Stereotypes

When people in China find out that I’m from America, there are certain conversations that I have over and over again:

“But where are your PARENTS from?” It’s super important that they know where my peoples are from. I can’t possibly be from America. One time someone snorted at me and said “Psch, you don’t look like any American I’ve ever seen.”

“Are you married? No? Well, American people get married later, when they’re in their 40s.” And then they inevitably cite the example of the old laowai they know who came here and married a 20 year old Chinese girl. Umm… do they not realize those are the exceptions?

“So what do you usually eat at home? 西餐 (Western foods)?” Little do they know my parents fed us Chinese food 7 days a week. And if we EVER went out to eat, it was for more (wait for it…) Chinese food.

“Wow you cook? What do you cook? Macaroni?” Fo sho, macaroni is all we eat in the US. With little bits of bacon. Mmm… bacon.

“Do you know Joe Wong?” I know all the Chinese people in America. ALL!!

Subway Fun

I’ve been in China for a year now and have pretty much gotten used to people busting out nail clippers and straight up cutting their nails in the office. It used to be “ew!” but now it’s fine, whatever, that’s what older Chinese people do. Not much surprises me anymore.

BUT THEN! I’m riding on the subway next to a teenager in a pink puffy jacket. Her dyed-brown frizzy hair is teased up in a pony tail, she’s chewing gum like there’s no tomorrow and blasting music on her headphones.

All of a sudden she pulls out… a NAIL CLIPPER!! And starts clipping away!! It’s from her front jacket pocket too, so you know she put it there to be extra handy. In case she has time for a little personal grooming on the subway. Bits of nail are flying here and there and all I can do is keep my mouth closed and hope that it’s over soon.

I guess there are still surprises for me yet.

The Most Popular of Them All

Read this.

Very cool article. It very nicely and neatly explains why I keep traveling to all the crazy countries that I do. I like the writing and that it takes a non-US centric viewpoint. I couldn’t have said it better myself!

p.s. I need to get around to posting my pics and comments about Nigeria, Lebanon, and Argentina. Way way behind…

Live Healthy

If you’re in corporate, chances are you get emails pretty regularly about how to stay healthy, what exercises or preventive measures you should be doing, ways to lose or maintain your weight. If you don’t, chances are your work doesn’t provide health insurance.

One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed between the US and China “live healthy” emails is that Chinese emails focus on eating specific foods each season to bring your chi into balance, how to lower your fire chi or increase your water chi. A lot of modern Chinese people still believe in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and take it very seriously — this surprised me too. Here’s a sample of the emails I get on a regular basis (I only copied and pasted the English part):

This autumn these tips to help you stay in top health:

1. Eating in accordance with the seasons should have a strong positive effect on your ability to ward off ill symptoms. It is also important to transit into eating warmer, cooked foods at this time of year. So what should I eat during autumn?
   1. Vegetables：Cauliflower, Cabbage, Carrots, White radish, lily bulb, Yam, Lotus root, Potatoes, Pumpkins
      
   2. Fruits：Apples, Grapes, Pears (considered particularly healthy for the lungs)
   3. Meats：Duck, Soft-shelled turtle
2. Soup：Soups usually contain seasonal meats and vegetables, and are packed full of nutrients.
3. Keep hydrated：The moisture of the humid summer gives way to autumn dryness. Drink tea or maintain rooms in fit humidity and temperature to help your body remain hydrated.
4. Take fermented foods: miso, kombucha, rejuvelac, yogurt, etc. which are supporting your immune function better. You can also supplement with probiotics such as acidophilus.
5. Carry layers of clothing：It is hard to prepare for the drastic change in temperatures, and your body will be at risk to get unhealthy effects without proper protection.

Some of it you read and you’re like, “Wha?!??” and other parts of it, “I gotta get me some of that acidophilus soft-shelled turtle.”

GMATs and yo mama

So, I took the GMATs in Beijing. Did you know that in ALL of China, there is only ONE test center? So for 1.3 billion people there is only ONE testing location, whereas for people in the US there is practically a test center in every city. As if the verbal section wasn’t already hard enough for Chinese speakers!

I was pretty proud of myself that I was able to understand all the instructions in Chinese. So much so that when a girl turned to ask me a question about something the proctor said and I was able to respond coherently. My Chinese has definitely improved. YES!

One thing that surprised me was that some test-takers actually showed up with their PARENTS. Let’s assume that at a minimum, most people who take the GMAT are of college-age. Why are your parents still taking you to the test, packing away your notes, and giving you snacks & juice?! The overall effect was also enhanced since most looked like they were 12 years old. I felt like I was in Chinese school again. But apparently this is normal since almost all test-takers were accompanied by their parents. I think there are two ways to interpret this:

1) American kids are much more independent at an earlier age and able to handle things on their own. They become adults much faster because of the way they are treated by their parents. Ironically, parents come to have less influence over their lives i.e. kids think for themselves and pursue the things they want to do, rather than what their parents want them to do.

2) Chinese families place more emphasis on education and take better care of their kids, since all their energies are just focused on this ONE child. Parents are tied closely to their children, both physically and mentally, and Chinese kids listen more to their parents, stick closer to home, not moving out until they are married, reinforcing the parent’s treatment of them as a child.

This can also be extrapolated to the bigger picture, where in US you see people entering the workforce at an earlier age, and experience is prized over education (assuming you graduate HS). In contrast, in China, most people obtain advanced degrees before entering the workforce so they are older, yet don’t know how to apply theory to real life. You also see the same ideas playing out in the way each society is structured – the “American dream” that rewards those who make their own luck in the spirit of capitalism vs. the Chinese government that sees itself as a “father” figure that needs to take care of its “children”, to the extent of removing any threats to the country’s “moral fiber”.

Not really sure which one is better or worse, but I AM starting to notice that I’ve begun seeing the world this way: not in black or white, but in shades of gray.

Haze

Sometimes I will check the weather report to see current status as “Haze”:

WTF is haze???

That’s not a term I’ve seen before when talking about the weather! Some quick Googling (or Baidu-ing, now that Google is out):

Haze: Fine, dust, salt or pollution particles dispersed through a portion of the atmosphere.

I think it’s time to buy that Hello Kitty face mask.

An Interesting Quote

Saw this posted in my elevator today:

WTH???

Uh… I don’t think that’s what it really means.