interesting enough to mention here.
1. Beds: When my host brother asked if the bed was ok, I jokingly
said, "I'm sure it is. I'd be fine with sleeping on the floor,"
without testing the bed first. It turns out that the typical Chinese
bed is actually harder than the floor. I guess it's good for your
back but horrible for your shoulders and hips if you are like me and
sleep on your side. Luckily, with the creative folding of my blanket,
I can eliminate most pressure points and get a very good night's
sleep.
2. Toilet cleanliness: This does not at all mean that the bathrooms
here are not clean, because they are. The only difference is the
concept of cleanliness that reveals itself in the architecture of the
toilets. Basically, the toilets are the exact same, but picture the
rim lowered to the same level as the ground. This is seen as
'cleaner' because nobody ever actually touches the seat with any part
of his/her body, transitively touching another's butt indirectly with
his/her own. I actually have to say that I agree with the Chinese on
the 'technically' superior cleanliness of their toilets. (Not to
mention that there is never even a discussion about leaving the seat
up). That being said, I would gladly sacrifice the bit of cleanliness
for a lot more relaxation.
3. Commercials: Every commercial here seems to be just the
enthusiastic repetition of a 5-10 word catch phrase while somebody
holds the item being sold and extends it intensely towards the camera.
I still can't understand anything they repeat, but after hearing the
same phrase 10-15 times in a 20 second commercial, I can at least
imitate certain slogans which probably translate as something similar
to, "Head On! Apply directly to the forehead!"
4. Basketball: The weird thing about basketball is that I'm actually
kind of decent here. It turns out that the only thing holding me back
from a promising basketball career was people being taller than I was.
Here, we are all on the same level, literally and figuratively, and I
have been able to overcome 22 years of absolute basketball failure.
5. Gesticulating: Much to my chagrin, gestures mean totally different
things here than in the West. I am writing specifically about the
day-to-day gestures I would normally use if, say, for example, totally
hypothetically, I had no idea how to speak the language of the country
I was in. I find that beyond expressing 'No' by shaking my head and
pulling my chin to my neck while making an
I-just-ate-something-really-sour face, my gestures are entirely lost
on my Chinese counterparts. Gestures like 'Money' (rubbing your
fingers together) or 'read' (pretending to hold a book and advancing
through an imaginary text with my finger) are not understood until I
look in a dictionary and give the translation. Similarly, I do not
take such gestures as pointing to the ceiling or rubbing your wrists
together to mean 'China' and 'do the dishes' respectively. Ironically
enough, writing this post was interrupted by a five-minute attempt to
charade 'hot-pot,' the dish I mentioned in my last post. Apparently
we which will be having some with my host-mother's extended family
tomorrow for lunch. I have now been here for just over 15 days, (10
fingers then 5 fingers OR crossing both index fingers then touching
all five together as if you were making your arm into an ostrich
head/neck), and it's been nothing but awesome.
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