Just checking out some Television today since my vacation started up and watching this reminded me of an important question... is there anything more ridiculous than magicians?
Saturday, September 27, 2008
For Your Viewing Pleasure
Just checking out some Television today since my vacation started up and watching this reminded me of an important question... is there anything more ridiculous than magicians?
The rest of the party
I am have successfully downloaded the videos of the foreign teachers performance after a day and a half of labor. I had to divide them into two, so first take in my colleagues performance before being dazzled by my stage presence and lack of fire...
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Out on the Town: A Chinese Party
In case it is unclear the print says "Spray the Fire," or in Chinese "Qi LinWenYi," "The Art of the Chinese Unicorn," I knew right away this party was for real.
Last night I had the honor of not only attending, but also participating in a Chinese party. Confused as to the difference between attending a party and participating in it? I was too until I attended a few hundred Chinese parties and began to adapt to the different form of celebration. At a Chinese party you will scarcely find a cocktail, nor will you find a casual atmosphere to sit back and chat with your friends. What you will find is a stage, a lot of glittery outfits, perhaps some pyrotechnics, and maybe even some sunflower seeds! Relaxation or letting go is not really the center of the Chinese party, at least from my perspective. It is a celebration, and so because of that I am sure that there is a certain feeling of relaxation that can be associated with it, but to me Chinese parties seem to revolve around performance.
In describing a Chinese party I would tend to say that it is more formal than an American party, and I guess my meaning is that in general they are more organized. Obviously there are different levels to parties, just like in the US. There are parties between small groups of friends, or there will be bigger parties at the school level, or city level or whatever. The more crusty the crowd, the more rigid party. Last week I partook in a city government party, which was remarkably rehearsed and structured, and was really more like a dramatic performance, though still termed a party. I have also gone to parties in my students classrooms that were done off the cuff, and very much relaxed, though due to the differences in cultures and celebration methods still not altogether relaxing for me. See, what all Chinese parties have in common is the value of watching individuals or groups perform in front of the larger group. It is actually a very lovely and interactive way of forming a better relationship with a circle of people. By performing in front of the group you are stripped bear in a sense, and showing a part of yourself to the group. The difficulty comes from the fact that often the participation is forced, especially of foreign guests, who get invited to parties thinking they will get to let their hair down and hang out in a relaxed out-of-class atmosphere with their students, and end up singing "Happy Birthday," or "Jingle Bells," in front of 6o some people.
The performance last night started out with a bang, literally, as the hosts first came out to warmly greet the crowd there was a huge POP noise followed by a fifteen minute electrical blackout. It was stirring. The situation was really great for me as it helped to ease my nerves a bit. I was a little on edge on arrival at the scene, since the venue was outdoors, and there was probably at least a thousand students crowding around the stage to check out what was going on. The blackout might have eased my tensions, but not those of the leaders sitting next to me as they tried to show off the excellence of their department. But soon the electricity was restored and the hosts were able to take the stage once more in order to get things started. Since this party was hosted by the foriegn language department there were four hosts, two who would speak Chinese and two who would speak English. The two hosts on the right are the Chinese language hosts, while the two hosts on the left are the English language hosts. Lets take a look at how they set up the action...
I dont know about you, but that got me fired up. I was sure that they were going to show me the passion that explains their youth, as they strive to show their power, and this had me excited. Just like that this bash was underway, a blitzkrieg of fast paced programs that would only be interrupted every ten minutes by the hosts screaching the record to a halt with an almost identical scene to the one that you just viewed above. The lists of programs at this party was really quite good since it combined so many of the elements that make up modern China, there was a little bit of traditional culture, and alot of different performances that had a heavy influence from western culture. The first program involved a number of different students singing songs, all of which were Chinese songs, including this number...
We moved from traditional to very untraditional. There were two more programs, one being a comedy routine which I could not understand very well at all, and the other being another song. Then we moved on to the foreign teachers presentation. They know that the foreign teachers are usually pretty lame, so they put us early in the program to get us out of the way before the real awesomeness began, but they didn't know that this year the foreign contingent had an ace up our sleeves, in the form of our one-two punch from age to youth, leading with 70 year old canadian Helen who set them up with some quick wit, and followed by me as I knocked them down with my sterling vocals and nervous movements, listen for the falsetto!! （in between were Joe and Carolyn, a couple from NC who have been here for three years.
