Getting Out of the Bubble

Last week I spent upwards of 12 hours a day talking to complete strangers in the middle of the German countryside. Have I gone insane and become a hermit? Nope, I just spent the week as a volunteering "Anglo" at a Diverbo full immersion English camp. I have wanted to do a Diverbo volunteering experience ever since I stumbled across the company some time after working in Spain on Summer camp way back in 2012, but for all of those who haven't come across Diverbo before I will give a quick run-down. The group The Idea Diverbo is a company based out of Madrid, Spain, and functions as a language school; but it also has two programmes for full immersion English learning. In Spain this is called Pueblo Ingles, and in Germany it is called Englischhausen. I participated in Englischhausen . The idea of he programme is that for one week non-native speakers live in a all-English environment to build their confidence and improve their language skills. Fluent English spe...

Whether you've been in China for 2 weeks or 2 years I can guarantee you will have noticed the little things (and not such little things) that are completely different to at home. These differences aren't necessarily bad, but they are something that you need to take in your stride as someone living in a culturally opposite society. These are the things that you're going to remember in years to come, and these are the things that can start conversations with other foreigners your meet on your journey in China. In a way they are the make and break element of living abroad, because if you can't accept the culture for what it is, you're never going to be able to stay long term in the country. When I first first came to China I made a friend who helped me to start this list of the weird and wonderful differences of life in China. It started off as a bit of a joke, a silly back and forth of text messages, and at the time I wasn't thinking of encapsulating it on here...