Culture shock is a peculiar phenomenon. There is usually a four stage adjustment to moving or travelling to a new place that consists of honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment and mastery. Everyone is affected by a sense of cultural shock differently, but I have personally always found the term “shock” a little extreme. Shanghai is definitely a shocking place to be. Like anyone who has been displaced for a while I have experienced some homesickness, some boredom and the general loneliness that comes with having a limited social group who you can immediately relate to. Living in China means you must be patient and simply learn to accept the things you cannot control.
Every day results in a new experience in “WTF?” There is simply no method behind some things that are done on a regular basis. I’ve mentioned before about the 360 ° head swivel you need to cross the road but it doesn’t really state the gravity of that. Every day can be a bit of a struggle. I’ve been walking down the sidewalk minding my own business only to have a full size motorcycle (taxi) to honk his horn behind me to get out of the way. Mercifully, most of the motorcycles will give the right of way to pedestrian on sidewalks, but not are all as kind.
I’ve seen children dropped off at school off the back of their parent’s scooter while their younger sibling (~3 years old) stands on the floor in front by the handlebars. Helmets are more of a luxury than a necessity, but the kids seem to have excellent balance from a young age.
The people of Shanghai can compare to any other large urban area. If you have little familiarity with Asian people, you may think that they all look alike. If you believe that, you just aren’t looking hard enough or haven’t encountered enough people yet. It’s understandable. Chinese people are just as diverse as anywhere else, but since an overwhelming majority have dark hair and brown eyes it takes a couple takes to see the differences. There are nice people, well-dressed people, ugly people, extremely attractive people, short people, tall people and a few fat people. And yes, there are assholes and morons too.
I’ve seen children dropped off at school off the back of their parent’s scooter while their younger sibling (~3 years old) stands on the floor in front by the handlebars. Helmets are more of a luxury than a necessity, but the kids seem to have excellent balance from a young age.
The people of Shanghai can compare to any other large urban area. If you have little familiarity with Asian people, you may think that they all look alike. If you believe that, you just aren’t looking hard enough or haven’t encountered enough people yet. It’s understandable. Chinese people are just as diverse as anywhere else, but since an overwhelming majority have dark hair and brown eyes it takes a couple takes to see the differences. There are nice people, well-dressed people, ugly people, extremely attractive people, short people, tall people and a few fat people. And yes, there are assholes and morons too.
There are a range of jobs that are seemingly pointless. The main sidewalks in Shanghai are always kept pretty tidy because there are usually street sweepers lingering nearby cleaning up everyone’s messes. There are sidewalk trash bins as you would expect, but people aren’t opposed to throwing some of their trash on their ground. Or dog poop. Or big horked up loogies. The bodily functions takes some getting used to, but take with a grain of salt that people are just generally more comfortable in their own skin.
That level of personal comfort is surprising since there are cameras that cover just about every area in Shanghai. Big brother is almost always watching. On my way to school every day I pass through five different gates. One at my apartment complex, two that cut through another apartment complex, one while entering the subway station and another at the gates of school. Each of these are manned by guards, who may or may not be armed (probably not). There is a sense of security among this, although it can be tough to get away with anything, if anything was really enforced. The only laws that do seem to be pretty strict are trespassing, so you better make sure you are where you are supposed to be. As someone who loves to take shortcuts whenever possible, it takes some adjustment time and some hard lessons in backtracking to realize that it often just not possible.
School has its expected range of difficulties, but nothing completely unreasonable. There have been more than a few unannounced schedule changes, but nothing that can really ruin my day. On one Wednesday I had been doing my once-weekly duty of welcoming students at the gate for 20 minutes before a teacher informed that the entire school would be taking part in a field trip that day and my services were not needed. I was more ecstatic that I had a surprise day off then upset about taking the 30 minute commute to get there for no reason. Luckily I was able to go home and relax on the couch while I live-streamed the Maple Leafs blow their season away. Classic. There are some things that make me glad I'm not in Canada.
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School has its expected range of difficulties, but nothing completely unreasonable. There have been more than a few unannounced schedule changes, but nothing that can really ruin my day. On one Wednesday I had been doing my once-weekly duty of welcoming students at the gate for 20 minutes before a teacher informed that the entire school would be taking part in a field trip that day and my services were not needed. I was more ecstatic that I had a surprise day off then upset about taking the 30 minute commute to get there for no reason. Luckily I was able to go home and relax on the couch while I live-streamed the Maple Leafs blow their season away. Classic. There are some things that make me glad I'm not in Canada.
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