Last night I had the honor of not only attending, but also participating in a Chinese party. Confused as to the difference between attending a party and participating in it? I was too until I attended a few hundred Chinese parties and began to adapt to the different form of celebration. At a Chinese party you will scarcely find a cocktail, nor will you find a casual atmosphere to sit back and chat with your friends. What you will find is a stage, a lot of glittery outfits, perhaps some pyrotechnics, and maybe even some sunflower seeds! Relaxation or letting go is not really the center of the Chinese party, at least from my perspective. It is a celebration, and so because of that I am sure that there is a certain feeling of relaxation that can be associated with it, but to me Chinese parties seem to revolve around performance.In describing a Chinese party I would tend to say that it is more formal than an American party, and I guess my meaning is that in general they are more organized. Obviously there are different levels to parties, just like in the US. There are parties between small groups of friends, or there will be bigger parties at the school level, or city level or whatever. The more crusty the crowd, the more rigid party. Last week I partook in a city government party, which was remarkably rehearsed and structured, and was really more like a dramatic performance, though still termed a party. I have also gone to parties in my students classrooms that were done off the cuff, and very much relaxed, though due to the differences in cultures and celebration methods still not altogether relaxing for me. See, what all Chinese parties have in common is the value of watching individuals or groups perform in front of the larger group. It is actually a very lovely and interactive way of forming a better relationship with a circle of people. By performing in front of the group you are stripped bear in a sense, and showing a part of yourself to the group. The difficulty comes from the fact that often the participation is forced, especially of foreign guests, who get invited to parties thinking they will get to let their hair down and hang out in a relaxed out-of-class atmosphere with their students, and end up singing "Happy Birthday," or "Jingle Bells," in front of 6o some people.
The party that I attended last night was in the mid to upper ranges of formality. It was hosted by the school, so many leaders came, there was a lot of money involved in it, and it was very structured. Yet at the same time it was also run by the students, and meant for the incoming students to showoff a bit in front of their friends, so the performers were by no means professionals, leading to a much more relaxed atmosphere than say that city party I was discussing (I will blog that one too whenever I get the DVD of the performance sent to me, it was ridiculous). The Chinese party is nearly always broken up into various programs or performances. In smaller parties these "programs" could be somone singing a song, or playing a group game like charades or something. There maybe a time when everyone dances together, though group dance sessions in China I can only describe as awkward. It also might involve some kind of drinking contest, or eating contest based on the crowd. In more formal parties there will be no such games or drinking (Unless, of course, its by yourself in your room before the performance...) but the programs will usually consist of singing, dancing, or acting performances. In between each program hosts will appear on the stage in order to, depending on your perspective, help improve the atmosphere by enthusaistically firing up the crowd with beautiful words, or awkwardly move you from one program to the next with their over rehearsed and cliche-ridden dialogue. Either way, lets take a video tour of some of the highlights of last nights performance in order to allow you to better understand the workings of a Chinese party.
The performance last night started out with a bang, literally, as the hosts first came out to warmly greet the crowd there was a huge POP noise followed by a fifteen minute electrical blackout. It was stirring. The situation was really great for me as it helped to ease my nerves a bit. I was a little on edge on arrival at the scene, since the venue was outdoors, and there was probably at least a thousand students crowding around the stage to check out what was going on. The blackout might have eased my tensions, but not those of the leaders sitting next to me as they tried to show off the excellence of their department. But soon the electricity was restored and the hosts were able to take the stage once more in order to get things started. Since this party was hosted by the foriegn language department there were four hosts, two who would speak Chinese and two who would speak English. The two hosts on the right are the Chinese language hosts, while the two hosts on the left are the English language hosts. Lets take a look at how they set up the action...
I dont know about you, but that got me fired up. I was sure that they were going to show me the passion that explains their youth, as they strive to show their power, and this had me excited. Just like that this bash was underway, a blitzkrieg of fast paced programs that would only be interrupted every ten minutes by the hosts screaching the record to a halt with an almost identical scene to the one that you just viewed above. The lists of programs at this party was really quite good since it combined so many of the elements that make up modern China, there was a little bit of traditional culture, and alot of different performances that had a heavy influence from western culture. The first program involved a number of different students singing songs, all of which were Chinese songs, including this number...
We moved from traditional to very untraditional. There were two more programs, one being a comedy routine which I could not understand very well at all, and the other being another song. Then we moved on to the foreign teachers presentation. They know that the foreign teachers are usually pretty lame, so they put us early in the program to get us out of the way before the real awesomeness began, but they didn't know that this year the foreign contingent had an ace up our sleeves, in the form of our one-two punch from age to youth, leading with 70 year old canadian Helen who set them up with some quick wit, and followed by me as I knocked them down with my sterling vocals and nervous movements, listen for the falsetto!! （in between were Joe and Carolyn, a couple from NC who have been here for three years.
(I believe I have figured out the problem, so in order to check out my performance with look above, or click here)
You could see that there was a girl and a guy that came out to give me flowers during the song, which is a pretty common practice at most big parties, where models, or small children will come out and give balloons, flowers, or stuffed animals to the singers as they perform to show their approval. The guy coming up at the end I believe was meant to be a joke. After we got of stage I punched the kid in the face for stealing my thunder at the climax of my song. The clamour from our riotous performance had barely died down before the other foreign teachers came up to perform, two from Korea, a husband wife combo team that have two children came up and did an accapella number. Unfortunately I missed this program as I had to pee ridiculously bad while performing, and so as soon as I left the stage I went dashing for the nearest restroom. Upon returning to the scene I was treated to a unique spectacle. The schools two Japanese teachers, along with a visiting Japanese friend, went up and sang a famous Chinese song "Hou Lai," in Japanese with a group of Chinese students. This program I found to be particularly beautiful. The relations between the nations of China and Japan are stormy to say the least. There is a whole lot of historical and cultural baggage, and I have been told more times than I can count by Chinese friends that Chinese people dislike or hate the Japanese. So to see 3 Japanese citizens on stage with about 30 Chinese students singing a Chinese song translated into Japanese was the highlight of the evening and something I am thankful for.
It was there, upon completion of this beautiful and poetic scene, that the organizers of the party said, "F--- it... let's sex this party up!!" And the fiesta de awesome began, kicked off with a little picante flavor with some Latin dancing...
I don't know about you, but I was pretty blown away by that golden dress. But there was no time to take a breath for the amped fans as immediately following the Latin dance routine we were treated to the lyrical stylings of these students, don't let the military outfits fool you, these kids came to rock!!
Following the Military glam rock there was a series of performances I did not tape, incuding a sketch comedy routine, and a girl singing the Avril Levine song "Complicated." Avril Levine has become huge over here as she has delivered "punk" music in a nicely wrapped conformist package that the government can allow, and the general public can consume while contentedly exercising their "individualism." Upon completion of the English songs the hosts came back out to fire up the crowd, this time saying "well we just watched an English song, so why not show more of what we know about western culture," and thats when this was unleashed on everyone...
I too was wondering where my dogs were at yo...
And the sex-fest continued, as professionals took the stage...
At this point the party had reached a fevered pitch, the fire was pumping from the speakers, fireworks were going off around us, I was caught in a daze of strangely unarousing sex appeal, and just when you didn't think things couldn't get more awesome...
Wow... 
The techno died down, the nunchuks, fire, and sex no longer leaped around the stage, and everyone gathered together in front of the applauding fans to say goodnight. A picture was taken of all of the performers and leaders together.
Then quickly, the leaders were wisked off stage to their awaiting black sedans with tinted windows, as they returned to the city and their expensive homes. The music turned off, all the lights turned on, (at which point I was embarrassed to realize the lady I was making out with was Helen. You know what I dream about Helen?... Nevermind)and the rest of us, teachers and students alike, stumbled home, a little hung over and disoriented, but still tingling with pleasure from another glorious night of celebration in the province of Shandong.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Daily Strangeness
I just got done eating lunch, at which time I was struck once again by something that consistently impresses me here, strange contrasts. I went out to eat at about 12:30, I usually eat a lunch at either 1230 or 1 because just about everyone else on campus like clockwork will eat between 1130 and 1200, giving them ample time for their afternoon nap, a custom I have not been able to adapt to (University lunch time break is 2 hours during winter, 2 and a half when summer rolls around and it becomes so unbearably hot we have no choice but to sleep more.).
