Shopping day in Baoding.

Yesterday, I went downtown. It was crazier than normal, many stores were having sales. October 1st of every year is National Day. National Day is similar to the fourth of July in the United States. Most people do not work on this day, so many of them go shopping. In China, the sheer number of people can be overwhelming at times. I don't remember experiencing anything quite like this in the states.

People were everywhere. The sidewalks and streets were crowded. The edge of the sidewalk near the street is lined with vendors. These vendors sell everything from food, clothing, electronics, novelty items, and small household appliances. I saw one vendor selling plasma television sets. On the sidewalk, the traffic is going both ways. If a person sees something that a vendor is selling, they simply stop walking and look at the item. This means that the people behind them have to stop as well because the oncoming flow of people prevent easy passage. On the wider portions of the sidewalks, stores will set up stages and put on shows that promote the products they are selling. As a person walks down the street, they hear lots of noise. All of these street performances, and other stores playing music are quite noisy. Costumers, vendors, store owners, beggars, policemen and other people are trying to handle their affairs. Sometimes people will drive their motorscooters down the crowded sidewalks, not really thinking of anyone but themselves.

It isn't that bad, it is something that I am getting used to. It really is safe, so long as I watch for traffic.

Yesterday I bought two pairs of shoes. In a previous post, I commented that purchasing shoes is difficult for me. My shoe size is on the upper limit of what I can find at many shoe stores in China. I can sometimes find the length, but the shoes are almost always narrow. Yesterday, I think I lucked out, I found two pairs of shoes that seem comfortable. I hope I still think so after I start wearing them all the time.

Today, I also went downtown and I purchased a jacket. It is a nice jacket, and I can tell it was well made. If I am willing to spend a bit of money, I can find some good quality clothing. I suppose that this is true everywhere. I was looking at a fleece shirt today. The quality was really good, and it was fashionable. The store wanted the equivalent of about $50 for it, which is about what a person would expect to pay in the states. Because of the quality, maybe someone would have to pay more than $50.

My point is that shopping in China is not that easy, but there can be good deals to be found. When I was still living in the US, I figured that merchandise would be dirt cheap. After arriving in China, I found that I can purchase really poor quality merchandise dirt cheap, but if the goods resemble items that might sell well in western countries, the price is almost the same that one would expect to pay in their respective country. This is true for food as well. For example, McDonalds charges about the same price as one would expect to pay in the US. A Big Mac combo meal might run you 35 - 45 元. To find good western style food, I have to go to Beijing. There, I can expect to pay quite a bit of money. A person can find good deals in China for clothes. Here are some suggestions for people who intend to go shopping when in China;
- when you visit, do not bring a lot of clothing. I would suggest that you do not ship clothing back to the US. Only buy what you can carry back with you.
- Larger sizes are frequently difficult to come by. If you are a larger sized person, maybe you want to make sure that you bring enough clothing in case you cannot find your size in China.
- I don't really know much about buying women's clothing, but women's clothes seem really good. Men's clothing can be bothersome. I sometimes think that the men's clothing is feminine. I don't care for wearing pink or purple tee-shirts.
- If you look like a foreigner, and you cannot speak Chinese, expect to not pay the Chinese price for anything if you are in a large tourist city like Beijing or Shanghai. You will likely overpay. If you can speak Chinese, you will probably also overpay. Your best bet is to go to a city that does not see many tourists. In that way, you can have more confidence that you will not be completely fleeced.

I don't know too much about this topic, perhaps other people can be more helpful than me. I would urge you to seek their advice.

China, one year later...

Exactly one year ago today, I arrived in China. What is the difference between then and now?

last year; I loved the attention that I got from strangers in the street.
this year; I can't stand the attention I get from strangers in the street.

There are not many foreigners in Baoding, so sometimes people are curious. They generally ask questions, but the always ask the same questions. I get tired of answering 'which country are you from?', 'how old are you?', and 'how much money do you earn in a month?'. Generally, I ignore people in the street if I am able to.

last year; I couldn't stand the food
this year; my taste for food has changed a bit.

