What did you learn in China? Part 3 of 3

When going to China, I felt that I was going there to have awesome experiences and learn from them. The awesome experiences did happen (and how!) but recently the question of what I learnt in China came to mind. It is nice to do all this overseas travel, but you would hope to learn something while you are doing it!

With some thinking, I realised that there were nine major lessons that I have learnt from China. I have divided them into three parts, and will tell you the lessons I learnt, and the experiences that led me to learning the lesson.

In this third part of the series, I look at my final three lessons, and finish on a photographically diverse note.

Lesson 6: People are more similar than you think.

Chinese citizens are often categorised by foreigners as being inherently different people. In reality, I think Chinese people are similar to Western people. The best place to see it is a summer weekend's visit to the Olympic Forest Park. Watching local Chinese people have picnics with their families, laze in hammocks and enjoy the tranquility really made me realise that Chinese people have the same simple wants and desires as everyone else.

Chinese people are extremely helpful. The greatest help I recieved occurred early in my stay in Beijing. I was standing on a bus, and for whatever reason, not hanging on.  The bus, which was going at quite a pace, suddenly braked, and I went flying, literally flying towards the front of the bus. Around me I could hear the audible gasps of everyone alarmed by my predicament. I was waiting to meet my doom when suddenly a pair of arms came from nowhere and grabbed me. I said a very grateful 'xie xie' to the face of the 40-year old man connected to the arms, and he gave me a 'think nothing of it' gesture in response.

(Addendum: Having had someone save me once, I did get a chance to save someone back at the Beijing Olympic Water Park. A young woman about 4'10" tall swam out to the deep end (6 feet) of the pool, panicked and started flailing. I was the closest person to her, so I grabbed her and carried her into safety. She was very grateful, and asked the obligatory 'what country are you from' question. She probably now thinks all Australians are lifeguards.)

Lesson 7: Go explore!

The best way I could think of showing the benefits of exploring around China was not in words, but rather pictures showing the different experiences Molly, I and some of my friends (Ashly) took part in.

Grasslands near Hohhot, Inner Mongolia

Snow Day at Mutianyu Great Wall, Beijing

Sichuan Tea House, Renmin Park Chengdu, Sichuan

 Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan

Guiyang Monkey Park, Guizhou

Buddhist Grotteos, Datong, Shanxi

Harbin Ice Festival, Heilongjiang

 Rides at Jiayuguan Amusement Centre, Gansu

 Flaming Mountains, Turpan, Xinjiang

Melbourne Cup Day Turtle Races, Beijing

What did you learn in China? Part 2 of 3

When going to China, I felt that I was going there to have awesome experiences and learn from them.  The awesome experiences did happen (and how!) but recently the question of what I learnt in China came to mind.  It is nice to do all this overseas travel, but you would hope to learn something while you are doing it!

With some thinking, I realised that there were nine major lessons that I have learnt from China.  I have divided them into three parts, and will tell you the lessons I learnt, and the experiences that led me to learning the lesson. In this second part, I look at three more lessons.

Lesson 4: Putting yourself out there and making mistakes makes life fun.

Learning Chinese is the classic example of how putting yourself out there can make life more interesting and fun.  Practising your Chinese with cab drivers provides you with a personal view of the lives of ordinary people in Beijing.  Molly’s favourite cab-driver had a wonderful 30 minute discussion with her, with him telling her that his wife was pregnant, and that he didn’t care whether it was a boy or girl.

One day Molly, Adrienne and I decided to go to Huanghuacheng, a section of the Great Wall none of us had been to before.  After taking an indirect route by buses, we arrived and were faced with a climb up a scary rickety 20 foot ladder.

Climbing the rickety ladder, not attached at the top or bottom!

Having braved the ladder, we went on a lovely walk on a section with barely a tourist in sight.

At the end of the walk, we decided we did not want to go back down the rickety ladder, and instead took a different path.  However, the further we went down the path, the louder we heard dogs howling.  While we were scared, the prospect of the ladder forced us onwards.  We found an old Chinese guy at a fence with a group of dogs, saying it was private property and we needed to go back.  RMB60 later, we continued down the path and found the bus stop, and that’s where the story gets interesting.

You see there was only one bus left that day, and we had to stand on one side of the road to get it.  However, there was only cover on one side of the road, and that wasn’t on the same side.  Five minutes after we arrived at the bus stop, it started raining heavily.  The clouds darkened the sky and we could only see headlights coming down the road towards us.  We retreated to the sheltered side, but any time we saw a vehicle, we madly dashed across the road to be ready to catch it. Five or six times we dashed across the road when a vehicle came, only to be disappointed.  By the time the bus arrived, Molly and I were totally drenched, but after a good wringing out of our clothes on the bus, we were in good spirits.

 The bus stop in the five minutes before the impending doom..

