to foreigners, they often do not seem to know how to react to seeing me. Apparently it is not rude to stare because I
get that a lot. I try as much as
possible to smile and say “nihao”, which often causes them to look surprised
but most of them will smile in return. I
think they’re just surprised to hear me speak Chinese. If I have time, I try to have a conversation
with them in Chinese, although unfortunately they seem to think that if I can
say certain things, then I must understand everything. I can get through introducing myself and some
basic small talk, and then eventually I have to tell them “ting bu dong” when
they go off at me in Chinese.
Now that I’ve been here
over a week, some of the vendors get really excited when they see me, and they
give me a big smile and a wave. I look
forward to being a recognized individual in the community.
I have heard of other
volunteers becoming negative about all the different things and quirks in China
but I hope I can overcome all that with a positive attitude. That strategy has worked for me many times
before, especially while traveling or living abroad when so many things are out
of your control. Instead of getting
frustrated and angry about the inconvenient things in my apartment, I just turn
on some music to make laundry or dish washing more enjoyable. Instead of getting annoyed at all the stares,
I smile and say “nihao” or “hello.” There are a lot of things to get used to, but
as long as I can find a strategy that works well enough and allows me to get by,
I will be fine.
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