Tuesday, 29 May 2007
It's 3 bloody 7 seven degrees
Need I say more? I will die here. It's not even summer yet. A swear word really is in order here - it's so fucking hot. Presently, I have a cold, a headache and laduzi, all because of the heat and shocking air quality. I went outside today and it felt like walking into a very large, dusty oven. I know I'm slowly going delirious with heat and Chinese characters because yesterday I bought some pot pourri to make my room smell nicer. And just to complete my day, our landlord says he won't install air-conditioning even though it's in the contract. He's what's known in Chinese as 'a shit'.
Sunday, 27 May 2007
The weather has given me laduzi for 2 weeks.
Because I can't spell the word 'diaorrhea', I will call it laduzi, the Chinese name.
2 weeks ago, I went for a lunch with someone I knew. It was really good, lots of speaking Chinese, good company and interesting foods. Then we went into the centre of Xian, and it was so damn hot. The more I stayed outside, the sicker I felt, purely from the heat (the food was OK). That day and the proceeding days were 35-37 degrees. And in the crowded, dusty, concrete filled city, it feels worse. I felt like one of those British colonial government officials in India in the 19th century, hopelessly unsuited to the local conditions. Since then, my constitution has been wobblier than the Chinese government's official explanation of the events in Tiananman Square 1989.
Fortunately, its cooled down to a piffling 28, 30 degrees or so, but when it was nasty hot, it was impossible to sleep properly. I'm really looking forward to the 40-plus summer months, especially in my non-airconditioned room. I'm waiting for my flatmate to buy this cheap fan-type thing, and if it's effective I'll get one as well. We have, however, bought a fridge (16 pounds), so I can keep it well stocked with local beer.
I might be wrong here, but I think Chinese people believe that it's good to eat hot food in summer, because it makes you sweat and therefore cool down. This reminds me of the Victorian medical practice of bleeding. When I eat hot food in the hottest days here, my body temperature goes up to somewhere near the top of the Kelvin scale, and I feel a good deal less healthy.
It almost never rains here, and when it does it smells like a building site because of all the dust. Windy conditions are also, due to said dust, not wonderful. People here have umbrellas because its hot, not because it rains. And I continue the enjoy the Chinese men's habit of rolling up their trousers and jumpers in hot weather to cool themselves down, revealing a fat belly and veiny legs.
At the moment, its not bad, so I can play ping-pong most evenings on campus with random Chinese people without flopping to the ground like a overly cooked noodle.
2 weeks ago, I went for a lunch with someone I knew. It was really good, lots of speaking Chinese, good company and interesting foods. Then we went into the centre of Xian, and it was so damn hot. The more I stayed outside, the sicker I felt, purely from the heat (the food was OK). That day and the proceeding days were 35-37 degrees. And in the crowded, dusty, concrete filled city, it feels worse. I felt like one of those British colonial government officials in India in the 19th century, hopelessly unsuited to the local conditions. Since then, my constitution has been wobblier than the Chinese government's official explanation of the events in Tiananman Square 1989.
Fortunately, its cooled down to a piffling 28, 30 degrees or so, but when it was nasty hot, it was impossible to sleep properly. I'm really looking forward to the 40-plus summer months, especially in my non-airconditioned room. I'm waiting for my flatmate to buy this cheap fan-type thing, and if it's effective I'll get one as well. We have, however, bought a fridge (16 pounds), so I can keep it well stocked with local beer.
I might be wrong here, but I think Chinese people believe that it's good to eat hot food in summer, because it makes you sweat and therefore cool down. This reminds me of the Victorian medical practice of bleeding. When I eat hot food in the hottest days here, my body temperature goes up to somewhere near the top of the Kelvin scale, and I feel a good deal less healthy.
It almost never rains here, and when it does it smells like a building site because of all the dust. Windy conditions are also, due to said dust, not wonderful. People here have umbrellas because its hot, not because it rains. And I continue the enjoy the Chinese men's habit of rolling up their trousers and jumpers in hot weather to cool themselves down, revealing a fat belly and veiny legs.
At the moment, its not bad, so I can play ping-pong most evenings on campus with random Chinese people without flopping to the ground like a overly cooked noodle.
