Friday, July 11, 2008

Western people funny!

Temperature outside: High today in the 80s, hopefully less humid since it rained yesterday.
Words I know in Chinese: 7! I learned to say “I love u” awwww….
Times I’ve eaten at a US restaurant: Twice. Pizza Hut the other day was a much needed break from rice and Chinese sauces, for all of us.
Fortune Cookies I’ve seen: zero, zilch, nadda, none. Seriously.

Photos are still to come, sorry, ran out of time

Ok, so I give them credit. We are a group of 60 Americans. We’re loud, and sometimes a few of us are a little inconsiderate. We don’t wear the same clothes (fashion here … well, I’ll try to touch on that later). And, we look funny with chopsticks, even though I was complimented on my abilities yesterday by a BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee) member.

But does that really merit the stopping and staring and even pointing by everyone we pass? Apparently the King and I song is true: Western people are funny – looking at least. I’ll admit, cultures are different here. Perhaps mothers don’t teach their kids it’s not polite to point. Even when a group of us five girls breaks off to go to dinner or something, we have old men stopping in the tracks, and women looking at us over their shoulders. I’m always tempted to go up to them and say, “Look. I’m sorry. They let us out of the Zou. But we’ll be back in the [Lee] Hills soon. Don’t worry.” Hehehe.

The attention our professor and one of the girls get is even more amusing. They are both very dark skinned, and I guess the people here think he’s Michael Jordan or something. They always want to take pictures with him and his son (who’s made the trip with us until the Olympics). Aja thinks she’s a movie star. They’ll pull her and a bunch of the blond girls (who eagerly oblige) and take pictures with them. I’m just a brunette; they just stare at me, hehehe.

The media isn’t helping the curious onlookers. They have been following us the minute we’ve arrived. Yesterday both CCTV (the large government station here with over 10 channels) and another paper I always mistype the name to followed us to the Water Treatment plant and a new commune – sorry, “village.” Fun! What are people supposed to think with three large cameras and two photographers hovering around. It’s like we really are movie stars. Can someone get Britney Spears over here as a buffer? We have had several stories done on us, and I’m sure there are more we don’t know about:

http://www.cctv.com/video/xinwenlianbo/2008/07/xinwenlianbo_300_20080709_1.shtml

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2008-07/04/content_6818182.htm

Other than that, and a few cabbies not wanting to drive us to our destination (some laugh when we show them our handy card printed with the hotel and a map), people here are very friendly. One night we were trying to find the Foreign Student Dinning Hall (someone did tell us the name at least), and a girl abandoned her boyfriend to lead us to it. She actually got lost twice, but wouldn’t give up until we were there. Another time we were eating there, a Chinese guy turned to us and said with very good English that he had studied at Oklahoma. We talked to him a bit, but didn’t even get his name. So, he finished his meal just as we were getting ours, and got up to leave. Well, a minute later, the waitress came over with 4 milk teas and a note saying “Hope you’ll enjoy your study in Renmin. I am quite appreciate of the kind treatment when I was in the states.” We all of course swooned, but he had already disappeared.

Oh, btw, milk tea is good – basically how it sounds – especially served cold with boba, but I’ll stick to soda and water myself :)

One courteous thing I keep forgetting is to use two hands. As a sign of respect, when someone hands you something (say, change for a purchase or a business card), they will use both hands on either side of the item and bow slightly. The Vice Chancellor did it when he handed us our stamps. Basically everyone has done it to us, and yet I keep forgetting, or will have something in one hand. Hey, I’m a rude American, hehehe, we already knew that.

And finally, on this brief and lacking incite into Chinese people, I leave you with this thought. Perhaps I will lose weight on this trip after all. At least I will if I join hundred of walkers and runners on the track at all hours of the day. The tracks in CoMo are busy, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen less than 100 people out there. Running. Roller skating. Tai chi. Using one of the many outdoor gyms (they’re like playgrounds for adults, seriously). I tried the tai chi yesterday,; it’s very fun even though I had no clue what I was doing.