Everyday Life

I haven't had much time this week, so this was just put together quickly. A few thoughts about day to day life for the people of China. 

Since the moment I landed in China I have been looking for and pointing out all the differences between life in China and life back home. Some differences are incredible and inspiring, others rather shocking and concerning. One concerning issue is the way that the local hospital is run, after going there for a blood test (something all teachers at the school have to do), I hope I never have to return to the hospital. From the moment I walked into the hospital I was haunted by what I saw, and I was very close to refusing to have the blood test done. So the first thing I saw was what I suspect was supposed to be a service assistant, he was wearing ordinary everyday clothes and flip flops, and had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He was pushing a very old and dirty mop along the floor, cleaning up a pool of blood. Further into the hospital I saw the same scene, a person in ordinary clothes, and either flip-flops or sandals, yielding a dirty old mop, effectively just pushing the dirt around rather than cleaning. In the Doctors rooms, there were sinks, but I doubt if they have ever been used to wash hands. The sinks were dirty and rusty/mouldy, and some had litter in them. There was no privacy for patients, while one patient sat with the doctor, everyone else queued right behind their chair, with the queue going right out the door, and everyone pushing and rushing to get in front. The Doctor did not was their hands in-between touching patients or wear gloves at any point. I saw one doctor eating whilst examining a patient. The same was so for the nurse’s, when it came to have blood taken everyone queued one behind another, as soon as the blood sample had been taken you had to get straight up and move, as the next person sat in your place the moment your bottom leaves the seat. The nurse’s waste no time in washing hands or wearing gloves, they take one blood sample after another like clock-work, this made me very nervous, and I ensured to keep watching them in order to make sure that they do not reuse needles. Thankfully, I watched as she took a fresh sterile needle out of a packet before injecting me, and if my Chinese language skills were developed enough, I would have asked her to wash her hands or put on gloves.    

  

Before someone else actually said it out loud, I thought that China was worlds different to England. Someone said to me this week; “China is completely different to Western countries.” It was then that I thought, well actually that’s not true, and I began to look at the similarities that are among the differences. The first things I noticed were the morning and evening rush hours. Although these roads are filled with children on the back of electric bikes (with no helmet or protection of any kind I might add), many people drive electric powered carts, and not to mention the dangerous lack of road organisation, the fact remains the same; everyone is simply going to work and school. The way they do it is different, but just like people in the west, they take their kids to school in the morning, go to work, and back again at the end of the day. What is more incredible about their way, is that they work much longer days, the roads start to get busy at 6.30am, and most people work right up until 11pm, with the school day starting around 7.30 and ending at 6.30pm. And although the cost of living is so very cheap compared to England (Bottle of Cola; 30p; Meal at a restaurant; £2; pack of Toilet Roll; £40p), wages are indeed very low. The Chinese teachers at my school are paid the equivalent of £6 per day, and they work for 10-12 hours each day.  

A few random observations:

•           No-one wears a seatbelt, like ever. The majority of cars I have been in or seen have actually had the seats belts cut out.

•      Litter; it is the common procedure for rubbish to be thrown on the floor, there are very few litter bins, and even if there is a bin nearby, rubbish will still be thrown to the floor. There are then workers, usually women, who go around all day collecting the rubbish. They cycle around for about 17hours a day, pulling a cart attached the bike to place the rubbish on. 

•      A lot of things that would be considered rude in western society is commonplace here, things like playing music very loud and talking loudly in the middle of the night. Also spitting; I knew before I came here that spitting was the norm, but I didn't realise just how much. Everywhere and anywhere people spit, including indoors and mid-conversation!

•     Health and safety DOES NOT exist in the slightest. There is a lot of construction work taking place in this little town, as a subway system is being installed, along with many other amenities to expand the town. I have yet to see a construction worker wearing anything that resembles safety clothing; no helmet, no high-visibility clothing, sandals instead of work boots, and they often work shirtless, wearing just shorts - even when working with power tools and blow torches! There are also no fences or anything to keep people away from the construction sites.

The City NEVER sleeps.

So in this post I want to talk about the level of noise here; it’s like being in a theme park 24 hours a day, with a steady stream of sounds and disturbances. Starting with the most annoying sound; this irritating and seemingly constant noise usually starts about 6.30am, and continues on till about 3am. With a lack of proper road structure, cars are incessantly honking their horns; it is their way of weaving in and out of lanes successfully, and appears to be the normal way to drive a car. But there is nothing normal about sleep deprivation from the continual honking at all hours of the night! 

