Cats & Dogs For Dinner| 6 min read
I’m 20 years old and graduated from high school in summer 2009. After 13 years of school I didn’t want to go to university straight away. I looked for something different, an adventure. I decided on trying interning as an English teacher in China.
When I decided to live in China, I knew that Chinese people ate a lot of rice. Also, they all looked alike and they don’t write characters but draw little pictures. One told me everyone in China is quiet and reserved, they drink tea from morning to night and they eat dogs and cats for dinner. And of course I was aware of the fact that the Great Wall is the only man-made building you can see from the moon.
Taken together: I knew nothing but had a lot prejudices. So I bought books and signed up in internet forums. I posted questions about the different provinces, the table manners and the language structure. I asked for the must-see’s and must-do’s and the never-ever-do-this-in-you-life’s. And when I finally left Germany, two weeks after I got my high school graduation diploma, I was well prepared and sure I was able to survive in a foreign country.
The first month in China I spent with dozens of guys from all over Europe. Together we explored Beijing: Tian’anmen Square, Forbidden City, Great Wall. The first “Ni hao“, the first Chinese beer, the first time lost in a taxi somewhere in the strange city.I ate Lemon chicken, sweet and sour pork, steamed dumplings. And not to mention in between we had many hours of teacher-training. All this felt a little bit like a holiday. But after the month together with the other prospective teachers, I finally got my placement: Shenyang. With a girl from France and one from England I headed off to teach in a city with just under eight million people and a temperature that drops down to minus 25 degree in the winter.
I moved into a apartment on the 27th floor. It was the first time that I lived on my own. I realised that nearly nobody spoke English. Not my neighbours, not the shop men around the corner, not most of the teachers in my new school. And it was the first time I didn’t permanently have someone around me to share my new impressions with. I felt lost and lonely. It took me about two days to tell myself that this is one of the reasons why I came to China. I wanted to get to know something new: a new country, a new language, a new culture. I’ve never thought it would be easy, but I wanted this challenge to improve myself. When I brought this old realisation back to my mind I started to enjoy the whole situation. I’ve finally found the adventure I was looking for.
Of course I still spent a lot of time with the people from TTC. But I also made Chinese friends who told me things about Chinese culture I never could of found in my books. I learned some Chinese and was proud of myself when I directed the taxi driver to the right restaurant. The people on the street who stared at me in the beginning started to greet me. And the shop men around the corner welcomed me with a big smile and a word that, I guess, was supposed to sound like “hello“.
Slowly I got used to everything that I found exiting in the beginning. During the five months of teaching all the little things which made my days special became normal and I found myself again in a daily routine. Just before I could say: “Oh man… the China adventure is no adventure anymore!“, the semester was over. Since I hadn‘t seen the south of China yet I decided to travel to some cities down there. I was a proper backpacker: armed just with a small backpack and a Lonely Planet guide book. I turned off my mobile and didn’t check my mails for the whole time being on the road. Mostly I was traveling with a friend who used to intern in China as well. I met him during the teaching training in Beijing for the first time and hadn‘t seen him since. But when I met him in Guangzhou, it was like seeing an old friend again.
Looking back now, resuming my trip, I remember some amazing and breathtaking moments: Partying in Shanghai, meeting my friends in Guangzhou, picking Oranges in Yangshuo, climbing the Elephant Trunk Mountain in Guillin, visiting the Terracotta Army in Xi’an. All of this I’ll never forget again. I’m back in Beijing now where I’ll teach for the second semester. Even if the south of China has some wonderful cities, I just got used to the northern accent after already spending my first semester in that area, so i felt this could improve my language skills.
Therefore it’s good that I live together with two Chinese girls. We three live in a brand new school complex. One of them is able to speak a little bit English, the other one doesn’t speak English at all. We always have a great laugh when we’re talking to each other. And of course I’m required to learn more Chinese now.
July I’ll go back to Germany to go to university. For sure I’m looking forward to seeing my family and friends again. And I will have a lot of German bread and proper cheese when I’m back. But nevertheless, thinking of leaving this country I become a bit wistful and think about the great things I’ve seen and done and all the wonderful people I’ve met. China has lost its holiday feeling which I felt in beginning. Being here doesn’t feel like being a visitor anymore. Now it feels a little bit like being home.