The Flatmates
Of the 3 flatmates, one is a German and 2 are Chinese. The German guy is Clemens, 26, and is also a foreign student here. He's a really good bloke, typical German apart from being easy going and friendly instead of uber-serious. Although I end up speaking more English than I probably should, quite often it's good having another European around to joke about things. There's quite a big gap between European and Chinese culture on a lot of things.
The Chinese guys are really nice as well, we get on well. Both 20 or so, learning English at university. In brief, they are good guys but so incredibly lazy, they make me look like German. They spend their whole day sitting around, watching TV, playing computer games and studying English in a woefully ineffective way.
My favourite of the 2 is XiaoMing. When you ask him what he's done today, he normally replies 'sleeping'. Everyday he (like most Chinese people) has a nap in the afternoon. He once asked Clemens, with a puzzled and worried face, how he managed to cope on only 8 hours sleep a day. He spends hours practising pronunciation, and yet it remains terrible. XiaoMing is from the countryside, and he has this quite suppliant mentality. He thinks its his 'yinggaide' (duty) to do all the housework. He's kind of like the butler (or public school 'fag') to the other one, in that he does all the clothes washing and cooking for both of them, while the other sits around sending text messages. One time we were dicsussing having a party or something in the flat, and he said he would be the butler. When he goes to English Corner with Clemens, he never joins in, instead he stands just behind him, like a bodyguard in fake Adidas training kit. Yesterday, I come home and XiaoMing is there with a random Chinese woman and an obese, Arab looking guy with a voice like Michael Jackson. I still have no idea what they were doing there.
FanQian is the other guy, he's also a nice bloke, we get on well. I normally speak Chinese to them, only sometimes English, which is good for me. One interesting thing is that he keeps saying how much he wants to learn German, go to Germany for foreign study, etc. Clemens has offered him free German lessons, and yet he just hasn't got round to taking up the offer. I really have trouble understanding this - he is probably the only Chinese person in this 8 million person city living with a German who has offered free German lessons, profeses his love of German(y), and yet spends his time sleeping and playing computer games.
We went out to a music thing once, and after half an hour, FanQian went home because he was tired and there were no chairs. A lot of the people I know (not all) get tired so easily, they need to have a rest after having a rest. I went to a university with some friends yesterday, and every half an hour they were asking 'ni lei ma?' (are you tired?).
There's also something quite fishy about them. I'm pretty sure XiaoMing isn't enrolled at university, he only seems to go there in the evening. When you ask him about it, he stutters over his words and looks at his friend for help.
Overall, it's good, the 'guanxi' (relationship) is so far, so good.
The Chinese guys are really nice as well, we get on well. Both 20 or so, learning English at university. In brief, they are good guys but so incredibly lazy, they make me look like German. They spend their whole day sitting around, watching TV, playing computer games and studying English in a woefully ineffective way.
My favourite of the 2 is XiaoMing. When you ask him what he's done today, he normally replies 'sleeping'. Everyday he (like most Chinese people) has a nap in the afternoon. He once asked Clemens, with a puzzled and worried face, how he managed to cope on only 8 hours sleep a day. He spends hours practising pronunciation, and yet it remains terrible. XiaoMing is from the countryside, and he has this quite suppliant mentality. He thinks its his 'yinggaide' (duty) to do all the housework. He's kind of like the butler (or public school 'fag') to the other one, in that he does all the clothes washing and cooking for both of them, while the other sits around sending text messages. One time we were dicsussing having a party or something in the flat, and he said he would be the butler. When he goes to English Corner with Clemens, he never joins in, instead he stands just behind him, like a bodyguard in fake Adidas training kit. Yesterday, I come home and XiaoMing is there with a random Chinese woman and an obese, Arab looking guy with a voice like Michael Jackson. I still have no idea what they were doing there.
FanQian is the other guy, he's also a nice bloke, we get on well. I normally speak Chinese to them, only sometimes English, which is good for me. One interesting thing is that he keeps saying how much he wants to learn German, go to Germany for foreign study, etc. Clemens has offered him free German lessons, and yet he just hasn't got round to taking up the offer. I really have trouble understanding this - he is probably the only Chinese person in this 8 million person city living with a German who has offered free German lessons, profeses his love of German(y), and yet spends his time sleeping and playing computer games.
