Article
Originally posted on July 29th, 2008
During the (almost) 2 weeks I have been here, I have tasted many different things in China. This has two meanings: I have tasted the different foods here, along with the different culture. The food here is extremely different. From a very basic standpoint, it at first seems that they either put everything in a sauce or broil, braise, fry, etc. the food. If they are using some kind of meat, then it is probably part of ANY part of the animal. The food here is very good though, not like the Chinese fortune cookie food that so many people love at home (I don’t even know if I’ll like American Chinese food when I return to the US). My host family loves to feed me, and they will continue to feed me until I say “Wo chi bao le” (I am full). Meals here are obviously different when compared to US meals; the largest difference must be during breakfast. It was only a couple of days ago when it was 7 am and I had fried sticks with a sweet sauce in front of me, and even a few days earlier than that when I thought that the amount of fried food in front of me would get me sick (the food is good though, believe me). But food is only the tip of the iceberg when talking about China. The culture here, like in any other foreign place, acts like an iceberg: the 10% you see above the water is what seems so obvious to you: the different food, music, buildings, symbols, etc etc. The rest of the 90% of the iceberg, which is underwater, that you don’t see, however, I am still trying to learn about: the morals, values, traditions, meanings of the symbols that we see, definition of right and wrong, etc etc. It will feel like such a pity when I must return to the US when I am just starting to uncover some of the 90% of the iceberg. For now, however, all I can say is that the Chinese are extremely friendly (a few days ago, I met this German man who I talked to for a while, and my host family bought his dinner, just to give a little example) and that their values are different than our own. How and why they are different is still something I must figure out. For now, however, I will try to adapt to my host families different ways and try to understand them from the non-”I am American and better than you” perspective.