Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Culture Shock Part II: Promotion Commotion

On the surface it appears strange, but the club promotion culture here really shocked a lot of the exchange students here, as well as caused some sleepless mornings. It seems like almost every week that there is a club or organization doing promotion on campus.

What is promotion? Well, I'm still not exactly sure myself about the details, or why it happens, but in most cases it involves gathering the members of a club or organization together to walk around campus shouting club slogans for days to promote said group, or encourage people within the organization to vote for them. This is very odd to me as an American college student, and perhaps some of you readers as well, so I'll try to describe it as best I can.

My first taste of promotion was over a month ago, when I woke to a group of students shouting below, mind you five floors below and on the opposite side of the building. Quite a set of lungs they had. What's going on? It's nine or so in the morning...is it a political rally of some sort? I remembered that there had been an incident involving the police at another university, so I thought that since the shouting was so loud and passionate, it must be because of that.

Turns out that the group members were actually students running for office in my hostel, and that this is a normal activity of all the hostels here. For the next two weeks, every weekday, the students would be shouting hostel slogans for what seems like hours at a time outside the building to 'promote' themselves running for office.

Firstly, I'm used to people running for offices doing their own campaigns, not all cooperating together. After all, how would you know who to vote for if they can't distinguish themselves and their policies? It turns out that there was already only one person running in most positions, and that in the end we either voted for or against the entire group of them. (Perhaps they were all singled out from an earlier vote within the present cabinet...?)

I also wondered what the purpose was of shouting the slogans over and over again until they were hoarse; why don't they tell us what they will do if they are elected instead, maybe make a poster? They would at least save their voices. But, this must be a difference between international college cultures...

The students were so passionate during promotion that they would stand outside early in the morning (around 8 or 9am if I remember correctly), afternoon, and evening to share their passion with us, though I admit that I sometimes wished that they would recognize our passion for sleeping in. However, later on there was a conference for all hostel members to meet with them and discuss issues and recommendations for the hostel, and the entire second week they offered students walking out of the hostel free hot chocolate.

Another thing that struck me as different was the fact that they not only shout the slogans outside the hostels, but they would also shout them as they walked around campus during class hours, which is another thing that I and other exchange students found, um, culturally different, to put it nicely.

I remember a fellow student and I giving a presentation one day in an economy class, and toward the middle of it I could hear my fellow hostel mates coming toward the building shouting. The professor gave us a signal to wait and continue after they passed. OK, won't be long. 


However, the group decided to stand in the open area next to our building and cheered for what seemed like 15 minutes or so, or maybe longer. No matter how long, I got a bit flustered as we had to speak loudly, on the brink of shouting, for some time until they left. I wonder why students are allowed to march and cheer during class hours anyway?

The practice of promotion will probably remain a cultural mystery to me and most of my fellow exchange students.

Culture Shock Part I: Some Like It Hot

Wow, has it been a long time - cleared out the cobwebs, now it's time to write some more!
I received a prompt to write about culture shock and, since I've been here for over two months, I think I have enough material.

Firstly, while I can usually make out about 70% of a menu at a restaurant, there's always some anticipation about what will be on the dinner plate when it arrives to the table. This has happened at the cafeteria on campus as well; this can attributed to the fact that 15% of the time the English translation is not quite accurate, or does not account for cultural difference.

Example: 'Saliva Chicken,' which was a direct translation from the Chinese. My stomach did a little flip when I saw it for the first time. I consulted the student standing in line behind me and pointed to the sign, which he laughed at, and assured me that no saliva was involved, and that it was actually good (which was true).

Also, when something on the menu says that it's spicy, take it as a warning. There's a spicy vermicelli set that is always on the menu, and I frequently saw people ordering it, so I took a chance. "What level spice? 1, 2, or 3?" "Whatever is lowest, PLEASE!"

I like spicy foods in the U.S., but Chinese levels of spicy are a lot hotter than what most Westerners are probably accustomed to. On any given menu in Hong Kong there are several items that have the potential to be the undoing of many an exchange student's stomach, so fiery that they can make you dissolve into an uncontrollable fit of choking, tears, and searing mouth and lip pain in a matter of seconds. They are merciless and should be regarded as menaces to the expat community at large.

Since being here I've had several incidents of taking a bite of food, only to end up in a five minute choking fit, tears cascading down my tomato-red face as those around glance at me then, I'm sure, give each other a knowing glance. Ah, the American tried to eat something spicy. I hope that in the thralls of my painful fits of spiciness I've at least made some people chuckle.

As I struggled to even eat a noodle of the spicy vermicelli that day, my friend from Szechuan (an area of China known for spicy foods) eagerly dug into her level 3 bowl. After 15 minutes my lips were on fire from attempting to eat even a few spoonfuls. "You know," she said as she finished the meat and veggies, then went on to slurp the last bit of her soup, "eating too many spicy foods can be bad for your stomach."

Lessons Learned:
* Take small bites and never be without a drink in case of emergency
* For those new to Chinese, beware of THIS character: 辣 and never take a chili pepper icon next to a menu item for granted
* Take culinary recommendations from students from Szechuan with a grain of salt (or a full glass of water, more preferably milk)