So, in less than 24 hours, I'll be boarding a plane to go back to the UK. After three months, I've had such a great time here, it will be an emotional goodbye, but I am looking forward to certain things:
1) Christmas dinner with all the trimmings! I'll be home in time for Christmas, but due to complications with my family and my husbands working hours, I'll be staying in Leicester for Christmas. This means I will be making Christmas dinner all by myself, but at least I can do it just the way I like it :) So this means roast potatoes! Stuffing! No sprouts! Brandy butter! Cointreau cream! Snowballs! (although I did have a very tasty snowball this week at a western bar).
2) Radiators! Or not having to sleep with all my clothes on and coat and gloves and socks just to keep warm during the night. My air con has a warm setting, but the timer is limited to one hour, so I always wake up at some point during the night when it has been off for a while, and due to the poor insulation and lack of double glazing in my huge window, the temperature of the room pretty much goes down to a similar level as what it is outside. I'm so looking forward to going to home to my 13.5 tog down duvet and central heating!
3) Washing my clothes! This is one of the first things I'm doing when I get home. The laundry in the campus is really so terrible, and my clothes frequently come back with the same stains on that I'm not sure if they ever really washed my clothes or just made them wet so it looked like they did something. I know a lot of people suspect that they just use cold water in the machines which makes their washing power much lower. But I have also tried to hand wash things myself with hot water, and the "detergent" (if it can be called that) is pretty much useless with any grease stains. Sure, it lathers up nicely to look like it's doing something, but if you ever have a mishap with greasy food, that T-shirt will now become your lounging-around-in-your-room T-shirt. Several of the others in my dorm have told me they have the same problem. On top of that, one time they just took my money and didn't wash my clothes at all, so I swore never to use their services again.
4) Being able to read menus and being fairly certain of what's coming! This was more of a problem at the beginning, but now that I've got a fairly good experience of what Chinese dishes are like, I know what kind of food to order and roughly what to expect. Since I've picked up a few words, I am better able to ask for what I want when I'm by myself too. My reading is still very poor, and my speaking needs a lot of improvement, but I do feel a little bit like just as I'm starting to get the hang of some phrases, I'm leaving. Overall though, I made heavy use of translator apps, Google Translate, which I mention a lot, but also another app Pleco which was recommended to me by a Hungarian dorm-mate, and was really, really so helpful with translating text, as it was excellent at recognising characters, even when drawn by someone without any knowledge of how to write Chinese, like me. But in general, I am looking forward to not living my life out of translator apps!
5) Being able to cross the road without fearing for my safety! I guess this is also a little bit redundant now, as I've gotten the hang of knowing when to cross Chinese roads. However, they could still do with realising the benefits of filter lights and lanes, and also roundabouts! (Maybe they just don't get roundabouts yet, like how at first they didn't get the wheel?) Another important thing that all road goers need to discover, whether bus or bike rider, or even metro driver, is to oil their breaks!
Linked to this, I'm happy not to be holding on to a door handle in fear in taxis as the drivers swerve around negotiating the insane traffic that makes you wonder how some people passed their test, whilst not providing functioning seatbelts! I'm also looking forward to journeys not taking three times they should do due to the traffic. It once took an hour and a half to get just to the other side of the river from the campus! Driving really is so terrible in Shanghai.
Linked to this, I'm happy not to be holding on to a door handle in fear in taxis as the drivers swerve around negotiating the insane traffic that makes you wonder how some people passed their test, whilst not providing functioning seatbelts! I'm also looking forward to journeys not taking three times they should do due to the traffic. It once took an hour and a half to get just to the other side of the river from the campus! Driving really is so terrible in Shanghai.
6) Not having to take toilet paper with me everywhere. Chinese toilets are on a whole other planet. They could have a blog post all of their own. While squatting toilets are not new to me, as they are common in Turkey, Egypt, and we even had them in Crete on our honeymoon, the receptacle isn't really the issue, rather the standards at which they're kept. Also, in 90 % of places, they do also have western style toilets as an option if you're too squeamish about the squatting ones. But, toilet paper is not always guaranteed, and it shouldn't be flushed down the toilet either. On top of that, Chinese people either have a massive aversion to cleaning toilets, or are just not that picky about the cleanliness of them, because so many that I've been to have an intolerable smell, and at one of the more shocking experiences were when Sam and I had the misfortune of using the facilities at Beijing South Railway station, where we both almost fainted from the smell of the ammonia. It was actually hilarious but tragic.
