dying of MY prejudices and fear -my first time abroad : Shanghai

[Frapunchino]

i went to shanghai and nanjing - here is my appreciation of it in english first then in french.

I must confess my disillusionment after reading all these travelers blogs all these forums and the fact of actually being on the spot

coming from a tiny and poor country, I discovered that I really could not I rely on the advice of other web users [ especially from europe and north america ]

For example , people who shove around and do not queue up , the store employees who do not say hello to you and all that .. I really do not find any hassle in that. here in africa is worse !

or the people who speak very loudly in public , spitting everywhere and smoking everywhere its forbidden , I feel at home ! I loved doing those stuff, we can say that i kinda embraced the street culture of china

in the descendants of the chinese immigrants in my country rather cold , so I was expecting a lot of indifference but it was the opposite, sometimes I was offered help without even asking for it.

i would have thought that with such a high population it was going to be chaos in the streets, but not at all ! there is a strong social cohesion.its even , and I 'm quite ashamed to admit it, much safer than my own country, I went out at night without a problem .

I had strips of my hair dyed blue which I re -dyed black just before leaving , fearing that the Chinese do not like too much, i couldnt have strayed any further from truth !

and there are those who complain that there are too many people on the bus, too many people in the subway ,me personally I love it when there are a lot of people! it makes the city seems so active and lively ! you know my friend why are you going to the beach if there is too much sand?

I went there in July, it was hot , but it is also very hot and humid in my country, so I have nothing to complain about for the weather neither.

ok there are always a lot of people looking at you,but me I do not mind ! i was made fun of and bullied at a school so I 'm used to it. but once there were two boys, the first saw me touch the shoulder of his friend and said "look quickly, here's a laowai " and just for fun I went up there and told them "你们从没看见一个黑色外国人？" they just calmly said no, i gave a smile and continued walking

about the scams, i was very afraid since [again] so many people on the web talked and warned about it. it almost fell as a "dream come true" when one nite while i was an ALONE FOREIGN MALE walking on nanjing donglu,when two pretty girls came to me and said hello !! but just before they came up to me, i saw one making signs to the other one with her eyes [ liek a non-discreet eyes wide open gaze] for her to look at me ! lol what's even more funny is that later as i was walking up and down that street, i saw a tall black man going away with them with a broad smile on his face

and the guys selling " lady massage" i always couldnt help but feeling amused.1 was so cute and pronouncing "massage" the french way [ where the word actually originates] that i was on the verge of asking him if only the girls gave massages

for any other annoying stuff i was just telling the person in chinese to stop bothering me,im waiting for my friend here, im not a tourist, ive been living here for years!!!

true, even if my accent is not very good if i speak fast, they do believe it, maybe its b/c they think their language is so difficult

but i did get scammed, the taxi to the train station in nanjing scammed me. but at the same time i was to her mercy ! i had 4 big pieces of luggage.

china is such a mesmerizing marvellous country which fits a lot the kind of person i am , but sure I do not guarantee it 'll be as fun for someone who does not speak Chinese or who does not eat pork , beef etc ...

donc je voulais par ce texte vous relater un peu ce que j'ai retenu de mon voyage en chine, a Shanghai et a Nanjing. tout d'abord, j'ai absolument adoré ce pays, certains diront que c'est parce que c'etait mon premier voyage, d'autre diront qu'on s'amuse toujours en vacances - il y a avait de cela aussi dedans.

je dois avouer mon désillusionnement apres avoir lu tous ces blogs de voyageurs, tous ces forums et etre actuellement la-bas.

venant d'un pays miniscule et pauvre, j'ai decouvert que je ne pouvais vraiment pas me fier aux avis des autres internautes [ particulierement d'europe et d'amerique du nord]

par exemple, les gens qui poussent et qui ne font pas la queue, les employés de magasin qui ne te disent pas bonjour..tout ça je ne trouve vraiment pas ce qu'il y a d'embetant . ici en afrique c'est pire !

la ou les gens qui parlent très fort en publique, qui crachent partout et qui fument partout, moi je me sens chez moi ! j'adorais faire ces trucs.

