Culture Shock versus Vacation Mode

Since the moment I stepped off of the plane, I was waiting.  I was waiting for this culture shock everyone was talking about.  And for the first couple of weeks in China, I never felt any sort of shock.  I felt a sense of wonder.  I felt a sense of excitement.  But nothing like "Holy shit! I'm not in American anymore" shock.  And so yeah, I was feeling pretty tough.  But it certainly didn't last forever.

You want a turtle?  I can get you a turtle.  By 3 o'clock.

After the first couple of weeks, I started to notice small feelings of isolation creeping around the edges of my daily life.  I certainly had lots of English speakers to hang out with, so it wasn't due to loneliness or lack of stimulating conversation.  If anything, I'm pretty sure that it was due to my utter ineffectiveness.  If there isn't an English menu or pictures, I can't order it.  If the cab driver doesn't understand my directions, I have to call Sarah and have her talk with the driver.  And if it isn't the 8 characters that I know on the sign, then well, I have no clue what store I'm walking into.

But why didn't this bother me at the beginning?  Well, it's mentioned in the title of this post and it's something that I thought about frequently on the long rides to school.  I was in "vacation mode" for the first couple of weeks.  And at that point, I wasn't living in Nanjing, I was merely taking a vacation to Nanjing.  It was only once the notion that "this is my home" settled in, that I truly started to feel a bit of culture shock.  And at this point, it was less of a shock, and just more of a dull ache.

One can only repeat the words "Wo zhongwen shuo de bu hao" (My Chinese is not good.) so many times before starting to get a little sick.  However, as I write this, it's been a bit over three weeks since I arrived, and I feel immensely better.  My Chinese certainly hasn't been improving at the rate that I had fantasized, but it's getting there.  At least I have a few more ways of conveying that I don't understand what they're saying to me.  Variety is the spice of life, even if it's variation in telling someone that they might as well be speaking...err...a language you don't understand.

Is it weird to take a camera into the bathroom to get a picture of a Chinese toilet?

But this is what traveling is all about.  Leaving your comfort zone.  Not being understood.  Staring in awe at the little kid urinating in front of the shoe store on a crowded street while the mother looks around with a bored look upon her face.  Pondering whether you should purchase a little baby turtle in a plastic bowl from a lady on the street.

And even though I love all these things that make our culture different, and despite the fact that I'm falling more and more in love with China every day...this trip as probably had the biggest effect on my feelings toward home.  I actually...I never thought I would say this...I actually miss the United States of America.  It's a really cool place, and it took being away from it to actually realize.  (However, I get the feeling that when I get back, I'll be ready to leave in about a week.)

And after a somewhat serious post, with not nearly enough food pictures, I will attempt to leave you on a good note.  With a picture of this absurdly cute dog we saw chilling outside of the Jiming Temple.  I think it's a chow-mix of sort.

I would make so many cute dog noises while wuushushushushusshuuuing that squishy face