The 1230 lunch time assures that I won't be joined for lunch by strangers who see me sitting by myself and come to the conclusion that I am lonely. People say I look sad all the time here. I guess my life would be a lot easier if I could walk around with a huge fake grin on my face all the time. The 1230 lunch time also means that you are going to be eating scraps, since all the restaurants are real small time "hole in the wall" places, and their stock is varied by what is in season, what was at the market that day, and what happened to be popular for lunch that day. The other day I had a bowl of noodles there that had meat, carrots, beansprouts, cabbage, and onion in it, which was fantastic. Today I had a bowl of noodles(same order) with a ton of cabbage, and a little bit of onion. But I actually find the lack of uniformity of the meals to be charming and somewhat comforting, since it shows how real and homey these places are. I find this sort of atmosphere to be more pleasing and healthy for me than the industrial model of restaurants that guarantees my sandwich will be the same every time, and that my interpersonal interaction will be efficient rather than personal.
Regardless, while I was waiting for my food there were very few sounds in the restaurant, there were a few boys talking to each other about class, and the sound of a woman in her thirties chopping spring onions, a little old man stirfrying dishes while yelling out orders to the old woman, who was scurrying about the kitchen organizing dishes and yelling back at the old man. I got my bowl of noodles, and then as I was eating all of the sudden heard bumping base line kick in and heard "Whoa bitch get out the way, get out the way bitch get out the way!!" come blaring out of the kitchen. I was a bit confused and turned to look around at the kitchen and found the thirty something woman chopping spring onions, the little old man stirfrying dishes while yelling out orders to the old woman, who was scurrying about the kitchen organizing dishes. Other than the hot beats, nothing had changed.
I never found out where the music was coming from, I cant imagine that it was really coming from the kitchen, and it doesn't really matter where the music was coming from, its the scene that I find the most interesting. Shades of modern western culture unexpectedly appearing in conservative or traditional looking places, though it will not usually be this drastic of an example, has become relatively commonplace here. It is interesting to see in that it shows the ubiquitousness of American culture, but it also shows something that I find interesting about Chinese culture. That being, the acceptance of the Chinese of noise pollution, or more generally, of other people's nonsense. I can be 99.9%certain that that family in the restaurant dislikes hiphop music. I can be that certain because a majority of the more westernized students dislike American hip-hop. They prefer Chinese "hip-hop," which from what I can tell entails one of the members of a pop band rapping half in English, half in Chinese for about 45 seconds during the middle of a love song. Yet despite the fact that they surely did not like the music, they still just kept on about their way, kept working, almost not even noticing the roar of the music in the background. I don't know how many people have ever worked in an American kitchen before, but I would love to see how a head chef in an American restaurant would react if someone all of the sudden started playing Beijing opera in the window of his work area. For starters, anyone within earshot would more than likely be treated to a memorable string of obscenities, and second, everyone in the restaurant would probably be dissatisfied with their lunch as a result.
This scene called to mind another occasion for me over a year ago when I was at a birthday party. We bought a birthday cake for the birthday girl. The cake comes with a special candle, once you light it, it opens up like a flower and plays the tune happy birthday in a really high pitched tone. Cute feature, but the best part is, when you blow out the candle the song keeps playing... and keeps playing... and keeps playing. Within 5 minutes I was already on the brink of insanity, and everyone else was chatting on like nothing was happening. I didn't want to rain on the parade, so I didn't say anything, but I did start drinking some ganbeis with some of the other boys there (sidenote to be discussed later-girls very rarely drink here). After about 20 minutes I finally got up the courage and asked a girl next to me if we could turn it off. She responded to me cheerfully, "I don't think you can!" She didn't even examine it or anything, she didn't care one way or the other whether or not it was on or off. While I was being driven mad by the monotony of the high pitched song, they were completely unaffected. The resolution finally came when after drinking a few more ganbeis, I casually walked over to the candle without anyone paying much attention and ripped the wires out of it. Everyone noticed the music stopping, went silent and looked over at me, there was a moment of confusion, maybe awkwardness, and then everyone began laughing together, saying, "Oh was the music bothering you? hahahaha!!!"
