Mid autumn festival
One thing I totally forget to tell you about when I went on a trip with my host family in the begining of October.
The thing is in China, everyone have their holiday at the same time, you don't choose when to have your vaccation. This year, we had 8 days off from the 29th of September until October 1th. My family went on a one week trip to Jiangxi province. We first stayed in a house to some friends of the family for a few days, here I discovered so many culture differences. Here on the country side, people still grow their own food and some people wash their clothes in the river. I was so chocked to see this in the country that is moving so fast and is the "future", and we still have things like this.
The thing is in China, everyone have their holiday at the same time, you don't choose when to have your vaccation. This year, we had 8 days off from the 29th of September until October 1th. My family went on a one week trip to Jiangxi province. We first stayed in a house to some friends of the family for a few days, here I discovered so many culture differences. Here on the country side, people still grow their own food and some people wash their clothes in the river. I was so chocked to see this in the country that is moving so fast and is the "future", and we still have things like this.
Washing clothes
During these days, a festival took place - something called the Mid autumn festival, or moon festival. This festival's date is on the 15th of the 8th lunar moon (the chinese calender that depends on the moon, I can't really explain it cause I don't understand it..). We celebrated with watching the full moon and eating moon cake which is a traditional chinese dish to eat this time a year, for the celebration of the moon. Sometimes it's with meat filling, sometimes it's sweet. We all shared song and poems about the moon, it was really nice. The day after was the national day of the republic of China.
Moon cake and other 点心
Sitting by the fire where they cook food
Small shrimps, so cute
Can you believe that this is a toilet in someones home?
Tea plants
Tea leaves
More tea haha
Then we countinued our trip to climb mountains for 3 days. We started at 明月山 (ming yue shan) and finished at Wu gong shan. It was a 3-days long walk and we camped the first night in a tent - WHICH WAS FREEZING, but the next night we could sleep in a bed in some kind of house. We climbed and walked 70-80 kilometers, up and down for I don't know how many mountain tops. I passed by a lot of people who always said hello to me, and had a lot of people who wanted to take pictures with me - something that often happens to me as a foreigner in China.
Waiting for a car to drive us there
I love this fruit, looks like a huge orange haha
First night
Good morning haha
Starting our hiking
So beautiful
Me and mother
Someone killed this chicken..
Ugh all the insects, they are so huge here....
It was so beautiful, so many mountains!
All those mountains, up and down..
Sunset
Sunrise
So nice and clean after those days....
So when we were back from the mountains we took a shower haha. Not only that but we went to visit some hot springs where you could in water right from the mountain. Some of the water was too hot, I couldn't bare it but it was nice to relax a little after those days.
In the normal city they have these hot springs open for everyone to, so a lot of people go their to have a hot bath for their feet and so on.
The hot spring in the city
Visited the market in the city, they sell like everything their as you can see. It was interesting but terrible to see some things there..
Our family plus friends
During these days, a festival took place - something called the Mid autumn festival, or moon festival. This festival's date is on the 15th of the 8th lunar moon (the chinese calender that depends on the moon, I can't really explain it cause I don't understand it..). We celebrated with watching the full moon and eating moon cake which is a traditional chinese dish to eat this time a year, for the celebration of the moon. Sometimes it's with meat filling, sometimes it's sweet. We all shared song and poems about the moon, it was really nice. The day after was the national day of the republic of China.
Moon cake and other 点心
Mao Zedong, ofc.
Cooking food over a fire, different
Can you believe that this is a toilet in someones home?
Tea plants
Tea leaves
On our way up to the cableway
Me and mother
Ugh all the insects, they are so huge here....
So when we were back from the mountains we took a shower haha. Not only that but we went to visit some hot springs where you could in water right from the mountain. Some of the water was too hot, I couldn't bare it but it was nice to relax a little after those days.
In the normal city they have these hot springs open for everyone to, so a lot of people go their to have a hot bath for their feet and so on.
So cold
Month of december. First month of real winter.
Even if we don't have any snow here (yet?) you can really feel that it's winter here more than anywhere else. Because here, the coldness follows you wherever you go. It is cold everywhere, except for maybe starbucks.
Even if we don't have any snow here (yet?) you can really feel that it's winter here more than anywhere else. Because here, the coldness follows you wherever you go. It is cold everywhere, except for maybe starbucks.
