Final report Malawi

Introduction

     During my 6-months stay in Malawi I was working on two projects.

     Pre-school project that is a part of DNS Chilangoma and DAPP Youth Club.

     Pre-school education provides an important foundation for learning and development.      It is essential to educate teachers and make sure that they have knowledge about child development, teaching methods and materials etc. however the knowledge of pre-school teachers in Malawi is usually quite poor.

     While working at the project we were organizing Teacher Training Days and meetings with the committee members who are responsible for pre-schools at their communities. We were introducing teaching methods like games, psychical education, songs and were making posters together. We were talking about the importance of planning the day, about sanitation and hygiene and natural medicine.

     After the Teacher Training Days we were going to pre-schools to make sure that the teachers are using the educational methods we taught them before.

     During the meetings with the committee members we were talking about the positive reinforcement and motivation of teachers as well as hygiene, sanitation and natural medicine.

     We were placing hand-washing stations at the territory of pre-school and talking about prevention of diseases connected with hygiene.

     We created a Data Base with all the essential information about the project to make our work more sustainable.

     We took part is poster project made by fellow DI and made some entertaining activities with children of pre-schools.

     The project requires a lot of work and ideas and is very interesting.

     Youth clubs give young people a low-cost place to go outside of school, offering them a sense of belonging. The activities and support from club leaders and volunteers allow young people to learn new skills and build confidence and resilience for the future, as well as have fun (http://www.ambitionuk.org/quality/youth-clubs-today).

     In total we held approximately 60 meetings with boys and girls from the community.

     We were playing games, doing sports, having seminars and lectures, painting, sawing, washing, cooking, making a movie and doing all type of other activities together.

     The main topics of our meetings were global warming and problem of deforestation in Malawi, natural resources, medical plants traditions and culture of Malawi, hygiene and sanitation, diseases.

     We held two open days where people of the community were invited. We could share our knowledge by using songs, poems, theater plays and games.

     During two open days clothes and sport equipment was distributed to the members of the youth club.

          It was extremely interesting to establish this project as I could engage in the life of local people more. It was a responsible work that required patience, confidence, some previous knowledge and a lot of motivation.

Pre-school Project

     I arrived to Malawi on the 11 of March and the first project I joined was pre-school project.

     Pre-school project is a part of DNS Chilangoma and is aimed on educating teachers of pre-schools that are cooperating with DAPP Chilangoma.

Pre-school Education in Malawi

     Pre-school education provides an important foundation for learning and development. The government of Malawi recognizes the importance of pre-school education, and encourages communities to set up their own pre-schools but does not support pre-schools financially. With no funds to support pre-schools, most of them are run on voluntary basis and are unregistered.

     Pre-school teachers in Malawi are mainly working on voluntary basis and are chosen by the community because of their previous experience as teachers or their good communication skills with children. Every pre-school must be supported by some members of the committee who are responsible for maintaining the school and the surrounding area; they need to make sure that the attendance of children is systematic; that pre-school has enough food for children etc.

      It is essential to educate teachers and make sure that they have knowledge about child development, teaching methods and materials etc. however the knowledge of pre-school teachers in Malawi is usually quite poor. The work of pre-school is highly important as every child in Malawi needs to attend this institution to be able to enroll to primary school afterwards. 

Pre-school Data Base

      When I arrived at the project there were four DIs working at the project under the supervision of three local men. We were supposed to visit one of our 45 pre-schools every morning. To go to pre-schools we were using bicycles. Every pre-school is working from 8 until 11 o’clock in the morning.

     The first aspect I was focusing on upon my arrival was re-constructing the system of work of DIs and supervisors at the project. DAPP Malawi has cooperation with 45 pre-schools. The list of pre-schools, map and descriptions were made in cooperation with project leader and supervisors. Pre-schools were divided in groups and equally distributed between DIs and supervisors of the projects. The guidelines of work of all the people involved at the projects were written. We gathered useful information including the description of social system in Malawi, forms for pre-school reports, materials about hygiene and sanitation etc.

