Though it has already passed half a year since I came back to Korea from Beijing, but I still remember the day I went to Beijing for the first time very clearly. It was not very long ago, which was on February of 2014. This experience is fairly important to me because it totally changed my thoughts about China.
Before I was going to Beijing, my parents were persuading me to go, but I was very reluctant. "I have my friends in Korea, and I love my school life, why should I go to China all of a sudden?" I asked them. They kept telling me things like, "Because you are majoring Chinese; you have to be very fluent in Chinese." Or "We just want you to experience a lot of things in China." I did not want to go, because at that time I was not very good at Chinese then, and did not have any confidence that I could live out there by myself. However, I just managed to persuade myself to go to China; after all, there is a Korean saying that goes, "You can't lose a thing if you listen to what your parents say."
On February 22, 2014, my parents took me to the airport at dawn. I gave them a hug, and I went into the boarding gate. From the time after the plane had landed on Beijing, all the language I hear and see was Chinese. And I suddenly realized that I was in a totally different place from where I used to live for 21 years. I got very nervous 'What if I got lost in China? How can I go back?' But fortunately, I made it to the place where the group promised to meet. Then we took a bus and went to Beijing University, got our own dormitory rooms and unpacked our things, and went out to eat lunch in the school cafeteria.
Of course, the lunch we ate that day was all Chinese! There were some fried noodles, meatballs, dumplings, and several kinds of different Chinese dishes I have never seen before. Also, the flavors were so unfamiliar to me, that I could manage myself to drink a glass of coke and eat some noodles. I was worrying again: 'How can I survive in here if there aren't any foods that I can eat?'
After eating lunch, we went to a mart nearby to buy things we needed such as laundry detergent and some hangers. And there my worries started again, because everything they sold in the market were written in Chinese, and I couldn't understand a thing! And I couldn't ask the clerk because I couldn't understand what they were saying. So I just had to look up everything I needed on the dictionary and distinguish which one is shampoo and which one is conditioner.
On that evening, I finally came back to my dormitory. After all that worries and having spent a busy day, I felt so exhausted that I didn't have any energy to out and eat dinner. I lay down in bed, extremely tired and still hungry, called my mom. She asked me how the first day in China was like. "I don't like here. The air here isn't that good, the food's terrible, and I almost couldn't eat a thing," I complained. "Well, isn't it a good thing? You can lose some weight there." She answered.
And after that first day I quickly got used to the life in Beijing, including food. Actually, I slowly gained weight after the first week in Beijing, because soon I found out that there are a lot of delicious Chinese foods outside school. At first I did not like China, but I think this was a great opportunity to experience lively Chinese cultures. Most importantly, it changed my thoughts about China and its people!
I really enjoyed reading your writing on experiencing a new culture. Your details on the initial difficulties (the food and the language barrier in the market) made it much more interesting and real. I didn't have any difficulty understanding what you wrote. It has a good introduction and makes me want to read on. Also the past tense was the appropriate verb tense to use.
ReplyDeleteKi Yeo eun
Hi, I'm Harim Kim and I enjoyed your writing. I have some similar experience when I lived in other countries and I think your sentences are well-written. The first paragraph was good but I could have been better if you had put some more details. But overall, it was a nice essay!
ReplyDeleteFirst Day I Went to Beijing
ReplyDeleteNarrative Comprehension TUE 1PM
201202815 Lee Chaehyun
Though it has already passed half a year since I came back to Korea from Beijing, I still remember the day I went to Beijing for the first time very clearly. This experience is fairly important to me because it totally changed my thoughts about what China is.
Before I went Beijing, my parents were persuading me to go, but I was very reluctant. “I have my friends in Korea, and I love my school life, why should I go to China all of a sudden?” I asked them. They kept telling me things like, “Because you are majoring Chinese; you have to be very fluent in Chinese.” Or “We just want you to experience a lot of things in China.” I did not want to go, because at that time I was not very good at Chinese then, and did not have any confidence that I could live out there by myself. However, I just managed to persuade myself to go to China; after all, there is a Korean saying that goes, “You can’t lose a thing if you listen to what your parents say.”
On February 22, 2014, my parents took me to the airport at dawn. I gave them a big hug, and I walked into the boarding gate, passed the lines, and finally took the plane. From the time after the plane had landed on Beijing, all the language I hear and see was Chinese. And I suddenly realized that I was in a totally different place from where I used to live for 21 years. I got very nervous ‘What if I got lost in China? How can I go back?’ But fortunately, I made it to the place where our group promised to meet. Then we took a bus and went to Beijing University, got our own dormitory rooms and unpacked our things, and went out to eat lunch in the school cafeteria.
Of course, the lunch we ate that day was all Chinese! There were some fried noodles, meatballs, dumplings, and several kinds of different Chinese dishes I have never seen before. Also, the flavors were so unfamiliar to me, that I could manage myself to drink a glass of coke and eat some noodles. I was worrying again: ‘How can I survive in here if there aren’t any foods that I can eat?’
After eating lunch, we went to a mart nearby to buy things we needed such as laundry detergent and some hangers. And there my worries started again, because everything they sold in the market were written in Chinese, and I couldn’t understand a thing! And I couldn’t ask the salesclerk because I couldn’t understand what they were saying. So I just had to look up everything I needed on the dictionary and distinguish which one is shampoo and which one is the conditioner.
On that evening, I finally came back to my dormitory. After all that worries and having spent a busy day, I felt so exhausted that I didn’t have any energy to go out and eat dinner. I lay down in bed, extremely tired and still hungry, called my mom. She asked me how the first day in China was like. “I don’t like here. The air here isn’t that good, the food’s terrible, and I almost couldn’t eat a thing,” I complained. “Well, isn’t it a good thing? You can lose some weight there.” She answered.
And after that first day I quickly got used to the life in Beijing, including food. Actually, I slowly gained weight after the first week in Beijing, because soon I found out that there are a lot of delicious Chinese foods outside school. Beijing Duck, fried pork, fried rice, these fatty things were my favorites and made me gain a few kilos! At first I did not like China, but now I think it was a great opportunity to experience lively Chinese cultures. Most importantly, it changed my thoughts about China and its people!