Only in China...

Sometimes I forget what it was like when I first came to China. So much seems so normal to me now that I’m sure surprised me – or startled me! – the first time I encountered it. But there are two things that I have never forgotten from the brief introduction/training I received before my first trip to China. To this day, both of those things have been truer than I had ever anticipated.

Number One: “Only in China.”

Many things happen in China that could only ever happen in China. The longer I live in this country, the more of these “only in China” things I come upon. At that initial training, this point was highlighted with pictures that were just incredible to see – almost optical illusionesque. The two pictures above are my own attempts at capturing “only in China.”

As I have been wandering around this week, doing all those things that I do now while I am still on winter break, I’ve been keeping a sort of mental list of my “only in China” experiences. Although some of these could certainly have counterparts in other foreign countries, the point is clear. And besides, they’re funny.

(1.) Only in China can being a white blond-headed girl draw more stares than climbing over a wall, up onto a stairway, over the railing, and then down the steps while carrying two full bags of groceries. It might also be only in China that the security guards can stand by watching a girl climb over the wall and not offer to open the gate or stop her from climbing past the locked gate they are supposedly guarding.

(2.) Only in China can basketball and soccer be played outside all winter long, regardless of how much snow or ice have covered the ground. I’ve actually seen ice six inches thick covering the ground everywhere except for the nicely cleared off circular patch by the basketball hoop.

(3.) Only in China is ping-pong considered an intense workout. Yes, there’s a reason the Chinese are known for their ping-pong team. And there’s a reason girls in China rarely play. It’s a pretty intense game here!

(4.) Only in China can a foreigner who hardly speaks the language have to explain to a native speaker what the leader at the Sunday meeting is talking about when she wants us to tell each other “sha-lom.” (Admittedly, it took me a minute too. The native speaker and I both looked at each other and asked what we were supposed to tell each other before I realized I actually could understand the strangely Chinese-sounding Hebrew word.)

(5.) Only in China can okra-less soup be considered gumbo and Chinese chili powder be used to make “American” homestyle chili. Cooking is a whole different ballgame when you live in China! As a side note, it might also be only in China that I can get away with having 10 guys over for lunch. To be fair, one girl did show up for a few minutes…

(6.) Only in China can a Francophone African girl (who speaks only very minimal English or Chinese) feel comfortable showing up to a lunch party of 10 Anglophone African guys (none of whom speak French) hosted by the random white American girl living down the hall. Wow, that really does sound strange! To clarify, all of us attend the same Sunday fellowship. The Francophone girl always sits with a girl who translates for her. She’s one of the sweetest girls I know, even though I can hardly communicate with her. And don’t be worried by me inviting a group of only guys over for lunch… they all attend the same Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, which to be honest is a male-dominated field. It really was an open invitation to all the foreigners at that school.

(7.) Only in China can it be less than a week before the new semester is supposed to start, and none of the students have any idea when or where to be for classes. Nor what classes they will be taking. Nor how to register for them. Theoretically classes should start again on Monday the second. We’ll see if I actually have a Chinese class again before the Ides of March.

And those are only the things that have happened in the last week and come to mind immediately. The “only in China” count would probably be up to a number I don’t even know how to say if I had actually kept track of them all since I’ve been here.

But that’s just one of the two things that have proven true from my first training.

Number Two: “Be Flexible.”

No, this is not referring to maintaining an appropriate level of flexibility for those unexpected times when it becomes necessary to climb over a wall or through a window (yes, that’s been known to happen, too). Although admittedly, that’s not a bad idea either.

This is referring to the Chinese sense of planning ahead. To put it simply, there is no such thing. Let’s go back to number seven above: It is now five days before classes are supposed to start, and there is not a single foreign student here who has any idea when or where we are supposed to show up. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be a single Chinese teacher who knows, either. So, we practice that whole flexibility thing. I suppose Monday morning around 8:30 a.m. I’ll show up in the foreign students’ building and just see what’s going on. I suppose I’ll bring a pencil and some paper, too, in case there happens to be a teacher around who wants to give a class, but I doubt I’ll need it.

Since arriving in Shenyang, I don’t believe I have really effectively planned anything more than about two days ahead of time. It’s nearly impossible to do so. Even traveling, you can’t buy train tickets more than 4 or 5 days in advance without paying exorbitant fees, and you can’t buy return tickets until you are at the city you’ll be leaving from without paying another extra cost. (And sometimes you just can’t do it.) While that makes for great fun for those into whimsical traveling and adventure, those who like to schedule everything in advance might not do so well in this country.

In some ways, this flexibility thing has some value. As a foreigner, I think those who actually manage to adjust themselves and embrace this sensibility learn to really live each day. Every day I wake up, not knowing what to expect, but wanting to make the most of it. There’s always a sense of possibility. But then again, there are certainly foreigners around here who didn’t get that “be flexible” lecture and have not adjusted… so they end up sitting in their dorms all the time, bored and lonely, because they don’t know how to make the most of the time at hand.

So, the moral of my stories is this: if you ever decide to travel or move to China, be flexible and learn to love the “only in China” experiences you’ll undoubtedly happen upon. And, um, if you don’t ever decide to travel or move to China… well, I hope you enjoyed the stories anyway! :)