The Culture Gap Through My Own Window

Living in China gave me an entirely new outlook on many things.  I learned a lot about another culture, saw my own culture in a new way, and generally gained a new perspective on the world.  That's what the study abroad office told me would happen, anyway.  But there were still some things that just didn't make sense to me.   And when it did make sense, I could find logic to why if someone thought about things logically it would no longer make sense.  Here are some confusing realities about the China I saw from my apartment window.
A few at the end weren't "through my window", but you get my point.  

This post contains a ton of videos.  Just letting you know ahead of time.  :)

TRAFFIC

My first example of things I just didn't get was the traffic in China.  Although these cars must know from experience that in this type of traffic jam, NO ONE is going ANYWHERE for a long time, they still feel the need to honk incessantly.  My confusion with this phenomenon is this: why keep honking at the person in front of you when there are 20 cars in front of them, and no one can go anywhere because the traffic jam is so bad?  Honking is not going to help anything, and of anything it is just plain annoying!

I was slightly annoyed at the time I took this video because I'm pretty sure this was around 7 am.

On a similar note, something that I completely didn't and still don't understand was this - a street cleaner that plays songs, it sounded just like an ice cream truck.  This truck played "It's a Small World."  This was one aspect of Kunming's weirdness that definitely always brought laughter and excitement, but also the confusion of "why does the street cleaner sound like an ice cream truck?"

This.
A camo painted car in China?  Really, please just try and amuse me more.

THE REAL ESTATE OFFICE

Other things that completely confused me was the morning routine of the real estate office directly below my apartment.  Every morning, the employees went out and stood in lines on the sidewalk.  Every morning, they would sing the same three songs.  Every morning, they would perform exercises to a recorded version of one of the same songs that they just sang.  Yes, I took videos because I found it really odd...and I would never want to sing songs and jump around every morning in whatever line of work I end up doing one day.

TONS OF STUDENTS RUNNING DOWN MY STREET

I'm sure in actuality, this event was not random.  The color coordinated clothes, tons of students shouting and running down the street.  But to me, it was completely random...especially when it woke me up.  

THE INFRASTRUCTURE
I guess it is because China is a very old country, or maybe becase it is a developing country....but sometimes I just couldn't help but wonder what the people who built things were thinking.  Take a look at the pathway to my apartment...there were an unreal amount of tripping hazards...especially since there were no lights at night!

THE CITY OF ETERNAL SPRING

...is a big fat lie!  

It is the city of Spring during Spring, Summer and Fall.  But it most definitely has winter.  And it most definitely does not have heaters, insulation, or ample supplies of warm water.

What I don't understand is why they want to call it the City of Eternal Spring while after November hit, I had to wear a coat and gloves in my apartment, to my school, in my class, in my sleep...basically they were my new bodily extensions. 

I called this my "Where's Waldo" jacket.  It was soft and cheap, so I just wore it around my apartment.

No words.  There are just no words.

I CAN PLAY...

Is this supposed to be sexy?  I never understood many of their English sayings on shop names and on all the clothes.

What things did you just "not get" while living in another culture?

A Few Realities of China

Today, I'm bringing you a list of things you should know if you ever plan to live in China.  Or at least Kunming.

Bathrooms

Okay, I feel like I'm totally cheating by putting bathrooms first on this list.  This is what you expected to read in a post about realities in China.  Bathroom stuff.  Sorry I couldn't break the mold on this one, but for westerners it really is something you need to be prepared to encounter.

Bathroom sinks at Yunnan University international dorms.

Squat toilents are very much a part of every day life in China, and I'd have to say - just get used to it. 

For a place with such a huge population, unless the bathroom has frequent cleaning, you will be 100% glad for the sanitation that comes with the squat toilet - the sanitation of touching absolutely nothing.

They really aren't that bad once you overcome the initial awkwardness - it just might be a good idea to read up on techniques prior to your trip.  You think I'm kidding about researching how to use them, but the conversations I had with the other western friends during the first week in China was like this: "Which direction are you supposed to face?"  

Here are a few general rules for squat toilets.

• Carry hand sanitizer.  Most public restrooms either don't have sinks or don't have soap.
• Carry your own toilet paper with you - and get your wad of paper out prior to entering the stall.  You don't want to balance and jumble around for your toilet paper in a tiny stall with all your stuff.  
• NEVER put paper in the toilet.  There will always be trashcans in each stall for this purpose, because the plumbing cannot handle the paper.  
• ALWAYS roll your pants up before even walking in the bathroom.
• Keep some change - public restrooms usually cost somewhere between a few jiao and a few yuan.