When I was still living in America, I was very picky about what I would eat. Shortly after arriving in China, I lost a lot of weight because I was unable to find suitable food to eat. Over time, I have found that my taste for food has changed. Today, I can handle some spice, and I eat soup now. Some of the flavors and textures that I disliked when I first arrived are okay now.

last year; I could not wander too far because I was afraid I would be unable to find my way back home if I did.
this year; I can go anywhere in China and make my way back home.

My language skills have improved. Because of this, I can read more signs, and talk to people. This has given me independence to do as I want while in China.

last year; I would see some new and interesting things in the street everyday.
this year; I see some new and interesting things in the street about once a week.

There are many things that are found in China that are not found in the United States. Sometimes, these are quite fascinating.

last year; I had no clue about how to teach Chinese students.
this year; I know what to expect, and have prepared for when these situation arise. I know the common mistakes that Chinese students of English make, and because I understand some Chinese, I know why they make these mistakes. Because of this, I can be more helpful.
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Some differences between my life in China and my life in the United States
United States 美国 -I owned a truck, and I could freely travel as I wanted.
China 中国- I have to rely on public transportation, taxis, or walk. I have to ride on crowded public buses to get to where I want to go.

美国- People in the street, for the most part, are considerate.
中国- People in the street rarely think of other people. The traffic is insane. I will never drive here if I can avoid it. I feel it is very dangerous. When crossing the street, I need 360 degree vision. Cars, and bikes sometimes seemingly come out of nowhere, and they will not stop.

美国- I earn a lot more money, but costs are higher, and I have to pay higher taxes.
中国- As a foreigner, I will always have money in China. Chinese people don't have it so easy. I do pay some taxes, but it isn't much. The pay is poor, but in consideration to the cost of goods here, I am very wealthy.

美国- I could sometimes walk down the street and see no people or cars.
中国- The streets always have many people. The street near my apartment is near a University gate, so there are usually lots of people in the street. Many streets will have vendors selling all sorts of things, such as food, clothing, and small gift items. At the end of the day, the streets are filthy, with garbage everywhere.

美国- government buildings are well-maintained, and kept clean.
中国- Chinese people do not seem to appreciate the value of maintaining property. Buildings and parks are rarely tended to. The building I teach at needs repairs. Classrooms are messy, and the walls need fresh painting.

美国- building are required to meet certain safety codes.
中国- no one seems to care. Buildings are constructed in a seemingly random way. Besides some of the hotels I have stayed in, I don't think I have seen any smoke detectors. Most buildings don't have emergency exits. In fact, I know one classroom building at my university where they lock the doors from the outside. This in of itself may not be a problem, but the keep the locks on even when the building is open for business. Should an emergency occur, there would be only one way for people to exit the building. This is not the best idea, especially since this building is about 15 floors high.

美国- Cellphones are expensive. You get a bill at the end of each billing period. Usually, you are expected to sign a contract.
中国- Cellphones are fairly cheap. I bought mine for 200 yuan (about $30). It is my phone, and I can use it with any cellphone company I want to do business with. The service is 'pay as you go'. No contracts or anything. Simply add money to your account when you are about to run out. If you run out, you simply can't use your phone. If this happens, you can simply go to a convenience store and buy a phone card or you can go to your cellphone service providers store and add money there. No late fees, no reactivation fees, none of that nonsense. Oh, and it is very cheap. I think I have paid 500 yuan so far, and right now I have about 130 yuan still left on my phone.

美国- I normally worked 40 hours per week, if I was not in college.
中国- Last summer, I did not work at all. I spent most of my time traveling and studying Chinese. I still got paid by my university. Not a bad deal, I get paid while I explore a foreign country. In the next few months, November will be my busiest month. I will be working about 28 hours per week. September was very light, I didn't start working until the 19th. We get a week off on October. For December and early January ( or thereabouts) I will be working about 14 hours per week. Oh, and if I work more than 16 hours per week, it is considered to be overtime, and I get overtime pay. This is not true for all Chinese people, many of them work considerably more than I did when I was in America. I have one Chinese friend who has worked every single day since Spring Festival (during February), and she doesn't complain about it.