     Together with fellow DIs we established a Data Base with information about the previous projects that took place at pre-schools we were cooperating with, all materials that are described above as well as some video and photo materials that are illustrating our work at the project.

     The aim of the Data Base is to establish a link between DIs who are presently working at the project and DIs that were working before. It was necessary to establish this link to make the work of DIs more efficient as they are able to have some background information about the project as well as guidelines of their work. It is also essential for the project to be sustainable and Data Base is a direct way how to do it. I felt that this work was essential as upon my arrival there were no organized materials or guidelines and it made my work in the beginning quite complicated.

Soap Bubble Action

           In the beginning of my work usually two DIs and one supervisor were going to one pre-school in the morning to talk to teachers and ask them about their difficulties. There was no real interaction between the children and DIs. Most of the children were getting anxious as soon as they saw white people approaching, some of them were crying and the teacher’s couldn’t calm them down.  One of the reasons of such reaction was the lack of communication between white people and the children as it DIs were not able to visit all the pre-schools constantly because of the big amount of pre-schools DAPP is working with as well as weather conditions that made the work of DIs less efficient. During the rainy season the condition of roads is quite poor and it is difficult to reach some of the pre-schools by bicycle.

     One more aspect that contributed to forming a gap between DIs and children is a mentality of Malawian people. Some parents are using White People as a threat when they want their children to behave well. “Stop crying, otherwise azungu (white people) will come and take you.” Such conditioning is explaining the anxiety of children.

     After acknowledging this problem I decided to make an activity with children to make them feel more used and safe with us. We were making soap bubbles out of glycerine, water and dishwashing liquid. After the common action children were more willing to engage in contact and were less anxious

.

1 photo. Soap bubble action at Kacheye pre-school.

Poster Project

     Next project we were working on was established by our fellow DI Jorge Cosme. He fundraised money to make posters of body parts and place them in every pre-school DAPP was cooperating with. The posters are intended principally to facilitate the implementation of a study program that allows pre-schools to have a common program. Their contents have didactic nature and are aimed to target themes that are part of the pre-school curriculum, such as the environment, the month of the year, days of week, colors, letters, numbers etc. Together with fellow DIs we were distributing posters to pre-schools as well as explaining how to use them efficiently.

2 photo. Poster distributing team.

Sanitation and Hygiene

     Sanitation and hygiene are important aspects that need to be improved in most of the pre-schools we were working with. To improve this aspect we were making hand-washing stations together with supervisors of the project, teachers and some representatives of the community. Hand-washing station was made out of two pieces of wood with one brunch in the middle that was used as a structure of the station. The bottle for water with two holes was tightened to the brunch with the rope and could be removed in the end of the working day. One more brunch of wood was connected to the bottle so it could regulate the flow of water by stepping on the brunch. Bar of soap with the rope was places to the bottle. The hole was made under the bottle of water and the rocks were placed in it so the hole doesn’t get bigger from the water.

3 photo. Building a hand-washing station at Malaina pre-school.

     It was vital to place hand-washing stations together with representatives of the community so they would be more motivated to use it after as well as inform them about diseases that are connected with hygiene and the ways to avoid them by washing hands.

     We also made a poster about hand-washing and created a story of how to do it suitable of children so the teachers could use it at their work.

4 photo. Hand washing poster “The way to church.”

Teacher Training Days

     Every three months we had training days at DAPP Chilangoma for all the teachers of pre-school we were cooperating with. The purpose of the meetings is to educate teachers as most of them don’t have any education and knowledge about children development and other vital topics. We were presenting information about sanitation, hygiene, making schedules and day planning, teaching different educational activities like games and songs. After teacher training days we were visiting pre-schools and helping teachers to apply this knowledge at their work. The biggest challenge in this aspect was motivation of teachers as most of them are quite passive.

5 photo. Teacher Training Day. Explaining some educational activities for children.

 

                      6 photo. Practicing some games.                        7 photo. Making posters.

