Nathaniel and Sheree back in Australia

Hi everyone,

Happy new year! For those of you that don’t know we had Christmas in Australia and surprised Sheree’s parents at 6:00 on Christmas morning. They were really happy to see us and we had a great time. Sheree really enjoyed shopping for clothes and shoes during the post Christmas sales and seeing all her friends in Australia. I had a lot of fun seeing some of my friends and hanging out with my brothers. It was a really nice trip and I’m glad we’ve been back to Australia. One of the main reasons we went back to Australia was because Sheree was getting really home sick and this trip has cured her of that. We were able to bring back a lot more sentimental things this time and while Brisbane will always be close to our hearts it was nice returning to China and our apartment. Until you leave somewhere you can really miss it. It was nice missing Beijing and then returning to it and having it feel like home.

When I started this mailing-list and blog, I’d originally wanted to post to it everyday but now I’m only posting to it about once a month. I’ve decided to make a few changes and spice things up a bit and see if that makes it easier. The first thing I’ve decided to do is only post once a month which should make it easier for me especially after I get a full time job. The second thing that I’m going to try is to base each months posts on a different topic. January is going to be about food and February is going to be about Chinese New year after that I’d really like you guys to send me emails or leave comments about what you’d like to know. The last thing I’m going to do is try and answer any questions that people ask about China. Hopefully this will make my posts a bit more interesting for me to write and for you to read. Anyway enjoy the rest of this post.

Too much stuff has happened over the last couple of months for me to describe each of them in detail so here they are in bullet points:

• The 107 is our favorite bus. It goes to the fabric market, the dirt market, China World Trade, BICF (Church), Tom’s DVD and the tailor where our down jackets are made.
• People play “Big 2” everywhere over here, in the parks, at the markets, on the street. It’s virtually impossible to go anywhere and not see people playing it.
• Sheree had her first really autumn over here. The leaves all turned red and orange. It was really beautiful.
• Winter was really cold and we both had to get use to wearing thermal underwear.
• Sheree woke me up to run out side when it was snowing. It only snowed lightly once before we returned to Australia but it did snow.
• We both got down jackets tailor made for about $50 each which was really cool. The keep you really warm and don’t weigh that much.
• Sheree has really adapted well to the cold weather. She was fairly worried about it when we arrived but it hasn’t been as bad as she feared it would be.
• Our Ayi took care of our cat while we were in Australia and got it pregnant. We weren’t very impressed.
• We finally bought a humidifier. It looks really cool. There should be a photo in the gallery.
• I was really motivated in Australia and I’ve finally started programing again. You have no idea how good it feels to get out of a slump.
• We went skiing on the 21st of January with some of our friends. It was lots of fun although the beginner slopes were overly crowded.
• My mandarin is slowly improving and other people are commenting on how much I have improved.
• I’ve almost finished mandarin level 2 at Bridge school.
• I moved my website onto a new server and I’m using new software for the mailing list. If you have problem please email me.

It’s been really interesting talking to people about the difference between Australia and China and how the differences effect every aspect of society. The first conversation that I found really interesting was that easter society is based on shame and that western society is based on guilt. If you’ve ever heard about “face” and wondered what it is well it’s basically shame. Either making someone ashamed or being ashamed. The easiest example is when you ask Chinese people if they can do something. They will almost always say yes even when it’s impossible to avoid losing face (being ashamed that they can’t). In Australia you’d generally say no to avoid feeling guilty because you didn’t keep your word. That one difference changes so many things that you take for granted in Australia. Things that are common sense in Australia aren’t common sense over here and visa versa. Once I understood this I was able to look around and understand what was happening and more importantly why it was being done in a way that seemed backwards to me.

The second conversation was about how cheap labor changes the way people think. In Australia if something broke in our house and I wasn’t able to fix it myself we almost always through it out. It generally costs more to fix it and replace it. In China it’s generally the other way round. Sheree was about to get three pairs of shoes fixed for less than $2 including the material. This is really cool but it also has a down side. Since everything is generally cheap to fix the Chinese people don’t have a problem selling broken products. The attitude at the markets is that if you point out that a product is broken then you should get it at a cheaper price and then you’ll get it fixed. Unfortunately this attitude extends to some products that can’t be fixed which is why Chinese products often get a bad rap in Australia. Cheap labor also means that lots of stores can keep on running for ages without making many sales. People are used instead of security cameras. Delivery is generally free unless it’s to far to ride. And the list goes on. There are so many things that happen over here that could never happen in Australia simply because labor is cheap.

It’s been really different coming back to Beijing. Before we came over to China I always though expat’s had it all together and were in control of there lives because every expact I’d meet was like that. Coming to China has shown me that the Chinese people and expat’s over here are just normal people like everyone else. The expat’s are generally more independent but not all of them are. Some of them are in control and other’s are running always from life, just like humans everywhere. Initially I was disappointed but now I’m glad because otherwise they wouldn’t be real people.

Last week I was asked what I like most about being in Beijing and after thinking about it for a while I realized that the thing I like most about Beijing was that I was treated like an adult. Litigation hasn’t consumed society over here like it has in Australia. You can hire chairs to go out on ice and they give you two really sharp metal poles that you use to push yourself along the ice. In Australia they’d be a safety hazard. You can buy food on skewers from street vendors with the sharp end of the stick still pointy. Driving on the roads is really scary. People cross the roads when the lights are green. Cars cross oncoming traffic to turn. Some stuff at the market is crap some of it is great. It sounds really chaotic and it is but that’s the point. Your treated like your an adult and that you are capable of making decisions. It’s nice knowing that I’m responsible for my life instead of someone else. Returning to Australia was nice but it felt at times. It was really weird looking at things in a new light and hearing things that I wouldn’t have heard before. While I was in Australia I heard a number of people complaining about how everyone should doing things one way (their way) and also about poor service even if they were paying rock bottom prices. Basically people seemed to love complaining if things didn’t go their way and in Australia you can get away with that because you generally are treated like a child with your every whim and want catered to. So as weird as it sounds it’s the freedom to do stupid things that I’m enjoying the most in China.

Nathaniel and Sheree Brown.