8 Things I Love About China & 3 I Don't
Even though we’ve been here nearly 9 months already, this week China has felt very different. It wasn’t the climate, it wasn’t classes…it was a subtle sense of temporality. Knowing that we’re going to be leaving in July really gives everything an almost nostalgic air, which caused me to ponder on the bus (at the risk of almost missing my stop) what are the things I will miss most about living in China.
Eight is a really lucky number in China, so I thought it’d be a good number of things to list:
1. Bakeries
I’ll admit, bakeries here are something of an acquired taste. Bread is usually far too sweet or contains far too many red beans for our palates. But after a few gruesome experiments, I finally did find quite a few little snacks I enjoy. Last semester I made a point to buy some baked thing for breakfast the next day, but these days I usually only eat them as an afternoon snack-and at 2 or 3 RMB a piece (about 50 cents), it’s hard to resist! My recent favorite are the egg tarts-it’s something between a custard and scrambled eggs. I know it sounds gross but it’s actually really yummy and quintessentially Chinese.
2. Stationery
One thing you quickly notice about China is the entirely different set of aesthetics here, but especially for young women. I’ve seriously passed boutiques that looked like Hello Kitty’s dollhouse exploded inside. In China it’s totally ok for girls to have pink, frilly (notebooks/water bottles/t-shirts/fill-in-your-own-noun-here) with bunnies and bad English on the cover---even if they’re 19 years old not 19 months. But actually, it’s charming to walk into a local stationery store and find loads of cute, edgy, punk, and everything in between styles of pens and paper and pencil bags. How will I ever cope with boring old black-and-white composition books again?
3. Babies
It’s a well-known fact that Asian babies are the most adorable ones in the entire world and Chinese babies are definitely some of the cutest. They do lose points for the infamous “split-pants”, which leads to seeing far too many babies peeing right on the street corner. But that unfortunate trend aside…their little faces, the hats that have ears on the top, their cute pig-tails…oh man, I could go on and on about them. Sometimes I do, which is why Nick can instantly tell if a cute child is on the bus because I make a noise like this: “waaaawwww!” Although I’m sad to say that I don’t think Chinese babies find ME adorable-I have been known to scare quite a few of them just with my Caucasian face.
4. Tea
I remember very clearly one sunny afternoon at the beginning of last semester when one of my students hung around after class to ask me, “do you like tea?” Of course I was still in American-food mode so I assumed (stupidly) she meant iced tea, which I love enthusiastically (and responded as such). Delighted, she offered to teach me all about Chinese tea-and it was the happiest mistranslation error ever. I soon discovered Chinese tea to be one of the most interesting and approachable aspects of Chinese culture. I loved visiting the tea district in Kunming, where I could sample various (very expensive) blends for free because the owners were thrilled to see a foreigner interested in tea. I splurged and bought a fully-loaded tea set, and Nicholas and I have both enjoyed some soothing cups of green tea after a long afternoon of teaching. Although they have tea in Japan, it’s a different taste and culture.
5. The Ws
They are our awesome friends. In the beginning of our time here, they comforted us and helped us navigate Kunming much easier. Now we routinely have dinner and dessert nights together, movie nights…Husband W has been known to come to our apartment and tear it up on Xbox with Nick. And Wife W, well, I text here just about 3 times a day. She’s one of my closest friends here and it’s going to be unimaginably difficult to leave them. We’re already planning trips back to Kunming just to visit them again, because we are committed to not losing this incredible friendship. Oh, and their children are also adorable.
6. Fruit & Vegetable Stands
Chinese women don’t really believe in the “Walmart” shopping mentality; i.e., make one trip once a week and buy everything you need at once. Why should they? China has abundant fruit and vegetable stands providing fresh, in-season produce at DIRT cheap prices. Although they rarely speak English, I can muster up enough Chinese to manage. We can routinely enjoy fresh and delicious fruit for just pennies a day…which we take full advantage of, I assure you.