Unfortunately for us though, the last connecting bus to Beijing had already left.  In the end, we accepted an offer from an illegal taxi and set off on the way home.  We cruised along for a while and were well into playing a travelling game when suddenly the taxi started breaking down. The driver pulled to the side of the road, checked under the bonnet and off we went again.  We then arrived at a toll booth, the taxi driver slowed down and could not get the taxi going again.  The driver told Andrew to get in the driver’s seat and steer, while the driver and the tollbooth operator pushed the taxi out of the toll booth to the side of the road.  Thankfully the taxi then started working and we made it home, having been lost, drenched and broken down in the middle of nowhere, but still having had an amazing experience.  How many foreigners get to drive a taxi in Beijing?

Lesson 5: You will always have problems.  The challenge is to enjoy life despite them.

In our final months in China, we experienced some major issues in relation to job changes and immigration.  Despite these issues causing considerable stress, we still took some time to go out and enjoy ourselves.  Our journey to the Fangshan Line (link: http://molldrew.blogspot.com/2011/07/fangshan-line-world-park-and-cool.html) and the Amazing Beijing adventure race (link: http://molldrew.blogspot.com/2011/05/amazing-beijing-adventure-race-round-1.html) occurred during this stressful period, and gave us a great boost during a difficult time.

What did you learn in China? Part 1 of 3

When going to China, I felt that I was going there to have awesome experiences and learn from them.  The awesome experiences did happen (and how!) but recently the question of what I learnt in China came to mind.  It is nice to do all this overseas travel, but you would hope to learn something while you are doing it!

With some thinking, I realised that there were nine major lessons that I have learnt from China.  I have divided them into three parts, and will tell you the lessons I learnt, and the experiences that led me to learning the lesson.

Lesson 1: Don’t worry about problems. You will be surprised what you can overcome.

How did I learn this?

• Thrusting yourself into a country that speaks a foreign language is always going to produce issues.  One of our largest was trying to register at the police station.  In China foreigners need to take their passport, rental contract and landlord’s ID number to register at the local police station.  Failure to do so makes renewing your visa difficult, if not impossible.   In one house that we lived the landlord steadfastly refused to give us his ID number.  Presumably as a tax dodge, the landlord came up with a stream of excuses as to why he couldn’t give us the number, including that he had lost his ID and didn’t intend on replacing it.  All seemed lost, until we complained to a policewoman about our problems.  She contacted our real estate, told them to solve the issue and we had the ID number within two minutes.

• Most people who have lived in China for an extended period have one horrible food poisoning story.  Molly and I had ours in one of the most beautiful places in the world.  We had travelled up to Lake Karakul, high in the Himalayas bordering Kyrgyzstan.  Suffering altitude sickness, and having struggled to hold food down for two days, Andrew H was in a terrible state, but was nothing on Molly.  Molly was in deep trouble if we did not get foods into her quickly.  We headed into the restaurant, only to find out they were out of everything except tasteless buns, a bland seaweed soup and rice.  For two hours, Andrew H nursed Molly, feeding her the concoction.  It was a scary and difficult time, but we did enough to keep Molly going.  Thankfully by the next morning we had recovered enough to enjoy the stunning scenery.  (many thanks to Andrew S for all he did for us in this tricky time)

The aftermath at the glorious Lake Karakul

Lesson 2: The world is not stable, but instability can bring amazing opportunities.

How did I learn this?

• China jobs for expats have a habit of disappearing or changing with little notice.  At one stage my job was suddenly changed and I was left vulnerable. Luckily I quickly found a job at the Department of Agriculture.  Working at the Agriculture office for five and a half months was a wonderful experience.  Amy, James, Nancy and Cindy created a positive work environment that was only punctured by regular games of table tennis.

DAFF staff - Great working environment, and then great people to hand around with (Sadly no picture of Nancy - too busy playing table tennis!)

• Beijing is an amazingly flexible city.  Go away for a week and you’ll come back to find half the shops had changed hands  and your favourite ice cream place has shut down.  The change did provide benefits however, encouraging you to go out and explore the changes and find yourself a new favourite ice cream shop.

Lesson 3: Abject poverty still exists, and we are fortunate to avoid it.

How did I learn this?

• People beg in developed countries, but the sheer scale of poverty only hits home when you are in a developing country.  Missing limbs and burnt skin are common among Chinese beggars, but the strongest impact anyone had on me was a lady who often lay near Tuanjiehu station in eastern Beijing.  She was young, but could not / would not stand, as the burns across her body were too severe.  In Australia, she would be treated and would probably lead a relatively normal life. In China, she is left to beg on the streets.

• China’s governance system leaves local governments with low tax revenues and high spending requirements.  To make up the gap, local governments seize farming land, selling it to developers for a fat profit.  The displaced farmers are given minimal compensation, leading many to end up in poverty.  Other farmers are left fearing the government could seize their property at any moment.