The language roller coaster

Back to school? No thanks!

Yesterday I had a bit of a bad day with everything going wrong… And when there are many bumps on the road you know what it’s like: You start creating yourself invisible bumps. At least is your name starts with a J and ends with ONNA.

So, yesterday I started thinking that on top of everything else that went downhill, my Chinese had gotten all bad, as I now don’t study the language on a regular basis anymore. I speak Chinese with my Chinese co-workers on a daily basis (my closest colleague is Chinese), and I have a lot of meetings and phone calls in Chinese. But from time to time I forget words/vocabulary that I used to know, and that frustrates me. Some days it pops back into my head, but I cannot get around the scary thought of: “think if I just get worse and worse and suddenly forget everything that I worked so hard to learn!” I know it’s a kind of ridiculous thought, but I think you know what I mean.

So, yesterday, in between bad thing 1 and bad thing 2, I decided to bite the bullet and asked my colleague what she thought of my language skills:

-I think everything, your writing, reading and speaking skills, are better today compared to when we first met (about 1 year ago), she said, which made me do 10 joyful jumping jacks at the spot (I sincerely hope she wasn’t just being nice).

I walked off feeling happy, until I received a phone call in Chinese. I was chatting on for a while until the guy I was talking to suddenly changed the topic into something I couldn’t understand. I made a guess, and it was wrong… and as a result… he switched to English.

I felt mortified. Even though the topic was a bit out of my league (environmental science) I couldn’t get over the fact that I couldn’t keep up the conversation in Chinese and that he felt he had to change to English.

…and this is how I go on these days. I’m on a high for a while, just to drop into a low as soon as I hit an unfamiliar language spot. I have tried to find time to study (I took lessons for a while last fall, but had to stop during the end of the Expo as I simply couldn’t find the time), and since then I haven’t really managed to fit it into my schedule. I prioritize health over pretty much everything else, because I know that I don’t feel good if I don’t do my workouts. But now I’m going to start with weekend language lessons instead of weekday lessons, as maybe it will become easier to keep the focus when you haven’t just spent 8 hours in front on the computer in the office.

I’ve been considering getting a language partner, but then I speak so much Chinese during the days that it almost feels unnecessary. Or… maybe not? Maybe I am stuck in the same, daily vocab with my workmates, and a language partner could challenge me in a different way? Then I think that my spoken Chinese is probably much better than my writing/reading skills, so I should probably practice that… which is something I cannot do via a language partner, but something I can do by simply picking up a newspaper on a more regular basis/keeping a diary in Chinese. Sounds easy, right? And trust me, I’ve tried. But for some reasons it’s very hard to motivate myself when there is no teacher pushing me.

It’s funny, with languages, because some days (or not days, it’s more like some weeks, as it goes in phases) I feel that I’m on top of everything: that I get on really well in terms of communicating with Chinese people, and that I have no big problems neither in my professional nor my private life over here. Then suddenly comes that low when my tones goes wrong (and I can hear it as I speak), I cannot find the words, and I find myself staring at the same character, wondering why I suddenly don’t remember it, because some days ago I recognized it.

I wonder if I will ever come to a point where I feel confident and comfortable with Chinese on an every day basis and not worry so much. Probably not.

Not living in "la-la-land"

Only for work circumstances would I agree to wear a hard hat...

Where does all of my time go? It’s almost April and I haven’t even done half of all the “Jonna stuff” I promised to do for myself this spring. Sure, I’ve kicked off a more healthy life (and I’ve stuck to it –I mix long distance treadmill running with spinning, weight training and yoga- it normally becomes 4 sessions/week, sometimes 3, and sometimes 5), but what about the rest? I had some serious writing plans for this spring, oh, and not to mention the fact that I was gonna cook more (ehhh), blog on a more regular basis (ehhh), take more photos (ehhh?!) and try to do more fun/new things on the weekday nights. Hasn’t really happened yet, but maybe I can blame winter and get re-started again now with spring around the corner. It is really heating up. Lovely! I hope spring lasts for more than 2 weeks this time!