Meeting with Pre-school Committee Members

     Every forth months we had meetings members of the committee who are responsible for work of pre-schools. Together with some students of DNS we were explaining the teachers the importance of motivation and positive reinforcement, gave examples of different ways how to motivate teachers of their community. It was illustrated by a theater play by students of DNS that made the meeting more live and easier to process. Motivation is an important aspect of work of teachers at pre-schools as most of them are working on voluntary basis however the work itself is fundamental in establishing healthy future for the next generation of Malawians.

8 photo. Making suggestion about the ways for motivating teachers.

Pre-school Storage

     During my stay in Malawi we found out that there is a storage that contains the materials used by previous DIs at pre-school project so our goal was to organize the storage, make an inventory list of things that were kept there as well as thinking of the most efficient way to use those things at the project.

Conclusion about Pre-school Project

     Small projects that are mentioned above were established and finished successfully however during the whole period of six months there were many other ideas and strategies that I was willing to implement however didn’t manage to do it. The major difficulties at our work at the project were connected with different perception of time of Malawians as well as lack of motivation. Sometimes things that in Europe could be done in couple of hours, take weeks because people are less engaged and less organized however in the end our goals were reached and the project was successful. Also it takes time to understand how to approach people correctly and what method to use for things to function efficiently. Not speaking the local language is a big disadvantage in working at the project as you need someone to help you with translation and sometimes the meaning of every word is important and translation is changing the power of the message.

     While working at the project I learned how to take time and be more patient; how to motivate people and find the solutions for different unexpected difficulties; how to work as a team and take opinion of people into consideration; how to express my opinion confidently and be persistent.

Youth Club Project

     During school holidays in spring 2015 our project leader suggested us to open a Youth Club at the campus of DAPP Chilangoma. I became interested in the project and decided to start it.

     A Youth Club is a low-cost place where young people can gather to socialize, share their experience and emotions, meet new people, do sports, learn new skills and knowledge, learn about the discipline and responsibilities etc.

Preparations for Starting the Project

     The first essential thing for establishing the youth club was preparing the room there the gathering could take place. There is a place at the campus of DAPP Chilangoma that used to host youth clubs before however it wasn’t used for a long time and served as a storage for the pre-school next to it. I had to prepare the place by moving all the unnecessary things and clean the space.

9 photo. The meeting place for DAPP Youth Club.

     The next step was to find a person who could permanently be engaged at the project and would be helping me out with translations.

     I had to promote the youth club so the youth from the community could start attending the meetings. Together with a local person we were inviting boys and girls from the community. We set the age limit from 13 to 23.

Youth Club Program

     After we started our gatherings twice per week and later on four times per week.

     Gatherings took place at 15.30 as this time was suitable for most of the members of the youth club.    

     In the beginning there were around 6-7 people who were attending the meetings. And later on the amount of people was growing.

     We started our meetings with sitting in the circle and sharing our thoughts and experience since the last meeting as well as expectations about the future gatherings. However after some time this system was changed as I noticed that the people didn’t feel comfortable with sharing these things in front of others.

     First meetings started with establishing some rules of the youth club, making team building activities, handicrafts and sports. However after we started educational meetings on different topics. We were playing games, making activities, had guest lectures about global warming, problem of deforestation in Malawi, natural medicine, hygiene, sanitation, diseases, had sawing and washing classes.

10-17. Different activities at the youth club.

First Open Day

     We held two open days with the purpose of sharing our knowledge with other people from the community. The topic of the first open day was environmental issues. We invited children from Stephanos orphanage to participate in the event. There was a theater pay, songs, lecture, games and poster making activity during the event. In the end of the gathering we were distributing some sport cloth and equipment for the guest as well as members of DAPP youth club. Football and netball tournament also took place at the end of the open day.   

17-23 photo. Activities at the First Open Day.

Second Open Day

     The topic of the second open day was hygiene. Two more youth clubs from the village nearby were invited. There were several theater plays, games, posters, lectures, songs and clothes distribution at the end.

24-27 photo. Activities at the second Open Day.

Youth Club Register

     We also made a register of people with description of their position and responsibility at the youth club. It was necessary because at certain point there were too many people who wanted to join the meetings and it was less efficient for the participants.

