I NEED advices, travelling for firstime in my life out of my country to the RED CHINA? Please Help!

[abcdefg]

When I make the long flight to China, I always arrive tired and jet lagged. Even though I love China, I go through a couple of grouchy days every time.

 

So maybe you should give yourself some rest and then reassess the situation after that.

[sujeto]

.i.

[eliaso]

Send me a private message and I will take you around. Let's go have some of that dog meat barbeque you've seen on roadside (which btw isn't dog meat and is delicious!), a beer or two and I'll tell you where to get all the electronics and clothes you'd like to get and perhaps explain you how some of the things work here.

[Lu]

Sujeto, glad to see you have arrived safe & sound in Harbin! Perhaps when you rested a bit you can tell how the journey went.

When you're tired & frustrated, perhaps consider not posting for a bit until you've had some sleep. It's better not to piss people off and have to apologise later.

[Remigio_De_Abaragine]

Sujeto, I came from Spain and I can say that this is not so bad, maybe the first days are shocking, more in your case if it is the first time you travel to another place. We can meet this weekend and I will show you places to eat, and maybe to have a drink, send me a private message and we can arrange this, I have spent a week here and I already love this place, maybe in winter my opinion will change, but now I am really enjoing it, the people here are really kind, today I have been talking with a taxi driver about Zhou Enlai (and my chinese is rubish)!! The first days could be hard if you do not know nobody, but belive me, everything will improve really soon, so take ot easy, don t be so offensive, and open mind, you will have a great time here

[sujeto]

.i.

[Lu]

Yeah, I'm trying to control you from halfway across the world. And I'm succeeding too! Look, you didn't FedEx your luggage and now you're going to take time off the forums when you're annoyed! Muhahahahaaa you were only my first experiment in mind control. The world will be mine!!!!

Or, more seriously: I and lots of others here have given you tons of free advice to help you preparing for this trip, and now people are continuing to do so, to the point of someone who doesn't even know you offering to show you around there. And now you start yelling at people here because you're tired. That's rather rude, no?

I hope you get some rest and things look better soon.

[Silent]

 

 I think I didn't handle the situation that well but the victim it's me here

I think the Chinese are the victim, didn't you get a free Chinese scholarship including monthly some money? And what do they get in return, some unthankful brat that's scolding them for being different from what you expected.

[Johnny20270]

sujeto, you need to take a chill pill and grow up a bit The Japanese comment? Seriously? What age are you? 14? that's the way a teenage acts who has been watching too many Rambo movies and starts posing topless in the mirror)  Whats next the Israelis & Arabs? 

 

You will have this experience in many parts of poorer countries like Indian / Egypt etc and scamming / hassling is ripe even in developed places like Rome.  Its part of life. If you don't like what you see in the world or China, get on a plane and go home. Its that simple

[OneEye]

I remember when my wife and I first moved to Taipei, she threatened to get on the plane and go home, whether I went with her or not (and it's Taipei!). It's called moving to a new country. It's stressful, which causes every negative thing to be amplified and seem much worse than it is. You'll find your way around, learn how things work, learn which places to eat at and which ones to avoid, and learn how not to get scammed (knowledge which unfortunately often comes through experience). Talk to other foreigners who have lived there a while, preferably those who like the place, and keep an open mind. Give it at least a semester (preferably a year) before you make up your mind about whether to stay or not. You can do just about anything for a year.

 

Oh, and my wife cried almost the entire flight when we moved from Taipei. She absolutely fell in love with the place. Give Harbin a chance and maybe you will too.

 

(Oh, and pro tip: saying "Jap" isn't OK either. It seems like an abbreviation, but it's a racial slur.)

[geraldc]

I think it's really going to hit the fan when the lectures start. Technical subject, English medium of instruction, Chinese lecturers, it's going to get interesting. As they always say, remember you are supposed to "read" for a degree.

[liuzhou]

I hated my first couple of months in China and was sure I'd made the worst decision of my life, but I'm still here 18 years later.

 

I had this epiphany one morning walking along a dry, dusty road  in the baking of heat of a Hunan summer, on the way to the market. Suddenly for no reason I thought 

 

"Hey! I like this place!"

[tysond]

Just in case anyone else was thinking about the Fedex method: 

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/2fx6f0/help_package_stuck_in_customs/ 

[Silent]

Well, imho putting a high value on an international package is asking for trouble. First of all it attracts all kinds of taxes and custom duties and if send outside the developed world there's a good chance it attracts corruption too. Also high valued packages are preferred by thieves however usually that's less of an issue then corruption.

[abcdefg]

I had a similar Fedex experience to the one described in @Tysond's link, (even though my package was much less expensive.)

 

Can't help wondering if somehow Fedex has managed to get on China's official sh*t list, sort of like Google did.

[Basil]

The culture shock can be pretty intense on first arrival. 

 

It really gets better if you have an open mind and willing to accept that some things are just different.

 

Do not be upset by scammers, in the early period they will provide you with lots of free Chinese language practice...

[MPhillips]

There are a lot of Venezuelans where I live--probably more than anyplace outside Venezuela--and many have complained to me about the crime rate there. Now where I live isn't exactly a safe place either, but according to UN statistics (I'm going to be brutally honest now, since you certainly don't keep your opinions to yourself) your nation's murder rate is an appalling 53.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, while China's is a tiny fraction of that, at just 1 in 100,000. Sure a cabbie took you for a ride, but that's happened to me here in my own country (the US), you should be happy that now you can go out any time of the day or night with virtually no fear for your personal safety.

[Basil]

AFAIK rates of around 60 per 100,000 are fairly common outside the 'west'. I think it was even higher than that in Shakespearian England.

[MPhillips]

I had no intention of denigrating Venezuela (the city I live in is pretty darned "third world" itself--it's Gini coefficient is the same as Mexico City's & worse than that of either Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro), I think it's wonderful that they've managed to break free of the US's grip--I just think Sujeto ought to put things in perspective.

[Basil]

Sure I completely agree with you, he seems to be in extreme culture shock mode.

 

My post was actually a continuation of a completely unrelated thought I had yesterday when I passed a number of heavily armed police.

 

Giving a state an almost absolute monopoly on violence seems to have created a society that is on the whole much safer most of the time for the vast majority of its citizens. 

 

On the whole, many people are too quick to dismiss how much we benefit from that. Venezualuan levels of violence among citizens were once the norm in the west and China, not the exception; and still are the norm throughout central and south america.

 

On the whole urban China feels like an extremely safe place to be. Difficulties between foreigners and residents are usually relatively benign and avoidable with practice.

 

He'll get over it soon enough, it's either that or go home.