We went out to a music thing once, and after half an hour, FanQian went home because he was tired and there were no chairs. A lot of the people I know (not all) get tired so easily, they need to have a rest after having a rest. I went to a university with some friends yesterday, and every half an hour they were asking 'ni lei ma?' (are you tired?).
There's also something quite fishy about them. I'm pretty sure XiaoMing isn't enrolled at university, he only seems to go there in the evening. When you ask him about it, he stutters over his words and looks at his friend for help.
Overall, it's good, the 'guanxi' (relationship) is so far, so good.
Sunday, 20 May 2007
Sunday, 13 May 2007
Mountains and mahjiang
I've just had a really good weekend, pretty much exactly the sort of weekend of I was hoping for before I came back to China - getting out and about and speaking lots of Chinese with Chinese friends.
Saturday, myself, a friend and 3 of her friends all went to the mountains about an hour or so from the Uni. The weather was great - blue skies and clean air, the difference from the city was huge. On the top was a smattering of village houses, made from mud and wood. There were a few other tourists around, but it really felt like a part of China that time is trying to forget. An old lady with no teeth and weather-beaten features still occupied one of the huts, and served us some noodles. This place was so remote, the only way to get to the town was walking, and that takes a fair few hours. It felt like if you stayed there long enough, the world would forget about you, living on top of a hill in the middle of China.
It was also nice to go with some other people, although there were a couple of problems. They talked ALL the time, barely pausing for breath, and incredibly quickly, even when talking to me. While I don't expect them to speak to each other slower, speaking a bit slower to me would aid conversation somewhat. But being Chinese and lacking in common sense, they did not.
Another thing, which is good-intentioned of them but annoying all the same, is constantly telling me to be careful, mind my step, etc, and pointing out really obvious things along the way. Whenever I cross the road with a Chinese person, they're constantly badgering me to look and be careful. How do they think I cross the road by myself? And this coming from people who have scant regard for safety. My friend in particular was shocking at this. We'd walk past a tree, she'd say 'Ay, Jia Ming [my Chinese name], look at this tree', 'Ay, Jia Ming, mind your head', 'Ay, Jia Ming, look at this view'. I thought to myself, she's going to point out a rubbish bin soon, and a few minutes later, she actually pointed out a rubbish bin. My eyes rolled so much they did a 360.
Today (Sunday), I had a lie-in and read 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'. After reading and not understanding basic Chinese, it's nice to know I can understand at least one language. Although it also makes me realise that I could live here forever and never be able to read or write 'normal' Chinese. Then I met my friend who works as a waitress in a small restuarant, and went to her flat. She lives with her sister and sister's boyfriend in a very basic 2 bedroom apartment. They are all graduates, and all work in jobs paying about 40 pounds a month. The joys of a huge labour market. She's actually going back to her province later this week. There are so many people from the countryside who go to cities to work, it's a huge divide in China. Personally, I'd rather go the other way to the country. It's poor as anything, but it has a lot of character that a lot of China has lost in the rush to make money.
They treated me to dinner, as is the custom, and then we played some mahjiang. It was good fun, they're all really nice and also great practice for the Chinese. If every weekend is similar to this, I'm sure my Chinese will be passable after a while.
Saturday, myself, a friend and 3 of her friends all went to the mountains about an hour or so from the Uni. The weather was great - blue skies and clean air, the difference from the city was huge. On the top was a smattering of village houses, made from mud and wood. There were a few other tourists around, but it really felt like a part of China that time is trying to forget. An old lady with no teeth and weather-beaten features still occupied one of the huts, and served us some noodles. This place was so remote, the only way to get to the town was walking, and that takes a fair few hours. It felt like if you stayed there long enough, the world would forget about you, living on top of a hill in the middle of China.
It was also nice to go with some other people, although there were a couple of problems. They talked ALL the time, barely pausing for breath, and incredibly quickly, even when talking to me. While I don't expect them to speak to each other slower, speaking a bit slower to me would aid conversation somewhat. But being Chinese and lacking in common sense, they did not.