I was blown away, but it explains a lot around here of how Chinese people can feel at ease in this overpopulated environment that most westerners feel to be agitating and stressful. They have become accustomed to it, they are used to the huge population, and used to the inconveniences (or I guess what we consider to be inconveniences)that are associated with it. Some of those inconveniences include the lack of fixed lines when waiting to purchase something, having to deal with sometimes unbearable amounts of noise pollution, having to deal with what seems to be a general impatience in society, yet at the same time having to wait on the road for someone who has stopped their car in front of you to go into a store to buy something quickly or talk to a friend. In all, dealing with a general lack of peace and quiet and privacy. Yet the patience level shown by Chinese for dealing with all of these things in a relatively respectful manner is off the charts, and something I enjoy learning from.
From the restaurant I made my way to the supermarket to buy some tea. When paying for the tea I accepted my money and left, and heard from behind as I was exiting the cashier say exaggeratedly for eveyone to hear, "Xiexie... bu ke qi!!" (Thank you... your welcome). She was very apparently taking a shot at me for not being polite. This was pretty annoying to me for a couple of reasons. One reason is that in general polite language is not as commonly used in Chinese society. This is not to say that the people are not polite, simply that the direct usage of the language is less. I am constantly reminded by friends that it is unneccessary for me to thank them, whenever I am in a restaurant or storing my bicycle in a bicycle parking lot I will thank the employees who will either be bewildered by my politeness(sometimes being embarrassed, or pleased), or say to other friends how much foreigners love to say "thank you." (which is just plain true, I can't get enough of it) if you were to watch an average line at the supermarket you would probably find that 3 to 4 in 10 people would say thank you. The cashier for some reason was picking me out, which most likely would be because I am foreign, though if I were to say that to anyone around here that would be outright denied and another explanation would be quickly offered.
The second reason it is upsetting is even more frustrating. The truth is that my instincts are to say thank you to service workers, I think it is a very good thing to do, yet whenever you go into a store in this area the people are waiting to hear you speak English. If you say something in English they will freak out and yell to their friends, "Did you hear that?!!! I don't understand, hahaha!!" And if you speak to them in Chinese, which is the logical thing to do in China, many people will snicker and say more casually to their friends, "He just said xiexie!!" who also in turn laugh. From these experiences I have a distaste for thanking employees (which is really the worst part) and at the same time some of the employees get upset at me for not thanking them bc they are anticipating me saying it. It's a really common and annoying habit of certain people I have run into, to hear you say something in a foreign language and then laugh to themselves and repeat what you have just said to themselves or their friends, nothing makes you feel more like a disprespected 4 year old child.
But back to the noise pollution thing, I find the general tolerance of noise pollution to be a handy quality for myself since tonight I have been invited to perform a song at a party to welcome all of the new students to the school. Can't wait to let them get a load of my vocal prowess, there will surely be large groups of students in the stands going, "I immediately regret this decision!!" At the request of the school I will be singing a Chinese song, so to all 4 people who voted to help me to decide what song to sing, I am sorry. Luckily the lack of popularity of my blog makes it easy to break my promises. But I still will be recording the nights events in case anything funny happens along the way, as I sing the Wang Li Hong hit, "Wo Men De Ge" (Our song).
The 1230 lunch time assures that I won't be joined for lunch by strangers who see me sitting by myself and come to the conclusion that I am lonely. People say I look sad all the time here. I guess my life would be a lot easier if I could walk around with a huge fake grin on my face all the time. The 1230 lunch time also means that you are going to be eating scraps, since all the restaurants are real small time "hole in the wall" places, and their stock is varied by what is in season, what was at the market that day, and what happened to be popular for lunch that day. The other day I had a bowl of noodles there that had meat, carrots, beansprouts, cabbage, and onion in it, which was fantastic. Today I had a bowl of noodles(same order) with a ton of cabbage, and a little bit of onion. But I actually find the lack of uniformity of the meals to be charming and somewhat comforting, since it shows how real and homey these places are. I find this sort of atmosphere to be more pleasing and healthy for me than the industrial model of restaurants that guarantees my sandwich will be the same every time, and that my interpersonal interaction will be efficient rather than personal.
