Zhōngwén: yī', èr, sān.. (Chinese language, one two, three..)

Learning Chinese (way of things)

After a month in China I reckon I've finally gotten over all the culture shocks looming around. The drop toilets I can now handle - even the public ones where there are no doors whatsoever and no flushing system either: what ever comes out of the human body stays in the pit... While you get to see your neighbor doing their business, too.
The pollution is still a big bummer, but I have some surgical masks to use when it gets really bad outside, and I will definitely get a decent 3M pollution mask for real protection. It's kinda unsettling how the people in Nanyang reckon their city is pretty clean and air is fresh... Compared to what?? The pollution definitely is a part of everyday life here in China.
As for the dirt and questionable cleanliness of absolutely everything in China, as of far I haven't had food poisoning. My gut must be made of steal by now!

Before arriving to China I decided I wanted to learn the language. I knew only how to greet in Chinese when I first got here, but since then I've improved massively. My recruitment agency promised to organize Chinese lessons for me if I wanted them, but surprisingly no word of them yet (pun intended). Luckily all my lovely colleagues at work have been kind enough to help me with my Chinese whenever I needed: they are more than happy to teach and help me with my pronunciation.

I love languages and learning new things, consider myself a bit of a linguist, so you could say I am passionate about learning Chinese. Also it's the best motivator when the entire nation surrounding you doesn't speak any of your languages, so to be able to communicate and simply survive in China I must learn Chinese.

Remember to keep smooth! (Found in a stair case, original meaning was apparently to say "keep clear")

During my travels I've noticed how people always like to make fun of different languages, dialects and accents. Sure, I can't say that I've never made fun of any, but the more I travel the less I want to laugh at anyone's native tongue or accent. Language is a way of communicating; a survival method which once you master you can express yourself eloquently and genuinely be the person who you are. And it's fascinating how different languages have different ways of saying things, quirky expressions, (origin of) words, all of which are connected to our culture so tightly. So essentially you are what you speak! Did you know that the word "please" doesn't exist in the Finnish language? Or that the Chinese language has five different tones: meaning that a word spelled the same way but pronounced slightly differently has altogether completely different meanings.. Think about Australians and their favorite slogan, "no worries"; no wonder the people there are so easygoing!

So far I've been teaching myself Chinese (thanks Youtube and all the free websites!) and after studying Chinese online I go outside and impress people with my new expressions and words I've learned :D Everyone I talk with is so impressed how much I've learnt already - though I have to say the Chinese people are VERY complimentary! I work very hard on my pronunciation, which is quite challenging I must say. The difference between pronouncing i.e. "zh", "sh", "ch" or "x" is mind blowing... "I'll keep practicing it", has become my new motto!

What I love about the Chinese culture and language is that many things revolve around food! "Nǐ chī le ma?" is an expression one hears often here after (or as) a greeting: it means "have you eaten yet?". Food and eating is very important for the Chinese people. The culture embraces healthy eating so the diet is based on protein and fat. There is virtually no sugar or milk used in anything. Drinking coffee is rare, but there is obviously a wide selection of different teas and the Chinese believe that each tea has different effects on the body. For instance you should never drink green tea late during the day as it has energizing effects and you'll struggle to get any sleep if you drink it too late. Red tea on the other hand is very relaxing and good to drink even late at night to help you sleep.

The "Chinese medicine" can include not only herbs and lotions but also certain food and drink. Chinese are quite particular what to eat and when: during winter they don't eat rice but noodles, because they say rice is too cold for the body. Hot water is consumed everywhere all the time. Cold water is thought to be "bad for health" during winter. At first I had a hard time drinking only hot water as the idea of it was so strange: I'd have rather had weak tea or just a glass of cold water, but as everyone else drinks plain hot water all the time (the restaurants offer only hot water), then it was time I adjusted.
Different teas, as I mentioned, are believed to have different effects. When my throat got dry and I had a cough, my friend bought me a root of a plant and I was to make tea out of the root to heal my throat. So the idea of Chinese medicine is that nature can provide a solution to any illness the human body might have. I'm fascinated by the ideology and will look deeper into it while in China!

Fruit pizza, the Chinese love it! It's not too shabby to be honest :P

To be fair not all things Chinese raise my interest: I was a bit peckish the other day and my friend kindly promised to get me a snack from the school kitchen. She returned with chicken legs. I don't know how long I must've stared at them without being able to say much as I was trying to think of a very polite way to say "no". On another occasion by friend's child was eating a treat and his mother ordered him to offer me some, so the kid hands me over a single-packed item that has a picture of a duck on it. As the child is munching away happily, I open the item and what I see has no resemblance of anything familiar to me, so I taste it. Crunchy, spicy, little meaty but the texture is tough. Kinda off-putting already, but the killing punch was finding out it was duck tongue. I can safely say it won't be on my snack menu ever again.

The infamous duck tongue... partly chewed, never finished.

Studying Chinese language is definitely opening up new dimensions of the entire culture to me. Still a long way to go to improve my Chinese skills, so better get cracking! :)

Zài jiàn!

A teacher colleague Molly and me :)