It's the small things we take for granted

I was informed of what "culture shock" would feel like before I left China. The truth is, upon arriving in China I didn't experience a large amount of cultural shock. I guess growing up in a Korean family has already thought me a lot of oriental family behavior, so observing that on the streets wasn't out of the ordinary for me. But this is only one of a few things that I was already accustomed to. The initial shock of being in a new country did not hit me like a ton of bricks, instead, it decided to creep up on me.

For many of you who don't know me too well, I am an American born South Korean. I can't speak Korean, but can understand it more or less. I hope that I can become fluent in it someday, but at the moment Chinese has become a priority on my list. I've never been to South Korean, but I plan to go there in the near future. Also, I have never been out of the United States, until now.

"Let's all play nicely now, single file..."

Now back to my point about culture shock creeping up on me. The biggest shock to me was not my incapability of speaking to people, but a culmination of several things. The truth is I was prepared for this and already accepted that communication was not going to be easy, so it didn't bother me too much. The fact that I was in a different country didn't really occur to me till much later. Although small, one of the first things I learned about not being in America is that drinks are not served with ice and that meals are not always eaten with a beverage. The next factor was order. When I say order, I'm referring to order in behavior, specifically lines. Whether it be a two person line at a convenient store, a bus, bank, or whatever, you will be skipped... accept it. I know in America it's pretty common to wait for the person in front of you to finish paying for something or finish what they are doing, but seriously, I mean seriously, is it so hard for someone to wait behind me to pay for my damn goods?! Okay I'm getting angry without explaining the situation... I've been to convenient stores to buy whatever it is that I needed for that day. You know, what you go to a convenient store for, right? Anyways, on more than one occasion, I've been at the counter with my supplies on the counter ready to pay to have some lazy, impatient, and ignorant fool literally hand their goods to the cashier over my shoulder behind me. Seriously?! I'm looking at them right in the eyes and they have the audacity to skip me like that. What makes these individuals think their time is any more important than mine? Okay, well... this frankly just irritates me so I'm going to move onto the left thing, drinking water.

"Water water everywhere"

I didn't realize how valuable water was until I no longer had complete access to it from my sink. If you read my previous blog post, you would understand why I value water so much now.

Next on the list would have to be laundry machines. I've been living in a hotel room ever since I have been to China. I do not have a mini-fridge, microwave, or access to a laundry machine. To be honest, all of these items are luxury items and I've learned that I could easily live without them. You would think that China is filled with laundry mats right? Hah! Wrong!! China, unlike America, is not filled with laundry mats, instead it is filled with dry cleaners that charge you a pretty penny for every article of clothing. If I were to get every piece of clothing dry cleaned I would be broke in no time. In order to deal with my dilemma, I've resorted to hand washing all of my cloths. Also it's pretty common for local people to hand wash their cloths in many areas as well. It's a lot easier to throw in all my clothes into a washer and walk away then come back and throw everything into a dryer, but I guess I was just spoiled with access to a washer and dryer. Now I result to hand washing what can fit in my sink and air dry all of my clothes. I know it's a bit of a change but I've grown accustomed to doing this. It's not so bad once you get used to it, and it's debatably better for your clothes too. For those of you who are reading this, you're starting to get jealous of me right?

"No holes. Looks like it was a good day."

Another thing I would have never expected was a privileged is take out boxes. In China it's pretty common to get a bag instead of a takeout box.... "Wait...What...?" you might be saying. Well I'm so glad you asked! On my first weekend in China I had to go out and get dinner for the first time on my own. I was hungry so I needed food. To make things better, I had no idea where any restaurants were and if anything was safe to eat. Also, it was the rainy season and it was pouring outside. After navigating through many alleys and streets and getting a little lost for about forty-five minutes, I gave up and decided to eat at a hole in the wall. I ordered some noodles and asked to have it to go. The man walked out with soup and noodles, not in a box or container, but literally in a bag. It was my first experience getting food on my own, and I honestly could not stop smiling on the way back to my hotel room because I couldn't believe it. I had nothing to eat my soup and noodles in a bag in other than my hotel room's tea kettle, so I got a little creative and poured everything into the kettle and had a wonderful meal for one. I recently made an investment is a large bowl. They're kinda useful if you ask me.

"Mmmmmmmm"

As a result of writing this, I've realized that there is a lot more I want to say. I'm sure the list of things will also continue to grow so keep following me if you have some free time and would like to know how I am doing. I think I'll save the rest for a "Part 2" post.

Although a lot of this seems to be different, I'm enjoying every moment of it. I love being in a new country and adapting to my surroundings.

Don't drink the water.... whatever you do, do NOT drink the water!


