Leyli Aleksanyan is a positive girl, even if her journey to Nanjing started with various kinds of situations from time to time. She brought the courage and passion from Armenia, and now is studying at Nanjing University.
"When I and my friends reached to Shanghai, suddenly we realized that our luggage disappeared."
"Bomb! It was a real shock for us! It took us such a long time to understand how we could get our luggage back. I asked for compensation and both I and my friend got it. Indeed, our luggage 'arrived' to Nanjing, where I have been studying until now. "
One situation she guarantees every foreigner would face once they land to China is it is easy to get attention by Chinese on the streets.
"It seems like Chinese people like to take pictures of me wherever I am."
"One day, when I went for some shopping, a group of Chinese women came to me without my notice, then stared at me very carefully. At the beginning, I couldn't understand what was going on, but later everything became clear for me. They just wanted to know whether I did any kind of surgery for my eyes and nose. I explained to them that my nations is known for our big eyes."
"Price tricks"
It was too hard for Leyli to live at Nanjing at the early period. When she came to China she didn’t know even how to spell Hello in Chinese. As people knows over the world, China`s market is famous for its low prices for goods.
"At the very beginning, I was really surprised when the sellers at the Chinese big shops were offering me clothes or shoes or that kind of goods with very high prices. Later I discovered, that for us, I mean for foreigners, they were used to say much higher prices. "
"Indeed, I understood how stupid I was. Now, if I want to buy anything from Chinese stores, I am offering the price for the goods which I am going to pay for it. After a little discussion the sellers are selling the goods by the price that I offered. " She smiled.
"Taxi driver"
[Photo by Leyli]
The last funny thing happened with Leyli at the taxi. At that time she could already speak Chinese a little bit and understand simple questions in Chinese. she had very a very long day, so she was too tired and didn’t have mood to talk with anybody. Suddenly, taxi driver asked her a so unexpected question that she couldn’t keep laughing, then started to talk with him.
"Oh yes, about the unexpected question, it sounded like this, - 'I have a 30-year-old son, he has very good job, as well as he is very handsome. If you are not mind I want you to be his wife!”
"My answer was no for sure, but after that question we had very sweet conversation. "
Leyli now can speak fluent Chinese. She tends to explore the charms of this city, enjoying and being one of Nanjing people.