One thing I’ve thought about is how people back home look at my life over here. Sometimes it hits me that some people don’t seem to take it seriously. It’s like they don’t get that my every day, boring Mondays are spent here, in Shanghai –and that they can be just as grey and dull as they can be back home. Just to take an example: I get a lot of visitors for work, from Sweden. Every time they come here they want full programs, they want to have dinners, go for drinks and explore the city. When I, on the other hand go to visit someone in Stockholm, my program almost always ends around 6.30pm, when people go home from work. There might be a dinner scheduled for one night out of seven. The other six nights, I get the whole: “Oh, you’ll have to take care of yourself because I have to go home to my family!”

Sure, I don’t have a family over here so that makes it a bit different. No kiddies to go home to. But it’s not like living abroad means that you hit restaurants and bars every single night –it’s not that special when you constantly have the possibility. I also like to get home early a few nights a week in order to do all that cooking/writing/photography that I never get around to do anyway…

Also, it’s funny how these “work visitors” often want to add some time for exploring the city/sightseeing in the program. If I would ask for something like that on a business trip to Stockholm I think people would start laughing. Why should I explore? I travel “home” for work –nothing else (although Stockholm is as far from home as any place in the world for me, truth to be told I’ve spent very little time over there –since I’m from Malmö we always went to Copenhagen rather than Stockholm when we were young). When people come here, however, regardless if it’s for a work trip, there should always be time for “some fun.”

I’ve talked to a lot of friends (that are in similar situations as me –they work for a European company and have to deal with visiting delegations, as well as working against time difference). Another really frustrating things is how people from Europe always feel that they can call you anytime, regardless if it’s 9pm and you might be enjoying a night off.

-Oh, sorry! Well, over here it’s only 2pm… bla bla bla.

I wonder how happy they would be if I called them at 4am, going:

-Oh, sorry, well over here it’s already 10am, and I really need some answers…

Bit of a rant, excuse me, but point to be made: when living and working here –it ain’t no holiday. Also, it is for real, even though it doesn’t feel like that when friends back home are asking me: “when are you coming home to start your real life? Aren’t you going to buy a house, a car, get married and have some kids soon? You’re not that young anymore, Jonna.”

It’s like they are waiting for my “fantasy-and-not-so-real-life-far-away-over-there” to end and me to join the rat race back home. Only thing is… I’ve already joined the rat race over here. And even though I just made a deal of the fact that time flies and I don’t have much spare time on my hands, I think I’ll stick to what I have here. Regardless if people think I’m “on some kind of holiday.” Has anyone experienced similar things? How do you guys deal with people from your home country not taking your life abroad seriously, constantly telling you that you should go "home" (meanwhile you might not be sure where "home" is anymore)? Please, do share.

Moganshan -莫干山

This wknd we did something that was long due: got away from Shanghai and spent the wknd surrounded by beautiful nature and clean air! Yes, some friends and I went to Moganshan!

Moganshan is located some hours outside of Hangzhou, so first we took a train to Hangzhou and then we had ordered a car to pick us up from there, taking us straight to Moganshan. You can apparently take a couple of buses too, but it was Friday night, and after a long week in the office it felt nice to get there without too much hassle.

We stayed in a gorgeous cabin that had everything we needed (including an open fire and an ayi that cooked us delicious meals every day!) for a kick-a** wknd. We spent the day hiking, sitting in the sun, eating some good food, playing yatzi and card games, enjoying good wines and just relaxing. After a spring of visitors and Shanghai-sightseeing, this was just what we needed: a city break with a view. I could recommend it to anyone!

We stayed at the Naked retreat, which was pricy but worth every penny if you ask me (then again, I have never been to Moganshan before so I can’t really compare it to anything else). Regardless of where you stay, though, the nature and the air are the best parts and those come for free. Oh, and guess what, I also had a Sweden-flash-back as you could drink the tap water up there! Yes, you heard me. The tap water was so clean that you could drink it. Heeeeeeaven! Now if that’s not a luxury I don’t know what is (I’m a bit of a camel –I drink litres of water every day).

