aCulture shock: Junior Logan Ballman shares his experiences from abroad

Junior Logan Ballman was thrilled to hear that his dad had been offered a new job. 

The one catch? 

It was 7,131 miles away. 

In China.

Great. 

In January of 2018, his family had just returned from winter vacation when they were informed that they would be moving to China for three years. Ballman had been out of the country before, but never for this length of time. His hopes were high; however, the experience was still full of nerve-racking changes. 

For example, Snapchat, Instagram, Tik Tok, Group Me, etc. are social media staples for most students. However, Ballman had to master a different application: “Weechat.” “Pretty much everyone in China has it and it’s pretty interesting,” said Ballman. “It’s to the point where people even use it to pay for things.” 

With new cultural practices and social media, there was another idea spinning through his head: food. The majority of restaurants in China are complete with delicious noodles, meats, rice and, according to Ballman, revolving tables. “They would just set out like plates of food and you just kind of moved the table to whatever you wanted,” he said.

Although he had enormous amounts of authentic cuisine, there was one thing that Ballman missed dearly: SpaghettiOs. The taste. The unforgettable, loveable shapes. Poof. “One day, they just stopped appearing on the shelves all around China,” he said. He later found out that, due to the impact of communist parties, certain businesses had been forced to end production and were even banned in China. “She [my mom] tried to bring back 20 cases of SpaghettiOs,” he said, but they got confiscated when she got on the plane.” Luckily, he was able to share these frustrations with other Americans at his new school. 

Ballman went to an American international school in which all classes were taught in English. “We went on multiple field trips, including going to rural areas of China,” he said.  For Chinese New Year, his school took off for a week and a half to celebrate. Ballman’s family lived on a compound and their neighbors helped them to learn the customs. “A part of the Chinese culture of the new year is when people give red envelopes to each other,” he said. Inside of these envelopes is money, perfect for giving a boost to others and showing kindness. 

Chinese New Year 2019-2020 was when things began to go downhill for Ballman. “I lived on a dive boat for a week -- where I went diving a lot -- and got my advanced diving certification.” Near the end of their vacation, his family received the news that his school was shutting down due to Covid-19. “We didn’t want to go back to China because of the situation, and then immediately after that, we couldn’t go back to China because the airports were shut down,” he explained. Ballman and his family were left stranded in Bali for an entire month;, however, they made the most of their time. “[It] was pretty fun because we just lived in bungalows for weeks at a time,” he said. In addition to completing his virtual classwork, he learned how to surf from local classes that were offered. He took up surfing as a casual hobby, and when he finally returned home, he missed the fun that he had had. 

Despite his complications, Ballman firmly believes that traveling is important for everyone to do at least once in their lives. “I really liked to just understand other people and also try new things. I also like exploring. I just think it’s always a positive experience to go and do something different.”

Story by Elizabeth Taylor