A trough style toilet - these are common in some of the older public restrooms, bus stops, train stations, roadside, etc.  This particular one was, however, in the international student dorms at Yunnan University.  Sometimes these older styles will also not have doors.

Even my apartment had a squat toilet and an older style bathroom - meaning the toilet was also the drain for the shower.  It was weird at first that there was not a designated shower area, nor a normal toilet but it quickly became normal.  However, if you're willing to pay a little more for an apartment or move further from the city center, you can find much nicer places with more western furnishings.

Squat toilet in my apartment in China..

Laundry

My Chinese professor at OU liked to go on a lot of tangents during class by telling us stories about Chinese culture.  Her tangents were always really funny, and I'll always remember some of them.  One day, she wanted to prepare the whole class for daily life if we ever decided to study abroad in China.

And now, I'll quote to the best of my memory...because it was just funny.

"So if you want to go to China, you have washer?  Sure, most of China have a washer.  If you want to go to China, you have dryer?  Hahahaha, no! China no have dryer!  So if you do laundry, it will take several days, yes, so you must be prepared and do laundry before you run out of clothes!"

And that's basically how laundry day in China went.

Depending on the thickness of the material and humidity that week, it could take clothes between one day to three days to dry.  During the winter, towels and jeans never seemed to completely dry after being washed.

Oh, and your clothes will also smell like air pollution.

Food

 Bucket 'O' Feathers right outside the restaurant door?  Yep, that used to be on your dinner.

It's okay, it happens all around the world - you just don't always get the educational experience that comes with it.

  

Shopping

Some forms of shopping in China are really cool.  Many vendors sell products on the sidewalks, or in carts that the push up and down the streets.

This is a photo of a pet fish cart.  She was selling all kinds of fish, and she walks around and maybe you decide to buy her fish, and you pay her on the spot and get your fish on the spot.  Always remember to bargain with these types of street vendors!

Then, you have supermarkets.

While Wal-Mart is available in China, I think most people who've lived in China would suggest that Carrefour is a MUCH better option as far as supermarkets go.  They are just as widespread as Wal-Mart, if not more, and as far as food selection went I thought they had better products.

See a Chinese Carrefour below.

Carrefour is pronounced Jiā lè fú in Chinese.

Some cities will also have a store with more imports and western delicacies called Metro.  As with most imports, the price will stay true to the lack of ability to purchase such products otherwise.

Weather

Okay, this one is purely talking about Yunnan.  I don't know about other areas in China if what is said about the weather and how the weather is actually is true.

If you haven't heard, Kunming is called the City of Eternal Spring.

Its true - things stay green year round and you'll probably never encounter snow there.  But it DOESN'T mean that you won't freeze your butt off!

Most people are really confused that I laugh when I hear "City of Eternal Spring."  Sure, for the first several months, the weather in Kunming was wonderful!  It wasn't super hot, and not cold...yet.  While I was there in November, December and January, Kunming consistently stayed around the mid-30s (Fahrenheit). 

What they don't tell you when they talk about the City of Eternal Spring is that since they think it is Spring year round that that also means that building don't have insulation.  I lived in a solid concrete apartment with windows that didn't even seal all the outside air out.  There was literally an draft all the time.

So when I was up doing homework, no matter what time of day nor what building I went to, I was freezing.  My hands were so cold that I bought the red fingertip-less gloves so I could still write.  Oh, and don't laugh at my Where's Waldo jacket with sleeves too short for me.

My suggestion for anyone traveling to a new place - even if you research the weather, it might not be like what you expect with differences in humidity, winds, buildings, and altitude.  Just pack what you need to be prepared to make do with both hot and COLD weather.

Migrant Hearts

 

Its hard for me to be still.  Ever.  If I sit, I wiggle.  If I'm in one town too long, that means it is time for a road trip.  I have a travel bug, or maybe a 'need for something new and changing' bug.  Sometimes it is like the whole world could be home.  But even when I'm in a new home, I find a fond remembrance and sometimes a longing for one of my past homes.

These were the kids I had the honor to substitute teach English to a few times.  The craziness of this picture accurately captures how much fun these kids were...ESPECIALLY when the camera came out.  THIS is what I miss.

