The year of the Rooster has come to an
end – the new year is the year of the Goat.
I therefore wish my readers a very Happy Chinese New Year, or as they say in Mandarin,
新年快乐
- xīn nián kuài lè!
For me, my new years’ resolutions are
the same as they were for Western New Year, to live life to the full here in
China, to immerse myself in Chinese Culture, to learn as much Mandarin as
possible and to be a good teacher.
The first month and a bit has
been such an enjoyable experience here in China, as has meeting my new work colleagues,
and dare I say it, getting tipsy with them over dinner sometimes, and of
course, experiencing a new culture that is so different from my own.
China has got to be the least Western
country that I have ever been to, and of all
the countries outside of Europe on that list, China, Turkey and
Ethiopia are the only three to have never been colonised by a European power for any appreciable amount of time and this naturally makes China much more different from Europe, than say, Guatemala or the USA.
Naturally, there are a lot of
differences between China and my own country.
The Language barrier certainly is a challenge and there are times when I
have not known what people were trying to say and had to apologise and just be at a loss, and other
times when I feel proud to have been able to understand and communicate successfully
in my mandarin.
Of course, there are many social
conventions which are different, and others which are more the same. Certainly, I have found the people to be often
very friendly, with some initiating conversation with me and even offering me
certain things.
Having stayed in Nanjing since I
arrived in China on the 8th of January, I have now booked a day-trip for
the 19th to the city of Suzhou, located between Nanjing and Shanghai.
Suzhou, often nicknamed as the ‘Venice
of the East’ is well known it’s canals, gardens, temples and pagodas, many of
which date back to the Song dynasty, that which predated the Mongol invasion,
and beyond. How lucky that I happen to
be so close to it.
And talking of lucky, I would also
like to thank my family for posting my new posting my new blog articles online while
I have been in China. 谢谢你们
And for the rest of you,
新年快乐
Happy Chinese New Year.
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