China vs. Africa

By Grace

Hi. This is Grace. According to a deal that I made with my mom, I now have to write a blog entry. :P

So... I will write about how living in China compares to when we lived in Africa. Well, for one, there is the obvious difference that Nanjing is MUCH bigger than the town we lived in in Tanzania. The setting is completely different, with how advanced they are and all. There are lots of people everywhere here. There is also a lot more transportation with vehicles. As in Mugumu [Tanzania], people walk and bike a lot here. But there are also buses, taxis and cars all around.

Another thing is the way that people react to us. We still stand out, being caucasian and a family of six. People will blatantly stare at us, and sometimes tell their children to look over at us because we're so... interesting? But that's the most they do, aside from the rare occasions of people trying to get pictures of us. In Mugumu, however, kids would run after us or our car yelling "mzungu" or "wazungu", meaning white person/people. Sometimes they would try to feel our hair and such.

Going to stores or going around the city seems really familiar here. In both Africa and here, we can't understand everything on the signs or stores, and sometimes purchasing food is hard because we can't tell exactly what it is. And of course, there are all of the different foods here, as well as in Africa. Even though Nanjing and Tanzania are quite different, I still get somewhat of the same feeling... just being in a different country and trying to understand a different culture. But I like it. It's exciting. :]