shanghai maybe brought out several things that i didn't realize about myself or cultural differences before, don't get me wrong- it was a good trip and had a lot of blessings.. but it was also tiring, physically/mentally hard, and a lot different from my expectations...
1. traveling styles: chinese people travel MUCH different than this chinese american haha... i was with 2 chinese students for majority of the weekend and their idea of travel is to go everywhere, see everything, and WALK at all times. yep... my traveling styles were slightly different. i'm use to taking breaks, enjoying nice chats over coffee, driving to places instead of walking, and etc...
2. half-introverted? for sure. i've always been a "people person" and get excited around crowds... but that can only last for so long. haha... china has a lot of people... A LOT of people.. especially during their may holiday weekend in a huge metropolitan like Shanghai and being around people 24/7 was hard mentally. i felt like leeches were sucking out every ounce of energy to my last toe. and it affected my physical ability to "keep up" with the chinese style traveling... fatigue, headaches, nasea... i told them it was because i was getting drained from the crowds of people, but i don't think they quite understood the concept. so i told them "i'm getting OLD" haha..
3. language: chinese is hard...but a different province dialect is even harder! haha... i went traveling with amy and her best friend that i met before when visiting their hometown earlier in january... but this trip made me realize how important language is... to speak someone's language allows for so much more conversation, openness on their part, and understanding of their culture! it's hard enough not to understand mandarin- other than 9% of what's said.. but understanding 0% of another dialect is no fun :( language barriers were hard because amy and her friend often spoke in their native tongue and i didn't want them to translate everything... but i definitely saw amy opening up a lot more and being more comfortable to talk in her native tongue.. it was an encouragement to me to continue to study the language and not give up!
... there were several other things that i've learned and experience on the trip. most of the pictures are on facebook but here's a short video with pictures of glimpse from this weekend-
enjoy!
1 comment:
baby jodi! i loved reading both of your posts! your descriptions of people and shanghai are priceless.natia
Post a Comment