7. Naicha
Naicha literally means “milk tea”, but the more accurate translation should be something like “heaven in a glass.” There are a number of little tea and snack shops near our school, but my favorite is one with a polar bear in sunglasses on the logo. I love this place so much that it was one of the very first places I could have an entire conversation in Chinese-because I knew what all the questions would be! Milk tea is a semi-sweet base to which you can add coffee flavor (kafe naicha, my favorite), fruit, “bubbles”/”pearls”, and all kinds of other goodies. I’ve even come across an “Ovaltine Milktea.” Even though milktea is becoming more popular in the States, I will miss the abundance of it (and my Buy-10-Get-One-Free card!).
8. Students
I guess this one is kind of obvious, but for me at least students are a big part of why this year in China was such a positive one. I don’t know if poor Nick can say the same-his students are pretty hard on him. But mine are usually quite cheerful and not shy about telling me how much they enjoy my class. Many of them are heartbroken we are not going to stay here next year; some of them literally on the verge of tears when they heard. For their part, they have taught me a lot about Chinese culture. Unlike the stereotype, my students are mostly bright, curious, and enthusiastic learners who are very intrigued with American culture. They’re also incredibly generous and kind. Most of them would give me the shoes off their feet if I needed it, even though they have so much less than I do. They are so eager for friendship and very willing to give it. Probably what touches me most, though, is that in their minds I will ALWAYS be their teacher, no matter how old they are. If I ever run across them again, they will undoubtedly treat me far better than I deserve.
And 3 Things I WON’T miss, not even a little:
1. Beds that are as hard as a rock. I would do anything for a bed with a little give to it. I’m not even joking.
2. Blood, bones, Sichuan peppers, and other undesirable things in my food. I never really adjusted to Chinese food and this is a big reason why.
3. Bureaucracy and the magnified amount of time it takes to do things. Especially this week; there was a problem getting my salary into my bank account. Why? Don’t know. How long will it take to fix? So far it’s been 2 weeks. Nick doesn’t get paid until the end of the NEXT month after he teaches for a whole month, so he’s not getting paid again until April. So does our school care that we have NO money now? Not really. Nothing can be done faster than a snail’s pace here when it comes to paperwork, and it can be really, really frustrating.
Eight is a really lucky number in China, so I thought it’d be a good number of things to list:
1. Bakeries
I’ll admit, bakeries here are something of an acquired taste. Bread is usually far too sweet or contains far too many red beans for our palates. But after a few gruesome experiments, I finally did find quite a few little snacks I enjoy. Last semester I made a point to buy some baked thing for breakfast the next day, but these days I usually only eat them as an afternoon snack-and at 2 or 3 RMB a piece (about 50 cents), it’s hard to resist! My recent favorite are the egg tarts-it’s something between a custard and scrambled eggs. I know it sounds gross but it’s actually really yummy and quintessentially Chinese.
2. Stationery
One thing you quickly notice about China is the entirely different set of aesthetics here, but especially for young women. I’ve seriously passed boutiques that looked like Hello Kitty’s dollhouse exploded inside. In China it’s totally ok for girls to have pink, frilly (notebooks/water bottles/t-shirts/fill-in-your-own-noun-here) with bunnies and bad English on the cover---even if they’re 19 years old not 19 months. But actually, it’s charming to walk into a local stationery store and find loads of cute, edgy, punk, and everything in between styles of pens and paper and pencil bags. How will I ever cope with boring old black-and-white composition books again?
3. Babies
It’s a well-known fact that Asian babies are the most adorable ones in the entire world and Chinese babies are definitely some of the cutest. They do lose points for the infamous “split-pants”, which leads to seeing far too many babies peeing right on the street corner. But that unfortunate trend aside…their little faces, the hats that have ears on the top, their cute pig-tails…oh man, I could go on and on about them. Sometimes I do, which is why Nick can instantly tell if a cute child is on the bus because I make a noise like this: “waaaawwww!” Although I’m sad to say that I don’t think Chinese babies find ME adorable-I have been known to scare quite a few of them just with my Caucasian face.