Movie Created by Youth Club

     We also made a movie about the traditions of Malawi. We were filming everyday life at the house of one of the members of the youth club, at the church, market, barber shop, football field and also made a traditional dance performance at the youth club.

28-30 photo. Movie shooting.

Conclusion

     In total approximately 60 meetings were held at DAPP youth club.

     The difficulties I came across with were connected with passivity of girls and being not able to express their opinion freely. Boys and girls were normally working separately. Also according to my observation it is difficult for Malawians to show leadership and sometimes it was making my work more challenging. Perception of time was influencing our work as well because many people were constantly late and it was interrupting the work of the rest of the team.

    I would like to conclude that the youth club project was very successful and members of the club got a lot of new knowledge in different fields, made many new contacts and learned new skills.

China, the first destination

Hypothesis about Health in China Southern Asia Countries:

1.          The issue of children with disabilities in China and South Asian countries is worse than in European countries because of unhealthy lifestyles , environmental pollution , and the unresolved situation in post-war zones.

First at all I have to say that before I wasn’t sure if something like a culture shock exists. I travelled quite a lot, but first in my life I felt that I am in places which are in one point amazing but and in another point terrible. Beijing was our first destination and I enjoyed it a lot. I was surprised all the time. We stayed few days with a guy from couchsurfing and thanks to him we found out some information for our topics, because after it was almost impossible to find someone who spoke English. Beijing is a capital city of China and is also one of the biggest city in China. It was first time for me to be in such a huge city like this. We realized that is not enough to move somewhere in Beijing just like we are still in Beijing so it is ok. You really have to think about where and how you are going to stay, because after you will just spend your time in public transport which was sometimes longer than one and half hour to reach a place where we wanted to go. Once when we tried to stay a little bit out of the city we didn’t have any opportunity to speak with someone in English, but when we moved to a place where the people are used to foreigners and they know a little bit of English in same time they don’t like to speak just for fun, they have to make a business and not to waste the time. Beijing and Shanghai are huge and incredible cities but for finding out what China real is it is not a good place but, actually maybe this is what means the real China. Streets full of people with phones in hands, or is it real China those fancy streets full of expensive branches? Unfortunately reality is the difference between people, middle class is the biggest part of the population of China but also is one of the poorer one. We met some really nice people in a train when we travel to another province call Fujian. We spent more or less ten ours in the train and we managed to communicate with locals with translators in phones. Other think which I never realized before how Im used to have Google. Google browser, Google maps, Google weather, Google and Google everything what is produced by Google is forbidden by VPN rule. And Facebook and Viber too, but those two I didn’t need so much for to plan something. So it was always fun to use bing which took half a day to find what could be important for us. Such a good experience anyway. 

So my question in the beginning was how is it with health in China? Are they really used to cure people with Chinese medicine? Are they stronger than Europeans? I had many questions. After few days in Beijing I decided to focus on children and on disabilities for one simple reason. On the street we met a lot of beggars but not only adults, also a lot of mothers with their children. I looked on them and I thought about possibilities for long term curing. For me it was really interesting because about China I could say that there is no Post War situation like in countries in South of Asia and is not a country side or mountains like in different places in China. They are in cities full of technology and modern lifestyle so where this problem is coming from. From really few information I got some pieces of true about China. Huge cities in east side of China are full of people from villages where they couldn’t survive and especially with disable members of their families. Another point is that in those huge cities we saw kind of consume societies so they are also full of fastfoods and unhealthy products in shops. (E11 is a classic add in instant Chinese soups). Many of those disabilities where a combination of psychological and biological problems. The most common were  Down syndrom or Hydrocefalus  or another mental disease with body deformities. How to treat those disabilities is a question even in my country but always is there a special place where you can find professional help. In China of course if you have money you can do a lot I saw many people with different problems of disabilities which had everything right around like assistants or things for help and make their life easier. In third point it was incredible the air pollution. In Beijing is a general problem I couldn’t imagine before that I will not be able to see the sun through the pollution.  The air pollution gives another health problem: respiration diseases. Many people were counting as well as children. When I spoke with a guy in train, he tried to explain me that even in Beijing started a campaign against the air pollution it is not enough to solve anything and people started to realize that many of diseases is coming out  of unhealthy environment. So yes unhealthy lifestyle and no support of government are places in China which are worse than in Europe. But The communism party which is in charge in China made the same mess like in countries in Eastern Europe and I can see many similar things. But in my opinion China will grow up faster and the globalization of the world will help to China becoming more powerful than we can ever imagine.

