Culture Shock: A Few Observations

Yes, I am back.  I have been working through jet lag for over a week.  I think the haze is definitely clearing!  Oddly, a frazzled short term memory seems to be my worst symptom.  I have several ideas zipping around in my brain that I want to explore over the next couple of weeks.  I'm going to mention them here, so that I will definitely get back to writing about them.  I have been fascinated with the idea of culture shock.  I have also been processing the idea of education in China, of how this experience has changed me, of connections between the two unique languages, of being in the shoes of a student, and of some ideas that I have lost for the present time:)

The concept of culture shock has intrigued me since my return.

I had always assumed that culture shock was a thought process.  I genuinely believed that I would not experience much of a shock because I have always loved traveling and checking out new places and experiences.  I have certainly come to understand that my world is not the same world that others live in.  Not only do I accept that, but I love to explore and experience how others live.  I assumed that my attitudes would lessen or remove my culture shock. That was not to be the case. I had completely misunderstood the concept of culture shock.

Based on my experiences, I would now define culture shock as a physiological occurrence.  Culture shock is something that occurs when the brain cannot process the unfamiliar sensory experiences.  I suspect it may have something to do with our survival wiring.

So what did I experience?
I can only explain it this way:

So many of our experiences are stored in our memories as sights, sounds, smells, and tastes.  While my taste buds were definitely experiencing new items, my sense of smell and sound were actually experiencing culture shock more vividly.  It wasn't until a couple of weeks into the trip that I realized that on my first outing in Jinan, I was experiencing smells and sounds that my brain was struggling to process.  A car horn in Nashville is an unusual noise that signals danger.  It requires immediate attention for survival-- or at least to avoid an impending collision.  My brain had no experience with the constant blare of horns I heard on the first day.  I just simply did not know how to associate the noise with any of my prior experiences.  Obviously, I've never been to New York City!

Likewise, my nose contributed to my sense of culture shock.  Two weeks into my trip I tried to discern some of the smells that had bothered me on that first day.  I could not do it.  My brain had created the pathways to connect the smells with something in particular:  plastic hanging in doorways, cooking oils, seasonings, food, pollution.  On that first day, however, my brain was only recording an overabundance of new information.  It was in shock.

The great thing about this sensory overload is that our brains eventually handle the new input and adjust.  The day passes and the next day order is restored.  This is when the excitement of a new culture begins to kick in.

So, I am clearly not a scientist.  What did all of this mean to me?  Well, it shook me out of my sheltered American cocoon.  It reminded me that many of my students have experienced this.  Our visiting exchange students experience this.  When our senses are bombarded with the new, culture shock happens.

So Long, Jinan. Hello, Beijing!

The train trip from Jinan to Beijing was smoother than we thought it might be.  Finding the spot to catch the train in the station was the hardest part.  We did point to our ticket and find the right room.  I asked a college aged student seated in the waiting area if he spoke English and sure enough he did.  He happened to be on the same carriage and train, so he told us to follow him when he loaded.  We stored the luggage in a storage area at the back of the car, which made us a bit nervous.  I walked back and checked on it at the two stops we made on the way.  The train was very nice.  The seats were like airline seats.  At the front of the train, a sign would indicate the speed.  We usually ran at 245 km/hour.  It was very smooth and definitely the way to go. 

 

My seat mate was another college student who was heading to Beijing for school.  He was most helpful, also.  He actually wrote out the address and name of our hotel in Chinese.  This proved to be very helpful for our next adventure:  getting from the train station to the hotel. 

 

Steering our suitcases through the station wasn't easy, but we managed.

 

The Beijing station is very well organized.  We followed the taxi signs to a special line where taxis came through to claim customers.  Joy and three of the bags went in the first taxi.  Elizabeth and I rode with the remaining bags.  Our driver didn't seem to want to take us at first, but the train attendant spoke to him and he took us.  The ride was $10.00.  It seemed reasonable to me.  Joy"s ride was $6.00.  I don't know if we got ripped off or our charge was for two riders.  Either way, it's cheaper than Nashville's ride. 

 

Our hotel is fabulous.  We have internet, a safe, a refrigerator, comfortable beds, a huge bathroom, and amazing staff.  They have been so helpful with everything. 

 

After checking in we decided to wander in the direction of Tienanmen Square to find something to eat.  We saw a pretty interesting looking restaurant.  Joy noticed a foreigner eating there, so we thought the restaurant may be used to serving visitors.  We managed the menu and started with eggplant, followed by sweet potatoes that should be added to every menu in the states!  After a long wait and actually asking for the bill, we got our very good sweet and sour pork and rice.  Our overall review was great food, lousy service. 