The problem here is that they don't have any heating system that works inside the house and the walls aren't that good isolated either.
Some rooms might have kongtiao/热空调 (like air conditioner which makes hot air) but it's on very few places. My home doesn't have any at all, or does not use it anyway. In school the classrooms it is the same, the school is so tight-fisted and only use it some of the teachers office. And what makes it worst is that in the classrooms they also leave the windows open...
This air condition is too expensive, that's why people not use it. But they should really invest in better build buildings and some better heat system which is not as expensive and much more convinient than AC.
Some rooms might have kongtiao/热空调 (like air conditioner which makes hot air) but it's on very few places. My home doesn't have any at all, or does not use it anyway. In school the classrooms it is the same, the school is so tight-fisted and only use it some of the teachers office. And what makes it worst is that in the classrooms they also leave the windows open...
This air condition is too expensive, that's why people not use it. But they should really invest in better build buildings and some better heat system which is not as expensive and much more convinient than AC.
I now sit in my room, wearing three shirts and two par of trousers and when I breath it comes smoke from my mouth. The winter here is much worse than Sweden, because you can't escape the cold....brr.
Hotpot
This saturday I spend time with my sister and two of her classmates!
Every saturday, they have to go to school and watch a movie and after they have special clubs such as dancing, handwork, speach class, math club etc. I don't go to it but every other student in gao 1 (grade 1) have to go, every saturday. And after that they usually spend the rest of their weekend doing homework - typical chinese student's life.
However, this saturday I could actually spend time with my two chinese friends and my little sister. We first went to eat hotpot which is a special chinese dish were you have a big pot in the middle, often one part that is very hot and the other part not as hot. It's boiling water with some oil in it and you put different kinds of food in it and wait til it's cooked. Meat, vegetables, fish, mushrooms - it is delicous!
After that we watch a movie at my friends house - but she went away right during the movie to do homework, chinese students and their studies, crazy...,
However, this saturday I could actually spend time with my two chinese friends and my little sister. We first went to eat hotpot which is a special chinese dish were you have a big pot in the middle, often one part that is very hot and the other part not as hot. It's boiling water with some oil in it and you put different kinds of food in it and wait til it's cooked. Meat, vegetables, fish, mushrooms - it is delicous!
After that we watch a movie at my friends house - but she went away right during the movie to do homework, chinese students and their studies, crazy...,
Relatives
Often in the weekends, we visit my father or mothers siblings' homes or other relatives. Here in China, even how small one's house can be, they always find room for hosting someone.
Last weekend we visited my father's bigbrother. We all had lunch round their small table and on the coach, or low chairs. We ate crab and the rests of the crab you just put on the table, you always do that with fishbones too and meatbones - the table manners here are something else, often not in the better way.
Me and my sister
Last weekend we visited my father's bigbrother. We all had lunch round their small table and on the coach, or low chairs. We ate crab and the rests of the crab you just put on the table, you always do that with fishbones too and meatbones - the table manners here are something else, often not in the better way.
Me and my sister
Exercise (锻炼身体)c
Here in China a lot of people often go out and do exercise in groups or just stand on the street doing their own exercise - like this old woman I once saw. She did in with a sword - she was so cute I had to make a video of her!
Konstiga grejer
De flesta undrar om jag har ätit några konstiga grejer och maträtter här borta och det gör jag väl.
Som jag nämnt innan har det varit svan, kycklinghjärta, kycklingfötter etc. Nu är det även grishjärta och förlåt mig för detta vissa personer, men hund har jag också provat. Och det är precis vad det här året handlar om att prova nya saker, bli en del av kulturen. Handlar ju absolut inte bara om mat, menar i princip allting!
Hund...
Grishjärta
Som jag nämnt innan har det varit svan, kycklinghjärta, kycklingfötter etc. Nu är det även grishjärta och förlåt mig för detta vissa personer, men hund har jag också provat. Och det är precis vad det här året handlar om att prova nya saker, bli en del av kulturen. Handlar ju absolut inte bara om mat, menar i princip allting!
Hund...