Regardless, while I was waiting for my food there were very few sounds in the restaurant, there were a few boys talking to each other about class, and the sound of a woman in her thirties chopping spring onions, a little old man stirfrying dishes while yelling out orders to the old woman, who was scurrying about the kitchen organizing dishes and yelling back at the old man. I got my bowl of noodles, and then as I was eating all of the sudden heard bumping base line kick in and heard "Whoa bitch get out the way, get out the way bitch get out the way!!" come blaring out of the kitchen. I was a bit confused and turned to look around at the kitchen and found the thirty something woman chopping spring onions, the little old man stirfrying dishes while yelling out orders to the old woman, who was scurrying about the kitchen organizing dishes. Other than the hot beats, nothing had changed.
I never found out where the music was coming from, I cant imagine that it was really coming from the kitchen, and it doesn't really matter where the music was coming from, its the scene that I find the most interesting. Shades of modern western culture unexpectedly appearing in conservative or traditional looking places, though it will not usually be this drastic of an example, has become relatively commonplace here. It is interesting to see in that it shows the ubiquitousness of American culture, but it also shows something that I find interesting about Chinese culture. That being, the acceptance of the Chinese of noise pollution, or more generally, of other people's nonsense. I can be 99.9%certain that that family in the restaurant dislikes hiphop music. I can be that certain because a majority of the more westernized students dislike American hip-hop. They prefer Chinese "hip-hop," which from what I can tell entails one of the members of a pop band rapping half in English, half in Chinese for about 45 seconds during the middle of a love song. Yet despite the fact that they surely did not like the music, they still just kept on about their way, kept working, almost not even noticing the roar of the music in the background. I don't know how many people have ever worked in an American kitchen before, but I would love to see how a head chef in an American restaurant would react if someone all of the sudden started playing Beijing opera in the window of his work area. For starters, anyone within earshot would more than likely be treated to a memorable string of obscenities, and second, everyone in the restaurant would probably be dissatisfied with their lunch as a result.
This scene called to mind another occasion for me over a year ago when I was at a birthday party. We bought a birthday cake for the birthday girl. The cake comes with a special candle, once you light it, it opens up like a flower and plays the tune happy birthday in a really high pitched tone. Cute feature, but the best part is, when you blow out the candle the song keeps playing... and keeps playing... and keeps playing. Within 5 minutes I was already on the brink of insanity, and everyone else was chatting on like nothing was happening. I didn't want to rain on the parade, so I didn't say anything, but I did start drinking some ganbeis with some of the other boys there (sidenote to be discussed later-girls very rarely drink here). After about 20 minutes I finally got up the courage and asked a girl next to me if we could turn it off. She responded to me cheerfully, "I don't think you can!" She didn't even examine it or anything, she didn't care one way or the other whether or not it was on or off. While I was being driven mad by the monotony of the high pitched song, they were completely unaffected. The resolution finally came when after drinking a few more ganbeis, I casually walked over to the candle without anyone paying much attention and ripped the wires out of it. Everyone noticed the music stopping, went silent and looked over at me, there was a moment of confusion, maybe awkwardness, and then everyone began laughing together, saying, "Oh was the music bothering you? hahahaha!!!"
I was blown away, but it explains a lot around here of how Chinese people can feel at ease in this overpopulated environment that most westerners feel to be agitating and stressful. They have become accustomed to it, they are used to the huge population, and used to the inconveniences (or I guess what we consider to be inconveniences)that are associated with it. Some of those inconveniences include the lack of fixed lines when waiting to purchase something, having to deal with sometimes unbearable amounts of noise pollution, having to deal with what seems to be a general impatience in society, yet at the same time having to wait on the road for someone who has stopped their car in front of you to go into a store to buy something quickly or talk to a friend. In all, dealing with a general lack of peace and quiet and privacy. Yet the patience level shown by Chinese for dealing with all of these things in a relatively respectful manner is off the charts, and something I enjoy learning from.
From the restaurant I made my way to the supermarket to buy some tea. When paying for the tea I accepted my money and left, and heard from behind as I was exiting the cashier say exaggeratedly for eveyone to hear, "Xiexie... bu ke qi!!" (Thank you... your welcome). She was very apparently taking a shot at me for not being polite. This was pretty annoying to me for a couple of reasons. One reason is that in general polite language is not as commonly used in Chinese society. This is not to say that the people are not polite, simply that the direct usage of the language is less. I am constantly reminded by friends that it is unneccessary for me to thank them, whenever I am in a restaurant or storing my bicycle in a bicycle parking lot I will thank the employees who will either be bewildered by my politeness(sometimes being embarrassed, or pleased), or say to other friends how much foreigners love to say "thank you." (which is just plain true, I can't get enough of it) if you were to watch an average line at the supermarket you would probably find that 3 to 4 in 10 people would say thank you. The cashier for some reason was picking me out, which most likely would be because I am foreign, though if I were to say that to anyone around here that would be outright denied and another explanation would be quickly offered.