Another thing, which is good-intentioned of them but annoying all the same, is constantly telling me to be careful, mind my step, etc, and pointing out really obvious things along the way. Whenever I cross the road with a Chinese person, they're constantly badgering me to look and be careful. How do they think I cross the road by myself? And this coming from people who have scant regard for safety. My friend in particular was shocking at this. We'd walk past a tree, she'd say 'Ay, Jia Ming [my Chinese name], look at this tree', 'Ay, Jia Ming, mind your head', 'Ay, Jia Ming, look at this view'. I thought to myself, she's going to point out a rubbish bin soon, and a few minutes later, she actually pointed out a rubbish bin. My eyes rolled so much they did a 360.
Today (Sunday), I had a lie-in and read 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'. After reading and not understanding basic Chinese, it's nice to know I can understand at least one language. Although it also makes me realise that I could live here forever and never be able to read or write 'normal' Chinese. Then I met my friend who works as a waitress in a small restuarant, and went to her flat. She lives with her sister and sister's boyfriend in a very basic 2 bedroom apartment. They are all graduates, and all work in jobs paying about 40 pounds a month. The joys of a huge labour market. She's actually going back to her province later this week. There are so many people from the countryside who go to cities to work, it's a huge divide in China. Personally, I'd rather go the other way to the country. It's poor as anything, but it has a lot of character that a lot of China has lost in the rush to make money.
They treated me to dinner, as is the custom, and then we played some mahjiang. It was good fun, they're all really nice and also great practice for the Chinese. If every weekend is similar to this, I'm sure my Chinese will be passable after a while.
Wednesday, 9 May 2007
Learning Chinese
Learning Chinese is rewarding and enjoyable. Mainly, it's just cool speaking to people in a foreign language. Also, it never gets boring, you are always learning more things about the language and therefore the culture, you can see visible improvements, and you can say things you wouldn't say in English. Chinese language is pretty interesting, especially the writing. Talking to other foreigners in Chinese is quite satisfying, as is talking to Chinese people who can't speak English. Also, your success is totally up to you. If you do nothing and are lazy, you won't improve, but if you work hard, create and use opportunities to speak Chinese, you will get better. Not least of all, China is an interesting place.
Having said this, I have about a million (nay, a squillion) reasons why Chinese is so incredibly, stupidly hard to learn. Half of the reasons are to do with the language itself, the other half is to do with the learning environment.
For the language itself, best to see the article previously posted. But I'll add my own personal difficulties. Firstly, I'm not much of a natural and nothing comes easy. The pronouncation is so foreign, some sounds I literally cannot pronounce. The number of times I'll read a sentence and can understand every character but have no idea of the meaning continues to astound me. Remembering my friend's names is also embarrassingly difficult. I have them all written down in a list, with scribbled annotations on the side - 'thin one with bad eyesight; one from chinese corner who give me food; slurred speaker one; weirdo; one who's bf looks like Yoko Ono'.
As for the environment, it really increases the challange. The standard of teaching at the university (and I suspect most Chinese languages places) is dreadful. Teacher speaks for 4 hours, students listen, this is learning (apparently). The process is so passive. In our 'speaking' lessons, I'm pretty sure the only person who benefits greatly is the teacher, because (s)he's the one who does 95% of the speaking. Every lesson has tonnes of new words and very few opportunities to actively use them. Also, everyone chapter is taught in an identical fashion, there is NEVER anything prepared outside the textbook. I cannot stand it when the teachers say how stressed they are with lesson planning - what lesson planning!? I see none.
In our classes, the Europeans are outspoken, the Koreans are deathly quiet, the Vietnamese are all so good they have their own class, the Kazakhs are ususally absent, and only the Turks have a worse accent than me. In a class of 16 - 20 (way too many), it's difficult to learn properly.
There are also culture problems. When people speak to me, they'll drop in references to Chinese popular culture, history, geography, foods, etc, and I have no idea what they're talking about. I, like most Chinese people, have no idea about Chinese politics, economics. Politics is particularly taboo, one of my favourite pastimes is touching on Hong Kong, Tibet, etc. The level of uniformity on these issues is huge, and is also very sensitive, so it's really really hard to talk about these things. So much of the culture is just inaccessible.
Sense of humour is also genuinely a challenge. As far as I'm aware, Chinese doesn't have a word for 'sarcasm'. The closest is 'ridicule', which is of course not the same. Some times people (especially the teachers) will correct me, because they assume I've said it wrong, when in fact I said what I wanted to say.
