Suddenly my plane touched down at Hongqiao Airport. I had flown via Denmark and Beijing from my home country of Norway, in order to work for two months as a volunteer. The rain was pouring down this day and a freezing wind made it all but welcoming. I arrived at the apartment I was going to stay in, and realized inside the apartment was nearly as cold as outside.

It was one of many surprises during my first days in China. Another was the number of people everywhere. The situation reminded me of the weekly scene in my hometown's football stadium when a few thousand people try to escape the stadium and get home after a match. Here in Shanghai there's always that chaotic after-match feeling. The check-in line to my flight from Beijing to Shanghai reminded me more of those disorganized food handouts you see on television from refugee camps.

Then of course, I come from country with 4 million people to a country with over 1 billion. When I see more than 10 people at the same time, I consider it crowded. Despite my height of 184 centimeters, I feel smaller and more insignificant here, even though my blond hair draws some attention as I walk down the street. But the first couple of days I felt like I was trapped in Chinatown with no exit.

But don't get me wrong - I'm amazed with China. Thousands of years of rich history, buildings unmatched throughout the world, and outstanding food are just some of the overwhelming features of this country. I've eaten more new food the last three days than I have in the past five years. Still, I'm still struggling a bit using chopsticks and my inefficient use is keeping my weight down. Table manners are also somewhat different, and it seems like everything my mother taught me not to do around the table is allowed here.

I didn't know much about China before coming here, except from what my fifth grade teacher told me years ago. I remember an exciting television series about Marco Polo awakening a desire to once visiting the "Middle Kingdom". Later, it was the enormous size, culture and importance in the world that made me want to come over and see it for myself.

Traffic as you can imagine is slightly more organized in a country with 4 million people, but here it never gets boring. Especially trying to cross the road while cars, bikes and motorbikes all seem to aim for me. The traffic assistants have caught me offside with their whistles several times already. I'm also impressed of people's skill to load up their bikes beyond what I thought was possible, and then manoeuvre with the greatest of skill. The other day I saw a man riding his bike with no fewer than 34 shoeboxes, which I consider impressive when I know two shoeboxes, maybe three would be stretching it for me.

My big mistake before coming here, making me look very naive with hindsight, was that I just thought it would be warmer. Maybe it was because Marco Polo never looked cold in that television series, but grasping how big China is before coming here is almost impossible. So even though I consider it to be freezing cold - both inside and outside - the big smiles, friendliness and hospitality of the Chinese people will keep me warm throughout the winter - no doubt.

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