美国- If you look at me the wrong way, I will sue you.
中国- People just let things slide. I got hit by a bike a few months ago, and the guy who hit me simply shrugged and rode off.

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Some misconceptions about China -
- People do not eat catmeat, and very few people eat dogmeat.
- I can find almost all fruits that are found in the United states here in China, but there are some Chinese fruits that I have never seen in America.
- Not all Chinese people are short. In fact, many of them are quite big.
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Some observations about China-
- It is very noisy in the street.
- It is also very dirty, apartments are harder to maintain here in China than the ones in the states.
- Yes, there are lots of people everywhere.
- Certain things are difficult to find in China. Cheese is sometimes hard to find, and it is expensive. It is hard to find deodorant, good stationary products, and comfortable shoes. Shoe sizes are small here in China, which seems strange because I do see people with big feet.

This is all I feel like writing right now. Maybe I will write more later.

A very long summer

I have decided to stay in China for a 2nd year, so this means that I was permitted to keep my apartment through the summer. For the first part of the summer, I spent lots of time studying Chinese, and traveling locally. The second part of summer was spent traveling around the northeastern part of China. In one months time, I visited several cities in five provinces. I have seen many interesting things. I visited the city of Dandong 丹东 which is in Liaoning 辽宁 Province. It was right after they experienced a really bad flood. Because of the flood, there were limitations as to what I could do. I stood on a boardwalk and looked across the yalu river 鸭绿江, which was far narrower than I expected. I was able to see North Korea, the land that is so forbidden for Americans. I then visited the Friendship Bridge, walked to the end of it, and looking through binoculars, I was able to see North Korean people doing day to day tasks. I was hoping to take a boat ride to the banks of the North Korean side, but I was unable to on account of the recent flooding.

Many of the places I visited this summer were interesting, perhaps I may make additional comments about my trip in future entries, but for now, I want to stop. On the 25th, I will have lived in China for one year. I want to make a detailed entry describing my impressions after a years time.

Life in China

What can I say about living in China after almost 9 months? I am not sure. It is so very different, and I quickly found that people simply do not think in the same way as I do. I remember thinking when I was still in America, that if ever a misunderstanding should occur, then I could simply explain it away. What I have found is that it is not always that simple. Sometimes, people believe things, and they will not easily be swayed by an explanation. All people believe certain things about life and human nature, and Chinese people are no different. I am quite sure that my behavior in China is quite puzzling to Chinese people, as their behavior sometimes is for me.

Sorry, the above paragraph may seem a bit like rambling, but it is just something that weighs heavy on my heart, and causes much of the hardships that I face in China.

In many ways, I have a very easy life in China. What makes things difficult is getting involved with the community. This is difficult for me to do sometimes. My Chinese is improving, but the accent that I am learning is best understood by people living in large cities such as Beijing or Shanghai. I have great difficulty understanding the local people. I am conflicted with the understanding that, many times, I am the only foreigner that they see on a daily basis. In some cases, I am the only foreigner they have ever met. Because of this, what I say and do will have a lasting impact upon how they may see foreigners in the future. I understand this responsibility, and try to act generously and kindly. At times, this is difficult because the behavior of the Chinese people can be difficult to tolerate. It is not so much that the behavior is bad, but it is just that it is very repetitive. They ask the same questions, and say the same things. After 80 times of hearing the same thing over and over, it is difficult for me to appear genuinely interested in what they have to say.