dans mon pays les chinois d'outre-mer sont plutot froids, donc je m'attendais a beaucoup d'indifference mais c'etait le contraire, parfois on me proposait de l'aide sans que j'en demande !

j'aurais cru qu'avec une population aussi élevé ça aller etre le chaos dans la rue, mais non ! il y a une très grande cohesion sociale.c'est meme, et j'ai un peu honte de l'avouer, beaucoup plus sure que mon propre pays, je sortait la nuit sans probleme.

j'avais des meches de cheveux bleus que j'ai re-teignent en noir juste avant de partir,craignant que les chinois n'apprecient pas trop, qu'est-ce-que je me trompais !

il y en a qui se plaignent trop de gens dans le bus, trop de gens dans le metro,moi j'aime quand il y a beaucoup de monde ! mon ami pourquoi vas-tu a la plage si tu vas trouver qu'il y a trop de sable ?

j'y suis allé en Juillet, il faisait très chaud, mais il fait toujours tres chaud dans mon pays, donc j'ai pas de quoi me plaindre pour le temps non plus.

avoir beaucoup de monde qui te regarde, ça me dérange pas ! on se moquait beaucoup de moi a l'ecole donc j'ai l'habitude.mais une fois il y avait 2 garçons, le premier en me voyant touche l'epaule de son ami et lui dit "regarde vite ! " et la juste pour rigoler je viens leur dire :

un pays merveilleux la chine , biensur je ne garantis pas que ça vas etre aussi plaisant pour quelqu'un qui ne parle pas chinois ou qui ne mange pas du porc, boeuf etc...

[Ruben von Zwack]

Hello Frapuncino, I was wondering how you fared! I remember you said you wanted to go on a shopping trip for clothes. Did that work out for you?

Haha, you mean, you like to shout and spit on the street, too? (or maybe that is just google translate)

I also remember you initially wanted to go to Shanghai to take a HSK test. Just asking out of curiosity, about how good is your Chinese?

Did you have troubles with the food? (reading menus or finding dishes that you liked)?

[Frapunchino]

heeey ruben, yes !!! clothing and accessories and shoes- i had to luck of being there during the summer sales. i caused parts of my legs and feet to swell but im proud to say that i did ALL the shopping areas and malls and underground markets that my eyes saw. yes whether it was when i was looking for cheap t-shirts for gifts, a top quality long-lasting bag,eccentric,flashy clothes, china has it all !!! i was lucky i had lots of chinese friends, i just had to choose and pay, they did all the hard bargaining...unfortunately speaking chinese does not mean that you can bargain like a chinese

yes, i knew some french girls in my hostel who found that disgusting but yes i was spitting and shouting and smoking everywhere, those are socially accepted in my country but to a lesser extent that there- so i splurge into the opportunity

yeah but my country now offers HSK, so i did not do it there. of coursing after 3weeks there my chinese is a lot better. now when i listen to slow-chinese podcasts im like "hey why is he saying a word after another with so much time in between !" lol.

but coming back here my chinese is actually getting better. i work as a spanish tour guide, china is of course becoming a huge touristtic market for us ! i even saw a huge poster in shanghai with an ad for my country. so my company is employing lots of chinese settled here and now i train them to become tour guides, so i use my chinese everyday and in very specific registers and lexical fields.

no the food , no problem at all !!! well for the dishes i could not read the name, i went down and ate it, trying my upmost enjoying the flavour, leaving back home the prejudices my traditional culture has about food

[Ruben von Zwack]

so i splurge into the opportunity

LOL!

I'm glad you liked your trip and I really enjoyed reading your little article. I will soon go to China for the first time, too, and it seems like you had a fantastic time, that makes me look forward to my own trip even more!

Your job also sounds interesting and cool.

[Lu]

Good to hear that you enjoyed China! I agree it's a great country, some aspects can be frustrating, but of course less so if those aspects are the same in one's own country. Which is your country, by the way? I agree that China is very safe, I'm from Holland and I feel safer in China than at home.

[Frapunchino]

im from Mauritius island. im glad my time there can serve you as advice.

Lu ,you live where in china ?

[Lu]

I was living in Beijing, I'm back in Holland now.