The second most annoying noise… in fact I take that back, this is definitely the most annoying noise, and it is that of the street food carts. Instead of shouting like they do on markets in England, e.g. “Grapes, £2 a punnet!”, here they have pre-recorded messages, indicating the price of their food. And so the street vendors can play their message over, and over, and over, and over again, from first thing in the morning, right into the middle of the night. The same 10 second message is played on repeat, and although I do not know what they are saying, I can recite the majority of the food carts that I pass daily.

The streets are livelier at night than during the day.  As soon as the sun sets, restaurants bring tables and chairs outside, and the street vendors turn on their neon lights. The streets are then filled with people, all eating, dancing and laughing. There are HUGE parks for children, not consisting simply of a slide or two and a swing set, they have the biggest bouncy slides and castles you have ever seen, sand pits, balls pools and paddling pools, all free to use at your own pleasure. These parks are busier at night, from 7pm right up until around 12am children as young as 4 years old are considered as being safe enough to be allowed to explore the park alone, while their parents shop at the clothing and food markets also located at the parks.  The noise of children laughing, and loud music can be heard for many blocks, and mixed in with the chatter and music from the outdoor restaurants, being on the streets is like being in a nightclub. 

Everything here is bigger and better, even a simple thunderstorm is more mean and mighty than ones back home. There are firework displays all around the town every night of the week, but these are not just any ordinary fireworks, these ones are bigger and more powerful than any you have seen before (presumably the kinds of fireworks that would not pass health and safety tests in England). These fireworks light up the whole sky with beautiful shapes and colours, but sound like you are in the middle of a warzone.  

This video is a reflection of fireworks a few streets away. 

Food Glorious Food!

Chicken and Boiled Rice. 

So I have always been a bit of a 'fussy eater', but as I have gotten older I have been more willing to try new foods. And it is just as well, because it would be impossible to live here and not be willing to be adventurous with food. Every meal is something new and mysterious; from squid soup, to pineapple curry. I am usually not quite sure of what it is I am eating, but I always try it no matter how strange looking it is. It's generally hit and miss as to whether or not I like the taste of the food,  but more miss than hit. It has only been a few weeks however, so hopefully I will have more positive things to say about the food in the future.

There is something which is always consistent with the food here, if anything can be guaranteed with every meal it is this one thing.... Freshness. The food is cooked right in front of your eyes, with the freshest ingredients. The vegetables were probably picked just that morning, and the meat killed hours before, or in the case of fish, killed minutes before cooking, after you have chosen your own fish of course.

Take your pick. 

I haven't tried this kind of fish yet, I have tried squid, and some other kind of seafood which was not to my liking. I look forward to giving this a try, I am not sure how I feel about seeing Nemo alive and swimming before I eat him, but if he is delicious I am sure I won't be complaining!

Another aspect of food here which is consistent, is that soup is served with every meal. At breakfast, lunch, and dinner some kind of soup is served alongside the main meal. And by soup, I don't mean chicken and bacon straight from a tin, it is always freshly made with added seaweed and seeds. Some of the vegetable soups are very tasty and refreshing. Others, like the strange looking one pictured below, are not so appetising, and certainly not refreshing.

Soup... I think. 

In this small village, there are no major western food outlets such as Mcdonalds, or KFC. These can be found in the larger cities, but I have been warned on several occasions not to trust the Chinese version of these places; 'the meat is not good', were the words used. I can't say I have missed western food that much yet, I have been too busy being thrown head first into this new way of life to notice. And besides, I am enjoying trying all of these new foods, even if they are not all as delicious as a Sunday roast!

Chinese Pot Noodle

Very tasty fresh Noodles

Some kind of pepper stew

Breakfast: Pineapple Curry and dumplings

Rice and Chicken

Breakfast Bap (The only tasty breakfast)

Rice and Chicken (Again!)

Beansprout salad

Class has begun.

So this week I started teaching. This time of year in China is considered the 'low season', it's not necessarily the summer holidays that we have, but most parents decide not to send their children to school during this time, so there are only four children in class currently. The children are ages three and four, and are so adorable!