Grishjärta
星期天
Today I went out for lunch with my family. They said we were going out to eat steak, or "牛排" which is the chinese word. We went to a restaurant that was Italian and I though it was kind funny how the food looked, an "Italian" steak. It was a steak, but it's cooked on a very different way than I am used to, served with an egg (?!), very little pasta with ketchup on it, and the little amount of vegetables as you can see on the picture. It looked like something I would have done at home, not what you are used to see at a "restaurant". But it tasted good and I am happy that me and my family go out to do stuff together, it is so much fun!
After that I met up my exchange student friend, Cordelia, and we went to Starbucks for taking a coffee and chatting (here I really want to use the swedish word "fika"!). We sat for a couple of hours since we almost only have time to meet one a week, IF.
When I came home we had some guests over, the same family we went climbing with - which I haven't told you about. Now the time is almost 10 PM here and it's time to go to bed - tomorrow waits another long schoolday which I am looking forward too. 晚安!
Mama and baba
"Italian" food haha
After that I met up my exchange student friend, Cordelia, and we went to Starbucks for taking a coffee and chatting (here I really want to use the swedish word "fika"!). We sat for a couple of hours since we almost only have time to meet one a week, IF.
When I came home we had some guests over, the same family we went climbing with - which I haven't told you about. Now the time is almost 10 PM here and it's time to go to bed - tomorrow waits another long schoolday which I am looking forward too. 晚安!
Mama and baba
"Italian" food haha
My sister and I at the restaurant
Starbucks! And subway cookies, always the best.
This drink was so weird - it was made out of corn!
Starbucks! And subway cookies, always the best.
This drink was so weird - it was made out of corn!
外公 和 外婆
So yesterday I met my host mothers parents for the first time, my grandmother and grandfather! We had lunch their which was nice. We ate duck (which I love), dumpling and something extremly strange - SWAN. I didn't know you could eat swan - it tasted kind of normal. But still, another culture difference haha!
The swan, served with feet and everything.
Teacher
I have done a lot of dangerous things here in China, like making videos during classes to show you all these different things I face here. This is one of the things:
Here in China the teacher has a lot of respect. The teacher always beging the lesson after the bell rings with saying "Lesson starts" and one student in the class screams out "STAND UP" and everyone stands up. Then the teachers says "nimen hao" which means "hello to you" and we answer "Laoshi hao" which means "hello teacher" and the teacher tells us to sit down.
In the lessons the teacher stands and talk the whole time, and throws out questions to the different students who has to stand up when they are asked and they can't sit down until the teacher says they are allowed to. And you also stands up when the lesson is finished, but some teachers are more chill with that then others - but in the begining of the lessons, you always have to stand up and bow.
Everytime you meet them in the corridor you say "Laoshi hao" when I in Sweden would greet the teacher as anyone else and just say hello. But here the title teacher is something very good and important not to miss out on.
This is how it looks when the class starts:
Here in China the teacher has a lot of respect. The teacher always beging the lesson after the bell rings with saying "Lesson starts" and one student in the class screams out "STAND UP" and everyone stands up. Then the teachers says "nimen hao" which means "hello to you" and we answer "Laoshi hao" which means "hello teacher" and the teacher tells us to sit down.
In the lessons the teacher stands and talk the whole time, and throws out questions to the different students who has to stand up when they are asked and they can't sit down until the teacher says they are allowed to. And you also stands up when the lesson is finished, but some teachers are more chill with that then others - but in the begining of the lessons, you always have to stand up and bow.
Everytime you meet them in the corridor you say "Laoshi hao" when I in Sweden would greet the teacher as anyone else and just say hello. But here the title teacher is something very good and important not to miss out on.
This is how it looks when the class starts:
Dumplings
Today I went to my grandmothers house for lunch and we made our own dumplings! It was so delicious and they taughed me how to make them, mine wasn't so pretty but I had so much fun - my family is great and I am extremly happy here!
Tomorrow it is school again after having one week break since it has been the mid autumn festival which I will write more about! It has been a great week and I had a lot of fun travelling with my family but I am also looking forward to meeting everyone in school tomorrow. Everything . Is. Great.
Some delicious fruit, I never remember the name...
Me and grandmother, 奶奶, showing me how to do it
Me and my aunt, 姑姑
Tomorrow it is school again after having one week break since it has been the mid autumn festival which I will write more about! It has been a great week and I had a lot of fun travelling with my family but I am also looking forward to meeting everyone in school tomorrow. Everything . Is. Great.
Some delicious fruit, I never remember the name...
