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A visit to a coffee shop we won’t forget.
Sophie, Team Speed.
Today as a treat, we had a reminder of Western society by going to Starbucks. I don’t think any of us were ever so glad to go there. It’s certainly perked us up after having a culture shock as we saw ‘the real China’; the backstreets where people live simple lives with less developed homes and a makeshift stove for warmth. It was a big contrast to the environment we had been involved in these last few days and upset quite a lot of us.
Later on in Starbucks, everyone queued up for their coffee fix. However, I was approached by a Chinese student asking me where I was from in a small nervous voice. I replied in Mandarin (meaning I am British) only to be met with disappointed faces. With the help of our translator, Mae, I found the student wanted to practise her English with me. There were four Chinese students: Charles, Coral, Frances and Justin. They were around twenty years old although they looked a lot younger and were studying English along with another subject at university.
I spoke with them for about two and a half hours with surprising ease. There were no awkward silences because we all wanted to learn about the other’s culture. As my time with them progressed, more people from our school surrounded them.
Everybody was enjoying their time and learning new things. People took photographs, had their name written in Chinese and even helped them with their homework. It was so exciting to see the mix of culture and the communication. We all had to put in efforts to have a conversation with them but that made it more worthwhile.
Many of us swapped MSN addresses and phone numbers to ensure further contact with the students. Maybe we can visit them again in the future or they could visit us in Liverpool- who knows? We invited them to join us at our evening meal the next day so check up on that soon.
I was so excited from meeting new people I thought I would actually explode! It was just the spontaneity of it all and the reason why I came to China. It was for this feeling I spent the money and to be perfectly honest I would pay so much more. It is so special to have that exchange of culture, a time you will always remember. It was one of those days, you can look back on years later and it will still bring a smile to your face.
Sophie, Team Speed.