Surviving as a small fish in a very big national pond
- Source: Global Times
- [21:32 March 22 2010]
- Comments
By RYAN ULRICH
One of the first things I had to get used to here was living with 1.3 billion people.
For me, the sheer density of the population comes across most when I go swimming in my university pool. There, pressed by fellow swimmers on all sides, I feel like a fish out of water – or like part of a bigger sea.
A friend of mine recently did something at the pool I've never thought to try: Go for a refund. He'd just been trying to get a quick swim in before dinner, but had run into the usual problems.
First of all, there are only a few lap lanes in the middle of the pool with the sides open for free swimming.
This area is usually filled with a children's synchronized swimming team practicing, elderly men doing variations of taichi, brand-new swimmers dangerously thrashing through the water, and a few couples who think that the water makes their love life even more romantic. It's not a place to easily exercise.
In the actual swimming lanes, things are only a little better. There's no system to which way people should swim, so sometimes people will run directly into each other. Other swimmers cut through.
Frequently, the entire lane looks like Shanghai's Yan'an Road expressway at rush hour: totally packed with nearly no one moving. Once, a whole squad of wujing, the armed police force of Nanjing, came to do their exercises in the lane I was swimming in.
Rather than trying to race in front of them, which would have been impossible, I switched into the big open area to avoid constantly bumping into all these swimmers.
This situation makes it difficult, if not impossible, to get a good workout in.
My friend's attempts to get a refund were futile. He argued that there were simply too many people swimming, and that he should therefore get his money back. This, however was not successful; a primary point of contention being that my friend had used the pool's shower before entering, and had therefore used the resources his ticket paid for already.
In fact, it showed me how difficult life can be in China if you don't adapt to the situation here. There are two ways to go, either adjust and become a part of the community, or engage in a continuous struggle.
I've often encountered a situation where it seems like there are just too many people in the pool, too many people on the bus, too many people in the train station, just TOO MANY PEOPLE! I think to myself that it's nice to never feel like I'm alone, but I also have the feeling that I just want to be free of all these people at times as well.
Asking for a refund may solve the immediate problem, but next time the pool will still be crowded. If possible, I go to the pool when it's not as crowded and if there's too many people, I just swim around them.
When I have to swim in the big open section, I think of the time I went scuba diving. Soon I don't mind at all that they are in the pool.
I pretend I'm racing the people in the lane I'm swimming in providing a chance for a friendly competition. The swimmers coming in the opposite direction are an opportunity to practice quick maneuvers.
Even the mysterious music from the synchronized swimmers can be heard and felt underwater and gives me a chance to keep the beat while I swim laps.
I think I have to adopt this attitude living here if I'm going to survive in the long term.
Whether it's a crowded pool, an impossibly crammed subway car, or just walking down the street, it's this attitude that allows me not to go crazy and survive in the sea of people.
The author is a Masters candidate at the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies. viewpoint@ globaltimes.com.cn