To see the whole of China and get a really deep picture of life in China it is needed to stay there longer time. China gave me a lot such an incredible cities and nature as well. Shame that I couldn’t see more and go more deep in all of topics, because China is in many things so equal but in the same time really different. Their kept culture, many temples of Budha or Confucio are around and we could see West countries culture just in modern lifestyle which in number of Chinese people became worse than in our countries in Europe.

http://zdravi.e15.cz/clanek/mlada-fronta-zdravotnicke-noviny-zdn/v-cine-roste-pocet-deti-narozenych-s-postizenim-446761

China

Beijing

Monster between cities, Beijing offers to the eyes a giant show of urbanism and colors. One thing that visitors- who want to know something about Beijing- should see is the view from the plane; when you travel by plane you can really see how big this city is. And this can offer you an image about where you are really going. From a plane you can see how the urbanization is shaped in Beijing: areas covered just by flats which have mostly the same shape but different colors. You can also see areas covered only by houses which are- how I could later discover- mostly in poor condition and pressed together in such a manner that those neighbors know everything about each other. But you can also find combination of huge flats with poor small houses, mixture which has not so many features common with some urbanization.

Another modern symbol is the new center which is created by skyscrapers and other buildings signed by the modern architecture. Skyscrapers are not so big like in Shanghai and Hong Kong but the city is growing up very fast and with it also is the number of new buildings.

Air pollution in the city during our stay in Beijing wasn’t that big as expected but still from plane was possible to see cloud which I can connect with fog but the difference is (as I know from Czech Republic or Norway that fog is white) but in Beijing it was always yellow.

Let’s move inside the city. After our arrival at the airport we took the bus to the city. When the bus arrived people were pushing each other as they wanted to get inside of the bus. During the way to the center of the city I had to sit on the floor of the bus.

When we arrived to a bus station near central railway station in front of the bus there were waiting few persons who offered travelers accommodation as close as possible. In first night we took some cheap hostel but next few days we had accommodation with one Chinese guy in his flat (guy that I met on Couch Surfing).

When we arrived to his house I was a little bit surprised that he lives alone and his home is so big when many bigger families have to live in small flats; but we were happy for this because it meant more space for us.

If you want to have a picture about how big is Beijing, imagine that if we wanted to get from our accommodation only to Central Railway Station which is near to the center of the city it took around 40 min. by metro; and if we wanted to get on the other side of the city it could have taken more than 2h by metro. When I’m talking about metro you have to know that this is the right place where you can feel the overpopulation in the city. When the metro arrives in the station it is hard to get inside metro but also out of the metro. Inside the metro you can feel like tuna in the can.

Living style in Beijing for me seemed quiet strange: flats everywhere; from plane how I said We could see many flats, but when you get in the city you think that there must be maybe 30 times more flats than you could see from the plane. Some people even if they live in the huge flats they have in front of them small cages with chickens or some other home-bred animals.

As well, drying clothes on the streets is a normal thing which We have never seen in Europe. Just imagine that you are driving a car on a big road with many lines and next to the road there are trees which are connected with ropes and on this ropes people dry clothes. So now you know that Chinese use every space in the city. I can say that actually Beijing is not such a modern city comparing to others. For me Beijing is a city created from Chinese villages where houses are pressed on each other with the only difference that they have access to hot water and sanitation but this doesn’t change the fact that inside their homes you can find a total mess. Yes, Chinese people don’t have such a big sense of clean household as western countries. Our sense of organization of our own things doesn’t say anything to them. You can find it maybe in educated families which are numerous in China but if we will think about how many people live in China the proportion is not in favor of this number.