 

Anyway, that's when we wandered onto the square thinking that we had probably missed the sunset flag lowering, but we arrived in time. It was unbelievably packed.  We got there just as the ceremony began.  We were outside of the square across the street--as close as we could get!  We tried to go in after the ceremony, but they were clearing the square.  We still want to actually stand on the square, so we will try to go back and see it again.

 

We wandered back checking out some shops:  folk art and silk paintings.  From out of nowhere, we got caught in the Beijing rain storm.  We were drenched when we got into the hotel, but it was definitely a successful day overall.

 

We are tired, but pleasantly so.  This is a wonderful ending to our trip.  I'll post more pictures soon.  I am attaching a picture of the teachers from our group. 

 

 

 

School's Out! On to Qufu.

The celebration for the end of the summer program was very nice on Saturday morning.  It was so sad to say goodbye to the students.  They are so generous and kind with their appreciation.  I've received several e-mails already.  Before the ceremony we took a photograph of all the teachers and the students who had not already caught the train home (about 1/2).  By about noon, they had a beautiful copy for each teacher that they delivered to the hotel.  They are neatly rolled up in a box to bring home. 

 

It was unbelievably hot today.  I am so glad that I carried my umbrella.  The shade was a help.  I bet I sweated 2 liters of water. Our hotel here  in Qufu is very nice.  Both of our meals were very good.  Joy tried some donkey meat.  She said it was very good.  I've added quite a few tofus to my list of foods.  There is also a speckled fruit that tastes a bit like a kiwi that I also snap up.  Tonight's buffet had some very good dumplings and crepes filled with vegetables. I'm actually getting pretty good with chop sticks!  I ate too fast tonight.  That's a sign that I'm getting better!  

 

 

 

Even though I'm pretty certain that there is no actual body in the Confucius tomb, it was really interesting to see the Confucius family cemetery, house, and temple.  Just getting the feel for the type of house was amazing.  All of those movies on TV make more sense now.  I understand the house concept.  An actual courtyard exists between the multipurpose room, the offices, and the living quarters.  The spot is filled with tourists, mostly Chinese.  Only one of the original gates to the temple exists:  900 years old.  The others were all destroyed in an earthquake 400 years ago.  The cemetery is more like a forest.  The ancestors of Confucius are buried there.  Some of the ancestors that held higher positions have fancy markings, but most are just mound after mound of earth.  One of my students had described the cemetery as a forest.  I had no idea what she meant by that.  After seeing it I understand.  We actually took a golf cart through the cemetery to get to the tombs of Confucious, his son, and his grandson.  It really was a forest.  

 

 

 

I'm sure you heard about the train wreck here.  None of our teachers were on that train.  The one we are taking on Tuesday from Jinan to Beijing is not the same type of train. 

Saturday and Sunday Sighseeing

Because we teach on Saturday, Saturday evening and Sunday are great times to see the sites around us.

On Saturday night we went to see the German Catholic Church located near the Old Campus.  

(Shandong University has six campuses in Jinan.  They are building a 7th one.  The Old Campus houses the Foreign Languages and Humanities Colleges.  The Main Campus, the one we are on, houses the Science Colleges.  Buses transfer the students from campus to campus.  Most of our students are currently living on the Main Campus, but several get up earlier and catch the buses to to our campus for their summer classes.) 

The church is beautiful.  I have included a picture taken at night.  

 

 

We also explored one of the town squares.  These are lively places!  It seems that thousands of people were visiting the square last night. 

 

 

 

 Men and women were exercising in a very large group with a leader and some music.  Younger children were conducting roller blade competitions and races.We saw the square about 8:30 at night.  We understand from our peers that they saw these events about 10:00 at night.  Night activity is very big here because of the day time heat. I took some video of these events, but no photographs.

We actually ate dinner at a restaurant that looked a bit like a tiki hut.  Apparently these restaurants are also popular in Beijing.  We had an egg and chives dish, a fried eggplant dish, a dumpling, and a pork dish.  The waiter was fun because he knew a bit of English--  Just enough to bail us out when we needed help.  He was very amused by our efforts to order.

