“Which do you like a chicken toes or roasted caterpillars?” asked the local teacher when we had our first welcoming dinner. “Or do you prefer some duck blood for appetizer,” she continued, “very delicious!”. What a hell? It can’t be anything than a bad dream! But that was the reality. I can tell you now that I have been eating all of them, but on a very first week I just rejected. I had just plain rice.
Here in the middle of China are very few foreigners, so my appearance is really a chock for many. And it was a big chock for me, in terms of the culture, food and living in general (no showers, no toilets as we know this etc).
Countryside in China is very different from the big cities in the East. Here you can see and hear how they are killing pigs for making a dinner or meet people on a rice fields, meet oxen on a streets or say hello to a goose family living just across from your door way.
But most importantly the people here are extremely kind. They are treating you as you would be a king (queen), they will take you every now and then to some new and cool places where you would never ever come by yourself. And here in Sichuan, here are a lot places to visit, we just don’t know it. Here starts the Himalaya.
I’m here to teach English for students in rural school in a village called Songhua. That’s a big challenge – both the students and teachers have never been outside of their home province, so I’m kind of ambassador or a window to the world. My goal is truly not to teach them English but to show that there are different kinds of people in the world; you just need to work hard and be interested in about places, cultures far away.
For many – there will be no chance at all to leave their hometowns or if then to some bigger cities next to their homes. But that’s about it. It’s very sad to say but I might be for some the very first and very last foreigner he or she can ever talk or meet. Hopefully most of them can see the world in a broader way as their parents or teachers.
When I’ll leave the land of rice after several months, I’ll take with me a bunch of memories, lots of good emotions, new friends and a life time experience (like eating a duck blood).
Greetings from China,
Martin
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