Common, Uncommon Sense

{ November 24, 2009 @ 9:52 am } · { Uncategorized }

I have definitely been keeping busy here. I leave my house at 7:15 AM for work followed by mandarin lesson, yoga, dinners and parties with friends, and the occasional workshops. I usually find myself getting home around 9:00. At that time I scramble the last bit of my energy to plan lessons for the next day. Occasionally on the weekends, I will venture outside of Shanghai to escape the city.

 

In the past 2 weeks the temperature has been dropping. It is on average between 40 and 50 degrees, give or take depending on the day. The coldness here is more extreme since there so much moisture in the air and lack of direct sunlight (I think the sun is not able to penetrate through the thick layer of pollution that covers the city). It is a wet, bone chilling coldness. I find myself wearing long underwear underneath pants, 2 pairs of socks, boots, shirts layered with a sweater and a jacket on top of that. I wear scarfs and gloves, sometimes even a hat.

 

The Chinese mentality is much different than Americans. It is sometimes hard for me to understand why things are done certain ways or the lack of logic that goes into daily occurrences.

 

I am not sure if anyone has watched the YouTube video of Shanghai’s metro station during rush hour. The video is quite accurate of how many people are in Shanghai and depend on it to get around the city. At that time it is a mad house. There is no structure or order to entering and exiting the metro. I have been brought up in a society where people exit before the others enter. Even with the signs and markings on the ground, that is unheard of here. The second the metro door opens people push their way onto and off of the metro. I don’t think I will ever become accustomed to it, but regularly find myself doing the same to ensure I make it to work in the morning.

 

In my 4th grade class we were talking about different pets we have, had or animals would like to have. Of course I talk about my little bunny. They go on telling me how they had a dog, turtle, or a mouse. One girl shares the story of how her rabbit died, as she cuts her throat with her pointer finger, to emphasize the meaning of death. She said it was sick. As I sympathized with her, she continues and said that her family then cooked and ate the rabbit. All the kids laugh while I am just sitting there in absolute shock. Despite the fact that it was their pet, the rabbit was sick when it died!

 

Saturdays are my shortest teaching day, but sometimes my most interesting. On this particular saturday I was seated on the Metro. As my eyes wander I spot this man with a large thick bag, a rice or produce bag. This is not an uncommon sight on the metro, but his bag was turned on the side rather than standing straight up and it had a fist size hole on each side. I studied the bag closer and could see feathers through one of the holes. I convinced myself I was seeing this wrong until the bag began to jolt and move, almost ready to take flight. It the became clear that this man had about 5 chickens shoved in a rice bag. In America, animal planet would have Pet Cops all over this.

 

I usually just brush these cultural differences off and laugh about them. Although, some are easier to accept than others. I hope everyone is well. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

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