4. Tea
I remember very clearly one sunny afternoon at the beginning of last semester when one of my students hung around after class to ask me, “do you like tea?” Of course I was still in American-food mode so I assumed (stupidly) she meant iced tea, which I love enthusiastically (and responded as such). Delighted, she offered to teach me all about Chinese tea-and it was the happiest mistranslation error ever. I soon discovered Chinese tea to be one of the most interesting and approachable aspects of Chinese culture. I loved visiting the tea district in Kunming, where I could sample various (very expensive) blends for free because the owners were thrilled to see a foreigner interested in tea. I splurged and bought a fully-loaded tea set, and Nicholas and I have both enjoyed some soothing cups of green tea after a long afternoon of teaching. Although they have tea in Japan, it’s a different taste and culture.
5. The Ws
They are our awesome friends. In the beginning of our time here, they comforted us and helped us navigate Kunming much easier. Now we routinely have dinner and dessert nights together, movie nights…Husband W has been known to come to our apartment and tear it up on Xbox with Nick. And Wife W, well, I text here just about 3 times a day. She’s one of my closest friends here and it’s going to be unimaginably difficult to leave them. We’re already planning trips back to Kunming just to visit them again, because we are committed to not losing this incredible friendship. Oh, and their children are also adorable.
6. Fruit & Vegetable Stands
Chinese women don’t really believe in the “Walmart” shopping mentality; i.e., make one trip once a week and buy everything you need at once. Why should they? China has abundant fruit and vegetable stands providing fresh, in-season produce at DIRT cheap prices. Although they rarely speak English, I can muster up enough Chinese to manage. We can routinely enjoy fresh and delicious fruit for just pennies a day…which we take full advantage of, I assure you.
7. Naicha
Naicha literally means “milk tea”, but the more accurate translation should be something like “heaven in a glass.” There are a number of little tea and snack shops near our school, but my favorite is one with a polar bear in sunglasses on the logo. I love this place so much that it was one of the very first places I could have an entire conversation in Chinese-because I knew what all the questions would be! Milk tea is a semi-sweet base to which you can add coffee flavor (kafe naicha, my favorite), fruit, “bubbles”/”pearls”, and all kinds of other goodies. I’ve even come across an “Ovaltine Milktea.” Even though milktea is becoming more popular in the States, I will miss the abundance of it (and my Buy-10-Get-One-Free card!).
8. Students
I guess this one is kind of obvious, but for me at least students are a big part of why this year in China was such a positive one. I don’t know if poor Nick can say the same-his students are pretty hard on him. But mine are usually quite cheerful and not shy about telling me how much they enjoy my class. Many of them are heartbroken we are not going to stay here next year; some of them literally on the verge of tears when they heard. For their part, they have taught me a lot about Chinese culture. Unlike the stereotype, my students are mostly bright, curious, and enthusiastic learners who are very intrigued with American culture. They’re also incredibly generous and kind. Most of them would give me the shoes off their feet if I needed it, even though they have so much less than I do. They are so eager for friendship and very willing to give it. Probably what touches me most, though, is that in their minds I will ALWAYS be their teacher, no matter how old they are. If I ever run across them again, they will undoubtedly treat me far better than I deserve.
And 3 Things I WON’T miss, not even a little:
1. Beds that are as hard as a rock. I would do anything for a bed with a little give to it. I’m not even joking.
2. Blood, bones, Sichuan peppers, and other undesirable things in my food. I never really adjusted to Chinese food and this is a big reason why.
3. Bureaucracy and the magnified amount of time it takes to do things. Especially this week; there was a problem getting my salary into my bank account. Why? Don’t know. How long will it take to fix? So far it’s been 2 weeks. Nick doesn’t get paid until the end of the NEXT month after he teaches for a whole month, so he’s not getting paid again until April. So does our school care that we have NO money now? Not really. Nothing can be done faster than a snail’s pace here when it comes to paperwork, and it can be really, really frustrating.