Similarities and Differences between China and the US

Similarities:

Every party will have alcohol

• Education is Important (This is very important to the Chinese people, although I believe it is even more important for them than for us in the US as they take a final exam during their senior year which tells them which Universities they are allowed to apply to).
• Drinking and Smoking (These two things are the same everywhere I believe, but it brings people together here as it does in the US. The Chinese, especially the men, love to drink and to smoke while drinking.  Chain smoking is also very common here).
• Everyone's in a Hurry (Everyday it's a fight to get anywhere, like survival of the fittest).
• Dressing Up Pets (Little doggie sweaters and boots... Why?)
• Fashion (Even here you sense the need for both men and women to show off the amount of money they have by wearing some really cool and stylish outfits or carrying the latest designer purse, whereas I and wearing comfortable pants and worn sneakers that are very comfortable to teach in).
• Music (Most kids listen to western music because they think Chinese music is horrible).
• Fast Food (It's nice to have these familiar things available to me such as: McDonalds, KFC,Pizza Hut, Dunking Donuts, Papa Johns, Burger King and Starbucks).
• Driving on the Left (For some reason I thought China was going to be the opposite, but I guess that's only in Korea, Japan and Europe).

Differences: (from what I have observed, although not every Chinese person applies to this)

A good way to let off some stress!

• Cheaper (For all of China's differences listed below there is an upside, which is it is very cheap to live here.  Electronics, clothes, food, transportation, rent and even medication is all a lot less here.  Most Chinese live on 1500 RMB (650 USD) a month).

• KTV (Karaoke bars are very popular here, but in the US they don't seem to be very many.  These karaoke bars are cool because they are fancy, have their own little shopping mart inside and you get your own private room to sing in with friends).
• Spitting Everywhere (sidewalk, bus, store and even on the toilet floor; they don't seem to believe in tissue).
• Peeing/Pooping in Public (this can also occur anywhere, but usually pooping only happens outside by babies who aren't wearing diapers, so watch your step! Peeing sadly happens everywhere, especially by babies). 
• No Diapers! (Most babies here don't wear diapers or undies while they are small, so there is a big slit near the crotch so that when they squat, which all Chinese people are masters at, they can go about their business.  Seeing baby genitalia is an everyday occurrence whether you were expecting it or not. Although, I have always wondered if the babies get cold down there?).
• Littering (This is a good difference.  At night, everyone is on the street buying food from street vendors, so naturally people throw their trash everywhere; its very similar to a circus or amusement park.  The cool thing is that at night it's filthy, but by morning it's almost spotless.  China has people whose jobs are to clean up the streets and most stores want the front of their business clean so they mop and collect the trash, sometimes you can see them lighting the trash on fire).

A little girl gave me these Chinese cough drops for Xmas

• Hot Water Cures Everything (I don't particularly like hot drinks, but here they love anything hot, especially plain scorching hot water. They even believe that if you bump your head you should put a hot cloth on it to reduce the swelling, but I believe it would be better to put something cold).
• Kindness to Foreigners (Most of the Chinese I have encountered are rather friendly, excluding most transportation drivers and the Chinese when they are trying to get somewhere.  Most want to talk to you and try very hard to help you, even when there is an obvious language barrier.  It's nice to have that feeling of kindness).
• Staring (This one is good and bad.  Being noticed is kind of cool because you feel like a rock star or a celebrity at times.  You are noticed because you are different, most times because you are lighter skinned, have lighter hair and different colored eyes.  A lot of Chinese, especially in the smaller cities, have never seen a foreigner in person, so your immediately seen as intriguing.  Other times the staring is hard to deal with because it's not nice to be stared at for a long period of time or whispered about in a language you can't understand.  It's really hard to deal with when your shopping or eating).
• Electrical Plugs (Do not leave the US till you have a 2 pronged converter plug for your laptop, they have strange plugs here!)
• Toilets (It's a hole in the ground and it always smells horrible. Do some squatting exercises before you leave the US so you can properly use the toilet in China.  Always carry tissue/napkins with you, it's not given freely in China even at restaurants.  You cannot flush the toilet paper or else your toilet will clog.  When you have a western toilet in your apartment it's nice until you realize the big pipe next to you that's making all the waterfall sounds is actually someone else flushing their business down the pipes.  Just be aware).
• Showering/Water (It's usually an open shower, so that means you and the toilet are side by side, no door and the water just spills everywhere.  It works, although if you don't have an overhead heating light it tends to get cold quickly. Don't drink the water, it smells funky).
• Laundry Room (Every apartment has a side room that faces outside where you hang up your wet clothes to dry.  Usually you don't get decent dryers here).
• Escalators in Grocery Stores (This is one of my favorites! The grocery stores here are multiple levels first you can shop for electronics then you can get on the escalator with your cart, it's magnetized so it stays put, and then you can shop in the produce section.  It's genius and it saves space!).
• No Courtesy (Pushing is acceptable in China, especially when getting on a bus or waiting in line.  I think it's expected because no one gets angry at the person who cuts in front.  I get angry, I have even gotten used to pushing my way in front of people because if I don't they will never let me on.  But the funny thing is when an old person gets on the bus they give up their seat for them even though they cut them).