The second reason it is upsetting is even more frustrating. The truth is that my instincts are to say thank you to service workers, I think it is a very good thing to do, yet whenever you go into a store in this area the people are waiting to hear you speak English. If you say something in English they will freak out and yell to their friends, "Did you hear that?!!! I don't understand, hahaha!!" And if you speak to them in Chinese, which is the logical thing to do in China, many people will snicker and say more casually to their friends, "He just said xiexie!!" who also in turn laugh. From these experiences I have a distaste for thanking employees (which is really the worst part) and at the same time some of the employees get upset at me for not thanking them bc they are anticipating me saying it. It's a really common and annoying habit of certain people I have run into, to hear you say something in a foreign language and then laugh to themselves and repeat what you have just said to themselves or their friends, nothing makes you feel more like a disprespected 4 year old child.
But back to the noise pollution thing, I find the general tolerance of noise pollution to be a handy quality for myself since tonight I have been invited to perform a song at a party to welcome all of the new students to the school. Can't wait to let them get a load of my vocal prowess, there will surely be large groups of students in the stands going, "I immediately regret this decision!!" At the request of the school I will be singing a Chinese song, so to all 4 people who voted to help me to decide what song to sing, I am sorry. Luckily the lack of popularity of my blog makes it easy to break my promises. But I still will be recording the nights events in case anything funny happens along the way, as I sing the Wang Li Hong hit, "Wo Men De Ge" (Our song).
Saturday, September 20, 2008
URGENT HELP NEEDED!!
Well I made it through my first television experience last night, and as expected it was hilarious and exhausting. I had to single handedly navigate through a 12 hour day of dealing with Chinese bureaucrats, television personalities, constant judgement, tremendously differing opinions on what looks and sounds good, and hordes upon hordes of devious little make-up covered children.
Yet I am alive to live and party another day. which brings me to my next thought...
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures yet so I'll wait to comment on the party until I can get a hold of them. But now I have more important issues with which I need people's help. In preparing for the party last night I got a text saying that next wednesday night there is another party that they want me to perform at, apparently the party in China just doesn't stop. The upcoming party is a welcome party for the new students of the University, and they have asked for me to perform a song. These parties are pretty big and I will be performing in front of anywhere from 500 to over 1000 students. I need input on what song I should sing in order to properly wow my Chinese hosts. I will post a poll on the sidebar. I hope some of the ten or so people that have stumbled across my blog can make it back, hell maybe even some new friends, in order to aid me in this most crucial of decisions. Obviously my poll will be limited so anyone who has any other song ideas please leave them in the comments area of this entry. I guarantee I will perform the most voted for song no matter what that may be(within reason, I won't perform any gravely offensive songs, i.e. I won't sing the theme from Team America World Police in front of a bunch of Chinese patriots, or "When I think about you I touch myself"), taken full in video on my digital camera and then later posted on this blog.
Yet I am alive to live and party another day. which brings me to my next thought...
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures yet so I'll wait to comment on the party until I can get a hold of them. But now I have more important issues with which I need people's help. In preparing for the party last night I got a text saying that next wednesday night there is another party that they want me to perform at, apparently the party in China just doesn't stop. The upcoming party is a welcome party for the new students of the University, and they have asked for me to perform a song. These parties are pretty big and I will be performing in front of anywhere from 500 to over 1000 students. I need input on what song I should sing in order to properly wow my Chinese hosts. I will post a poll on the sidebar. I hope some of the ten or so people that have stumbled across my blog can make it back, hell maybe even some new friends, in order to aid me in this most crucial of decisions. Obviously my poll will be limited so anyone who has any other song ideas please leave them in the comments area of this entry. I guarantee I will perform the most voted for song no matter what that may be(within reason, I won't perform any gravely offensive songs, i.e. I won't sing the theme from Team America World Police in front of a bunch of Chinese patriots, or "When I think about you I touch myself"), taken full in video on my digital camera and then later posted on this blog.
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