And not just the guys, oh no! Their sisters, mothers and grandmothers want in as well. With a rather musty Norwegian girl in sweat pants and raincoat who didn`t care to shower this morning cause it`s so damp outside anyway... Another common scenario is the "Hello, you spiki Inglis? Can I speak Inglis? How are you, how long you travel China, you alone? You go where? I hope you like here, bye-bye!" that accompanies a stroll across a square or inside a supermarket. (Please note that spelling mistakes in this section are meant to indicate what was actually said.) The scene is normally replied with a "Yes; Sure (well, lets see if you can, please give it a go..); and various answers before I assure them that I like China and good-bye to you too! These chats normally last a few minutes at the max, and are always pleasant. However, my favourite so far is the (fortunately) less common Chinese man in his mid-thirties, noodlebelly neatly tucked into shirt and nylon trousers, with the Mao glasses framing his face who approached my on the Bell Tower one late evening-- "Hi, you speaka English? Yes. May I aska you, where are you from? Norway. Oooh, Norway! May I ask, are you alone? Yes, I am alone. Oooh, where you husband? I don`t have one. Ooooh, may I ask, how old are you? I`m 26. Aaaah. You no married? No, fortunately not (this was met by a puzzled look). Ah, ok, ok...where you boyfriend, he home? I don`t have a boyfriend. Ooooh, this is very unusual, you 26 year old not married, very strange. (I smiled politely at this.) May I ask you a personil qustion? (Well, what is a personal question nowadays--my age, in certain cultures, so why not..) Sure. Ah, ah, ok, so...what about the sex?" Yes, what about it? I found myself thinking, rather puzzled. As the conversation unfolded over the next few minutes it turned out this Chinese man had a theory that while any Chinese man could satisfy any Chinese women (because they demand so little), foreigners were different. In fact, he had seen foreign women have sex in films (oh great) so he knew it was different, and he wanted to try it. Was I busy this evening? Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, I simply told him my evening was all planned and politely declined his offer. However, in my innocence I assumed this man was way out of line simply because he grew up in a country short of women, and so he might not realise how to communicate with this otehr kind of people. This happened to be on the eve of the Autumn Festival, when all Chinese people gather with their family and eat Moon Cake, so I asked him why he wasn`t at home--to which he replied that his wife and 14-year-old son had to eat Moon Cake without him this year because he wanted to see the historical sights of Xi`an after a woork conference... Oh yes, aren`t they lovely. In all my years of travelling and weird offers of photo shoots with the local population, marriages and the like, this guy is the cherry on the icing. The man walked off politely enough after my no, but I doubt he thought what he asked was in any way rude to anyone--including his wife. I hope such ideas about women aren`t universal in China, although I`m afraid it`s not a unique situation: In Beijing I witnessed a woman and a man fighting over her handbag in a subway, him winning and starting to walk off after hitting her pretty badly. As the guy walked awat she screamed something and two subway guards stepped in. I expected them to take the bag back to the lady and escort the guy away. Rather, they seemed to tell the guy he could not leave the woman there and guided him back to her, urgin her to stand up and walk away with him so as not to make a bigger scene... And still, wherever I go I am met by smiles as long as I smile first (or back), and despite the fact that my Chinese is limited to saying "thank you" I have managed to manoever local buses, buy delicious food at local vendors with Chinese-only menues (or better, no menues at all!), haggle about prices with sweet little ladies selling jade Buddhas, and asking for directions most of the times whenever I`ve been lost. I suppose China is as multi-faceted as any other country, and that in time I should see more versions of its people as I tag along. Hopefully I won`t have too many more cherries to the cake ;)
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Meeting new people and their culture..
I`ve found that China gives rather decent student discounts if you have valid student ID. More recently I`ve also found that it`s just as well, seeing that once I enter a smaller temple or the city walls, all the Chinese people want to take photos with me.
And not just the guys, oh no! Their sisters, mothers and grandmothers want in as well. With a rather musty Norwegian girl in sweat pants and raincoat who didn`t care to shower this morning cause it`s so damp outside anyway... Another common scenario is the "Hello, you spiki Inglis? Can I speak Inglis? How are you, how long you travel China, you alone? You go where? I hope you like here, bye-bye!" that accompanies a stroll across a square or inside a supermarket. (Please note that spelling mistakes in this section are meant to indicate what was actually said.) The scene is normally replied with a "Yes; Sure (well, lets see if you can, please give it a go..); and various answers before I assure them that I like China and good-bye to you too! These chats normally last a few minutes at the max, and are always pleasant. However, my favourite so far is the (fortunately) less common Chinese man in his mid-thirties, noodlebelly neatly tucked into shirt and nylon trousers, with the Mao glasses framing his face who approached my on the Bell Tower one late evening-- "Hi, you speaka English? Yes. May I aska you, where are you from? Norway. Oooh, Norway! May I ask, are you alone? Yes, I am alone. Oooh, where you husband? I don`t have one. Ooooh, may I ask, how old are you? I`m 26. Aaaah. You no married? No, fortunately not (this was met by a puzzled look). Ah, ok, ok...where you boyfriend, he home? I don`t have a boyfriend. Ooooh, this is very unusual, you 26 year old not married, very strange. (I smiled politely at this.) May I ask you a personil qustion? (Well, what is a personal question nowadays--my age, in certain cultures, so why not..) Sure. Ah, ah, ok, so...what about the sex?" Yes, what about it? I found myself thinking, rather puzzled. As the conversation unfolded over the next few minutes it turned out this Chinese man had a theory that while any Chinese man could satisfy any Chinese women (because they demand so little), foreigners were different. In fact, he had seen foreign women have sex in films (oh great) so he knew it was different, and he wanted to try it. Was I busy this evening? Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, I simply told him my evening was all planned and politely declined his offer. However, in my innocence I assumed this man was way out of line simply because he grew up in a country short of women, and so he might not realise how to communicate with this otehr kind of people. This happened to be on the eve of the Autumn Festival, when all Chinese people gather with their family and eat Moon Cake, so I asked him why he wasn`t at home--to which he replied that his wife and 14-year-old son had to eat Moon Cake without him this year because he wanted to see the historical sights of Xi`an after a woork conference... Oh yes, aren`t they lovely. In all my years of travelling and weird offers of photo shoots with the local population, marriages and the like, this guy is the cherry on the icing. The man walked off politely enough after my no, but I doubt he thought what he asked was in any way rude to anyone--including his wife. I hope such ideas about women aren`t universal in China, although I`m afraid it`s not a unique situation: In Beijing I witnessed a woman and a man fighting over her handbag in a subway, him winning and starting to walk off after hitting her pretty badly. As the guy walked awat she screamed something and two subway guards stepped in. I expected them to take the bag back to the lady and escort the guy away. Rather, they seemed to tell the guy he could not leave the woman there and guided him back to her, urgin her to stand up and walk away with him so as not to make a bigger scene... And still, wherever I go I am met by smiles as long as I smile first (or back), and despite the fact that my Chinese is limited to saying "thank you" I have managed to manoever local buses, buy delicious food at local vendors with Chinese-only menues (or better, no menues at all!), haggle about prices with sweet little ladies selling jade Buddhas, and asking for directions most of the times whenever I`ve been lost. I suppose China is as multi-faceted as any other country, and that in time I should see more versions of its people as I tag along. Hopefully I won`t have too many more cherries to the cake ;)
And not just the guys, oh no! Their sisters, mothers and grandmothers want in as well. With a rather musty Norwegian girl in sweat pants and raincoat who didn`t care to shower this morning cause it`s so damp outside anyway... Another common scenario is the "Hello, you spiki Inglis? Can I speak Inglis? How are you, how long you travel China, you alone? You go where? I hope you like here, bye-bye!" that accompanies a stroll across a square or inside a supermarket. (Please note that spelling mistakes in this section are meant to indicate what was actually said.) The scene is normally replied with a "Yes; Sure (well, lets see if you can, please give it a go..); and various answers before I assure them that I like China and good-bye to you too! These chats normally last a few minutes at the max, and are always pleasant. However, my favourite so far is the (fortunately) less common Chinese man in his mid-thirties, noodlebelly neatly tucked into shirt and nylon trousers, with the Mao glasses framing his face who approached my on the Bell Tower one late evening-- "Hi, you speaka English? Yes. May I aska you, where are you from? Norway. Oooh, Norway! May I ask, are you alone? Yes, I am alone. Oooh, where you husband? I don`t have one. Ooooh, may I ask, how old are you? I`m 26. Aaaah. You no married? No, fortunately not (this was met by a puzzled look). Ah, ok, ok...where you boyfriend, he home? I don`t have a boyfriend. Ooooh, this is very unusual, you 26 year old not married, very strange. (I smiled politely at this.) May I ask you a personil qustion? (Well, what is a personal question nowadays--my age, in certain cultures, so why not..) Sure. Ah, ah, ok, so...what about the sex?" Yes, what about it? I found myself thinking, rather puzzled. As the conversation unfolded over the next few minutes it turned out this Chinese man had a theory that while any Chinese man could satisfy any Chinese women (because they demand so little), foreigners were different. In fact, he had seen foreign women have sex in films (oh great) so he knew it was different, and he wanted to try it. Was I busy this evening? Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, I simply told him my evening was all planned and politely declined his offer. However, in my innocence I assumed this man was way out of line simply because he grew up in a country short of women, and so he might not realise how to communicate with this otehr kind of people. This happened to be on the eve of the Autumn Festival, when all Chinese people gather with their family and eat Moon Cake, so I asked him why he wasn`t at home--to which he replied that his wife and 14-year-old son had to eat Moon Cake without him this year because he wanted to see the historical sights of Xi`an after a woork conference... Oh yes, aren`t they lovely. In all my years of travelling and weird offers of photo shoots with the local population, marriages and the like, this guy is the cherry on the icing. The man walked off politely enough after my no, but I doubt he thought what he asked was in any way rude to anyone--including his wife. I hope such ideas about women aren`t universal in China, although I`m afraid it`s not a unique situation: In Beijing I witnessed a woman and a man fighting over her handbag in a subway, him winning and starting to walk off after hitting her pretty badly. As the guy walked awat she screamed something and two subway guards stepped in. I expected them to take the bag back to the lady and escort the guy away. Rather, they seemed to tell the guy he could not leave the woman there and guided him back to her, urgin her to stand up and walk away with him so as not to make a bigger scene... And still, wherever I go I am met by smiles as long as I smile first (or back), and despite the fact that my Chinese is limited to saying "thank you" I have managed to manoever local buses, buy delicious food at local vendors with Chinese-only menues (or better, no menues at all!), haggle about prices with sweet little ladies selling jade Buddhas, and asking for directions most of the times whenever I`ve been lost. I suppose China is as multi-faceted as any other country, and that in time I should see more versions of its people as I tag along. Hopefully I won`t have too many more cherries to the cake ;)
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haha!
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