China believes what it's government tells them and they don't ask why!

• No Why's? (A lot of Chinese never ask "Why?" it's a hard concept for them to understand as China itself is one large community that thinks together.  I ask my Chinese friends why they think the way they do, especially about Japan or medicine, but most don't have answers to my questions.  It seems that most don't think for themselves, particularly about other countries and their beliefs).
• No Fun for Children (School runs most of the kids lives, they go to school at 7am and don't get out till 5:30pm, sometimes even 6:30pm.  Then the kids take some classes on the weekends as well, they never have time to enjoy being young.  Summer is also full of work and classes. Some of my kids in class have gray hair and they are only 14 years old).
• Smoking (This is allowed almost everywhere, buses, schools, stores and even in restaurants).
• Uniforms (All school levels wear uniforms, they are like jumpers, but wind proof.  They look cool, but it makes every child look the same, instead of letting them be individuals).

My first lantern lighting! China does have some cool traditions!

There are many more differences and I'm sure many more similarities, but I am tired now, so I will say one last thing; China is very different from the US, but I don't believe being different is a bad thing, I believe it shows us the differences in which other people live and they ways in which people were raised. 
 I have an open mind, so most of these things don't bother me too strongly, but if you weren't open minded I think China would be hard for you to live in.  Having an open mind is good for everything because you may discover some things you never knew before. 

Thanksgiving, Midterm Exams and Planning Trips

The other day while I was writing my lesson plans for my classes I asked a fellow teacher what the date was, to my surprise, he said it was December 1st.  I couldn't believe that I had already been in China for 3 months! On the one hand, I felt as if I had just arrived here, but on the other I felt as though I'd been here for a lot longer. I've been out of the US for over 4 months now, its really hard to believe sometimes.  Cambodia seems so far away now in my mind, but I do miss it also.  Halloween and Thanksgiving have already flown by and now Christmas is just a few weeks away.  It's nice having other foreigners around because they like to celebrate the holidays together so you don't feel so alone or homesick.  We will be doing Secret Santa for Christmas and I will be baking more cake! 

Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in China, is really only celebrated in the US, but since it is a Western holiday my school celebrates it.  As I am the only American in my school I was asked what Thanksgiving was all about and what to do for activities for the kids; I told them I would think about it. When I was in school the only things I could remember doing for Thanksgiving was making Indian hats and making turkeys out of our handprints.  So my school did a turkey decorating contest, which was sort of cool because you could tell for the younger kids when the parents did most of the work.

Midterm Exams were taken last week and this week.  I was so worried about my students ability to pass their exams and that it would be my fault that they failed.  It turned out that the majority of my students got very decent grades, even the ones who never did very well in class.  My school, as I am constantly reminded, is a business so most of the students will pass whether they deserve to or not.  It really sucks to hear this because you know that some of the students shouldn't be moving forward because they don't have the knowledge, yet.  Each student has a passport (grade book) which has about 11 categories in it, which the student is graded 2x before the midterm exam (each is out of 5 points), then you add those together and that is their overall assessment.  You add their overall assessment to their midterm exam grade and that is their grade for the 1st term.  You also have to write their strengths and areas to improve and exam comments on the next page.  These passports are very time consuming.

It's very easy to teach the younger kids, although you use up a lot more energy at times and if they are all in a bad mood then it makes the class a lot longer.  But it is becoming harder to teach the higher level classes, most of the time I learn the material a week before class, trying to remember that grammar point being taught to me back while I was in school, which wasn't always taught to me.  Some of the grammar I just know because I've used it before, but others I have to re-teach myself.  C8, one of my higher level classes, is very difficult to teach without a teacher to help me translate the grammar point, as it is hard to explain in English let alone explain it t kids who don't speak English very well.  It's challenging every week, but I believe it has helped me improve my English.

I plan to go to Beijing in February during the Spring Festival (we know it as the New Years festival).  What's cooler about China's New Year's is that they have 7 days off where they just drink, party and shoot fireworks (morning, afternoon, and night).  I will be staying with a friend, who is studying to become a doctor.  He is from Australia and he is very nice and willing to take me around Beijing for the week.  I will be traveling there by train for 14 hours I believe, which is a long train ride, so I will be getting a Soft Bed (which means it's a room where there are two bunk beds which you share with others but there is a door you can close so it's more private then the Hard Bed where there are no doors).  I will be traveling with a friend that I teach with so we will get beds in the same room, we will also be traveling back together.  While I am in Beijing I will also be doing some interviews to see if there are any jobs available for me in August.  I do love the city I am in now, but I think I want to experience a different part of China and see what it has to offer me.