 If you've ever met someone who has been to China, they will typically tell you to never drink the water. "Psh...." I thought, but I was extremely wrong....


Gotta get my drank on


Living in Memphis my entire life, I never realized how fortunate I was to always have clean drinking water in reach. In China it's a different story. Just this morning I almost panicked because I didn't have water to rinse my mouth out in the sink. Luckily, I found a half empty bottle at the bottom of my backpack. Now this may make me sound a little skeptical just because I'm rinsing my mouth out with bottled water. Well, I have my reasons and I refuse to go against them after my first weekend in Shenyang.

During my first week in Shenyang I got a gym membership at a place called Balley Total Fitness. It's a pretty nice gym with a lot of good equipment...... Now I'm sounding like an advertiser. Anyways, I was told before that the locals don't even drink the water. At the gym I saw a lot of locals drinking from the water fountain. I assumed the water was filtered since so many people drank from it. I was horribly wrong. Over the course of two days, a Thursday and Friday, I had drunk about 5 liters of local tap water. When you're huffing, puffing, and sweating in the gym the ice cold water from a nicely chilled fountain taste like Fiji on the lips and throat. Moving forward, when the weekend hit I realized that I had got water poisoning... I was wrapped around a toilet bowl for four days straight and barely had an appetite! I won't elaborate of the details of my relationship with my bathroom, but I will say "Never ever ever ever ever eveeeer drink the water!" After about three weeks of my tragic mistake I finally regained my appetite. I lost about 5 lbs as a result of my diet shifting and not eating as much, but I'm feeling a lot healthier now and glad to be alive!

Changbaishan 长白山

Changbaishan Waterfall

This past weekend I visited Changbaishan. This is a famous mountain located in Northeast China. A group of Americans I work with have been wanting to visit Changbaishan for a while so we finally put something together in the last second. We had two options of reaching the mountain, we could choose to go by standing up in a train for fourteen hours or we could rent a van for 4,000 RMB ($626) that would take seven hours. We decided to sleep in a chair and not stand up on a train for obvious reasons. Between eight people we split the cost.

Changbaishan is a famous mountain that is owned by both China and North Korea. It's quite beautiful and an amazing place to see. When we arrived at the mountain it was pretty hectic, and like most places in China, extremely crowded. Getting to the top of the mountain was quite interesting. We took a shuttle that sped up the mountain. As we ascended the mountain, we ended up driving straight into a cloud because the mountain was completely engulfed by a cloud. At the peak of the mountain is the crater which is a lake. Unfortunately, when we arrived it was pouring and we couldn't see two feet in front of us. We decided to wait out the rain. After twenty minutes people began to shout because the clouds were literally be blown and lifted out of the crater. It was quite the sight to see. The sun came out and we were capable of seeing the lake also known as the "Lake of Heaven." Along with the lake, we were capable of seeing the North Korean border.

After we finished seeing the lake we headed back down the mountain where we then entered another sight. We walked a long trail where we past a hot springs and finally reached our destination. The lake becomes a waterfall and formed a river all the way down the mountain. We arrived at the waterfall. It was pretty amazing to see because half of the mountain was still engulfed by a cloud. Only half of the waterfall was visible, but I thought it was kind of cool to see it this way. After a long day of hiking Changbaishan we returned to Shenyang around 3:00 am. I've loaded pictures of my trip on Facebook and Flikr so feel free to take a look!

Going to Beijing 北京

Summer Palace



Forbidden City




Mutianyu Great Wall of China



About two weeks ago I met up with Landon Webber in Beijing. We both knew for a while that we were going to be in China this summer so we planned to hang out for one weekend. Over the course of three days we covered almost 18 hours of walking each day. Beijing was an amazing place to visit and it was impossible to see everything with the little time we had. It may have been polluted, hot, humid, and rainy, but it was definitely a memorable experience. We tried all different types of foods ranging on absolutely delicious to unbelievably sinful. We visited the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Mutianyu Great Wall (restored and unrestored), Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Beihai Park, Mao Zedong Memorial Hall, Monument to the People's Heroes, the Olympics Bird's Nest and Water Cube, night markets, and the list goes on! Overall, I will say that I truly enjoyed my experience in Beijing and plan to see it atleast one more time before I leave China.





I did not eat it...



"Walk Loudly"

If you're curious about my title "Walk Loudly" it's a little saying that was started by a Rhodes Bonner Scholar.

http://www.rhodes.edu/1718.asp

It all starts here

This is the first blog I've ever created. I was asked by friends and family to share my experience in China, but it's been pretty difficult keeping in touch with everyone and letting them know how my trip has been. If you would really like to know how I am doing and what is going on in my life, please read my blog and let me know what you're thinking.