 

 

This morning we had a tour to Jinan's two famous sites:  Batou Springs and Daming Lake.  The lake is enormous!  It is located in the center of the city.  It was very hazy (smoggy?) so I could not see as far as perhaps on a clear day, but I could still tell it was large.   The Springs were very interesting.  Jinan is know for its many freshwater springs.  We saw several of these.  The springs were very crowded with visitors.  An unintended site was the theater where people perform operas.  Apparently the performers practice here--sometimes in costume, sometimes in regular attire.  The theater was packed.  We were able to watch part of a performance before moving on.

 

 

The trip between Batou Springs and Daming Lake was on a canal boat.  We actually were lowered through a lock.  Of course, I immediately thought of the C & O canal.  It is pretty interesting to watch the waters being lowered.  I took some video of this also.

 

 

We topped off the morning with lunch.  One of the dishes was chicken.  If you look carefully at the photograph you will see the feet and the head.  

 

 

I am writing this after finishing a wonderful nap.  I don't know exactly what we are up to tonight, but we have so much to see and do in so little time!  I am feeling the clock counting down the days now.

 

 

Out and About in Jinan

      We had a meeting yesterday with Dr. Gao Yan, the head of the English Department here.  They are trying to decide about our trip to Tai'an and Qu'fu.  They were thinking of changing it because only a few of us would be left, but those of us left really want to take these trips so we are on again. 

      Emily, the teacher from Britain who has taught here for three years, took us to a wonderful Korean restaurant that we never would have found.  You enter from a little door and go up some stairs.  The food was very good.  For dinner, Elizabeth, Joy, and I wanted to walk to the market place in town between the old campus and our campus.  We did not have any Chinese speakers with us, so we ordered on our own.  The result was acceptable:  boiled peanuts, tofu, and some green vegetables.  They were all very tasty although a bit salty, but good.  We are finding ways to communicate, but the phrase book Harry gave me is invaluable.  Pointing to a calculator is also useful for finding the price of things!

 

      The market place, which they had seen on Sunday when I was sick, was a lot of fun.  They have so many interesting things to look at and buy.  It was overwhelming at first, but then I got the hang of it. 

 

      We found a great bakery on the way home!

 

      My class was very interested in American food.  I found them some pictures of macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, meatloaf, steak, mixed greens, and mashed potatoes.  I caught them wrinkling their noses as I described it.  I guess we all like the food we grew up with best!  

 

 

Outside the market:

 

 Entrance to the Market:

Inside the Market:

Campus Soccer Field:

 

 

Week One is Done!

I am getting ready this morning to start with my 3rd group of students.  I can't believe how quickly the time goes with each group.  The students are very hardworking and pleasant.  They LOVE to practice speaking English.  Both Joy and I have had students sit in on our classes just to hear and learn about Americans.  Several times we have been asked to be in photographs with people we didn't know!

One of our group members met a woman who speaks English in an icecream shop.  She is planning to study abroad in Belgium for a year.  Her classes will all be in English, so she is anxious to practice her English.  She has taken us for a Chinese foot massage (100 minutes for $15), and she took a group of us to the shopping malls and markets yesterday.  I was not among that group as I was recovering from a stomach problem. I think everyone who went along had a great time and particularly enjoyed a stop at  Starbucks.

The weather recently has been hot.  The classrooms are not air conditioned, so all of us are pretty slow moving in the morning when the sun shines into my room.  The afternoon is usually better because the breeze blows through then.  We have found several good restaurants.  The eggplant here is one of my favorites.  I would love to know how they fix it. 

I've attached a couple of pictures.  These are some of my second group and a fountain and garden near the hotel.

Love to everyone!
Cathy

My first group of students

Hi everyone!

Three of my students took me out to eat tonight.  I'm getting much better with chopsticks.  Meals here are served in very unusual ways.  The students ordered several dishes:  chinese broccoli, some kind of fried fruit, pork with cucumber that is wrapped in crepes, eggplant, steak strips, rice, tea, and pigeon soup.  Everything is brought out a few dishes at a time in family style bowls.  You eat on a very small plate.  You take what you want from the bowls and eat on the little plates.

The students taught me a few Chinese words as we ate.  They also told me about highschool in China.  They live in dormitories usually.  They see their parents one day a week.  They attend school from 8 in the morning until 10 at night.  They take classes during the day,sometimes they take some classes in the evening, and sometimes they just study and do their lessons in the evening.  I should have gotten a picture of the restaurant and the meal, but I didn't remember to take my camera. 

Two photographs of my first group of students are attached.  They are all wonderful, friendly, kind, and hard working.  Several of them would like to e-mail people in the United States to practice their English.

Well, a new class starts tomorrow, so I am off to bed.