  Recently, I have begun to really miss my China home.  It was sometimes hard to miss...because in America I have my fiancé, my family, a comfortable house, a car to drive and a life where grocery store trips take merely 30 minutes instead of 2 hours.  American life is good.  It is what I've always known, and I am blessed to have been born into this country.  The reasons I am realizing that I miss about my China home are not conveniences, but perhaps that every single day was a day to learn so much new, make a new friend, learn something new about an old one, and to establish some lifelong friendships.  Those days were days you learn to see the good in people, and the ability to love a culture that is not within understanding as an outsider.  

  I often have fun telling people about my life in China.  It is fun to tell them how my apartment bathroom was so old fashioned and ghetto that I had to explain to Chinese friends how to use it.  Its fun to explain how in many ways I miss some of the things other Americans find backward and below quality of life, for example squatty potties.  Most people just cannot imagine using one, and would prefer to hold it until they can walk to the next Five Star hotel.  I sometimes wish America had them.  Or how I took the bus or walked everywhere.  Or how there was a guard outside my apartment complex, and that I could only get in the gate between certain times of the day.  The differences that are often the hardest to get used to can turn into memories you love.

This is one of the gate guards outside my apartment.  I first thought he was mean and hated us, but on Christmas eve, my roommate and I bought him a hot coffee since it was so cold, and realized that he just sounded rough, and that really he had a good heart.  Or maybe scrooge's heart grew three-times-bigger.  Its funny how you don't talk to these people a whole lot, but once you get used to seeing them EVERY single time you leave your apartment and come back, they are people who stick in your mind and appreciate.

  This woman is someone I think of every day.  She actively seeks the Lord in everything she does, and every opportunity to her is a moment to share Christ.  She is an amazing sister in Him, and I pray I will meet her again one day.  She is very inspiring, I hope I may have the braveness, dedication and wisdom that she has one day.

 These two are also a blessing to call friends.  The guy on the right is my classmate from Korea, and the girl on the left is his girlfriend.  They were so much fun, and always so much help.  We enjoyed holding dinner parties with each other, going on walks through Kunming together, and meeting for coffee.  When my roommate was gone, they made sure to check in on me to make sure I was safe on several occasions, and had me over for dinner when I was going to be alone for my birthday.  They are such a sweet couple...I severely need to practice Chinese so I do not forget how to communicate with them!

  All in all, to my heart, PEOPLE are home to this migrant heart.  There are so many people in which my heart holds dear throughout this small world...if only it were a little smaller.  While I know right now Oklahoma is my home, its hard not to feel a little homesick when you leave or send little bits of your heart with people all over the world.  This is me hoping for many opportunities to travel again in my future and make some 'heart' visits.  

That's my thoughts for tonight, dear Coffee Readers...until next time.

Coffee pic of today is.... me with a cup of GoMax Coffee...if you ever visit Kunming, China and you're a big coffee drinker, GoMax has pretty awesome (and cheap) coffee.  (Thanks to my Korean classmates for introducing me to this place!)

Also, if you visit Yunnan, go to a restaurant and order the Yunnan Coffee 云南咖啡...it is AMAZING.  Wonderful coffee.  Get it.

Kindergarten Romance

  I just tonight remembered a video I took while still in Kunming.  Here's the back story.  Every day during class, we could hear little kids singing songs in the nearby park.  My friend and I intended to skip one day just to go watch them, and never did until a few days before leaving.  It was really fun.  We had been hearing them practicing the songs all semester, so we almost knew them by heart by the time we went to watch.

On the day I went to see them, I took a lot of pictures and videos, because they were so adorable.  When the young grade (I'm going to guess Kindergarten) was finished with their songs, they had to go sit at the side and watch the other class do their dances.  They could not sit still if their lives depended on it, and to have two foreigners (外国人）to wave at, talk to, and laugh at...it just made them funnier.

Side note:  If you aren't familiar with China, it is one of the most ethnically homogeneous countries in the world.  That being said, most Chinese look Chinese.  Even among China's own ethnic groups, their appearance is still similar to that of the Han Chinese - as to not cause much shock or being used to ethnically diverse people.  So as a white person that doesn't have black hair and brown eyes, you often attract a lot of attention whether you want to or not.  Especially among children, who might not have seen as many foreigners before and are quite intrigued.

This is a picture of the older group practicing their dance.  Cute, right?

These are some of the younger kiddos who are supposed to be sitting down waiting.  These three happened to be the mischievous funny ones...and I'd have to say sitting wasn't an easily attainable task for them.

These mischievous ones brought on this cute video.