Security in Chinese big cities is high and I can say that many times also annoying and this is the security that checks places like metro, train stations or some other areas where can be a lot of people together. Only when we wanted to get near the Forbidden City we had to pass through a small area we had four security checks which were as usually busy so we have spent also a long time waiting.

When we talked to some people they told us that they don’t understand why the security checks are such a big deal and what exactly the security guards are doing. Because many times when we went to the metro we just put our luggage inside the roentgen and person who was responsible to check the screen didn’t care about it. So it seems like that government is wasting money for some security which is not effective.

But on the other side, the Government manages in this way many working places for people. A city of 20 million inhabitants cannot provide jobs for all of them using just the help from investors, it needs to create also its own work places.

Also you can see in the city many workers who have to clean the streets sometimes you can even see that they are working in Chinese highways, work that has to be really dangerous. Nice thing is that you cannot find so many homeless because most of the people have job even those jobs which from outside seem a waste of money. But I don’t want to say that there are no homeless. Comparing with Prague there are not so many or at least is hard to find them.

Shanghai

(Shanghai as center of Chinese Economy)

Not an historical city but a rich city. Master piece which constitutes a symbol showing the growth from fishing village to a giant monster between cities. I cannot say that there is a difference between lives in Beijing and Shanghai. The advantage that Shanghai has comparing to other cities is the port and the sea which bring more goods from other countries. Nevertheless, the rest is similar to Beijing. Many constructions, poor parts separated jus by walls. Many poor parts in Shanghai are separated by walls from beautiful parts. When I was walking around one wall in a poor part at the end of the wall I arrived to a new street with beautiful shops.

Way in the train to Yunnan province

36 hours in the full Chinese train that was real experience. Because we wanted to save some money we chose hard seats in the train.

People were everywhere. Some of the people had ticket for standing as we discovered and that was the reason why the train was so full and carriages for sleeping were locked so all this people had to stay in the same carriages where hard seats were. I don’t know if I should say we were lucky or we had bad luck but around us was a Chinese family.

A grandmother and two married couples with four kids and between them there were always sitting some other two persons. And for these 11 persons plus Liga and I, there were 10 not so big and- I can say- hard seats. In front of me was sitting the grandmother which was always carrying one child and many times it was really annoying to have these two persons in front of me because the kid was always putting his legs in my space and the grandmother also. I felt like fish pressed very well in the can. Also if you travel a long way with the train you can see some advertisement in the train for selling some goods like special towels, energy banks for phones or some electronic devices or what looked special and have big

success was presenting a book for math. The promoter started to give passengers math exams and many people started to buy this book.

One week in the village

After the long way by train we arrived to Kunming capital city of Yunnan province.

We also visited HQ of HPP in China and with their help could get more experience between people; we spent two days in one city where we could see school for small kids who can learn English and we were also invited there for Chinese lunch. We could also try there to teach these small kids. It was nice because the kids were willing to learn English and I can also say that it gave me some ideas which I hope I can use in my project.

Another experience from Yunnan province is that Euclid and I spent one week in a village which is 40 minutes from Dali, being hosted by a local family. We could see how it looks in normal Chinese village how the life is going on there and we also tried to work in one of the many brick factories which were around the village and also, one day we went with the family to the mountains where they have tea fields and nut trees.

The paradox in the Chinese village is that buildings are very simple but sometimes you can find expensive car inside. But on the end of village there are the poorest people. Chinese houses in the village are very simple many times the rooms in the house are missing front wall so that some rooms are open and you can see inside if there is no wall around the house.

We had a beautiful room but with a bad odor. People in the village were mostly friendly and neighbors were visiting each other as they wanted. Small kids had fun seeing people like us in the village because most of them have never seen people from other parts of the world.

I remember when we arrived in the village in the first hour I smoked around five cigarettes because everybody we met gave us cigarettes. It looked like it is a Chinese hobby to smoke like mad. I didn’t see any woman smoking cigarettes, it seems like they are not allowed. It looked also like that man was the head of the family and had the only authority. We couldn’t see this exactly, but the woman in the family was doing almost everything: cooking, working, washing, taking care about home-bred animals.