The English language has a huge influence on the culture in China. It is interesting to observe how Chinese people have attempted to adapt English into traditional Chinese culture. Often, the result is strange. Sometimes, it is quite funny. There are the signs written in Chinese, with the English translations underneath. The problem is that the translations are not very precise, and in some cases, I cannot understand what is being said. For example 'Keep near, settling the civilization' is intended to mean to keep near the urinal when using them in the restroom. Sometimes, Chinese building will have Chinese writing and also pinyin. Pinyin is the Chinese sounds spelled out using Roman letters. The result is often a really long word that looks, perhaps, something like this; 'baodaoshifeihongdengzailuobingguan' no spaces or capital letters. When I first saw this, it looked quite strange to me.

There is so much to say, but I am too tired. I will write another blog someday. I am not going to make promises or anything. I now know I should not do that. If I do, I may end up not keeping my word. Anyhow, good night.

The life of a Chinese learner living in China...

I think that I can understand how hard it is for a foreigner to learn a new language. I have been living in China for 8 months now, and in addition to that, I had studied Chinese for around 10 months while living in the states. I have some experience with this. I must say, it can be difficult at times. Learning Chinese for an English speaker is probably easier than it would be for a Chinese person to learn English in the United States, because many people can speak at least some English. When these Chinese people see a foreigner, they are often friendly and eager to use the little bit of English that they know. This means that they may be willing to be helpful, and patient when I try to speak Chinese. However, there are not many Chinese speakers in the United States, so this is not very likely.

Anyhow, my life in China is filled with constant frustration, confusion, and irritation. Doing any task in the street is always difficult, because my Chinese is not good. I study Chinese for several hours on most days, but I still know very little after all this time. Everyday, the fact that my language skills are poor is immediately apparent. As I learn more Chinese, I find that, in some ways, it actually gets harder to function. When I knew very little, people were more patient with me. Now, people expect me to be able to speak better than I actually can, so they just get frustrated with me. Sometimes, Chinese people, meaning to be helpful, will sometimes throw English words in their Chinese sentence. This causes problems for two reasons; first, their pronunciation is often very poor, so I don't realize that they are trying to speak an English word until later. And second, they will say the English for words that I already understand the Chinese for anyway. In this way, this is no help and serves only to frustrate matters worse.

I recently hired a Chinese person to help me work on my oral Chinese. I am one of the very few Chinese learners whose reading and writing is better than my speaking. For most people, their speaking and listening is good, but they cannot read or write. After my first lesson, I got discouraged because she spent lots of time talking in English. I might have to find a new tutor.

I get so frustrated sometimes. Some days, I might spend a three hour session studying Chinese, then go to the street to do something, and fumble, stumble, and crawl my way through the most basic Chinese interaction. As I said earlier, I am constantly reminded of my poor speaking ability. My reaction sometimes is to simply say 'screw it, this is too hard. Perhaps I will just play video games during my spare time' but I know that if I practice, I will improve. I know this because I am improving. It is very slow, but I am getting better each day. I just have to maintain the regimen of studying that I have been doing since around January or thereabouts.

I know this is not well written, but it is a first draft, and I don't really care to revise and edit. This is what you get. Sorry.

Tips for visiting China

1. Watch out for cars and bikes, they won't stop for you. Seriously, they won't stop.
2. Always carry napkins. Seriously, you may wish you had if you don't.
3. If you see people arguing or fighting in the street, don't get involved. Seriously, this can get you killed. No matter what, don't get involved. Chinese people will not understand that you are trying to be a gentleman.
4. If you are at a restaurant, and your food falls on the table, don't eat it. No surfaces in China are truly clean. Tables are wiped clean with a dirty rag.


That is really it as far as the important stuff. The rest of the stuff is minor. As you stay in China, you begin to learn things to watch for. However, the things that I find irritating now, were not things that were irritating when I first arrived. If I had avoided those early experiences, I would have shortchanged myself in my China experience. If I think of anything else, I will add it later.

For large cities like Beijing, let me add two more;
5. Watch your belongings.
6. Don't trust anyone.
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Here is another tip;
7. Some Chinese people know more English than you think, please be careful of what you say. Seriously, some Chinese people spend years studying English, and they are very good.