Yesterday, we learned a new word (ji mo 寂寞), meaning lonely. Using it in a sentence, I said 'When I go to the toilet I feel very lonely'. My classmates got it, but the teacher first didn't understand it, then said I had confused it with 'alone'. A little explaining was necessary. And just generally, using a new word in a correct-but-not-in-teacher's-book-way is not appreciated. Creativity and initiative are discouraged, uniformity and compliance are.
It seems everyone wants to learn English here, this really is bothersome. Quite often someone will approach me asking to practice their English. I've lost count of the number of times I've said 'I didn't come here to improve my English', or 'No, you can't', or just lied to them and said I'm Portuguese. The next door uni is the foreign language uni, and every Thursday they have an English corner outside on campus. There are at least 1,000 people there, all gabbling away in various varities of English. I've been a couple of times, and you just get surrounded by upto 50 or so people wanting to speak to you.
Another is my personality. The best language learners are ones who force themselves on other people and speak the language. I can't do this, I only really speak to people I know. While most people here are really friendly and love having a chat with the foreigners, it's not easy.
Yet another reason is the dialects. China has loads of different languages. In Xi'an, the local language that people normally speak is not totally different to Mandarin, but different enough to make communication harder than it would be if China only had one language.
My German friend who speaks great English, some Swedish, some French and is fairly new to Chinese assures me that learning a European language, while obviously difficult, has less obstacles waiting to impale you. I've just seen something on an English newspaper's website - 'learn to speak Mandarin in 10 easy lessons'. If only.
Having said this, I have about a million (nay, a squillion) reasons why Chinese is so incredibly, stupidly hard to learn. Half of the reasons are to do with the language itself, the other half is to do with the learning environment.
For the language itself, best to see the article previously posted. But I'll add my own personal difficulties. Firstly, I'm not much of a natural and nothing comes easy. The pronouncation is so foreign, some sounds I literally cannot pronounce. The number of times I'll read a sentence and can understand every character but have no idea of the meaning continues to astound me. Remembering my friend's names is also embarrassingly difficult. I have them all written down in a list, with scribbled annotations on the side - 'thin one with bad eyesight; one from chinese corner who give me food; slurred speaker one; weirdo; one who's bf looks like Yoko Ono'.
As for the environment, it really increases the challange. The standard of teaching at the university (and I suspect most Chinese languages places) is dreadful. Teacher speaks for 4 hours, students listen, this is learning (apparently). The process is so passive. In our 'speaking' lessons, I'm pretty sure the only person who benefits greatly is the teacher, because (s)he's the one who does 95% of the speaking. Every lesson has tonnes of new words and very few opportunities to actively use them. Also, everyone chapter is taught in an identical fashion, there is NEVER anything prepared outside the textbook. I cannot stand it when the teachers say how stressed they are with lesson planning - what lesson planning!? I see none.
In our classes, the Europeans are outspoken, the Koreans are deathly quiet, the Vietnamese are all so good they have their own class, the Kazakhs are ususally absent, and only the Turks have a worse accent than me. In a class of 16 - 20 (way too many), it's difficult to learn properly.
There are also culture problems. When people speak to me, they'll drop in references to Chinese popular culture, history, geography, foods, etc, and I have no idea what they're talking about. I, like most Chinese people, have no idea about Chinese politics, economics. Politics is particularly taboo, one of my favourite pastimes is touching on Hong Kong, Tibet, etc. The level of uniformity on these issues is huge, and is also very sensitive, so it's really really hard to talk about these things. So much of the culture is just inaccessible.
Sense of humour is also genuinely a challenge. As far as I'm aware, Chinese doesn't have a word for 'sarcasm'. The closest is 'ridicule', which is of course not the same. Some times people (especially the teachers) will correct me, because they assume I've said it wrong, when in fact I said what I wanted to say.
Yesterday, we learned a new word (ji mo 寂寞), meaning lonely. Using it in a sentence, I said 'When I go to the toilet I feel very lonely'. My classmates got it, but the teacher first didn't understand it, then said I had confused it with 'alone'. A little explaining was necessary. And just generally, using a new word in a correct-but-not-in-teacher's-book-way is not appreciated. Creativity and initiative are discouraged, uniformity and compliance are.
