The Wanderlust Notebook

I’ve lost count of the number of KFC’s I’ve eaten in the past week. I don’t do fast food at home, but I guess a part of me is clinging on to whatever hints of western culture there is over here. Not to say Chinese food isn’t nice – it’s lovely. It’s just comforting to see something you recognise. I jumped for joy at the sight of a Pizza Hut yesterday!  Also, I have become one of ‘those people’. The ones that go to a country and cannot speak a word of the language. It’s quite comical when a Chinese person comes up to us and just starts talking. We shake our heads, say ‘English’ over and over (or yingyu) but they just keep talking at us. Not in a horrible way but it’s funny all the same. The times I try to say ‘thank you’ (xie xie) I got laughed at. We have had some Mandarin lessons but it’s such a hard language with many different ways to pronounce the words that I’m going to need a lot more time! After learning about how important learning English is to the Chinese, I foolishl...

I landed in China 3 days ago and already I feel like I’ve been here for ages! The culture is so very different and so far, it has been an enjoyable experience. After landing in Beijing and spending a short time there getting to know my fellow interns, I journeyed for 8 hours on a train to Harbin University where I’m about to begin my training. The train ride itself wasn’t too bad – over 40 interns pretty much took over the carriage and we walked around chatting to each other whilst eating massive pots of noodles (there was free hot water available!) Firstly, the food. Oh wow! I mean generally it has been amazing. As there is a large group of us  I thought restaurants catering for us might be problematic. Thankfully ImmerQi (the internship program) have planned everything to the smallest detail. We sit in groups of around 10 and then a wide selection of food is brought in front of us and placed on a ‘lazy susan’ (I don’t know the Chinese term) and everyone can have a bit of wha...