Week One in China

Okay so we are almost to the end of week one and I have already experienced so much.

 

I rode a taxi for the very first time in my life. We went to Tonghai, 3 hours outside the city. It is a beautiful traditional style Chinese city. While we were there we visited a school for children learning English and got to help them practice and teach them new words. We also got the opportunity to watch women dace who all had one thing in common: bound feet. That was amazing because feet binding was outlawed in 1911. So these women are some of the few left who still have them. Thats because the law did not reach smaller villages until the 1950s. The youngest of the women was 72 and the oldest was 96! they have beeen meeting for 20 years to dance for exercise. We asked them questions and they told us that they didnt regret having their feet bound because it was how you got a husband and their husbands think they are beautiful. However, they did say they were glad it was outlawed and would never want their daughters to do it.

 

We climbed a Buddhist Temple and mountain the next day and saw beautiful temples. When we were there I was watching a man play a traditional string instrument and when he saw me he sat me down and taught me a scale. After the temple we went back down to the village and visited a school for English and helped teach the children.

 

So far I have enjoyed my first week and I don't feel its much different for the states in the city. Or perhaps I am just not easily affected by culture shock. There are however certain cultural differences that bring up pros and cons:

 

Pros:

-no taxes, no tips, and everything is already cheap

-people are so nice and are happy if you just try to speak Chinese even if you aren't very good.

-FOOD! so good!

-Kunming is just beautiful, in parts at least

 

Cons:

-Its sad to see crippled beggers, and I'm never sure what to do, it is sad

-the beds are hard... I mean REALLY hard, the Chinese believe the harder the bed the healthier it is

-traffic is crazy, people just go when the wanna go and drive wherever whenever...its scary

-on that note, there is no pedestrian right of way

-The toilets are squatters

 

Classes start Monday. Internet is not that easy to get to so I will try to update at least once a week!

Cheers to everyone :)