Me and grandmother, 奶奶, showing me how to do it
Me and my aunt, 姑姑
My sister making dumplings
Chinese food
Food, food, food. Chinese food. It’s different.
I’ll take the rice story first.
Yes, it’s true. Chinese people eat a lot of rice, at least in my family.
Since I’ve arrived here I’ve eaten rice 3 times a day, if not more. There are different kinds of rice: Normal rice, rice in water, rice in thicker water, rice in brown water, rice mixed vid vegetables, rice soup etc. I don’t know why the rice is in brown water sometimes and I don’t think I want to know actually…Anyway I didn’t like the wet rice in the beginning but now I like to have it at least once a day, for dinner I like normal rice better.
You eat different things to and not just only rice. Many people think Chinese people eat very weird food like dog and snakes, and so it may be, but it’s not usual here where I live. But, I’ve eaten a lot of other bizarre things. Chicken heart, cow stomach, duck blood and chicken feet, a whole fish with head and everything. Cow stomach wasn’t so bad and duck blood was actually really good.
Chicken feet, it's just so so (马马虎虎 - chinese expression haha)
Chicken feet, it's just so so (马马虎虎 - chinese expression haha)
Morning rutin
Every morning, all Chinese schools have their morning exercises.
It’s different from school to school, but everyone has it and similar to each other:
Our school are divided by which class you in and you have to run in together in a nice looking way, otherwise you have to do it all over again – once a class had to do it three times.
Then the teacher will tell you some things to do, like take a rest – STAND STRAIGHT. Look forward. And after the teacher is satisfied we will do two dances. One student is on the stage doing the dances and all the other student stands in front, no need to look at the student on the stage since they had a special training day before school start to learn the dances – me on the other hand, stand there and trying to go with the flow.
Miltary Camp
DAILY RUTIN
5.30 - Get up and put on the military clothes that really smelled bad and where 5 sizes too big.
6.00 - The teacher blew the wistle and we all had to run down and stand in our lines, 2 for the girls and 2 for the boys. Now we had some morning training, maybe running or just the military training which was to walk from one place to another over and over again, left right left - left right left.
7.15 - Breakfast. And then clean the room if very clean, otherwise you would be punished.
8.00 - Once again someone blows the whistle and now the exercise before lunch lasted for 3 & a half hour.
11.30 - Lunch. And a break to sleep on and the military teachers would come to our room to see how tidy our room was.
2.30 PM - Afternoon exercise.
6.00 PM: Dinner
6.45 PM - Night lessons. Now you sit for the following hour on a small chair without a support for the back and still have to sit straight. If it's hard for the chinese student, imagine me who sits there almost falling asleep since I can't understand what the teachers we're saying.
8.OO PM - Take a shower, get ready for bed, practice a performance for the last day.
9.30 - The teachers blow a whistle and if they see a light in one room, they will turn the power off.
That's what my days looked like for the six days I spent at the military camp. The training was really boring and you got really tired - not because it was exhausting physicaly, it was just so boring that it felt like you were dying. We practice the same walking over and over again, all these hours every day. We turned right , turned left, walked a few metres. Stopped. Screamed out number. Went down on our knees. Stand up. Turn right. Over and over again. A lot of people passed out by the heat, at least one person a day. It was kind of terrible but they were soon back on their feet again - Chinese people are really good to get back on their feet quickly, in their education system they have no time to be sick if they don't wanna get stuck with a lot of homework.
The meals we're terrible. The food and the way of eating, both were just not good. You had to wait for the teacher who told everyone what to do, you weren't even aloud to fix your chair if he didn't told you too. We were over six hundred student in one room who had to sit at the exact same time and keep quite if we wanted to eat. On the last day we had to stand and sit 15 times before we were alowed to speak - the military teachers were so extremly strict.
On the last day we had a party and everyone performed - it was such a great finishing of a fantastic week! And yes, from what I've told you this week must seem terrible - but no. It was one of the most weirdest things I've ever experiences and I had so much fun. I got to know so many people and got really close to my classmates which I am so thankful for, they are such great friends and we had tons of fun at the camp!
AND, the military teachers we're so handsome!
Byebye!
I know my update has been very bad but it's really hard for me to have time to blog when I don't have internet at home!
But know I won't be able to write anything for 1 week or more since tomorrow I will go to a military camp with my school ! I'm super nervous since I think it's going to be really hard but very excited to see this camp that every chinese students in grade one have to take part in !
