I would like to touch base with you and get your take on living there. I have an opportunity to take a 2 year assignment that I am very seriously considering. My situation would be a little different...51 years old, living in the industrial center of the north east (think North Korea), and my company paying all possible expenses...but like you, I imagine 2 years of building rockets to occupy my mind during the cold winters.
Other than your having to adapt to ever-changing situations, what are your words houghts on living there?
Cheers,
Michael
Hi Michael,
Sorry for the long delay in replying. The last week has been kind of stressful, between the "Am I going to remain in Yantai, China, or come home at the end of the month" to the "Teaching demo jitters ("Man I need this job")", to the "How do I get out my contract with my current employer?", and finally... "I've got to do lesson plans for this week, and what am I going to tell the kids?"
China is quite a trip. It's not all Mao jackets, and dour people who are struggling to make it. The clothing style has definitely been influenced by the west (read, it is western). The people seem to be pretty happy, and are quick to smile. Expect to see a lot of stares though, especially if you're in an area that western people don't normally get seen. Chinese manners are greatly different than what you see in the west. Pick your nose? Sure. Eat the nose gold? Why not? Kid needs to pee, pooh? the sidewalk works (I've actually seen adult women do the same (at night)). Crotchless clothing for the little ones? Why not? Cough without covering your mouth? Yeah. Smoke in a nonsmoking restaurant? Certainly. The list goes on...
Then there's traffic. To be operating a motor vehicle is to be in a constant state of moving violations. The worst are the taxi drivers. They will crowd you (on a bike, or walking in the bike lane/auto lane) because they want to drop their customer off, and get the next one ASAP to make as much as they can. There seems to be some kind of internal Chinese radar because pedestrians and motorists seem to do some of the dumbest moves, and yet crashes seem to be rare (they do happen though). Me, I find I have to be hyper vigilant to prevent myself from being sideswiped, right hooked, left crossed, or T boned by motorists on my bike... Crosswalks do not seem to give the pedestrian any priority if a car wants to drive through it. All this said, and I have to add that road rage seems to be rare (except for me, I seem to be the angriest person on the street). They will honk at you, but it's not an attempt at scaring you, just to make you jump kind of honk. It's a I'm coming, and letting you know, so you can get out of MY way kind of honk.
All this said, the people seem to be genuinely nice (provided they're not a motorist). They are constantly asking "where are you from" which after a while, you'll be asking the other foreigners too, if you don't see them often. Touching your arm (if you've got arm hair), or belly, if you are fat is not uncommon. While it's not exactly Emily Post, it's not in a mean spirit. Though you will need to curb your American response to an unannounced blatant odd touch. One guy, an employee at a local supermarket, suddenly grabbed me around the middle (not hard, like a tackle), and I was about to grab him back and pile drive him into the ground, when he released me, smiling, and saying something (what I have no idea). He then was fascinated by the hair on my arms, and brushed my arm. I try to tell people, touching Americans is not a good idea without permission first.
WeChat is everywhere. People will constantly ask you for your WeChat address. They'll typically add you, and maybe post for a few days, then move on. However, I owe my new job to a WeChat message group. This probably won't be something that you'll experience.
A VPN (Virtual Personal Network) is essential if you use Google, or don't want anyone reading your searches on Bing. Bing will pop up as Bing.com.cn if you're not logged into your VPN. Google and Bing both will log into their versions for whatever country you're logged into, so some searches may result in odd languages, and you'll need to translate it if you can. You'll probably have more contact with others than I've had (my financial situation has been shaky at best, so you'll be able to go out more). With a regular job, you'll be maintaining regular hours, and in more contact with people than I have been. My apartment doesn't have a TV (I can't afford one), and I don't have a radio (what's the point? I can't understand what I'm hearing, without context, and very slow). YouTube is a great source of documentaries, and even first run movies. I saw Jason Bourne on August 12th, over a week and a half before the movie was released in theaters here. While I haven't seen Star Trek Beyond on YouTube, I did see Star Wars The Force Awakens on it. Searches like "Action Movie 2016" will get you things like this. You'll learn to ignore the distortions in audio, or the off center video.
Now, I've got to go an teach for a few hours today. Apparently there's another national holiday this weekend, so my work week has been moved from Saturday/Sunday to Thursday/Friday.