For what it's worth

My new gym’s really great. They give you towels for free for every workout (not like my old gym where you had to pay 15 rmb to “rent” one). You simply go to the “towel counter,” give them your membership card, and they will give you two towels (one for shower, and one for your workout –which is fantastic when you’re a cardio freak like me!) as well as a towel card, that you then have to give them back in order to get your membership card when you leave.

The other day at the gym after a long workout, my friend lost her towel card. We looked everywhere but couldn’t find it. So she went up to the counter with her used towel and explained, asking if she still could get her membership card back.

The girl behind the towel counter froze.

-You’ve… lost… you card!? But… like… how?

My friend and I exchanged glances.

-Eh… not sure how. Just lost it?! She said with an attempt of a smile.

It was clear that the towel counter girl took this situation quite seriously. She went to make some phone calls and then came back to us.

-You need to pay 10 rmb and then you can get your membership card. If you find the lost towel card you have to come back with it, before we close today, and I will give you your 10 rmb back!

-Eh… right…

-If you find it tomorrow we won’t give you your 10 rmb back.

-OK… no problems.

Later the same day my friend and I were at her couch, “rewarding” ourselves with ice cream after our big workout (that’s the whole point, right?!) when her phone rang:

-Hi, this is Cherry (?) from the gym, we have found your towel card!

-Oh, great.

-So, do you want to come and get your 10 rmb?

My friend and I exchanged glances. It was 8.30pm on a Sunday and we’d managed to heat up her living room to a quite comfortable “lounging around” temperature.

-Naaaah… I don’t think I will come today.

Long silence in the phone before the girl (Cherry?) said that she really had to come today in order to get her 10 rmb, and that the might be able to do an exception and give her the 10 rmb if she’d come the next day instead, but that she couldn’t promise anything.

It took my friend quite a while to explain that she didn’t care too much about coming back in order to pick up 10 rmb and that she thought it was OK if the gym kept those 10 rmb as a fee for her sloppiness. Cherry almost wouldn’t have it, but then finally agreed to hang up.

Afterwards my friend and I sat, mouths wide open, thinking of how pretty fantastic China is. In Sweden you have to pay an equivalent amount of 10-20 rmb in order to use a public bathroom and sometimes the machine eats your coins without giving you access to any loo. In China, people call you about a 10 rmb fee and really try their best to pay you back.

I know what I prefer. Even though we were too lazy to go back.

Paranoid place

Forgive my absence, but I simply could not bring myself to write light-hearted blog posts with everything that’s going on in the world.

Not much has happened. While I’ve been gone the world has shown living proof of being a paranoid place: While salt has sold out in China, iodine tablets have sold out in Sweden. Yeah, you heard me right. On the other side of the world. Far from Japan. People. Buy. Iodine tablets. To protect themselves from the radiation.

I don’t know if I should laugh or cry about it all.

The sold-out-salt in China is another story. There are mixed views on WHY Chinese people all of a sudden are stocking up on this must have, taste enhancing and iodine containing mineral:

* Some say it’s because people are scared that food supplies are going to run out, and then the most important thing to have in the kitchen (as a Chinese family) is apparently salt (funny, I always thought it would be oil!).

* Some say it’s because salt contains iodine (iodine tablets have, just like in Sweden, sold out in China) and people believe it will protect them from radiation. Just the other day I read that one would have to eat three kilos of salt before the iodine would have any kind of effect. Three kilos?! Now, if that won’t kill you I don’t know what will.

* Some say it’s because people are scared that the sea surrounding Japan will soon be filled with radiation, and therefore, newly produced salt will also contain radiation. So better stock up on the radiation free stuff before it’s all gone.

I find it kind of ironic that people are so scared of radiation, both here and back home. Swedes are some of the world’s biggest sun bakers. No one thinks about radiation then?

And then there are Chinese people, being so scared of radiation –meanwhile the general concern towards health issues like pollution, is kind of mixed. I recently read an article about young Chinese girls in Beijing buying their dream cars (cute little things in the colours of pink or red) and being asked by a reporter if they ever think it’s a problem that so many people drive cars in Beijing when the air is already so polluted:

-Naah… well… I need my car. So I don’t really care. Others can stop if they like.

