From noo den to 你好

It’s been 3 weeks now since I said farewell to Yell and began my journey east; saying goodbye to family, friends and the islands I’ve spent the last 18 years growing up on before being met by an entirely different world over 4700 miles away.

China is big. Bigger than you’d imagine and in just about every way. The country has so many different cultures, climates and cuisines that you can find just about every different way of life within its borders. I’m based in Tianjin (天津), a sea port just west of Beijing in the north of China. As of 2015, urban Tianjin has a population density over 300 times that of Shetland, meaning trains and streets can become extremely crowded about rush hour. Tianjin is fairly flat, apart from the neatly spaced tall square buildings, you can see for miles in just about every direction. It’s a far cry from the rolling hills, white beaches and steady horizon back home, but it’s still an amazing view I can’t see myself getting tired of any time soon.

In the summer here, temperatures rise to the high thirties, while dropping to the negative teens come winter, as you might imagine, packing for both was a little tricky.

Despite the cold however, there’s no snow or ice and the air becomes very dry, meaning interestingly you’re likely to use up more water in winter than you would in the summer heat. I say use up as that is something you have to consider. Unlike in Scotland, water from the tap isn’t consumable here and should really only be used for cleaning and washing. Drinking water comes from a bottle, which is easy enough to get ordered to your home address whenever you need it. Learning the language to accomplish this is a little trickier however, given anything you don’t recognise just looks like squiggly lines.

I know just about enough Chinese to survive daily life here though and when you’re talking to Chinese people every day, it’s surprising how much you manage to get to stick. I even have a new Chinese name, 杰克 (Jiékè – note the tones). There’s a lot to get to grips with when learning Chinese, especially pronunciation, as it plays a massive part in the language. For example, even though the letters are the same, the way you say xióngmāo (熊猫) is the difference between panda (correct) and chest hair (not so correct). Suffice to say, it’s a learning curve.

One of my reasons for travelling here was to learn about the local cuisine, which is something I’m really interested in. Restaurants are plentiful and cater for just about every taste and budget so it’s not difficult to find something new to try every day (even if it’s just something different at the canteen). A very common and popular dish here is “hot pot” (火鍋), a sort of DIY dinner where you pick the ingredients you want, add them to the boil and wait until they seem about cooked. It’s pretty rewarding being able to make and eat the food at the same time, and you can see the meat is fresh before it’s cooked. The only difficulty arises when ordering the ingredients as the menu will never have any English on it, I recommend bringing along a Chinese friend as I did for best likelihood of knowing what you’re eating… or at least having some idea. Take it from me, the whitish shrimp paste stuff is fantastic.

Yesterday I received my residents permit, which means I now officially live in China. It’s a weird thought but I feel like I’m adjusting to life here pretty well; thinking in the local currency, yuan (about 1/8 of a pound), crossing the road even though the green man still means oncoming traffic and eating at local restaurants where the easiest thing to do is just point at the menu and hope for the best.

It’s been said that travel makes you modest, in getting to see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. I think a Shetlander can relate to this in a relatively unique way, especially one getting used to life a very long way from home.

Sheldon (the class mascot from Mid Yell) waving goodbye to Shetland on the Northlink:

The view from my bedroom window:

Trying hot pot: