10,972 km from home, the Beijing adventure begins!
June 24th, 2018. That’s the day I got on a plane bound for Beijing, China. Its been about a week since that 13 hour flight and I’m becoming familiar with this place that is vastly different from my hometown. I’m currently interning at China Agricultural University until August 17 and staying at the home of the professor supervising me. I knew going into the Borlaug-Ruan International Internship that the country in which I was placed would be considerably different from my own. However, what I did not anticipate was just how stark the contrast would be. Of course there’s the obvious things like the language and food that until arriving here were anomalous to me, but the differing nature of this country runs far deeper than that. There’s slightly less obvious differences like the bathrooms, the relationships between cars and pedestrians, and the clothing people wear. Then there’s the disparities that are very subtle. These are the kind of things that you would really need to be paying attention to notice. Things like the insects, the sound of the birds in the morning, and mannerisms. In this first blog post I intend to highlight and explain a few things that make Beijing, China, so dissimilar to New Jersey.
1) Language
I’m sure it goes without saying that Chinese and English are two languages that are not similar in the slightest. “Hello, my name is Elijah” translates to “Ni hao, wo de ming zi jiao Elijah.” Pronouncing what I just typed is an even greater hurdle. While converting traditional Chinese writing to letters English speakers understand is made easy with translation apps and is done in most public places; understanding the meaning and pronunciation of them is no easy feat.
2) Food (Excluding Fast Food)
The first dumpling I ever had was here in Beijing(filled with eggplant and other vegetables). Beijing is home to a lot of firsts for me as far as food is concerned. The usual chicken tenders and fries that I had quite frequently back home haven’t touched my mouth since I left America. They have been swapped with dumplings(varying kinds), curried potatoes, lamb, and a lot of familiar foods that are prepared and served differently such as chicken, pork, rice(not just white), and eggs. Another thing about the food that I noticed immediately is that vegetables find their way into most dishes; fruits are eaten often. Drinks are fairly similar here. Excluding beverages found in refrigerators there’s millet congee and various porridges such as pumpkin and ice. These drinks accompany meals more frequently than do sugary sodas/juices or water.
3) Bathrooms
When I’d gotten settled in my room and decided it was time to shower I was very confused. In the bathroom at my home in New Jersey there’s a toilet, a sink, and a tub closed off by a shower curtain which houses the shower head attached to the wall and lever for controlling the water. The bathroom at my host family’s house is a little different. It has a standard toilet, a sink, a washing machine, and shower. I thought it was odd that the bathroom had a washing machine in it, but that’s not what confused me the most. The shower is what truly perplexed me. It has the same controls I’m used to, but it doesn’t have a tub or anything separating it from the rest of the bathroom like a curtain or glass. Basically, its just a shower head protruding from one of the walls so the water goes all over the bathroom floor when you shower. What I didn’t know was that there is a drain hidden behind the sink that took me a while to find. Public bathrooms are comparable to american bathrooms except for two things. Most of them don’t have toilet paper and you have the option of squatting over a whole in the ground or using a toilet(at least at China Agricultural University).
4) Cars and Pedestrians
On the car ride from the airport to the university I noticed the difference in driving immediately. The driving in Beijing is very aggressive. I understood the reason for this though because the roads can get quite congested and sometimes you need to be aggressive to get in a lane. There is also a lot of beeping. Of course people beep when necessary while driving, but on the drive to the university I’m sure I heard a beep at least every two minutes. In the U.S. pedestrians have the right of way when crossing the street. In Beijing, pedestrians are not as privileged. Cars do not wait for you, you wait for the car.
5) Clothing
For the most part Chinese apparel is similar to what people wear in the U.S. While walking through the university and taking the subway I’ve seen a wide variety of fashion styles. Surprisingly, a lot of the clothing people wear has English writing on it. In some cases the writing seems rather random and/or doesn’t really make sense. In other cases the writing makes perfect sense and/or is of a recognizable brand. I have also noticed that in China people don’t change their outfit everyday like most Americans do. At the university I’ve seen students don the same outfit for two or three days. I found this difference to be quite interesting because it showed me that standards for dressing varies from country to country.
6) The Subtle Things
Personally, these are the differences that intrigue me the most. My first day at China Agricultural University I looked down as I was walking. I saw an insect unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It looked like a millipede but it was really fast and spiky. I’ve also seen a few other insects that looked terrifyingly different, but disgusting all the same. Back home there’s always birds chirping away in the morning. Beijing is no different except the way the birds look and sound is not the same. Its actually a welcome change. I enjoy hearing the birds singing an unfamiliar tune as I walk to the lab at the university in the morning. Finally, the way people interact and the things they do in general are slightly unlike where I come from. For example, what I perceived to be aggression at first was just them chatting normally and having fun, similar to my Hispanic family. Another particular instance of differing practices was last Saturday when the professor and the students in the lab held a welcome party for me. The gatherings I’m used to consist of a group of people who either buy a food item or make something at home and bring it to the place where the event is being held. China does things a little different. Rather than bring all the cooked food to the venue, they gather all the materials necessary for their respective dish and bring it. Then they make all the food together. It was this togetherness that I really enjoyed. There was talking, laughing, and all around joy as they prepared the food and then ate(it was delicious!). Its definitely something I’d like to bring back to New Jersey and possibly implement within my family.
All in all, Beijing is a place that grows on me more and more everyday. Not for the similarities to home, but for the differences that show me how much more of the world is out there and what I have yet to see.
