Elephant On A Bicycle

Yesterday Anthony told us an amusing but piercingly accurate comparison of China with an elephant on a bicycle. So long as it pedals fast, it keeps going, but the minute it slows down, it will wobble and fall off... Everyday you are slapped in the face with signs of China's rapid development but I do wonder that when the rushing waters of growth die down and subside, what social problems will be revealed stuck in the mud... There is a huge divide growing between the rich and poor. The rich can afford education so they will only get richer whilst the poor... will be living in shoddy housing, victims of rising prices pushed up by the wealthy. There is also the 4-2-1 problem- namely 4 grandparents supported by 2 parents supported by 1 child.... Not to mention the psyches of several million hot-housed Little Emperors.

As Axel said, China is great fun, if you're not Chinese...

Over the past few days I have noticed something. I no longer crave mash potato. Or pie. Instead I spend my last lesson of the day drooling over the mental image of 拌饭, banfan-rice with vegetables served in a hot pot with a fried egg on top-Korean dish. Or dreaming of 锅巴肉 (deep-fried pork in sweet sauce). What had seemed a ridiculous idea at the beginning of my stay here, that I would "get used to the food" has indeed, to my disbelief and surprise, happened. The very idea of slaving away with an oven when I could just go to a restaurant and happily munch my way through several dishes with rice seems risible. Becka and I have almost mastered the art of the chinese restaurant too. We drink the hot water (the Chinese can't believe we drink cold water in the West), know more or less what we want from the menu and will quite happily bellow FUWUYUAAAAAN to get the waiter's attention. Well almost, we tend to try the hopeful catching of the eye first but I did call fuwuyuan yesterday :P

A common topic of conversation amongst us expats is The Future. I think China infects you with its ambition. We are forever talking about plans. For example Becka and I are thinking of persuading Edinburgh to let us take private classes, rather than University classes, as these are cheaper and it would be in a small group of us and Anthony. We'd learn far more in an intensive class. But we have to see if we can get next semester's fees, which we have already paid, back from Ocean. Anthony met a Russian with perfect Chinese who'd studied at Ocean and at a private school and said that while Ocean was good, the private lessons were better. And Plans for after uni. Before I came here I had never actually considered getting a job that actually had much to do with my Chinese. I always said I'd like a job where I could use it, but wasn't really that fussed. Now I'm tempted to come back when I graduate and work here for 10 years or so. Earn a nice amount of money and then head back to the UK.

Anthony says that his friends back home all ask when he is returning from China, as though "he is on an extended gap year". They wonder when he is coming back to real life. But what is real life? Does life only count as real when you have a mortgage and kids?