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One of Us: Lin Yingxian from China.
July 3, 2020
China – a land that is located so far away with such a diverse culture, but there is a force and curiosity that drives its people to broaden their horizons and gain international experience. It’s time for the story of our Chinese teacher Lin Yingxian from China – a strong person with a bright mind and a positive outlook on life. Lin Yingxian has already returned to China, but in the following article you will find her perspective on gaining work experience abroad and an interesting list of cultural differences between Europe and Asia.
Hello,
I am Lin Yingxian, the Chinese language teacher at Ventspils University of Applied Sciences.
I feel happy and it is very interesting here. I was staying here to teach Chinese language and Chinese culture.
It’s my second year in Latvia. The first year I stayed in Krāslava to teach Chinese. I like Latvia, it’s a very different country from China. I think Latvia is a lovely and beautiful country, therefore I chose to stay here for the second year.
In my spare time, I usually read books or go for a walk by the sea, sometimes I travel.
As for the achievable targets, I think my experience here will enrich my life and enhance my professional skills. My major is teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages and teaching abroad is a great way to improve myself.
The cultural differences between China and Latvia – I will introduce it from 4 parts (the four essential requirements of the people): food, clothing, housing and transportation.
I think Latvians love potatoes a lot. In China, potatoes are the ingredients for some dishes, like Kung Pao Chicken, Dry pot potatoes, Curry potatoes. We eat them with rice. Chinese people like hot food instead of cold food. We like fried vegetables instead of fresh salads. And we do not eat cheese very often.
The differences of clothing are because of weather. In my city (Guangzhou), the coldest temperature is 10 degrees, therefore we don’t need the long jackets, but when I came here, I had to wear the warmest coat I had. And I found out that some people here can wear only a pair of jeans all winter, which is enough to withstand the cold winter of minus 10 degrees.
Most of the houses here are two to three floors, and some apartment buildings will have six or seven floors. In China, there are many skyscrapers. For example, in Guangzhou, there are more than 7,000 buildings over 18 floors. I think that is because of the population, because Guangzhou has a population of about 14 million people.
The transportation of Chinese people is subway, bus or car. But most people tend to take subway or bus. If you drive, sometimes there will be traffic jams, and taking the subway is way faster and more convenient. If traveling between cities, we often take high-speed rail or plane. In Latvia I usually take bus to some places.
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