Back to the mainland

Oh man… I didn’t notice it going from China to Taiwan, but as I waited for my flight back to China, the social-economic divide between the two really stood out. Right when I stepped into the waiting lounge at my gate for my flight back to the mainland, the loud conversations, the smells, the mannerisms, the pushiness… just very obvious… and quite annoying.

It wasn’t such a shock when I first came from America to China because I think I had expected it. I was giving Jenny the heads up on what to expect, so I think I more than prepared myself for it. Secondly, the diversity of the people in America versus the more homogenous Asian faces in China is a very obvious visual cue that reminds you to transition your mindset and set different expectations. Going from Taiwan to China – the people still look similar so that visual cue was not there, so it was a bit more of a shock that took some time to transition into.

On the plane, a lady asked if her husband could switch seats with me since she had one arm and could use some extra help. I had no problem switching, but little did I know I’d have this large dude who could probably use a shower and a few strong breath mints… all in my space and all… but I guess I might as well get used to it since I’m headed back to the mainland. Oh, then you got the ear and nose pickers. Thankfully no snot rockets or hacking up spit balls yet, but I’m sure once I arrive, that will come too. I love China for many reasons, but I still have a hard time getting past the hacking up spitball noise, the bathroom smells, and the pushy, no rules following culture.

Rules – simple things like keeping your seatbelt fastening on an airplane – you start hearing the unclicking right when the wheels touch ground.. some attempt to get up during the taxi to the gate. I like rules (not saying I obey them all the time but I try…most of the time).
Lines – there is no understanding of that at all. For example, let’s say there are 4 stalls in the ladies room. There will be 4 separate lines waiting at each stall. So it’s hit or miss how long you’ll be waiting depending on which line you pick – if someone’s having a grand ‘ole time on the potty, then you’re stuck there for a long while in your line.

After getting off the plane, I walked into the ladies room. The 5 stalls were full. There was one girl standing, waiting patiently. I stood behind her to form a line that led to any of the 4 stalls, like how we would line up in the ladies room in America. 1 girl walks in to the front of the line, sees that the stalls are full, looks over at us, and in shock says in Chinese: “oh, there’s a line”. “Yes, I respond”. She kind of giggles. I smirk. Another girl walks in, does same thing, and I tell her… “there’s a line”. She’s surprised and says “oh. Need to line up”. I was happy to have encouraged a line system. My turn to jump in a stall. I do my thing and come out of the stall, and I see… 5 separate lines, one behind each stall. All that work to have gone down the drain all in a matter of a minute. Okay, I guess I didn’t really work that hard for it, but I was hopeful… proud even if only for a brief moment of change in social behaviors, one lady at a time…

In general, education levels tend to be higher than other parts of the country, but just the pure numbers of people are enough to push you over the edge if you don’t prepare yourself beforehand. Especially if you’re one to take public transportation… and you need to jump on that metro to avoid rush hour car traffic but then you hit mad rush hour people traffic… although I find it to be less crazy then Beijing subway people traffic…

Several times the past couple days, I’ve found the evil side of me coming out, wanting to play the “my way is the right way” card. I want to supplant the rules and culture that I’m used to, that I grew up with, and make the local people follow and obey them. Or, I want to just push people back when they push me out of the way, or step on their heels purposefully when they cut me off. I am evil.. I need to repent for this vengeful, self-righteous heart of mine.. forgive me. Honestly, I am surprised by my own behavior. Usually I am very quick to adjust, and I consider myself, rightly or wrongly, to be pretty culturally sensitive, easily adaptable, not placing my opinions and what I believe to be right vs. wrong in foreign situations. But I think coming from Taiwan to China this time really threw me off. I’ll have to remember to set more realistic expectations.

I love China, for all its cool things and the frustrations. Need to set my heart right. Let's go!