7) Not having to hear outrageously gratuitious spitting and clearing of phlegm anymore. I can't believe I almost forgot this! Clearly I'm getting used to this sound!
8) Not having to wait ridiculous amounts of time for a table at a restaurant. It's no secret that China has a lot of people, and especially living in a city with the largest population in China, it can get quite busy. When DB arrived in my lab in the UK in May, I did wonder if he was a little bit bored, because I knew Shanghai was a big city, and Leicester is relatively quiet. But he told me he loved the quiet, and that he especially loves not having to queue for restaurants. I didn't really understand that at the time, because I didn't really see how bad it could be. Surely if there were so many customers, they would just build more restaurants? How wrong could I be. Many restaurants provide seating areas outside their establishments for the people queueing and there is usually an electronic system where you get a ticket for your place in line. We once had to wait for one and a half hours! I'm so glad I never have to do that again!
9) Not having to sit through hours of people talking in Chinese while I sit in silence! Obviously, everyone in the lab couldn't speak English all the time, since it would be weird for them to speak English to each other, but there were a few times when they seemed to forget I was there and I didn't understand what was being said all afternoon! The flipside of this, is that I didn't get distracted half as much in the lab, unlike how it sometimes happens in the computer room in Leicester, and we end up in a massive conversation and before you know it, an hour or two has disappeared. So I managed to be more productive in my lab hours as a consequence, but I'm sure I'm not going to miss going to the lab meetings and just reading the English text on the slides whilst wondering what they hell they're talking about for two hours (actually, I pretty much stopped wondering, and just used the lab meeting times to keep up with my e-mails and check the internet on my phone!)
10) Not having to listen to the Xfm's graveyard shift anymore while I'm in the lab. I was happy to find out that the app for my favourite radio station still worked in China, however, the time difference meant that I listened to some really weird music that is normally only enjoyed by shift workers and insomniacs. However, the up side to this was that after lunch, I could catch the whole of the John Holmes breakfast show (which would start at 6 am back in the UK), which I discovered was on the whole, quite funny, and deserving of its awards.
11) You may be wondering why cheese hasn't appeared so far on this list. Actually, there are a number of things that I'd like to add to both things I'm looking forward to, and things I'll miss. For although I actually really missed cheese at the beginning, I could see that it wasn't necessary in Asian cooking, which tasted great without it, and after a while I just got used to it. That, and the lack of a sweet tooth in the Asian tastebuds meant that I lost a lot of weight, simply by cutting out cheese and sugary things! I'm sure it did me the world of good to lay off these things for the last three months, especially in the run up to Christmas!
7) Not having to hear outrageously gratuitious spitting and clearing of phlegm anymore. I can't believe I almost forgot this! Clearly I'm getting used to this sound!
8) Not having to wait ridiculous amounts of time for a table at a restaurant. It's no secret that China has a lot of people, and especially living in a city with the largest population in China, it can get quite busy. When DB arrived in my lab in the UK in May, I did wonder if he was a little bit bored, because I knew Shanghai was a big city, and Leicester is relatively quiet. But he told me he loved the quiet, and that he especially loves not having to queue for restaurants. I didn't really understand that at the time, because I didn't really see how bad it could be. Surely if there were so many customers, they would just build more restaurants? How wrong could I be. Many restaurants provide seating areas outside their establishments for the people queueing and there is usually an electronic system where you get a ticket for your place in line. We once had to wait for one and a half hours! I'm so glad I never have to do that again!
9) Not having to sit through hours of people talking in Chinese while I sit in silence! Obviously, everyone in the lab couldn't speak English all the time, since it would be weird for them to speak English to each other, but there were a few times when they seemed to forget I was there and I didn't understand what was being said all afternoon! The flipside of this, is that I didn't get distracted half as much in the lab, unlike how it sometimes happens in the computer room in Leicester, and we end up in a massive conversation and before you know it, an hour or two has disappeared. So I managed to be more productive in my lab hours as a consequence, but I'm sure I'm not going to miss going to the lab meetings and just reading the English text on the slides whilst wondering what they hell they're talking about for two hours (actually, I pretty much stopped wondering, and just used the lab meeting times to keep up with my e-mails and check the internet on my phone!)
10) Not having to listen to the Xfm's graveyard shift anymore while I'm in the lab. I was happy to find out that the app for my favourite radio station still worked in China, however, the time difference meant that I listened to some really weird music that is normally only enjoyed by shift workers and insomniacs. However, the up side to this was that after lunch, I could catch the whole of the John Holmes breakfast show (which would start at 6 am back in the UK), which I discovered was on the whole, quite funny, and deserving of its awards.