When asked if they could ever buy a second hand car:

-Never. It has to be the newest, latest thing.

But of course. Radiation is scary. I’m scared too. Unfortunately I didn’t react quick enough to get my hands on any iodine tablets. As for salt, I have a habit of not adding it to my food –and ironically, the salt that we have at home is iodine free anyway, so no luck there. I suppose, that when radiation hits us, I will just have to lock myself up inside and tremble of fear. At least all the Swedes on the other side of the world, eating iodine tablets, are safe.

Scams to scare

Now the rumours have come to China too:

“BBC announcement: radiation to hit Shanghai. Local authorities are issuing a warning and telling people to stay inside if it rains of if it’s windy outside.”

Text messages like this spread like a bush fire yesterday, causing not only confusion, but also some honest fear. Because what if it’s true?

Some hours later, however, we established that it was a scam.

It was exactly the same when I lived in London in 2001. I landed in London on the very same time as the plane hit the World Trade Centre, namely on September 11. The world, including London, was in shock. As the city slowly returned to normal, people started telling each other of warnings that they had gotten from “anonymous, Taliban looking men.”

-I went to the hairdresser and the guy who did my hair was from Afghanistan and he told me that I seemed like a nice girl and that I should avoid Piccadilly Circus on October 11!!

Do you think we were scared?!

However, when the third person came with a similar, yet somehow different story, it wasn’t that scary anymore.

As for text message scares/rumours in China –I’m not too worried, although I have to admit that a part of me has some concern. Not so much for what’s going to happen, but because you never know if the real information will get out over here, or if it will be censored, in an attempt to keep a “calm, harmonious society.”

Reluctant to take the blame? Blame others!

On Saturday we went out for dinner with our visiting friends. However, once me and my bf got to the restaurant we realized that our visiting friends had ended up falling asleep instead of getting ready, and although they’d realized their mistake and woken up again –they were running a bit late. No biggy. My bf and I decided to have a drink and enjoy some alone time, seeing that we haven’t had any for the last month or so (like I said –visitor inflation!). Soon, however, we realized that we had been seated next to the smoking corner of the restaurant (that was smoke-free except for that very corner). Since none of us are smokers we asked the waiter if he by any chance had another table available, further away from the smoking corner? He did, and so we moved to the second floor of the restaurant.

-So is this floor smoke free too? I asked the waiter, who replied with an “of course” and a smile.

“Great!” I thought to myself and was just about to have a sip of my drink when I realized that the Chinese man at the table next to ours was lighting up a cigarette.

-Eh… I thought you said this floor was non-smoking? I said to the waiter (not as an accusation, more like.. a bit confused).

-Oh.. yes, it is! Sorry.

And then he went up to the guy that was smoking, pointed at me, and obviously told the man to stop smoking.

By once I felt a bit silly. It was not as if I would have died if this man would have smoked. I was more questioning the waiter, but I didn’t want to make a big deal.

Too late.

Turns out that before we had arrived to the second floor, there had been a large group of Chinese people chain smoking at the table next to the now smoking man, and the smoking man was furious when the waiter told him that this floor was now all of a sudden “smoke free” (which it obviously was not! But that’s what they had told me!). He wasn’t actually angry at me (phew!) but at the waiter, and started screaming and making a big scene. At the same time, the large group of Chinese chain smokers left, giving me looks that could kill. I felt like such an idiot, like such an annoying, idiotic laowai, who obviously had not read into the situation before I opened my mouth.

By the time our friends arrived everything had calmed down, and no one else smoked throughout that dinner, but I definitely learned a lesson: never believe problems here are solved easily, because when it comes to taking the blame of something, people can be quite reluctant (like the waiter who had told me the floor was non-smoking: he told the smoking man that I was the problem, and he told me that it was the smoking man who was doing something wrong). I don’t really like people smoking in restaurant, but then again, I don’t dislike it so much that I would start a fight over it. Next time I’ll definitely keep my mouth shut.