| I don't really live in China. Not really. Shanghai, | | | | kingdom and I had no wish to go there. |
| although it is of course in China, is a bit like a | | | | What can I tell you? They offered the best |
| bubble. The rules here are a little different; the | | | | financial deal for teaching English! |
| standard of living, generally speaking, is higher and | | | | I arrived in Shanghai having spent some time in |
| as a result a wide range of people from all over | | | | less developed areas of Asia and I think this may |
| the world choose to make Shanghai their home. | | | | have been my first major advantage. So many |
| This brings advantages and disadvantages, which I | | | | people seem to come here straight from their |
| will discuss in a later article. | | | | home countries and the culture shock seems to |
| Let me start here by giving a little background to | | | | be their major problem. If you are thinking of |
| how I arrived at this booming international city. | | | | coming to China, or perhaps have a job |
| It had long been my dream to travel to Asia, with | | | | opportunity here, you really must arrive with an |
| the hope that I could enjoy a few years of | | | | open mind, realising that you are in a different |
| peaceful travel and meditation. In 2003 I finally got | | | | continent, let alone a new country. The social rules |
| myself sufficiently organised to save the money I | | | | and norms are far removed from what you may |
| thought I would need for three years of travel in | | | | be used to. |
| South East Asia. I travelled to Thailand, Indonesia, | | | | You have to accept a lot of this! |
| Malaysia and Cambodia, met some wonderful | | | | There are many complaints, at least initially, about |
| people, saw sights and did things that I had never | | | | spitting in China. People spit here, it's perfectly |
| imagined I would see or do. However, my budget | | | | normal for them and they may do it anywhere. A |
| proved to be woefully inadequate and at the end | | | | taxi driver might spit outside his window, or may |
| of my first year, I found I was nearing the end | | | | even spit inside. People spit on the streets and |
| of my savings. I was not at all ready to leave | | | | occasionally in shops. Not everyone does it, and |
| Asia, and certainly not ready to return to the | | | | you don't need to expect a constant cacaphony |
| United Kingdom so I started to search in earnest | | | | of hawking and expelling. But here's the thing - |
| for work which would allow me to stay in the | | | | just because it is not acceptable in your own |
| East. | | | | country, do not expect the Chinese people to |
| Now let me state at this point that though I had | | | | change their habits to fit in with you. We are |
| yearned to visit Asia, the one place I knew I did | | | | guests here and it is up to us to fit in, not to |
| not want to go was China. In my school years, | | | | teach China how another country does things. |
| China's image was one of sterile grey buildings, | | | | In my next article, I will detail a few more hurdles |
| poverty and staunch communism. I should add | | | | and pitfalls that can easily be avoided, along with |
| that I was in school in the '80s so this bleak | | | | some coping strategies for adapting to life in |
| depiction may have already been somewhat out | | | | China. |
| of date. Still, this was all I knew about the middle | | | | |