I have bird flu...

Not really, but I do have a bad cold. I guess the past two weeks of partying and the bad weather have finally caught up with me. Not a huge problem though, I'm drinking lots of fluids, getting vitamin C and sudafed is the same in China as in the states.

A small cultural note on the topic of sickness: Have you ever seen pictures of people in China (or Asia in general) wearing those masks over their nose and mouth? Contrary to popular belief those masks are not meant to prevent the contraction of illness, rather the spread of it. In China it is the responsibility of a sick person to make sure that others are not exposed to their germs, thus the people wearing the masks are sick and watching out for your best interest. This is yet another contradiction that I have found amongst the Chinese, a people who are well known for shamlessly hocking loogies anywhere and everywhere.

Today, after an hour or so of practicing grammar and dialogues with my tutor, she asked if I would mind staying longer so she could ask me questions about being a college student in the United States. I've heard from other students that such requests are fairly common from tutors (they have taken tutoring positions not out of the kindness of their heart but a genuine desire to practice English and learn about the U.S.) and so I was half expecting to be asked this atleast once this semester. However, nothing could have prepared me for the following hour and half conversation with Sun. We touched literally every possible topic and in reality I think I learned much much more than she did.

A few stand out points in the conversation:

-Discussing language. I tried, unsuccessfully, to explain to her the difference between "nature" and the "environment" in the English language. Some easy concepts are very lost in translation.

-Discussing movies. Her favorite movie is American Beauty, and she wanted to know what I thought about it. As i'm sure you know, American Beauty deals with the darker side of American middle class suburban life- in my opinion revealing that the "American Dream" ain't all its cracked up to be. To say the least, I was very suprised that a person in China would appreciate a movie that deals with something so uniquely American. When I asked her about this she told me that "the fake happy attitude of the parents (Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening) reminded her of her family,". Some concepts are not as lost in translation as you would think.

- Discussing sex/dating. My friends are astounded (and so was I) that we even discussed this. The Chinese are very reserved when it comes to sex/dating and even more so when it comes to discussing it-If she hadn't of asked me the question I would not have brought it up out of fear of offending her. To give you an idea of how vast the gap is between American and Chinese ideals on this topic I will use my tutor as an example. She is a good looking 21 year old college student, but has never had a boyfriend and feels that she is too young to even consider such a thing - her parents also encourage her not to get involved until she is courted by a man who is marriage material. According to her - when a girl does meet a guy she likes, it is strictly up to him to court her; after a series of dates they can be considered boyfriend/ girlfriend, but pre-marital sexual relations are considered immoral and are rare (and even people did have pre-marital sex, no one would ever talk about it!). Of course this is not universal, but, according to Sun it is fairly typical of all of the other Chinese students at ECNU.

-Comparing the work ethics of Chinese and American college students. For Chinese students, the opportunity to attend college is one that should not be taken for granted. The Chinese students at ECNU attend class 5 if not 6 days a week and spend every free moment studying. Drinking, partying, and the general American college experience scares and puzzles the Chinese students who wonder how we could take college as for-granted as we do (wow do I feel like an ass).


Thats all for now....