It seems everyone wants to learn English here, this really is bothersome. Quite often someone will approach me asking to practice their English. I've lost count of the number of times I've said 'I didn't come here to improve my English', or 'No, you can't', or just lied to them and said I'm Portuguese. The next door uni is the foreign language uni, and every Thursday they have an English corner outside on campus. There are at least 1,000 people there, all gabbling away in various varities of English. I've been a couple of times, and you just get surrounded by upto 50 or so people wanting to speak to you.
Another is my personality. The best language learners are ones who force themselves on other people and speak the language. I can't do this, I only really speak to people I know. While most people here are really friendly and love having a chat with the foreigners, it's not easy.
Yet another reason is the dialects. China has loads of different languages. In Xi'an, the local language that people normally speak is not totally different to Mandarin, but different enough to make communication harder than it would be if China only had one language.
My German friend who speaks great English, some Swedish, some French and is fairly new to Chinese assures me that learning a European language, while obviously difficult, has less obstacles waiting to impale you. I've just seen something on an English newspaper's website - 'learn to speak Mandarin in 10 easy lessons'. If only.
University Life in China
Generally speaking, I think there's some big differences between uni here and in the West, although being a foreigner who speaks dreadful Chinese it's difficult to really understand it properly.
Everyone lives in dormitories the whole time, either 4 or 8 to a room. Strictly no foreigners allowed, and everyone has to be back by 11 every night, otherwise it goes on your academic record. My university (ShiDa) and the foreign language one next door (WaiYuan) have between them at least 50,000 students, but Friday and Saturday nights are as quiet as any other.
The students will have about 20 hours of lessons a week, and lessons are scheduled for evenings (7-9) and weekends as well as weekdays. Everyone has to learn about Marxism and Deng XiaoPing Thought, regardless of subject studied. This is quite strange, as they seem just as disengaged from such things as anyone else. Nearly everyone will eat in the huge canteen on campus, and most will have an afternoon nap. Midday/early afternoon is very quiet on campus, partly because they're sleeping, but also because it's so damn hot.
In their spare time, they sleep, play computer games, go shopping, study, sleep some more. Very very few have part time jobs or do work experience things.
There seems to be a better respect for education here. The campus is really well looked after compared to the rest of China, and it's really peaceful and quiet. The Chinese students I know respect their teachers a lot more then Western people - me and the other Europeans here have no qualms pointing out the deficiences of our teachers, but my Chinese friends wouldn't.
I think the way of learning here is atrocious, and not just in my lessons. The students will have a textbook, and the aim of the class in to learn by rote the entire book. At the end, you do a multiple choice exam and this is called learning. Critical thinking, analysing, arguing, etc, are not on the agenda. There is a library, but it's not expected to be used. My friends who study Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language have to study English, and one book is just page after page of word lists with definitions, and they have to learn the entire thing.
Everyone lives in dormitories the whole time, either 4 or 8 to a room. Strictly no foreigners allowed, and everyone has to be back by 11 every night, otherwise it goes on your academic record. My university (ShiDa) and the foreign language one next door (WaiYuan) have between them at least 50,000 students, but Friday and Saturday nights are as quiet as any other.
The students will have about 20 hours of lessons a week, and lessons are scheduled for evenings (7-9) and weekends as well as weekdays. Everyone has to learn about Marxism and Deng XiaoPing Thought, regardless of subject studied. This is quite strange, as they seem just as disengaged from such things as anyone else. Nearly everyone will eat in the huge canteen on campus, and most will have an afternoon nap. Midday/early afternoon is very quiet on campus, partly because they're sleeping, but also because it's so damn hot.
In their spare time, they sleep, play computer games, go shopping, study, sleep some more. Very very few have part time jobs or do work experience things.
There seems to be a better respect for education here. The campus is really well looked after compared to the rest of China, and it's really peaceful and quiet. The Chinese students I know respect their teachers a lot more then Western people - me and the other Europeans here have no qualms pointing out the deficiences of our teachers, but my Chinese friends wouldn't.
I think the way of learning here is atrocious, and not just in my lessons. The students will have a textbook, and the aim of the class in to learn by rote the entire book. At the end, you do a multiple choice exam and this is called learning. Critical thinking, analysing, arguing, etc, are not on the agenda. There is a library, but it's not expected to be used. My friends who study Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language have to study English, and one book is just page after page of word lists with definitions, and they have to learn the entire thing.