11) You may be wondering why cheese hasn't appeared so far on this list. Actually, there are a number of things that I'd like to add to both things I'm looking forward to, and things I'll miss. For although I actually really missed cheese at the beginning, I could see that it wasn't necessary in Asian cooking, which tasted great without it, and after a while I just got used to it. That, and the lack of a sweet tooth in the Asian tastebuds meant that I lost a lot of weight, simply by cutting out cheese and sugary things! I'm sure it did me the world of good to lay off these things for the last three months, especially in the run up to Christmas!
But of course, there are so many things to miss about this place.
1) The food. I never thought I would hear myself say this, after coming to the country with such trepidation from hearing horror stories of dubious ingredients and food hygiene standards, not many of which were assuaged by my attempts to familiarise myself with Chinese food before leaving, by watching Ken Hom and Chin-He Huang travelling and eating their way across China in the "Exploring China" series (really Ken, fried rabbit's head on a stick?!). However, as I've discovered the wide variety of Asian cooking with completely different and inventive ways of cooking, there are several meals that I've fallen in love with. My love for máqiú (麻球) I think was adequately expressed in my previous post), and although it seems difficult to make, I am undeterred in trying so, and if I am successful, my lab mates are sure that I stand a good chance in becoming a millionaire, since there is a massive gap in the market in the UK. And despite all of this eating, I've somehow managed to lose about 5 kg without noticing. Who ever said that Chinese food is unhealthy?!
Also, I never really understood what the fuss was about in hot pots (火锅), but honestly I have come to love them so much, that even my last supper that we just came back from was hot pot. It sounds so simple on paper - get a soup and put your vegetables and meat in and wait for it to cook in front of you. I don't know if it's a combination of the spices (I have stolen one of the bags of sauces from the restaurant! Well not really stolen, since they are free) or the freshness of the cooking, but it's really so delicious.
I also love the way that the Chinese have milk tea (奶茶), which is pretty much the way I used to make my tea as a child - 50 % tea, 50 % milk and lots and lots of sugar! The Chinese also add a random selection of things inside, like sweet red beans, cubes of pudding, tapioca, nuts and a whole manner of other things. At least this is something I can more or less recreate at home. There is so much other food to talk about but either I don't know the name, or it's so difficult to describe that I don't have the space here, but these are my top three favourite things!
Before I left for China, I asked DB if he wanted me to bring anything back, or what he missed the most about China. He said that I didn't need to bring anything, but that the thing he missed the most was the food, since you couldn't quite get the same food from the UK. I didn't think this was anything remarkable at the time; of course, anyone away from their home country would miss the tastes of home. But having experienced the breadth of Asian cooking during my stay, I can honestly say I agree with the sentiment!
Before I left for China, I asked DB if he wanted me to bring anything back, or what he missed the most about China. He said that I didn't need to bring anything, but that the thing he missed the most was the food, since you couldn't quite get the same food from the UK. I didn't think this was anything remarkable at the time; of course, anyone away from their home country would miss the tastes of home. But having experienced the breadth of Asian cooking during my stay, I can honestly say I agree with the sentiment!
2) The people, without a doubt, I will miss my lab mates very much, who have been with me every day, answering all my questions, and helping me get by in a new lab as well as a new country in which I don't speak the language. Without them I would not have lasted very long here, and I don't think I would have enjoyed it half as much.
They took special care to make sure that I had a good time, and included me in all their lab activities, which were many. Not just eating together twice a day but also going out together at the weekends or other trips. I think this must be to do with Chinese culture, since I see all the other labs always hanging out together as groups, and they always seem confused when I tell them that it's very hard to get my lab at home together for a meal, when it seems so natural to them. The realisation also dawned on me that Dona won't be in the lab when I get back, so there'll be no one to chat to on those long evenings in the lab, and no one to have musical exploratory journeys with!
But I loved the guys in the lab here and I really can't thank them enough for their friendliness and hospitality. It's a real testament to their friendly nature that no less than three of them are accompanying myself and my professor to the airport in the early hours of the morning tomorrow.
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| I will miss all the members of Ou's group who all showed me the meaning of Chinese hospitality |
But I loved the guys in the lab here and I really can't thank them enough for their friendliness and hospitality. It's a real testament to their friendly nature that no less than three of them are accompanying myself and my professor to the airport in the early hours of the morning tomorrow.
