Random adjustments, differences, and good ol cultcha!

Who needs country culture shock when you have AIESEC culture shock?

Crazy. Things I noticed but was easy to adjust to in china:
1. The boys here are shy and will not be forward - even at the clubs and they are dancing around you because they want to dance with you but they just... dance there.
2. I forgot - China has people everywhere - grocery shopping is funny - they have employees at every corner shouting at you, hey buy this!
3. They don't wear flip flops - and if you do - you get stared at - but I still wear them haha. They wear flip flops as indoor shoes and it's very dirty outside so flip flops are not always the best thing...
4. I actually saw blue sky AND the sun the other day - and I said wow, they are improving - and then my friend said - no, that phenomenon rarely happens.

Things that happen to me because I am asian and am in China:
1. Asked for directions (happened to me twice yesterday!) - it which case, I whip out my bad mandarin and say I'm not from here - to which they reply, are you from Korea - yes. haha (NOOooo - but it's less of a hassle if you just agree - because then they start to guess: japan, singapore... anything BUT Canada - and then when you say Canada - they say... but you are not white...)
2. People talk fast in Mandarin here - and I understand quite a bit, but then trying to talk back - its slow and excruciating on the listener's end - I swear they think I'm stupid - so I usually throw in that I'm not from here - to which they reply - "Oh, then your mandarin is pretty good" - which is better than "Is this chinese person handicapped?"

Now, the AIESEC culture shock... dun dun dun...
1. Not sure if it's because I am living with the National team - BUT, they literally work 24/7 - and it's a holiday here haha. Seriously! I go to bed and they are still talking about AIESEC - wow, to be that passionate! Which brings me to...
2. One life. They do not believe in a work life and a party life - because in the end, it's one life, if you like your work, it IS play.
3. Exchange driven. Results driven. In other parts of the world, AIESEC stresses leadership development through project management and VP positions. Here - they believe that leadership development begins when you gain another perspective through an internship :) This explains their high exchange numbers
4. Okay, I need to flip my way of thinking haha. In Canada - you put a job posting on insight and everyone applies - you sift through a lot of different applications. In China, you call students around the world, use your networks to get people to apply - it's because China offers so many jobs, so many that it's hard to distinguish between them - my theory anyway.
5. They started an "accelerated" version of matching/getting the company to sign a contract which I think is absolutely brill. So how we usually do it: talk to company, get them to fill out a job questionaire, put it on insight and match. How they do it which also increases the chances of the company taking on an internship? talk to company, get them to fill out a brief job description, sift through the database, narrow down 30 candidates, email/call to see if these SNs are interested and available, present to company and get them to sign if they are interested. Efficient. It is more work if it is not successful but at the same time, it increases your success rate... so why not?