Buying things in China
Buying things here is a total pain in the arse. On the plus side, things are cheap and plentiful. On the downside, clothes are ridiculously small with inappropriate colours. I went 'shopping' the other day with a friend, all the shops we passed that I assumed were for girls where in fact for both.
The main problem though is the haggling. There's a foreigner price and a Chinese price for a lot of things in China, even things like train tickets. Speaking a little Chinese means I can sometimes tell when I'm being done. The other day I went to buy a bottle of water near a tourist attraction where my friend was playing in a concert. This normally costs 1.5kuai. She said 5, I said fuck off, 1.5, she said 3, being thirsty I said 2, she said OK. I asked her why she charged me over 200% more than she should do, she said 'because you're a foreigner, this happens in every country'.
Then today I go to this second hand furntiure market. As usual, they start off ridiculously high, but this time they barely lowered their price at all. It seems they would rather sell nothing (this market has very few customers) then not rip me off. I know what the price should be because my Chinese flatmate bought something similar from there. I asked one of the sellers if the price was so high because I'm a waiguoren (foreigner) and he said yes.
I have this one shop I go to to buy toiletries, etc. The shop owner seems nice, I speak Chinese to her, she insists I'm not being done, but you just cannot trust her. It mars the experience.
Of course, some of these guys will sometimes try to charge high prices for Chinese people. And plenty of 'business people' are really nice and honest, especially in the restaurants I regularly go to. But it gets on my wick being viewed as a dollar sign on legs.
The main problem though is the haggling. There's a foreigner price and a Chinese price for a lot of things in China, even things like train tickets. Speaking a little Chinese means I can sometimes tell when I'm being done. The other day I went to buy a bottle of water near a tourist attraction where my friend was playing in a concert. This normally costs 1.5kuai. She said 5, I said fuck off, 1.5, she said 3, being thirsty I said 2, she said OK. I asked her why she charged me over 200% more than she should do, she said 'because you're a foreigner, this happens in every country'.
Then today I go to this second hand furntiure market. As usual, they start off ridiculously high, but this time they barely lowered their price at all. It seems they would rather sell nothing (this market has very few customers) then not rip me off. I know what the price should be because my Chinese flatmate bought something similar from there. I asked one of the sellers if the price was so high because I'm a waiguoren (foreigner) and he said yes.
I have this one shop I go to to buy toiletries, etc. The shop owner seems nice, I speak Chinese to her, she insists I'm not being done, but you just cannot trust her. It mars the experience.
Of course, some of these guys will sometimes try to charge high prices for Chinese people. And plenty of 'business people' are really nice and honest, especially in the restaurants I regularly go to. But it gets on my wick being viewed as a dollar sign on legs.
Monday, 7 May 2007
The Zoo
I went to this big zoo the other day with some friends. The actual zoo itself was pretty lame, not really worth the 80 kuai entrance fee. There were so many people, though, it's unbelievable. Because it was May holiday, and because there are so so so many people in China, it was absolutely packed. Getting the bus back at the end was a nightmare. As the bus pulled up, people would see the number and crowd round the front of it, running alongside waiting for it to stop, then push and shove like starving animals trying to get on. At the 4th time of asking, we piled on. Completely rammed, of course, until half the people decided they were on the wrong bus and piled off it again.
After, we went into Xi'an to a popular street with eatieries and such like, our Chinese friend bought us loads of local foods to try, and insisted on paying. Only this 100% glucose soup thing was inedible, the rest was really good. Again, the street was absolutely rammed with people, I was literally (using the word correctly) having my toes stepped on. Everywhere, all the time, are loads and loads and loads of people.
After, we went into Xi'an to a popular street with eatieries and such like, our Chinese friend bought us loads of local foods to try, and insisted on paying. Only this 100% glucose soup thing was inedible, the rest was really good. Again, the street was absolutely rammed with people, I was literally (using the word correctly) having my toes stepped on. Everywhere, all the time, are loads and loads and loads of people.
Tuesday, 1 May 2007
Photos
View from my bedroom
My room. There is a very very limited selection of available duvet covers, I had no choice.
Main road on a rare clear day.
Living room
My room. There is a very very limited selection of available duvet covers, I had no choice.
Main road on a rare clear day.
Living room
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