Is this an average expat home?

Date: 2010.09.03 | Category: Me | Response: 0

This is home. I still don’t have my desk or bookshelf, but soon I will ask a local carpenter what his price is. This won’t be my dream home, but I will be here only for a year. Maybe next one is actually beautiful? This one is more practical and cheap. Maybe like a real good Chinese home.

This is what I wanted. An apartment from a Chinese neighbourhood and that is exactly what I got. But this week I have gotten my share of culture shock or at least I think so. One day just didn’t want to go outside. To be stared and observed. I wanted to feel like I was part of something and not an outsider. So I stayed home and ate potatoes with meatballs.

I have realized that I don’t have to be out exploring all the time. This is normal life here too. I can just read books or blogs. I can relax and not worry about what is outside. Right now there is pouring rain that makes me sit inside the rest of the day. And that is enough.

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Why The Shop Assistant Keeps Telling Me The Dress Is Too Small?

Date: 2010.08.23 | Category: Chinese People | Response: 2

It’s personal. But still they talk about your weight, salary and eating habits. I just ran into an old post in China Hope Live and it explains very well what is this guanxin talk:

“–, 关心 talk, which is intended to express care, concern, or interest on the part of the speaker; it’s a relational gesture. However, many Chinese typically express care, concern, and interest by asking about or publically commenting on things that North Americans consider private, personal, and none-of-your-business”

I have had my part on this guanxin too. One early morning I received a text message from my Chinese friend. He wrote that it is cold outside so I should put on warm clothes. That would have been perfectly fine advice, but he wasn’t my mother or my boyfriend. An other friend likes to remind me when to open my umbrella. I like to remind him that I am not a child anymore.

But this scene in KFC have been ultimately the best one so far. I was meeting with my tutor who used to help me with my Chinese studies. I was little bit hungry so I bought french fries and chicken wings. After I started eating my tutor said that I shouldn’t eat that kind of food because it is not good for me. I took a deep breath and told him that he wasn’t my mother. I also added that as a grown up I can eat what I want, even unhealthy stuff.

All these three times they have been right. It’s good to wear more clothes, use the umbrella and eat healtier. So what is the matter? I am not, as most other Westerners too, used to hearing these things from people that aren’t part of my family. I feel that those things are private and I felt little bit insulted at the KFC.

I try to remind my self that this is the way they do in China and it isn’t meant to be rude. They just want to show their care. But I also think that Chinese people should be aware that when dealing with foreigners some things are better not to be said. Some people might not be as understanding as I am.

But even I try to be as judicious as possible I still almost pushed my boyfriend down the stairs when he was kind enough to inform me that I have a big bottom. Luckily I managed to count to ten.

Photo by Luke Wisley

Why Am I Leaving The Best Country In The World?

Date: 2010.08.17 | Category: Comparing Finland and China, Me | Response: 3

I knew it. According to Newsweek Finland is the best country in the world. China is on the 59th place. Let’s do little bit comparing between the two homes of mine. Finland’s overall score is 89,31 and China’s 62,10. The best score Finland got from education because the literacy rate is 100%. Also according to PISA the Finnish education is the best in the world.

In China the economic dynamism got good scores but political environment was ranked to be one of the worst. Also the education was only on the 61th place but that seems to be understandable when I remember some complaints of  Chinese university students. One of them said directly that politic lessons are completely waste of time.

It may seem to be crazy to leave the best country in the world but being a foreigner in China is not the same than being a Chinese in China. I can’t fully explain my interest towards China but it definitely is a adventure. I want to see if I can understand and survive it. I have no need to change China even I would definitely want to see some things change. I am there to observe and learn why they do things the way they do.

Hopefully someday I see a new China that is better than today. But I think that will not happen before some changes take place in the governance.

Photo by lago Laz.

Will I Be A White Guangzhounese?

