In 6 Months Time

"Distance tests a horse's strength. Time reveals a person's character." 

-Chinese Proverb

This week marks 6 months in China! This is my halfway point. So far, I’ve visited 6 other countries since coming here, had food poisoning and thought I had a parasite, made a lot of good friends, and not made much progress on learning the language. In 6 more months, I hope I’m a pro at living in China. But here are 10 things I’ve learned so far as an ex-pat in China that will make your life a little easier if you are ever in a similar situation as me.

1. Carry tissues and hand sanitizer with you everywhere. Toilet paper and soap are hard to find in public bathrooms.
2. If you need to go to the bathroom when you aren’t home, find a Starbucks. They almost always have a clean bathroom with a real toilet, rather than a squat toilet.
3. If you want to travel to another country close to China, try throwing in another country close by that one into the flight search just to see what happens. Sometimes the price doesn’t change at all, or it goes down. So two new countries for the price of one!
4. Don’t go swimming. At least not in any lakes, rivers, the ocean or outdoor swimming pools. I’ve heard indoor swimming pools are cleaner – but don’t know personally. Don’t go swimming unless you’re at a beautiful island somewhere. That being said, I’m headed to the pool right now because it’s so hot today.
5. Get the MetroMan app. It will save your life when using the subway system. You can plug in your starting point and destination and it will give you the best routes, the cost, estimated time of travel, when the next several trains leave – and all of this for every city in China that has a subway, as well as some other cities in Asia like Tokyo and Seoul.
6. Just know that a lot of people will take your picture. Some will ask, but most will just take one on their phone while pretending to be doing something else. But it’s usually pretty obvious. If this upsets you, just get over it before you get to China and you’ll feel a lot more at peace with the world. You are just so interesting and they are fascinated by you! It’s part of the experience.
7. Not that many people wear masks due to the pollution even though that’s what you see on tv. But they do sell masks here that have filters and are really helpful on days that are extremely polluted. I’ve never worn one, but I might in the next 6 months to prevent any more sickness.
8. The Chinese dress very nicely. Not just for work, but for classes, hanging out at the mall or even going hiking. In fact, just the other day I was jogging and saw two girls jogging together. One of them was in a nice, white dress! So if you are a person who feels self-conscious if your manner of dress is different than those in the room, pack lots of skirts/dress pants and high heels. If you’re like me and you don’t care, then ignore #8. I’m usually dressed much more casually than my students, even if my clothing isn’t casual.
9. Get the WeChat app. It’s how everyone communicates here.
10. Carry cash with you. Large grocery stores accept credit cards or payment over the phone, but most stores and even many restaurants only accept cash.