I call it "Kindergarten Romance."

(I wanted to show this one while I was still in China, but my internet was too slow to upload.  Enjoy!)

  Ok,  REALLY cute, right!?  I'm just going to say that I'm happy I captured that cuteness, and somehow perfectly timed that I took the video when the little boy kissed the little girl.  And seriously, their dance music in the background was like perfectly timed with what they were doing...it just makes it even funnier.  I love how they rest their heads together at the end!  

On that note, Chinese kids are really adorable...well, all kids are, but China will hold a special place in my heart for sure!

The Kunming Experience: Final Week

This week concludes my study abroad experience in China.  I leave Kunming next Friday, putting me on a 35 hour traveling spree.  Then, I can eat steak, Mexican food, and not have to think about how to say something before I go to a restaurant! After I get over jet lag, I'll be hijacking my boyfriend from the rest of  society...forever.  No more of this:  :)  I can't wait to see him for the first time in five and a half months!  (I miss my parents...and kitties too, of course!)

...and hopefully I'll stealing my mom's sewing machine.  :P  All this Pinterest inspired creativity that cannot go anywhere because I have no supplies being abroad.  Oh, and I forgot to mention how I will take 3 hour hot showers multiple times daily to make up for all these cold showers here in Kunming.  I also hope to refrain from using a stove top for at least a month, to make up for 5 months with no oven.

Ok, so...enough dreaming of a week from now.  I do have big list of things to do this week.  First of all, celebrate my birthday for three days straight!  I'll be 22, and I'll get to eat Korean traditional birthday soup (seaweed soup), then on my actual birthday talk to my boyfriend all day, then the day after my birthday eat lunch with a friend!  I also need to buy some more souvenirs.  After that, I need to pack my existing suitcase, see how much stuff I still need to pack that doesn't fit, and go buy another suitcase.  I suppose all my stuff will be going home soiled since my washer decided to quit two weeks before I leave.  Then, of course, when your clothes have lost their shape to this extent because they hang dry instead of shrinking in the dryer, there's really no point in even taking them home. 

When the washer does this to your floor every time you use it.....there's no more using it.

  I'll have to be sure to eat the following before leaving:
Korean triangle kimchi snack things

Korean Topokki

Jiaozi

Er Kuai (rice tortilla with a warm, sweet peanut sauce inside.)

Candied Fruit Skewer

I guess for the rest of the week besides that crazy list, I will continue to do silly things like this and color them with my crayons (which WILL be going in my carry on.)

So that's most of my bucket list for this week, then I'll be back to Oklahoma, taking classes, reading books, and the occasional road trip or craft project.  With Pinterest around, hopefully there will be more interesting things happening around my corner of the world! 

I'll end on this note: (maybe I'm hungry too?)

The Kunming Experience: Part III

A few days ago, we wandered into an area of Kunming we hadn't seen been before.  Since being in Kunming, I hadn't really witnessed the type of poverty I witnessed in this particular neighborhood.  This area is next to what they call "Ancient Kunming."  You have your typical Ancient Chinese intricate styled buildings like this...

These buildings have been historically renovated at some point, and they have good maintenance.  As you're walking the streets by these beautiful buildings, you'll see a lot of allies that twist and turn.  Because of curiosity, I really wanted to go back in the allies the first time I came to this area, but a friend brought us, so she took us through all the touristy places.  The next time I came alone with my American roommate, and we explored through the allies.  It is so interesting how right in the middle of all this restoration and very suitable places, there was so much hardship...but you can't even see it.  Seeing this really reminds me how I want to pray for these people.

 A very old building

Sewage system...

The clothes line...

Old bricks on a house

and an alley.

A different day I was here I saw a toddler playing in the mud by this building.  The building is a public bathroom, the mud is most definitely sewer. The woman who worked at the bathroom counted her money from that day, my guess is it didn't even amount to $3.

 Doggy

 A building so old it is made of sod bricks.  Notice on the right of the picture it is next to a concrete building.

 A little girl playing on the stair ramp as a slide.

This lady's job is to sort through the trash.  Some people support their families like this, it is very possible they are migrant workers.

A great example of a new building built by an old one.  There's just part of the old brick one and the new one was build right in the middle of it.

These carts are used for trash clean up and things like this. In Kunming, you won't see a garbage truck, you see these bicycle carts with huge piles of trash in them.  People go through the trash and sort it to get anything recyclable out.  The workers who do this work very hard for little pay.

 A man with his baby on a bus.