As well, when we were in the brick factory and worked with them, women were working really hard. And some of them were older so I can say that Chinese women are really strong. We also went to see how the work in the mountains was.

The field of the family who hosted us was around 1h far from the village at the beginning of the mountains. During the walk there we could see other people from the village how they have to work. I was surprised how heavy were the boxes they have to carry up to the hills and that they have to bring up to the hills water in leather bags on the horses.

Is it Communism?

This is a good question: which system is working in China?! Is it Communism? I believe that people who have experience with communism, I mean people from countries which were under Soviet Union will say that there is no connection with communism. But censure is one of the biggest sign of communism as I know and I’m not talking only about blocked facebook or youtube but they are also checking the personal things which you can send from your PC.

When we were in village (we were there for one week) it looked that they don’t even care about the fact that they would be under communism.

The people that I could see there, looked as they had everything they needed. They wake up, go to work, work which maybe doesn’t even have some strict schedule after work at home, chat in the streets and that’s all. I didn’t even saw during this stay that somebody got angry.

People in the big cities for them have higher living conditions than the people in the villages and it makes them satisfied. It seemed that if they had enough electric devices they wouldn’t need anything else.

When you get in the metro you can see that 80% of the people are using smartphone and are playing games, listening music or watching videos. This is the way they make time pass faster. But 90% of them?

That is way too much people! I couldn't see this anywhere in Europe. I could see in Europe funny picture about what Chinese people do in the metro and there were five persons, two of them were playing with smart phone, one was reading a book, one was reading news and the last one was an old lady. But I have never seen anybody read a book in the metro and even old ladies were playing games on smartphones.

Hong Kong and Macau

Hong Kong and Macau are very interesting cities which are still somehow part of China but just because of their own government the living style is completely different. We could as well feel that the atmosphere in the streets is different, I don’t know why but we felt freer and also people were a bit different. Hong Kong in comparison with Shanghai looked for us more modern, even if Shanghai has a higher development index. Hong Kong looks newer and you can feel the influence of colonization from the British part. A city built especially for businessmen and the biggest and strongest economic companies in the world, Hong Kong is for China what the Western countries are for Europe. Main land China is like cities which are still in developing process but Hong Kong is fully developed and the poor parts are hidden very well that you cannot feel them. It is a city made for rich Chinese people who own flats here, go for shopping and enjoy typical western rich live. Huge buildings with the most famous and expensive brands for clothes or other fashionable brands as HUGO BOSS, CHANEL, LOUIS VOUITON, ROLEX and many others and rich Chinese are ready to stay in huge queues just to shop in this shops. When I was walking with the guy who hosted me during my first stay in Hong Kong he told me that these people are 90% Chinese and it is something when you have in front of the shop PRADA 60 persons waiting to get in this shop.

Macau is another interesting city which is not build that much for shopping and typical business but especially built again for rich Chinese which are coming here for another kind of fun. This kind of fun is now hazard and gambling in the casinos. Yes Macau is a city built mostly from the income brought by casinos. And life seems also different than life in China or Hong Kong. In Hong Kong you can see people with very nice fashion medium class cars, but Macau is fashion somewhere in the middle. I think I can say that I never saw so many expensive cars as in Macau, Ferrari, Lamborghini and many cars with very expensive tuning. Hong Kong and Macau- these two cities are good examples how you can build city with help of rich people- on one side, strong economies of the big international companies and money from Chinese people which are spent for shopping and on the second side is spending money for fun in casinos.

In these two cities there are also differences in what people do on the streets. I mean spitting on the ground, smoking or riding bicycle. These things are in many places forbidden. Also it is hard to find parts where people dry clothes in the streets. And population in these cities is multicultural. You can find many people from other countries.

Conclusion

It probably seems that this report is full of criticism but really I cannot imagine my life in China. There are so many things which don’t look good for me probably just thanks to the very fast development. I’m used to live in cities which don’t have a population counting more than 100 000 people and this is probably what makes China different. Being in the village for one week, living and experiencing with the locals was the best time spent in China.