What are the people like in China?

That's kind of like asking "what are Americans like?". Everyone is different. But, for the sake of this blog post, I can group most of them into a few stereotyped categories :) Almost everyone is extremely friendly.We basically have encountered 3 groups of people.

Other foreigners: These are the people we've hung out with. There are two other couples on our floor. One couple is from Utah. They teach in the primary school with us, so we share an office as well. They are the lucky ones that get the first graders (first year English students!). They're very friendly. We've gone to dinner and the foot massage place with them, and they've helped us acclimate, helped with setting up bank accounts and cell phones, etc. There's another couple next door to us; he's from LA, she's from South Africa. They are a riot. We went to the pizza place with them; good food, some weak Chinese beers, and lots of laughs. The 6 of us share a "laundry room". This is actually just a vacant apartment. There's a huge round table in there, so we're going to set up some game nights, and make it a "community room". There's also another guy from Lansing, and his roommate from San Francisco. We spent some time with them on wednesday; checking ou their digs, seeing the other side of town, eating BBQ (it was sooo good) and seeing the most beautiful park in Fuyang. It was a good time! We've seen/bumped into a a few other foreigners around as well. There's a kareoke bar, the Music House, that caters to foreigners on the other side of town. I'm sure we'll go at some point and try to meet some more new people!

The Chinese English teachers: We work in the English Teachers Office. This means we each have desks in a big room with about 20 other teachers. The teachers are great; we have one with us in every class that we teach. They help keep the students under control, translate if we really need it, and learn from us (and us from them). Their English is pretty good, but there are still a lot of language barriers to get over. I've gotten into more than one converstation where we just get stuck, because we can't communicate. I think there is also a barrier there because they've gone to school for this, and plan on making these jobs their careers for the rest of their lives. They have to give exams, grade papers, discipline students, etc. We walk in for a year-long "experience", don't have to test, grade, etc, and live grandly doing it. They are all so nice and polite; but sometimes it's hard.

the Other People: These are everyone else. Grandparents at school. A lot of teachers have their parents babysit while they are teaching. This means there are several grandparents milling around with little babies, who toddle around all day. These people can't really speak any English; but I'm on smiling terms with several! The flatbread lady. We buy flatbread quite often on our walk home from the market. We frequent this same lady's cart. We're trying to skip her sometimes, so she doesn't see us half a mile away and start preparing food! She is very happy, smiley, and speaks no English; but you can fix the issue by pointing and gesturing. We get along just fine. There are the people we walk past when we go places. Young people say hello. Older people stare. Some people take pictures. Parents point to us so their kids can see us. There are the people at the supermarket. This cracks me up; everyone is SO interested in what's in our cart. Sometimes we're great; bok choy, carrots, bread, pork, fruit, etc. We don't get so many stares. But stick some coke and ice cream bars in there and you'll get their attention! The store employees on the way out. They stamp your reciept. They are linked into some comm system, so they come out over a loud speaker saying "Ni Hao". Matthew and I both frequently hear them say something in Chinese, but it sounds just like "Princess bunny". Of course, there are more people. But this will get very long if I continue to ramble.

In general, people seem a bit more open and friendly than at home; except in traffic! If you don't watch out, you WILL get run over. It's up to pedestrians to move; not the other way around. That's what horns are for; to warn walkers and bikers that a taxi is plowing through :) (not really...).