It is time for part 2 of my "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"
series, and this post will focus on Beijing. At the end of 7th grade, I
moved from Shanghai to Beijing. As I talked about in my previous post, I learnt
Chinese in Shanghai and was introduced to the Chinese culture. My first year in
Beijing I actually did not do Chinese. This was because my school offered the
option of doing Dutch as a language in school, and so I did that instead of
Chinese. After a year though, we realized that this was not the best thing for
me, and I went back to doing Chinese. I think the main difference between
Shanghai and Beijing for me was my maturity. What I mean by this is that in
Shanghai, I explored the city and the culture through my parents. They would
take trips to places, and I would follow. In Beijing, I was at the age where I
was allowed to do things on my own with my friends, and it allowed me to see
the culture in a different light.
I had a great group of friends in Beijing, and two of them had lived in Beijing for most of their lives. This meant that they knew the city well, and so they took me to places I would not have gone to alone. Our favourite outing was going to a local mall, getting bubble tea, and singing out hearts out at the karaoke bar. It might sound silly, but doing the same things that local teenagers were doing made me feel like I was more than just an expat; I felt like I belonged there. Yes, I still stood out with my blond hair, blue eyes, and height, but I did not feel like I was the odd one out anymore.
I think a major aspect that played a part in me feeling so at home in Beijing was understanding the culture. In Shanghai we went to visit lots of places, emerged ourselves in the culture, but I think that due to my age, I never really fully understood. In Beijing, I started to understand the culture on a different level. The cultural norms, practices, and expectations intrigued me, and I found it vital to uphold them. I thank this largely to one of my friends, who was Chinese and had lived in Beijing most of her life. I spent a lot of time with her, and through her, I came to understand the Chinese culture. In particular, Chinese families. I understood that in China, elders are very important and demand respect. Parents are usually tough on their children on an academic front, and they do not show their emotions for each other in the same way that I was used to. I understood that it was different, not better or worse then what I was used to, just different.
To sum up, I became part of the culture in Beijing through truly
understanding the culture. This was because of my maturity level, and because
of a great group of friends. I had the best time living in Beijing, and to this
day, I still think it was my favourite place to live. That is because I felt
truly at home in Beijing; I did not feel like an outsider.
I had a great group of friends in Beijing, and two of them had lived in Beijing for most of their lives. This meant that they knew the city well, and so they took me to places I would not have gone to alone. Our favourite outing was going to a local mall, getting bubble tea, and singing out hearts out at the karaoke bar. It might sound silly, but doing the same things that local teenagers were doing made me feel like I was more than just an expat; I felt like I belonged there. Yes, I still stood out with my blond hair, blue eyes, and height, but I did not feel like I was the odd one out anymore.
I think a major aspect that played a part in me feeling so at home in Beijing was understanding the culture. In Shanghai we went to visit lots of places, emerged ourselves in the culture, but I think that due to my age, I never really fully understood. In Beijing, I started to understand the culture on a different level. The cultural norms, practices, and expectations intrigued me, and I found it vital to uphold them. I thank this largely to one of my friends, who was Chinese and had lived in Beijing most of her life. I spent a lot of time with her, and through her, I came to understand the Chinese culture. In particular, Chinese families. I understood that in China, elders are very important and demand respect. Parents are usually tough on their children on an academic front, and they do not show their emotions for each other in the same way that I was used to. I understood that it was different, not better or worse then what I was used to, just different.
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