It's been a little longer than I intended since I last wrote. Apparently moving overseas for the second time is just as time consuming. However we've made it. We are in Suzhou.
I remember a international teaching agency made me fill out a multiple choice questionnaire about what I would do in certain situations which some of the possible answers being:
a) Panic
b) Catch the next flight home
c) Call the school and complain
d) Cry
Amusingly some of the situations they had asked about have occurred and I think I managed to select the correct answer! No matter how much research and preparation you do you can never be fully prepared for everything that will happen. I pride myself on my organisational skills and yet still there have been moments when I have had no idea what to do and felt completely overwhelmed. The good news is that there are at least other new members of staff who feel exactly the same. You just have to meet them.
We started in Hong Kong as it is so popular with tourists and has signs in both English and Mandarin. We did heaps of sight seeing and treated ourselves to some 5 star luxury. "The calm before the storm".
There are lots of tourists in Hong Kong so they expect to see our "pale faces" and are prepared for our major lack of Mandarin. Our hotel was also great in helping us get around this problem as they had cards with their address in Mandarin and they wrote down anything we needed. I have been saved many times by a card they wrote for me saying that I am vegetarian. Despite having learnt the Mandarin for vegetarian and checking with a few native speakers that I am saying it correctly every waiter and waitress still look at me like I am speaking some strange language they have never heard before. Amusingly when I my get phrase book out they all reach to close it and gesture for me to put it away. As an English speaker I am prepared for people trying to speak English and I like to think I'm fairly patient. I'm not finding the Chinese so tolerant of my Mandarin!
On landing in Shanghai we were collected by our housing agent, taken to temporary accommodation in the middle of nowhere. We were given taxi cards (these are the best thing ever), bedding, some basic kitchen items, some food, an advance on our Overseas Cost of Living Allowance and wifi.
We chose to arrive early. The school advised us not to, but we decided to do it anyway. It was a great decision. This meant we got in early for selecting an apartment and had a chance to try and acclimatise (how anyone can acclimate to 40 degree heat with high humidity is beyond me). In our case arriving early has worked out well.
So, onto culture shock. There are things we'd read about and tried to prepare ourselves for. We aren't running for the hills but there are some pretty scary, worrying, yucky things that we have to get used to:
1. Road rules - there are some road rules, however very few are followed. The art of defensive driving and walking is incredibly important. Being foreign I feel like I am perhaps getting away with a little more than the locals.
2. Nappy Free Time - I have friends with babies who believe in nappy free time. The locals really believe in nappy free time. Split pants are still common as are baby boys in dresses with no nappy. I wasn't too worried about this until I was in a restaurant and a baby decided to go to the toilet all over their Grandma and the seat.
3. Spitting - we've all heard about spitting in Asia. I probably don't mind the spitting so much as the noise preceding the spitting.
4. Live animals in the supermarket - I don't think this needs explaining.
5. Turtles for sale in jars in Auchan.
6. Durian fruit - the foulest smelling fruit on the planet. Why anyone would want to eat anything that smells like rotting garbage is beyond me.
Aside from the above China really isn't how people believe it is. I'm glad that we have a chance to really get to know, understand and appreciate the culture.
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