Some Canada/China Differences (there's more than a few!)

  It's hard to believe that we've been in China for just over a month now... in some ways it seems like way longer, and in some, way shorter.  No matter where in the world you travel, there will always be differences to what you're used to at home, but I believe that in some countries this is much more apparent than in others (namely China!).  Over the past week I've compiled a list of the biggest differences we've noticed here... some are funny, and others are just different... you'll see:

Communication:

The Chinese language (Mandarin) consists of four tones, ie- each word is more sung than it is spoken.  I found this out the hard way when we first got here, as I cleverly pulled out my Mandarin phrase book whenever I needed something in a shop, etc.  But whatever Chinese person I was trying to talk to would just look confused.  It wasn't until a couple weeks later that I found out this book is useless unless you know the correct tones in addition to the words.  But how to remember them all?  Well, I've started drawing musical notes into my book above the words, so I know the tones in relation to each other for each word.  So far so good, but very hard to remember.  Mandarin is the hardest language by far that I've ever tried to learn.  I will keep trying, but will definitely NOT be learning how to read or write it as the alphabet is WAY different from ours and super complicated.  One thing at a time...

Transportation: 

In Canada most people drive cars, but here I'd say the percentage of people who own and drive a car is WAY lower.  Instead they take transit or taxis, but MOST ride scooters or bikes.  And when I say bikes I mean either rusted out 1950's style bikes, or electric bikes that go really fast.  NO ONE wears helmets, and they don't seem to get into crashes either, for some weird WEIRD reason given their manic driving styles.  Anyways, the biggest annoyance is the noise... NO ONE here has ever heard of greasing their brakes, so whenever we walk somewhere there are tons of bikes going by squeaking SO loudly.  Imagine 1000 high-pitched dog whistles all going at once and you'll have an idea as to what we go thru every day.  Andrew got smart and has been wearing ear plugs on the way to school.  He gave me his spare set which I managed to drop into the gutter one rainy day.... they floated off to who-knows-where.  Sad.  

  Also, we take taxis everywhere we need to go.  We're lucky that our work is close enough to walk to, but for big grocery trips, getting to church, cell group, the gym, etc we need a car.  There's NO WAY we're driving in this crazy-ness, so taxis are our best bet.  They are super cheap too- usually no more than $2-4 per trip.  However, going anywhere here require a lot more preparation than it does at home.  I have to find the address (usually online) and write it down in English, and then have it translated into Chinese characters by a bilingual co-worker so I can show it to the taxi driver later on.  I definitely have to plan ahead, especially for our weekends.

Our Students:

Having taught in places where there is increasingly little respect for teachers, being in China is a welcome change.  I think I have mentioned it before in one of my previous posts, but the kids here are so respectful, friendly, and eager to learn.  Every day when we come into the classroom they are all seated quietly, ready to go.  When I say good morning to them, they ALL respond with a hearty "Good morning Teacha!"  It's SO nice!  Whenever they pass us in the hallways they greet us and wave- very different than home.  Also, they take care of their classrooms- erasing the boards, sweeping and mopping the floors, wiping the desks, doors handles, etc.  If they make a mess they clean up after themselves (imagine that!).  Every morning when we pass thru the school gates, there are 6 students standing there, 3 abreast on each side.  They smile at us, and as we pass thru their "gauntlet" they slightly bow their heads and say good morning.  Also, there are students everywhere sweeping the school grounds with big brooms (there are trees all around the campus so lots of leaves and stuff need to swept up to keep it tidy-looking).  We are amazed!

Prices:

We are used to having to spend quite a bit to live in Vancouver, so it was another nice surprise to find out how cheap things are here in China.  Some examples:

-you can get a great pedicure or pedicure here for about $5 (Can)

-Andrew got his hair cut and dyed for under $7

-you can get an awesome body massage (1 hour) for under $10

-DVDs are sold on many street corners for under $1.50 each... we are very well entertained with all this selection!

-we can go out for a rockin' dinner where we both get a massive plate of food and a big bottle of beer to share for $3.  Of course this is not in very nice restaurants, but still, it's good food.

-a big bottle of beer in the grocery store costs about 50 cents.

Of course you can spend just as much in China as you would in Canada if you want to.  We have definitely gone out for a couple of nice meals that cost the same amount as in Vancouver, but we keep this down to a minimum.  You can also buy really expensive imported groceries ($10 for a box of Life cereal- Andrew's favorite), and other imported goods and clothes.  You just have to be smart about how you shop here.  

On the other hand, electronics are pretty expensive here... at least as much as they are in Canada.  We found this really surprising as we figured they'd be WAY cheaper here as they're made here,  but nope.  Not sure why this is.  We got matching cel phones when we first got here, and they cost about the same as home, but WAY cheaper to use.  Some of you might remember me boasting that I was gonna get a really cool and cheap iPhone when I got to China... well, that didn't happen considering the price and the fact I didn't really NEED one. 

