T Minus One Month
There is exactly one month remaining until I bid farewell to my dear United States and board a flying machine bound for the Great and Glorious People’s Republic of China.
I can almost hear the warbling Mandarin tones echoing in my ears, almost taste the flavorful local dishes on my tongue, and almost feel the exotic pollutants attacking my lungs. I’m sure you readers can almost see my entries that will contain original material instead of regurgitated news stories with sarcastic commentary. Now that will be something truly foreign!
If any of you grizzled expats or former 留学生 want to share some China advice with me, now would be an excellent time. I want to ensure that my trip goes perfectly so that I will have absolutely no interesting stories to tell. Please help me achieve this tedium!
Advice? Don’t sweat the smalls stuff.
For the trip think comfort. Buy one of those cheap neck pillows that inflate. Bring a comfortable pair of headphones and magazines. Your mind will probably be racing with 1000 ideas so trying to read Atlas Shrugged might be a difficult task.
While in China try to stay away from the ex-pat comfort zones. You’ll find that you get too comfortable in these areas and your China experience will suffer from the lack of native contact.
One friend Steve, http://onhongkongisle.com , lived with several families for short times during his 2 years in China. This is probably the best way to experience China.
Smile a lot. Don’t be too self-conscious. If you don’t like attention accept the fact now that you will be the center of attention in most places.
You will be encouraged to drink and to drink a lot. Formal dinners and the like will center on toasting you. If you say, ‘Sorry I don’t drink’ then you should be consistent. There is nothing worse than telling the dead of student affairs during lunch that you don’t drink and then him later finding out that you are the local All Day’s best pijiu customer.
Learn to breathe during ‘China Moments.’ These are times when you feel like you are the target of an episode of Punked. Nothing is going you way - people are telling you ‘MeiYou’ and ‘Bu Bu Bu’ while shuffling you to one area or another. Just pause and remember that you are in China and this little event will make create copy for the blog.
Other than that its easy.
↓ Quote | Posted August 4, 2006, 8:12 amThanks for the tips, other Dave. By the way, who is John Galt?
↓ Quote | Posted August 4, 2006, 8:59 amI need to correct one thing in Dave’s advice. When people encourage you to drink, never say “I can drink.” Drinking is very tricky in China, there are lots of ways to avoid drunk but still make the host very happy. Considering your Chinese, the simple way is you can say that “I’m not good at drinking, but because of your hospitality, i will drink a little bit” instead of “Sorry, i don’t drink.” But don’t keep drinking, people will think that you are very good at drinking, then you will get drunk very soooooon.
↓ Quote | Posted August 4, 2006, 1:33 pmMore advice will give to you after you touch the land of China.
Being peer pressured into drinking pisses me off more than anything else in China, with the exceptions of China Rail, China Post and the Bank of China. Good luck.
I have found that an effective tactic is to gang up on someone who is particularly obnoxious about trying to get others drunk. You and about ten other foreign students toast him consecutively one by one, downing a large glass of baijiu each time. It will be hard for him to refuse, although once he sees the pattern he will try to stop it. That’s when you stick him with it. Force him to keep going. He’s drinking ten glasses to your one. I’m serious, let him have it. You will gain respect and people will be afraid to force you to drink in the future.
A caveat: if you are ever caught out at dinner alone after using this strategy it may be used against you, so you must be careful with it.
↓ Quote | Posted August 4, 2006, 7:09 pmI never had a problem with China Rail, or China Post, but Bank of China? Heavens.
FYI, it may or may not work for you, but my Debit Card *ONLY* worked at China’s Merchant bank ATMs. Visually they usually have a red sign and logo. This is one down by Ego– once your at Zhejiang you will have a better idea what I am talking about. I could never get any other type of ATM to work for me, and the fees where very reasonable– like back home using an ATM in Minnesota. However, Bank of China was very stubborn. Although I remember once coincidence where a woman from the bank came out to help me at the ATM (odd already) and the manager came out shortly thereafter and told me in English that she just wanted to come out and stand next to and talk in Chinese with a “hanesome, tall, foreigner.” It was a new chapter in the book of awkward.
I never had a problem with the drinking thing. There were very few situations where I felt pressured into drinking at all. I went clubbing and drank, but I kind of expected to drink when I did that. Nobody ever pressured me to drink outside of that though. However, you will be invited to random people’s birthday parties to be the “token foreigner.”
↓ Quote | Posted August 6, 2006, 11:28 pm