See you next week!
But know I won't be able to write anything for 1 week or more since tomorrow I will go to a military camp with my school ! I'm super nervous since I think it's going to be really hard but very excited to see this camp that every chinese students in grade one have to take part in !
See you next week!
Cheap China
The greatest part of being here is how cheap everything is! 1 yuan = 1,2 sek.
If you wanna take a bus, it costs 1 yuan. A taxi for 10 minutes, 10 yuan.
0,5 litres of coke is 2,80 yuan. Ice tea is 2,50 yuan.
In Sweden I wouldn’t care about 1 sek. Here it can give you a ride home.
Since it’s so cheap, it’s really much fun being here! You can do all kinds of stuff with different people like going to the cinema, ice-skating or grab something to eat. And it doesn’t cost a thing.
In Sweden that would have cost almost 100 yuan.
I buy water every day, since you can’t drink the tap water here and at home I only get hot water…one bottle of water costs 1,5 yuan.
You can buy facemasks here , 5 for 10 yuan.
I haven’t gone to cut my hair yet or taking a massage but cutting your hair doesn’t cost more than 50 yuan and a massage is under 100 yuan.
So to say the lifestyle here is really easy and fun!
Cheap China
The greatest part of being here is how cheap everything is! 1 yuan = 1,2 sek.
If you wanna take a bus, it costs 1 yuan. A taxi for 10 minutes, 10 yuan.
0,5 litres of coke is 2,80 yuan. Ice tea is 2,50 yuan.
In Sweden I wouldn’t care about 1 sek. Here it can give you a ride home.
Since it’s so cheap, it’s really much fun being here! You can do all kinds of stuff with different people like going to the cinema, ice-skating or grab something to eat. And it doesn’t cost a thing.
In Sweden that would have cost almost 100 yuan.
I buy water every day, since you can’t drink the tap water here and at home I only get hot water…one bottle of water costs 1,5 yuan.
You can buy facemasks here , 5 for 10 yuan.
I haven’t gone to cut my hair yet or taking a massage but cutting your hair doesn’t cost more than 50 yuan.
So to say the lifestyle here is really easy and fun!
Valentines day
In China you count the days in a different way. You have a moon calendar and according to that calendar is it the 17th of July now.
Last week was “the seventh evening of the seventh moon” here in China and every
year on that day you celebrate “Qi Xi”. On this day, a story says that two
lovers who are separated from each other by the milky way are able to meet each
other – only this time once a year. That’s why this is like Chinese Valentines
Day!
My sister and I
Last week was “the seventh evening of the seventh moon” here in China and every
year on that day you celebrate “Qi Xi”. On this day, a story says that two
lovers who are separated from each other by the milky way are able to meet each
other – only this time once a year. That’s why this is like Chinese Valentines
Day!
My sister and I
At 星巴克
I'm here again at 星巴克 (means Starbucks in Chinese).
I don't have internet in my hostfamily's home so it's really hard for me to blog right now.
But today I will write a lot, but there's so much to tell you about! About how different everything is here, even the most normal things as going to the bathroom here is so different - i would say especially going to the bathroom. First of all, some toilets are just a hole in the ground, like every public bathroom is just holes. AND, you have to bring your own toilet paper since they most often don't have it at public toilets. BUT observe, do not flush down the paper in the toilet, put it in the bin beside the toilet, whatever business you've done.
Maybe that's why the toilets here are rather smelly and sometimes very gros, some people also leave the door open at the public bathrooms.
There's much to tell then just about the bathrooms, stay tuned!
A fresh public toilet
I don't have internet in my hostfamily's home so it's really hard for me to blog right now.
But today I will write a lot, but there's so much to tell you about! About how different everything is here, even the most normal things as going to the bathroom here is so different - i would say especially going to the bathroom. First of all, some toilets are just a hole in the ground, like every public bathroom is just holes. AND, you have to bring your own toilet paper since they most often don't have it at public toilets. BUT observe, do not flush down the paper in the toilet, put it in the bin beside the toilet, whatever business you've done.
Maybe that's why the toilets here are rather smelly and sometimes very gros, some people also leave the door open at the public bathrooms.
There's much to tell then just about the bathrooms, stay tuned!
A fresh public toilet
