Writing for the Langfang Newspaper

Nǐ Hǎo Readers,

I’ve finally returned to America, for a while.  I apologize for my lack of blog posts in the past two months.  My schedule was simply packed full with events, meetings, and final exams. The spring term is now over, the finals have all been graded, and I'm back in Maryland on my summer vacation.  I’ll be headed back to China on August 25^th for another year. Until then, I plan on writing a blog post each week about all the stories that happened to me during the last two months, so stay tuned.  As for my first story, recently I’ve been asked if I would write a few articles for the local Langfang newspaper.  My first article was published this weekend and more articles are to be published soon.  So far there is no word on whether or not this will be a regular thing but my first article was well received.  The published article was written in Chinese, which you can see in the photos below, but I’ve included an English translation for your benefit.  So without further interruption, please enjoy my article, “Culture Shock: An American in Langfang.”

 

Culture Shock: An American in Langfang

Written by Benjamin Ceary

2014年07月09日

Learning to live in another culture can be a major challenge.  The biggest problem is the culture shock.  Culture shock is a common term meaning that simple everyday things can become strange, different, and sometimes difficult.  Speaking, eating, and even shopping can be a daunting task.  As an American living in China, I have learned to adapt to the many nuisances of cultural shock.  However, not everything has been easy and it took a lot of learning, a lot of patience, and a lot asking for help.  I want to share with you a few of my personal stories about the culture shock I experienced while living in China.

One of the first things I noticed when coming to China was a difference between Chinese food and American food.  Sure, we have Chinese restaurants in America but they serve a style of Chinese food that has been altered to please the America diet.  My first time stepping into a real Chinese restaurant in China was a completely different experience.  The room had a large round table with a glass circle in the middle.  I was not quite sure what the glass circle was for.  Each place had a little cup, dish, and spoon wrapped up in plastic.  It was easy enough to figure out what they were for.  My host ordered the food and then the waitress began placing large plates of food on the round glass in the middle.  To my surprise, the glass spun.  In America, food is served individually to each member of the dinner party on their own separate plate.  In China, food is served to the middle of the table for everyone to share and it spins around on a big plate of glass.  I actually prefer the Chinese methods as it means everyone can try all the food.  In America you should not share your food with others.  However, the Chinese way can be a real challenge for a beginning as they try catching something to eat on a spinning glass top.  Fortunately for me, my mother had taken me to an Asian style restaurant when I was young so that I could learn how to use chopsticks.  The very first dish I got to eat in China was fried eggs and tomato (西红柿炒鸡蛋/Xīhóngshì chǎo jīdàn).  It was a combination I had never seen before.  In America, we eat both tomatoes and eggs but they are always served separately.  The first time seeing these two food items combined made me cringe.  It looked unnatural.  I tried it anyway and the taste was amazing.  I loved this dish.  Now I often cook it for myself in my apartment.  I have even taken the recipe home with me to America and shared it with family and friends.  They too were hesitant to try it at first but now they too cook tomato and eggs on regularly.  I have often had many American friends tell me that this is their favorite Chinese dish.

Language can be a tough barrier to cross.  I remember my first time getting off the airplane in Beijing and being overwhelmed by the signs.  I could not speak any Chinese at the time and nothing made sense to me.  Even a simple thing such as a sign on a bathroom door confused me.  I did not know the symbols for man and woman.  However, I am thankful that many of my students have been eager to help me learn the Chinese language.  They taught me how to read and pronounce pinyin, how to write some basic Chinese characters, and how to speak basic oral conversation.  But a new language has its challenges and shares of embarrassments.  After a few weeks of living in China I had learned some very basic oral Chinese.  While at a dinner with friends, I was asked to practice my Chinese.  I had just learned how to say, “Good food.”  So I proudly said, “好吃!” (hào chī/good food)  My hosts said that they wanted me to use the expression in a complete sentence.  But I didn’t know how.  I was very nervous.  I thought about how to make it into a sentence.  However, I thought wrongly.  I wanted to say, “Do you like the food?”  Instead I accidentally said to my host, “你好吃吗？”  (Nǐ hào chī ma?/Are you delicious?) This was not the right thing to say.  Everyone laughed at me and I felt very embarrassed.  My friends then told me what I said was wrong and they taught me how to say it right.  They told me that it is okay to make mistakes and that I should not be embarrassed.  This made me feel much better.  I learned from this moment how gracious the Chinese people can be and how eager they are to share their culture.  My students often try to teach me new Chinese words and they teach me how to understand Chinese society.  I am very thankful for them because with their help I was able to adapt and survive quickly.

One of the more embarrassing stories I have to tell about culture shock is my failure at shopping.  During my first three months in China I was under the impression that Chinese people did not drink milk.  I thought this way because I could not find milk to buy in the stores.  I was used to buying milk in America and the process is very different.  When I buy milk in America I am used to seeing it in a large clear container in the cold sections of the supermarket.  It is usually behind a door of glass where it is kept cold.  When I went to the supermarket in China, I was confused, because I could find yogurt in the cold section but no milk.  I should have asked, but, I did not know how to ask.  I just made an assumption.  I assumed Chinese people did not drink milk simply because I could not find it in the store.  However, one of my students introduced me to a small bag with milk inside.  I drank it with a level of skepticism because I was not sure what it was.  It was milk!  I finally found milk.  I asked my student where he had bought the milk and he showed me the place in the store where the milk was kept.  What I saw shocked me.  The milk was kept in bags and boxes.  Americans never put milk in bags and boxes.  I was not used to seeing milk come this way and I just assumed it was something else.  How foolish I felt.  But, I learned a valuable lesson about always being willing to ask for help and not assuming anything because of my own cultural understanding.

In conclusion, China has taught me the importance of having an open mind and being willing to ask for help.  China is a wonderfully friendly country and I am thankful to my many friends and students who have been such a big help to me.  I came to China as an English teacher, but, in many ways, my students and friends have been my teachers.  They have taught me about the food, local customs, culture, history, the language and so much more.  I still have much to learn and I am eager for what each new day in China has to teach me.