Date: 2010.08.12 | Category: Me | Response: 2

It feels so odd. To tell people that I live in China, that my hometown is now Guangzhou. It feels like I am joking and it really isn’t true. I used to dream many years about visiting China but I didn’t knew that I would live there for many years or even longer.

The red door in the picture leads to the staircase and the uglier one is the door to my place. There  are numberless different views to China but mine is to a common neighbourhood and I only have a glimpse of a skyscraper in the horizon.

No matter how long I will stay I will always be a foreigner and an outsider. Later on I will find out if that is a feeling I can bear long term. Right now I am just curious to get into my Chinese lifestyle in my totally Chinese apartment. When I get back to Guangzhou I still have to find out where to wash my laundry and is my squat toilet able to flush paper (My guess is no).

This is a big step from safe life in the dorm to a village where I am probably the only foreigner there. The first five months seemed to be just a trial period and now I put myself into a real test. Can I handle my dream? Is it possible to become a white Guangzhounese? At least I can start by writing Guangzhou in the hometown box.

5 Tips To Learn Chinese

Date: 2010.07.28 | Category: Chinese Language | Response: 2

I am talking about Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese) here. After almost two years of studying I can survive in basic situations in everyday life. I can maintain a relationship using only Chinese.  But still I am in the beginning of my journey which will never end. My goal is to finish a bachelor degree in Chinese language  in four years and be fluent at the time I  graduate.

These are the things that have benefited me during my language learning:

1. Speak, speak, speak. Your can master the written Chinese and still be unable to have a conversation. From the very beginning it is important to speak Chinese as often you can. Don’t worry about making mistakes because everyone makes them.

First one and a half years I studied Chinese in Finland. I was afraid to open my mouth outside the classroom even I had the chance to speak Chinese. I was worried I would sound stupid. But only stupid thing was to slow down my learning with my shyness. The problem got solved when I came to China and I had no other option than to speak it.

2. Use it every day. It can mean going to classes, speaking in Chinese with a friend, chatting in QQ, watching movies or just reading blogs. Just use Chinese daily because after a break it is difficult to start again.

I haven’t been studying for weeks now. It all started when I got in to the hospital and then continued when I came to Finland. But I have done something. Every day I speak Chinese over QQ or send a text message. It is not much, but it keeps me going during the lazy season.

3. Have a teacher. Learning by yourself is totally ok, but most of us need someone to kick our butt. It can be a proper teacher on your Chinese course or a Chinese student who is willing to be your tutor.

Right now I’m using Chinese but not learning anything new. It will change soon because I know that I have to do my exams after I go back to Guangzhou. I have my teachers who will notice and punish me if I don’t improve. They are also there for me to answer my questions and leading me on my journey.

4. Write by hand. If you want to master Chinese it includes being able to write the characters by hand. And you can only do that by practicing with pen and paper. Keep a journal where you shortly write about your day in Chinese. When your skills improve your stories will also become more complex.

I have noticed that there are many words I can write with my mobile or computer. But I can’t remember how to write them by hand. So it is back to basics. I need to write the character many times in order to remember it. And then write sentences to learn how to use it. It can be either depressing or supporting to see that also native Chinese speakers once in a while forget how to write a character.

5. Keep it fun. Even if you are highly motivated and totally in love with Chinese it can feel boring sometimes. (If not, you’re a lucky guy!) That is why it is important to study in different and creative ways. For example you can: watch a movie,  read comics, play Alias, listen to music, chat, go to local Chinese restaurant, try QQ or Chinese version of Facebook, learn to sing a song or go shopping. Just remember to do all this in Chinese.

I am in the process of making Chinese my major instead my hobby. Right now I am still an exchange student but only studying Chinese language. Next year I will apply to a BA program. This also means that it is not always fun to learn it. Sometimes I just don’t want to open the books. Surely many times I have to force my self to study because that’s what I have to and want to do. But sometimes I can be little bit lazy and watch a Chinese movie instead.

Also remember to keep your eyes towards the goal. What you want to achieve with Chinese?