My first experience of teaching English is not quite what I expected. Of course at age 3/4 the children are so very young, and so it is going to be difficult to engage them when I do not speak their language. But these children seem to be much less enthusiastic than English children of the same age. I figured that it would just take some time for the children to warm to me, not being able communicate with them makes it more difficult to gain their trust and engage with them. Having observed their classes with the Chinese teachers however, I could see that the lack of enthusiasm stretched to these lessons as well, in that these lessons were not very 'fun' or 'interesting', and so the children in turn, were not having fun.

I organised a lesson packed full of English songs and games; 'good morning' song, 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes', and a children's version of the 'hokey pokey'. The children were able to follow along with the actions, and even sang along to some parts. But with the Chinese teachers sat along side them, they did not express feelings of joy or excitement. For the final few activities I asked the Chinese teachers to move out of the way, this worked well, and the children picked up on my enthusiasm and relaxed. So by the final activity; the 'hokey pokey', the children fully enjoyed themselves and laughed the whole way through it.

I love being able to fully plan my own lessons, I have the responsibility and freedom to organise my lessons however I wish. That is, with one exception. The Chinese teachers have to follow very strict rules and regulations; with daily staff meetings looking more like army drills than anything else. Luckily, me being the 'shiny new foreign toy', I do not apply to most of the rules.










But in terms of actual teaching, the school seem to have a set approach that they want their teachers to take including myself, and a specific way they wish the classroom to be run. This approach involves a lot of repetition, and a classroom routine that is set in stone. I am going to continue to observe this method of teaching, and see what I can learn from this. But I am also going to introduce to them to my own method of 'western' teaching in my English classes, and hope that they can appreciate the benefits that this style will have for the young learners.

#Why are you not White?? (A whole new world)

When researching travelling to China, many people talked about the 'Culture Shock' that they experienced. I can't say that the phenomena has hit me, at least not yet. The life here is completely different to the way of life I am used to, but it is pretty much what I expected.

Traffic:

There are certain Chinese practices that I would find most alarming if I ever saw something like that happening in England, but here, they just seem to work, despite the inherent health and safety risks. The most shocking of which, is the transport of children on the back of motorcycles or electric bikes. Children as young as one year old are placed on the back of these motorised vehicles without any form of seat belt or strapping. In addition to this, there is a complete lack of any form of road safety or structure, there are very few traffic lights, and drivers just drive on whichever side of the road that they want. I was most distressed when my taxi driver was driving in the same lane as an oncoming lorry, it wasn't until the very last second that he swerved out of the way, just sliding past the lorry. Several times a day I see infants and children, sometimes two or three on one bike, being swerved in and out of traffic. The children themselves appear perfectly content and at ease, barely holding on to anything, but sat comfortably.

'Yinggouren' (British)

I am finally getting a taste of what it might be like to be famous, and it isn't all that bad, but I think that as time passes it will become increasingly annoying. Every-time I step outside I am greeted by staring eyes, and curious faces. They speak to the people I am with from the school in Chinese, if I hear the word 'Yinggouren' in their reply, I know that they are talking about me. Yinggouren means 'British', and the Chinese people here are very fascinated by having a 'foreigner' in their midst. The majority of people in this town have never met a 'foreigner' before, cultural diversity in China is pretty much non-existent, and so for many I am the first non-Chinese person they have met in person.
 Other teachers at the school were most confused by the colour of my skin, the one teacher who speaks a little English was able to enquire as to why my skin is not white. "English people have white skin? Why are you not white?" I told them that my father is Black and my Mother is white, and they responded; "You not born in England??" I began to explain to them that I was, and that my father was also born in England, but that his parents were from Jamaica. I am not sure if they fully understood what I was saying, the concept of inter-racial relationships is probably very alien to them. Despite this, all of the people at the school have been more than welcoming of me, and their kindness has helped in the transition process. Even though they use the term 'foreigner' to describe me, their attitude towards my presence is much more positive than attitudes towards 'foreigners' in England.

Life in China

My first week in China has been fun, I am quickly becoming accustomed to the daily life in China, and to the weird and wonderful foods, although it is going to take longer for me to get used to having noodles and chicken for breakfast! Also, language learning is slow progress, but I can ask for 'Rice and Chicken', so I'm good for now! :)