   

Weather:

The temperature here has been around 30 degrees Celsius ever since we arrived (plus humidity).  Super gross when you've just had a shower and then go out to walk somewhere... I was a constant bag of sweat.  However, a couple days ago the weather changed to about 8 degrees cooler literally overnight.  It's way more comfortable now and we can still go out in shorts and t-shirts without being too hot or cold.  I think the change may be due to a typhoon which is coming thru south of China (don't worry Mom, it's not gonna hit here!).  

Manners:

It seems that in China anything goes.  People have NO PROBLEM peeing on the sidewalk, fully picking their noses and pulling out massive boogers in full sight of anyone around them, and letting out loud farts in the office.  They don't seem embarrassed about it, and no one bats an eye (except for us!).  Totally crazy.  And while the kids are really respectful at school (leading us to believe that the whole Chinese society is like this), it somehow doesn't transfer to the outside world.  We have noticed this most blatantly in how people try to cheat you.  For example, sometimes we'll be waiting for a taxi during a really really busy time.  When one finally stops for us and we go to get in, someone will sprint up out of no where, jump into the taxi, and be off.  Or we'll be waiting on the street for a taxi, and someone will come stand themselves 5 feet in front of us so whatever empty taxi might drive by would stop for them first.  And they think this is totally normal.  I just don't get it!!  Needless to say, we've become a LOT more aggressive!  

The Mystery of it All:

There are some things here that we just don't get and that there seem to be no explanations for.  For example, there have been a couple of important statutory holidays here, for which the school has given all of its 200 teachers gifts.  The mystery is that these gifts are SO random.  For example, for teacher's day, we are all given a big box of figs.  They weren't that tasty, so I pawned them off (re-gifted) them to my students (it fit perfectly with my healthy living unit I was teaching as I discovered none of them were eating enough fruits & veggies, so I told them this was the perfect solution and they all better eat them!).  On the most recent holiday, the school gave us each a massive box of pear-apples, and a box of 2 bottles of cooking oil.  So between Andrew and I, we have about 50 pear-apples and 4 big bottles of oil in our house.  We have cleverly started giving away the pear-apples to the security guards in our building.  There are 4 of them on duty at any given time.  They shall each receive 2 pear-apples at a time over the next few days.  We just delivered the first "load" and they seemed pleased... we'll see how long this lasts!  (The pear-apples are good by the way, but they're just massive and I don't think we can eat that many before they go bad).  

Another mystery has to do with our visas.  When we first came to China we were only able to get single-entry visas, which means we can only come into the country once, which would be a problem since we plan to travel in and out of the country on our vacations.  So once we arrived here we  had to apply for multiple-entry visas.  This sounds like it might be a simple procedure, but no, it's NOT!  There is a girl called Joyce who works with our company.  She is Chinese, speaks some English as well, and is in charge of all our affairs, so she's handling this visa application thing.  She'll call or text us at the strangest time and tell us to "be ready on Thurs at 12:40- I will be there".  So she comes to the school, tells us to come downstairs, and we get into a car with some random driver.  There are no introductions made and we drive for quite a ways to who-knows-where.  The first time it was to get a medical check-up, which apparently all foreigners have to get.  We gave a blood sample, and then each had a chest x-ray, eye exam, ENT exam, ultrasound, blood pressure check, had our internal organs pressed around on, and were weighed.  Weird!  We asked Joyce why we had to have this done and she had NO idea!!  So funny.  The next time she picked us up we drove to this visa center where you have to line up for ages.  Out of no where, this man came up (whom she was in kahoots with apparently), took our papers, and got us to sign something in Chinese.  Then we lined up somewhere else, got our pictures taken, and we were done.  Again, I have NO idea why, where, when, what, etc, but I guess it's all necessary.  Don't worry anyone, it doesn't seem shady, just weird to be so outta the loop about your own affairs!  

Other stuff:

We have a week off right now for National Holiday Week (I guess it's similar to Canada Day, but more time off).  It's actually only Wed-Fri off, but our school made us work the previous Sat-Sun, and then gave us Mon-Tues off instead.  So in other words, we worked for 7 days in a row and now have 7 days off.  We were thinking of going somewhere cool, but then didn't end up having our passports as they're working on the visa thing with them.  Also, we're trying to save our money so we can do a really cool trip when we have 3 weeks off this coming January.  We are thinking Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc.  Hopefully we'll be able to see 2-3 different countries, and are trying to get some planning done on that this week.  

Hopefully I'll be able to write a few more posts to get you all updated on our happenings here.  Hope you're all well!