Touchdown....Culture shock

When moving to China, I did the very smart thing of learning next to nothing about the culture I was going to be immersed in for a year. I knew some stuff - I had had Chinese lessons of course and I know quite a lot about Asia in general. Of course I do. When you watch enough anime [not to mention J, K and T dramas] to score 90/100 on a sporcle quiz, start recommending anime based on your friends' personalities and learn enough conversational Japanese to sail through a comic-con convention whilst demanding to know when the next season of Bakuman is being released, you'll find that your general knowledge of the East is somehow one-up on most people.

However I think I'm still going through some sort of culture shock.
"Culture shock? Me? No way." I had originally thought to myself. The only thing that's ever shocked me was finding out that Goku couldn't be revived after the Cell Saga, and I was 12 at the time. But I realised when I touched down in Dalian and a taxi driver cornered me, hauling away my suitcase, taking my directions [and subsequently getting lost] that I really don't speak Chinese. My flatmates told me not to worry, no one can understand taxi drivers. But they've already been in China for a month, and being around them makes me feel slightly sick - compared to me they're amazing.

Also, it was a moderate surprise to find I can't drink the tap water here, and that water would have to be bought in droves. Apparently the bread isn't very nice either. And people spit in the streets. And it kinda smells. Well, actually it smells a lot - and really bad. And people really don't have the time of day if you're not able to communicate in Chinese. One funny experience trying to buy a toaster and ending up with an empty box also taught us that people don't use common sense as much as they should.

Not everything is foreign however. As blogspot and all interweb-based forms of fun are banned in The People's Republic, you may be wondering how I am still posting and, if we're friends, how I'm still commenting on Facebook. Apparently, there are many ways to bypass what is 'commonly' known as the Great Firewall of China [haha.....haaa], but the one gadget I've picked up on is a VPN service. Mainly because my University provides one for free - most of the good ones you apparently have to pay for. I have no idea how it works [I'm still tryna learn how to use Facebook properly], but it does and as you can see it's incredibly handy. I could have gone a year without Facebook, but certainly not anime. So, if you're going to China and still want to be connected to the non-police state from which you originate, I suggest getting one of these things, especially if you can procure one for free, or with minimal cost to yourself.

Of course I'm not using my own laptop - oh no. The internet isn't working for me, I'm currently writing this post from a friend's computer. Neither can I withdraw money without transferring some to the same friend's account and smiling persuasively so she'll let me withdraw it - damn you HSBC! My other suitcase has not yet arrived yet either, and as our street is apparently impossible to find [taxi drivers get pissed off really easily] I'm worried it never will.I know I've only been here for two days, but having things not organised within 2 seconds of my arrival in a new place is my idea of culture shock.

You can expect photos and things when I get my internet working[if I get my internet working], but for now, I'm going to weep softly into my pillow whilst trying to adjust my body-clock.
An early trip to IKEA must be made for a bedside table. *sigh*

Comments & Questions                      xx