Culture Shock for Dummies pt. 2

Hey everyone^^ It's time for part 2 of the Greek Man in Beijing's "Culture Shock for Dummies". As we explored in the previous post, language is basically the one main barrier that can "shock" one into oblivion. Even with a few new found revelations I've had, such as using sign/body language and smiling, there are still many difficulties when communicating with people here. Ever since I moved into the university accomodation I've had a good few moments where I was just dumbfounded. Found out about them right after the jump!

The accomodation has an office and a reception desk for emplyees that are supposedly here to help us foreign students with any issues we may have. And I say "supposedly" because I am living in a building that is for FOREIGNERS, meaning people who are not from China therefore it is not a given that we speak Chinese. You can imagine what the puzzled look on my face was like when I found out that none of these emplyees speaks any English at all. That's right! Nada, zero, nothing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm amazed really. Anyway, I'm not gonna question this since it has become clear to me that English is possibly a not so great necessity for the Chinese. This matter is generally debatable too but we'll get to that some other time.

So I'm sitting in my new room minding my own business. One of my first nights alone too. While reading some headlines on the internet, the landline phone of the room starts ringing. Now I'm wondering who it might be at that hour. It was way past office hours for the university. So I'm feeling a little sketchy about it. I pick up and in order to avoid confusions I say "Hello" and not "Ni hao" (needed to establish my lack of Chinese proficiency). The woman on the other end not only starts going on and on about something in full Mandarin but it was at full speed too! Like, excuse me, did you not hear me? Foreigner here! I take a firm stand, interrupt her with an initial apology (didn't want her to waste her time or breath) and say clearly "I do not understand. Can you please say this in English?". There was a moment's pause and then her answer "oh! I'm sorry." and CLICK, hangs up. Beautiful. Picture it if you will. Now it could have been a wrong number of course but my money's on someone from the accomodation office. The reason is the next story which happened not even 2 hours after the phone incident. I get a knock on my door. In an attempt to buy me some time to get some pants on I yell "I am coming!". Instantly, yes instantly, another knock. "Yo! I'm coming!" in an even louder tone. Again knocking. Whether they liked it or not I had bought the time I wanted so take that! HA! Anyway, I open the door and there is one of the employees, binder and pen in one hand, a little gadget on the other. Chinese ensues again at full burst. By this time I'm seriously considering saying "Hey do I look like I understand, let alone be able to catch up with that speed?!" But I chose to be the perfect gentleman and just smile, wait for her to pause or stop and explain politely "I'm sorry I don't understand". She looks to her right, apparently towards the receptionist and starts saying something to her. After a brief answer she shoves the gadget in her hand on my forehead. After a short beep she looks at an indicator and writes something on her binder. By that time the receptionist had come to my door as well and that's when I started pointing towards her binder asking "What is that?" Simple question right? I mean, you did just measure something (obviously my temperature but boundaries well respected make for good relationships) without me even understanding what you are doing. Again they try to explain in Chinese. I give them a quick nod and say goodbye. I quickly grabbed my trusty "Chinese for Dummies" (and then you were thinking why I chose this title huh?) and attempt to construct a sentence asking "did you take my temperature previously?" After consulting my significant other as well I storm out of my room and made my way to the reception. I smile and give her my full question in the most broken of Chinese accents ever. I was fortunate enough that she understood me at once and replied yes. She tried to explain furthermore that this is a check up they have to do everyday which I had Kim translate for me later.

So you might be thinking that I'm ranting here when in fact I find all of these incidents quite amusing. It's funny how a university that wants to bring in people from the west, doesn't have at least one staff member that speaks English in the foreigner accomodation. How exactly now is all of this culture shock you may wonder. It's more or less a conclusion I've reached myself: they know some English, they just don't feel comfortable using it. I find it hard to believe, with all of the job ads seeking English teachers from the west that I see on the net on a daily basis, that anyone under 30 years old doesn't at least know a few simple words. Since the Chinese could feel embarassed quite easily, they prefer to avoid showing they know English all together. I could be wrong of course and by all means I'm not trying to sound pompus. To me it has become a well known fact that even in Greece there are a lot of people who don't know English that well...or maybe even at all. Even despite the fact that it's been in all school curriculums for the past decade at least.

Wanna hear some "good shocks" now? I'll have to admit that the Chinese are very active people. Especially as they get into their old age. Every single evening I've been out all parks are full of people engaging in various activities, such as playing cards and Mah Jong (spelling is doubtfull), exercising, dancing and practising Tai Chi. I've even seen them practising weapon forms. It's a really cool sight to behold! Granted, not all of them are really good at it, mostly doing it for health reasons, but it's still an awesome notion. These people literally thrive on good health. From the way they eat to the things they do on a daily basis. It's contageous too. I for one have never been a big fan of eating breakfast. I just had my usual Greek frappe coffee and that was it. Now, not only do I have my most important meal of the day but I have my in-between-meals fruit as well. I already feel like I'm losing weight too! :-D

So these were my first "shocking" incidents and observations. From here on out it's gonna be full reports on specifics. Next post is gonna be on Video Games Live which is tomorrow! Expect many photos (from cell phone camera).

Enjoy your weekend!

Yannis