A Few Thoughts on China

Hey guys, this post is a bit short, since not too much has happened since our vacation. We've just been teaching the kids and developing our teaching more. We just had a visit from a higher-up from ILP, to check and see how we're doing. According to him and our principals, we're doing well in teaching, which is good to know. So now, I'm going to talk about some things I noticed about China.

Traffic in China is pretty crazy. No one really pays attention to traffic rules, and yet there aren't
many crashes or accidents. That's mainly because even though people don't really follow traffic rules, they're hyper aware of everything that's going on around them. So if a car suddenly pulls in front of truck, the truck can usually avoid a collision because the driver is aware of the car and has quick reflexes. Also pedestrians will just walk everywhere and anytime. I've become an expert jaywalker. It seems like the only traffic rule they follow are the traffic lights. But they don't have stop signs and people just honk whenever they're turning or if someone's in the way. It's crazy.

Biking! 

Last weekend, we went biking with some teachers in these gorgeous hills. The trails were really fun and it was great to spend some time with our fellow teachers. It was also full of people riding bikes. The Chinese ride bikes more or less like they drive: you stay aware of everyone around you, and you keep moving forward, which are about the only two rules. So yeah, pretty crazy. It was still a lot of fun and, of course, people wanted pictures with us.

Something that I've been thinking about is that despite the fact that I'm in a very different part of the world with a culture very different from my own, I can't help but notice the normalness of it. Even though these people do things differently from me, they're still people with their own likes, dislikes and quirks. I mean, I've had some hilarious conversations about boys and dating with some native teachers. Even though we come from completely different places, we can still bond and have fun.

Our little get-together for Women's Day back in March

I think that sometimes we get hung up on the whole "cultural differences" thing and we don't really appreciate the fact that we're not so different. We still laugh at funny situations, we get embarrassed, we feel awkward sometimes, and we go through our lives hoping that we can contribute something to this world. Forgive me for sounding sappy but I think if we remembered that more and focused less on the things that are different, we could solve a lot of potential problems. I'm not saying that we should be ignorant of cultural differences (it's good to know about them to avoid potential misunderstandings); I just think that's not the only thing we should focus on when living in a different country. We should be seeing how we are similar to people in different countries, and how we can relate to them.

Well, that's all I've got at the moment. We're leaving for vacation in Yangshuo this week, which should be really fun. Until later, folks!