Chinese Culture‏

So after telling you all about the things that I have been doing here, I figured I'd give you all (if your interested) a small lesson in Chinese Culture (if you don't already know), and share with you what I have been experiencing as the little differences. Most of these are no big deal and make me laugh, so there is little stress. In fact, I would even go as far to say that I don't think that our cultures (as far as the younger generation goes) is that much different from my generation back home in America.


First of all, the thing that I find most entertaining, is the fact that there is no need or desire for lines. If you want to order something at a standing restaurant, you walk right up the the counter, regardless of other people standing there, and order. Even if you interrupt her or someone else ordering it's not that uncommon or rude to just yell out your order to the cook and shove your money in their hand. Whoever gets the the counter and gets their order in first, will get their meal whenever the cook is done cooking it. It's also not uncommon for the cook to cook whatever is convenient first rather than in the order of the people who came. I've had to stand waiting for 15 minutes before while other people who ordered after me got their order, and I was served last.

Another thing, which I actually find really fun and exciting, is the streets. People don't have the right of way, at least it doesn't seem that way. Car's don't really have many laws that they really follow (other than the basic ones). Most of the time bikes (bicycles and motorbikes) are in the street, even the freeway. The basic rules of the road are, don't get hit and don't run into anything. Therefore, if something is in the way, you move around it. If you can't move around it, you honk at it until it moves out of the way. I've seen people standing in the middle of the freeway having a conversation, and all the cars just honked and moved around them. This makes driving really exciting. But, it makes crosswalks even more interesting. :) There is no rule that cars have to stop for crosswalks, but they still don't want to hit anyone. Of course pedestrians, at least the Chinese ones, are aware of the fact that if they want to cross the road they need to pick a time when there is a break enough in the cars to walk or run through. Sometimes we will walk halfway across and find that the other side of traffic is coming and there is no break. So you stand and wait in the middle of the two lanes until you can continue. It makes crossing the road really an interesting experience.

Something else that is different is the laundry. I was expecting this but I guess I'm still a little bummed. They don't have dryers, so we have to stick with the good old fashioned concept of air drying. Our room looks really funny during laundry day because of all our clothes that are hanging up around our room.

It's also a little bit weird, because there is limited washers, if you fail to take out your laundry in time the guard will take it out for you in order to give the washer to the next person. It makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable, but I don't mind that much.

It's weird being a foreigner, many people stare at us and talk about us in Chinese. We have even had random people come up and take a picture of us or ask us to take a picture with them. It's a little strange... but funny. One time I was trying to tell a lady that her camera cap was on before she took a picture, and then it ended up (after some language confusion) that me and Lesly (my roommate) were taking a picture with her. So we are going to end up on some random person's facebook page or something and not even know them.

Eating with chopsticks is fun, but the more you learn about how dirty it is here the more you realize the necessity of not touching anything. It's not uncommon when you walk on the street to see children going to the bathroom. In fact, most children who haven't been potty trained yet, instead of using diapers, have a hole in their pants so they can go when they need to. People spit on the streets and litter nasty garbage frequently. Shoes are not to be worn inside for this reason. We have room slippers, and when we visit our classroom off campus we have to remove our shoes before going inside.

These are a few of the things that are different about our culture. I find them more interesting than annoying. I think it's fun to experience all of this (except for that last one) first hand. I promise to stay safe and well. If you have any questions, please email me! (it's megan.elaine.04@gmail.com)