A couple of life updates before my blog on China. First of all, I am in Vancouver and I would love to catch up with anyone who hasn’t seen me yet. I work downtown from Monday to Friday, but I have 1 hour at lunch every day. Way back in September, I sent in a resume for a position at KPMG in Strategy and Operations consulting. After four interviews, I received an offer. I returned to Canada on the night of May 8, and on May 9 I was in the office. The first month and a half were challenging but I am immensely enjoying the work I am doing and some excellent colleagues.

If you ask people what makes Canada “Canada”, people might say hockey or maple syrup or our “super hot prime minister” (you actually hear this in hostels much more often than you might expect). Compared to Italy or Germany, our fledgling nation lacks depth. If you ask someone what makes China “China”, it is like BOOM: 5000 years of history. *Drops the Mic. Exits left.

China was the last of my destinations and in my mind is probably ranked 1 or 2. Sometimes when you are travelling, you really want to not do something “touristy”, but then you go on trip advisor, find the top 10 things to do, maybe pick 5 and do those things. Meeting up with a local provides you with more insight. However, living in a home, albeit for less than 72 hours, with two people who don’t speak your language is quite another experience altogether.

China is varied and I always find it funny in business class when people vaguely mention “tapping into the Chinese market” because China is huge and very different. I ended up in Guangzhou 廣州 in South China, a city of 23 million people… like 2/3 the size of Canada. I stayed with the parents of a David Chen, a good friend from Canada. For the sake of brevity (ironically already 330 words of waffling on and on)… Alas, for the sake of structure, in true consulting style, I will focus on three topics: Food, “The Chinese ‘Renaissance Man’”, and adventure.

In the 72 hours in China, I don’t remember a moment where I felt like throwing up due to gluttony. Chinese people possess a keen understanding of hospitality; “you are too skinny, and if there is any opportunity to fatten this person up, I will. Case in point, meal # 1.

I received numerous lavish feasts. One of the funniest memories is of the contradictory advice that I would receive often within two bites. My friends mom said “慢慢吃”(Eat slowly). So I would take my time and eat slowly. After taking a breath in between bites she exclaimed “吃,吃,吃,吃!”(EAT EAT EAT EAT). And so I thought “OK, I’ll eat”. And I would start to eat and can you guess what she would say. Uh huh. It such a strange feeling to be micromanaged when you are eating.

It feels like being a kid again and having your parent do the “Vroom, here’s the airplane” and then you get excited to eat… Only instead, it’s the adult version. After 52 hours of being force fed, it’s like you are the air traffic controller, and the airport parking lot is full but you’re told that five airplanes all need to land on the runway at the same time.

Somewhere along the way, we had a misunderstanding. I thought that I was supposed to eat everything put before, and I sure tried, but I failed… Every time. I found out later that Chinese people purposely order much more than you can eat. Chinese food is great. I experienced numerous cuisines from across China and I felt welcome; I received an alluring taste of true Chinese hospitality.

I remember learning about the Renaissance Man in history class: someone who is well-versed in all thing proper. My friends dad is the Chinese version of that. Exhibit 1: Bee Hives and flowers on his deck

Exhibit 2: Fish! Gold Fish!

Exhibit 3: Tea. Tea was truly one of the greatest joys in China. David’s dad explained the philosophy behind Chinese tea, the different varieties and the benefits of each. Chinese tea emphasizes slow but deliberate movements, relaxation, and being entirely present with your guest. The tea table was exceptional as well. In between every meal, I would spend an hour drinking tea (and like half the time I was plied with fruit.

At the end, he gave me my own portable tea set. It is very nice and it is designed for two people. I would love to have tea with anyone who is interested as it actually takes some skill and I need to practice.

I also went to a couple of places. This is Baiyun Shan (White Cloud Mountain). I happened to arrive in China on one of the busiest days of the year.

We happened to go to an aviary on the top of the mountain, which held many multi-coloured exquisite embodiment of beauty.

I also went to church. Did I understand anything? No. But sometimes that isn’t the point. Church can also be an expression of fellowship and connectedness to something much bigger than I am. For me, it was so cool to be reminded that I am part of something going on in China, in Canada, and all over the world, and that I was so kindly welcomed by people I didn’t know.

Though I was tired my first night, we went to the downtown area and drove around.

I imagine in the outskirts that the city is a bit dirty and perhaps not so nice. But downtown was anything but third-world. It was clean and modern and well developed. I honestly didn’t expect it to be so nice, especially after having one friend calling it (I now realize jokingly) a “town”, and another describing “growing up in the slums of Guangzhou”. China is a beautiful place architecturally, in terms of their people, in terms of their culture and in terms of their food. It inspired me to want to learn more Mandarin and the question now is not “if” I will return to China, but “when”?