elf-11

18/3/2011

Friday! Usually Friday’s the day where everything seems to slow down, until by midday you were wishing that it’s already Saturday afternoon, so you can sleep your time away. 

However, when you’re here, everyday feels like the same.

Cold。 APPG in the morning.  I’m massively doing nothing but that. It’s a fair deal all right; I’m trading my holiday for free time in class. I’m getting used to it, maybe if I could deposit all my free time in a bank of some sorts, 

I’ll be rich then. How nice.

Went to a teahouse for IS class today. People actually go to teahouses to drink tea. And I thought pulling out the tea set and tea leaves was good enough. No, you have to follow numerous steps and procedures to do that. Then the way I make at home must be the version with 80% off.  Just put the leaves inside and let them cook before pouring the water out. But I certainly learnt a lot about the tea culture here. They prize the flavor and heat of the brew, unlike me, where I’m just drinking cause there’s too much in my house. 

I shall make it a point to drink tea more often. 

On the way back, we met some fellow Singaporean students from SP. This probably shows 2 things, 1) there are many overseas Singaporean students; 2) there are many Singaporeans in Tianjin. I think it’s both.

The reactions to foreigners here is different from other places in china I visited. After you reply that you’re from (insert any other place except china here), usual response I get is a stare and a normal question of getting used to the weather, and then full stop. But the people here are genuinely interested about your life and story.

I believe they adapted to be more receptive towards foreigners. After all, 8 countries once held their strongholds in the same city. With so many foreigners living in their city, the locals have probably have learnt to accept them as an integral part of society, which was unheard of in china during that period of time, having closed its doors to the rest of the world, finding a city which welcomed them was like stumbling water in the desert. Gold. I think I'm starting to get used to life here. Hey, probably that could be one of the reasons too!

There is much to learn about them.