I suppose Jingdezhan in July is like Chicago after the Cubs are out of the running and small news gets big attention. The Big News yesterday was the Foreign Teachers were coming to the town square at 7:30 for an English Corner. So we envisioned some folding chairs, 20 or so folks gathered in a semicircle asking polite questions and maybe knocking off early for ice cream for lack of interest.
The squre is about 3 city blocks square, has a huge ceramic dragon on one side, a large area for skatboarding and in line skating, another area for line dancing and exercise, still plenty of space to mill around. I would estimate on this random Wednesday night about 2000 folks were hanging out there. Babies to seniors. It was not necessarily cooler temperature wise but at least it was friendly. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were literally mobbed. It took 20 minutes to get to the English Corner - the huge banner must have said that. After that there were never less than 30 people of all ages pressing in and around me, some wanting ot talk and others to listen. I finally backed up to a garbage can to get some fresh air behind me. Some had babies and childrne who just wanted them to see the Westerner. School kids start English in 3rd grade so by JH they are pretty good. Parents were pushing them towards us to "talk English to the American" - read "Prove this education you are getting is worth it." Some stood up to the challenge and asked question. Some freaked and ran away only to be dragged back for another try. The fact that it was still 95 and the Chinese are not as sensitive about personal space as we are, made it very chummy indeed. When it was time to go they literally followed us to the bus and were waving and calling after we left.
The most asked questions were Did I like China? and Did I know the 2008 Olympics were going to be in Beijing? and about some NBA player for the Houston Rockets?? Some of the funnier ones were: I understand "hot" means "sexy" in America. So how can I tell people how I feel in this weather without saying I am sexy? and I am not very tall yet. Do you think I will get taller? and What is your favorite animal? (The correct answer IS Panda.)
We crawled back on the bus and slithered into bed!
The squre is about 3 city blocks square, has a huge ceramic dragon on one side, a large area for skatboarding and in line skating, another area for line dancing and exercise, still plenty of space to mill around. I would estimate on this random Wednesday night about 2000 folks were hanging out there. Babies to seniors. It was not necessarily cooler temperature wise but at least it was friendly. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were literally mobbed. It took 20 minutes to get to the English Corner - the huge banner must have said that. After that there were never less than 30 people of all ages pressing in and around me, some wanting ot talk and others to listen. I finally backed up to a garbage can to get some fresh air behind me. Some had babies and childrne who just wanted them to see the Westerner. School kids start English in 3rd grade so by JH they are pretty good. Parents were pushing them towards us to "talk English to the American" - read "Prove this education you are getting is worth it." Some stood up to the challenge and asked question. Some freaked and ran away only to be dragged back for another try. The fact that it was still 95 and the Chinese are not as sensitive about personal space as we are, made it very chummy indeed. When it was time to go they literally followed us to the bus and were waving and calling after we left.The most asked questions were Did I like China? and Did I know the 2008 Olympics were going to be in Beijing? and about some NBA player for the Houston Rockets?? Some of the funnier ones were: I understand "hot" means "sexy" in America. So how can I tell people how I feel in this weather without saying I am sexy? and I am not very tall yet. Do you think I will get taller? and What is your favorite animal? (The correct answer IS Panda.)
We crawled back on the bus and slithered into bed!
1 comment:
I got claustrophobic just reading that!! Bill says the NBA basketball player's Chinese, so that's why they were so interested.
Really interesting, culturally, about personal space perception.
Post a Comment