Ive heard a saying that went something like, if you stay in a country for three weeks you can write a book, three months a postcard, and three years nothing! I am now faced with this problem. Having lived in China for about five years, I am totally used to daily life here. That shouldnt be something to complain about, right? Adapting to a different society and culture is something to be satisfied with, is it not? Usually it would be. However, it makes writing a column about my impressions of China a lot more difficult.
Luckily for me two friends from my country, Ireland, came to visit me during the summer. It was their first time in China and it was through their eyes that I rediscovered the pleasure of experiencing a foreign culture for the first time again.
At first I found their remarks and reactions to the sights of daily Beijing life puzzling. They were fascinated by every little detail. Details that I barely noticed. Why did they want to take a photograph of a man selling you tiao? What was so interesting about a line of waiters standing outside a restaurant? Why was a group of elderly people exercising in the evening so enthralling?
I started to recall that scenes like these once fascinated me too. In Ireland you just dont see them. It was then that memories of my first month in China came flooding back to me. When I first came to this country I worked as an English teacher in Wuhan. Thinking back it was the students I met in that first year and Chinese university life in general that gave me the deepest impression.
文学网
