Ericka woke up in a Xi'an hotel room one day dazed and confused. After a series of inexplicable events, she found herself speaking in strange tongues and married to one of the locals. Currently, she spends her time in Qingdao translating or teaching and trying to avoid assimilation into the Chinese masses.
People ask you how young you were (几岁) when you moved to China
You start shaving your eyebrows and stop shaving everywhere else
You think American clothing is very plain
Everything you are wearing was purchased in China
You don’t know the conversion between CNY and USD
People ask you where you are from and you say the Chinese province/city where you live
Your E…
I know, everyone always comments on Chinese toilets - they are on the floor, big deal. Well, most of those people who write about the Chinese facilities are men, and let's face it, when it comes to bathrooms, men have it easy. So here is what really goes on behind the 女 door.
Are Chinese bathrooms dirty? Yes! But Chinese people have clean hands.
There is a difference in the cultural ideas of cleanliness here.
In…
When people think of "Rice Chasers" the common thought is of non-Asian men chasing Asian women. In fact, it’s often believed that Asian men are the most discriminated against by white women (dating wise). No one ever really thinks about crazed non-asian girls chasing after Asian men. I guess those people have never been to an Anime (multimedia) convention. While it’s not very common now to see a laowai girl with a Ch…
I'm sure everyone has heard the story of the friend of a friend from X country at X university in China, and the story is so remarkable you almost don't believe it. Here are a couple I've picked up from different people, I don't know if they are true or not. They are both very motivating.
The turtle wins the race
So when my roommate was studying in Beijing before she came to Xi'an, there was a foreign guy…
It’s fairly common knowledge that Chinese people like to perform. If you ever go to a school “dance” in China, you will sit in the audience and watch people perform on stage. The other day I was walking on the busiest shopping street in Qingdao, when I witnessed another kind of performance, Chinese “flash" 快闪 dancing.
Apparently these people met online and set a time. Then at said time they all suddenly got in…
I absolutely love the simplicity and practicality of the Chinese language.
This means that I can read medical journals in Chinese that I can’t even understand in English. Chinese pretty much puts complicated vocabulary into layman's terms. For example the Coccyx is the 尾臀骨 [wěi tún gǔ] or the “tail butt bone,” and Hepatopathy is 肝病 [gān bìng] or “liver illness.” Though this also means I feel really stupid when my …
Chinese is a really difficult and frustrating language to learn, but it always helps to laugh at yourself to get you through the process.
My confessions 我的自白:
Injuries
I have, in frustration, banged my head against my Chinese textbooks.
I’m pretty sure I’ve ruined my eyesight by staring at Chinese characters for too long.
I once got frost nip on my toes from studying for too long in my unheated Chinese apar…
Fěicuì
Not your typical blog post, but I hope you find it useful
Everywhere in China you can find Jade. They sell it in street corners, in subway stations, in supermarkets, and in jewelry stores. Some Jade costs as little as 1 yuan and some as much as 100k+ yuan. Whether it’s black, blue, green, yellow or white, Jade is very shiny and alluring, though it’s often a mystery to foreigners and Chinese people alike.…
People always worry able how they’ll be able to survive in China without being able to speak the language. Simple tasks like ordering food can be a challenge, especially in areas with few foreigners. This shouldn’t be discouraging though. You may get a little hungry, you may order some unexpected things, but you will survive and probably come away with some interesting stories as well. Here is how I survived my first…
Ericka