The Magic of China

 Since this was my first 'real' job, I had no idea what an annual 'team building' activity was. I assumed it had something to do with being in teams, perhaps a type of sports. The company, EF, decided to host the first team building event I attended in Suzhou, around the time of Halloween, with each 'centre' having its own 'theme'. Since Andy Oliboni was the manager of two centres we decided to have a combined theme of 'the Mario Brothers', though, I really have no idea as to how the theme came to fruition, and all I knew was that it was a Nintendo game involving two, if I may say, Italian-looking men with thick black hair and moustaches, overcoming obstacles to get to a beautiful girl with long blonde hair in a pink dress, with a similar look as Aurora in sleeping beauty. It was decided that there would be only one Princess Peach from each centre, with everyone else dressing as a Mario Brother. I really didn't care who I was, but I was told ...

 I had been working at Hubin Centre near WestLake at Yingtai shopping mall in Hangzhou for the last year, but I had noticed a decrease in the number of classes, that is 'no shows'. It was very close to Wulin centre, in fact, only around a 15 minute walk away. To specify the work schedule, I would have a maximum of around 21 classes each week, that is, between four to six per day, with a weekly meeting at 10am on Saturday. Most classes would be face to face classes, F2F, with a maximum of four people, though normally at Hubin, it was only two or even one attendee, with me taking most of the advanced level classes. Other classes were life clubs, which could have between 20 to 35, with many of the 'food' making classes over-subscribed, where they could use English freely, though it always resorted to Chinese. But they rapidly started declining in attendance and time on the lease on the space in the shopping mall was running out.  The company had already decided not to rene...

 In September 2017, Andy asked me whether I could work at the adult training centre in Ningbo which I was reluctant to do because I barely knew how to get back to Shanghai, let alone Ningbo. It was an opportunity I was reluctant to take, but did so, feeling obligated.  I booked my train tickets, which was around 1 hour from Hangzhou. My initial impression was that it was more industrial, but much less people than Hangzhou. It also seemed to have less Western brands, as in Hangzhou there was a Starbucks in every street corner, while Ningbo didn't have this, with mostly Chinese chains.  Consistently voted as one of the most 'liveable' places in China, it has a much lower population, so it was possible to actually get a seat on the subway and never seemed over-crowded. It also had more British influence, with spellings such as 'centre' and 'theatre', and probably due to the branch from Nottingham University, bringing academics from the UK. Churches was also a c...

 Walking along the lake at night became an integral part of my routine. The atmosphere was different to that during the day, which was usually busy. While at night time, usually after 9pm, it was quiet and peaceful, with the odd couple walking past enjoying the view of the lake with a backdrop of delicately lit mountains. Once a Chinese guy, around mid-20s, called David, once caught up and started talking in very good English, almost in a Native American accent.  He explained that he studied in Canada and lived there for many years and was simply 'travelling' around China as a hobby, but from the South originally, Guangzhou. He invited me to go for a late night snack, but given that it was 11pm, I was suspicious of his intentions, as I was still getting used to Chinese hospitality, that it was 'normal' to simply find a foreigner and go out for a meal with no ulterior motives, as China is generally, completely safe. We're not just intensely watched by police at every...

 China isn't a country associated with the term 'cafe culture', but rather a more Western concept in European countries such as Sweden with Fika and Italy and their coffee culture. When I visited my GP in the UK before coming to China to get medical advice he replied 'why would you go there, they have no milk in their tea', which is partially true, in the case of green tea, which the Chinese are most well-known for within this topic.  Cafe culture was emerging in China with the rising 'openness' of its borders to Western influence. There's a Starbucks on every street corner with one shopping mall often having at least three shops, each selling the exact same products. Though in Hangzhou one that I really liked was known as 'Cash Miel', where I could buy a cappuccino, latte, or vanilla cappuccino and could choose from a range of, mostly Danish pastries. I liked this particular cafe because it was a smaller space than that of Starbucks, cheaper at ...

 Life doesn't exist in the East of China until 10am, with shopping malls and gyms opening on the hour, and closing at the same time at night, 10pm. I was shocked to observe this since it was always thought that Chinese people worked hard long hours. It's normal for shops to open anytime between 9 and 9.30am in the UK, closing between 4 to 5:30pm, though more recently larger supermarkets open between 7am to 11pm if not midnight. The concept of convenience is important in China, with everything being able to be delivered as quickly as possible through the use of an APP. However, Supermarket 'culture' doesn't exist here to the same extent as the West. With it is more common to go to different shops for groceries, meat, fish, and confectionary, to the Western mind, or especially the British expat, this is far from the concept of 'convenience' as supermarkets provide all these products under one roof, and all household related shopping tasks can be done under one...