3) Not having to have any meeting with my supervisor (largely because he is out of practice with his English!). While we're on the subject of lab people, I have to say thanks to my professor, who has been very welcoming and just let me get on with things. He didn't say anything derogatory when the work was going slowly, and I managed to work through the problems to the point where he was very happy with my end results. Granted, I am just a visiting student, so probably I get special treatment. But overall, I think he is a fair supervisor and I think he is doing a good job at leading the group.
4) The weather. Despite the unusual day of freak weather conditions which meant that the smog in Shanghai hit a new record while Beijing was basking in unusually pleasant air conditions, overall, the weather has been heavenly. When I arrived, it was a balmy 30 degrees during the day, with long, warm evenings that were great for exploring, and the autumn has not been a let down either (apart from it being too cold to sleep, but that's not the weather's fault, it's the inability of the South of China to adopt radiators). The weather has stayed largely dry and sunny, and even today I wore my sunglasses to go out for lunch, which means that there is no danger of vitamin D deficiency or SAD here! Absolutely perfect for me, and reason enough to be tempting me to move here more permanently.
5) Cheap standard of living. Yes, my scholarship was proportionally lower to fit in line with the Chinese standard of living (only £200 a month), but still, it is perfectly possible here for students to live fairly exciting lives on this little money. The accommodation is extremely cheap (something like £10 a month, or free if you are staff or on scholarship), the meals cost about 70 p each, as I mentioned in one of my first blog posts, and even going out, you can eat a big slap up meal for under £4, if you go to the places aimed at Chinese rather than tourists. Also, the metro takes you from one end of the city to the other in about 2 hours for about 40 p, so it is perfectly possible to explore and visit around different parts of the city on a budget. Even the bullet train is excellent value for money, and I visited Yangzhou and Hangzhou for about £10 - 15 return tickets. Yes, the tickets to Beijing were £50 each, each way, but it was travelling over 800 km!
6) Fantastic ordering and delivery service, right to your door. With personal couriers (or put simply, guys on scooters) going around doing deliveries from 8 am until 9 pm sometimes, delivery can be really fast. In addition, this service goes on throughout the weekend, which is really convenient if you're in the lab and urgently needs some primers or sequencing done. If you order a package, they don't leave if you're not in, they come in to your building and leave your package at reception (yes, this is permitted by the university, although you shouldn't leave your package lying around for very long). This has made buying things so convenient, and living in a big city like Shanghai, it sometimes even means that you get same day delivery for very little charge (Lu once asked me whether it was okay to order something that I asked if it has a 5 RMB delivery charge. I told her that back home, delivery can cost six times as much!). It might be sad to think that this means some people give up their weekends just to deliver our shopping, but at the end of they day, there is a gap in the market for this, and if these people didn't do it, there are plenty of others who would come along who would fill the gap (this is a little like the problem of the builders I described in my skyscraper post).
7) KTV! Or the plush karaoke bars with their glittering decor and touchscreen selectors harbouring thousands of songs in many languages. I will miss how much the Chinese share my love of singing, and how easy it is to impress them, thanks to my many years of singing in choir!
8) Eating dragonfruit for breakfast every morning! Which I picked up from a local fruit shop run by a cute couple who politely put up with my rudimentary Mandarin.
7) KTV! Or the plush karaoke bars with their glittering decor and touchscreen selectors harbouring thousands of songs in many languages. I will miss how much the Chinese share my love of singing, and how easy it is to impress them, thanks to my many years of singing in choir!
8) Eating dragonfruit for breakfast every morning! Which I picked up from a local fruit shop run by a cute couple who politely put up with my rudimentary Mandarin.
Perhaps many of these plus points are due to the fact that I'm living in a big city like Shanghai, and especially one that is particularly friendly to foreigners. Definitely, everything here seems pretty fast paced. In the lab, they always use fast digest enzymes, and run gels at a high speed to get them finished within half an hour and so this generally means that work gets done much faster.Some people may say that Shanghai is not the real China, but I think that is like saying New York is not the real America, or London isn't the real England. Shanghai is every much a product of Chinese culture as the smaller villages and rice fields, and it will definitely always have a place in my heart. Yes, there is the spitting, and as my friend said "people use the street as the dustbin", but right now I want to say "It's okay China, all is forgiven!" I have really loved my time here and I cannot say enough good things about it. But it is a very emotional time now as I write this, as I must go to bed in order to wake up tomorrow for the flight, so this will be my last post from China!
Merry Christmas, and see you all soon x x x
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