(i steal with zeal.. my teammates blog! http://chinachats.blogspot.com/ it's great and i couldn't have said it any better.. enjoy!)Yesterday I wrote a monstrosity post about the culture differences between the East and the West. I thought I would take a few more posts to break down each of the areas I wrote about and explain, or attempt to at least, what that looks like in our daily lives here. How this affects us and what we sometimes think about it all.
Today we will look at space and how it is viewed and celebrated here in the People's Republic of China. :)
In class last week, a student came up to me during the break to explain that another student was still in another city and was therefore not in class that day. While he was talking, he was inches from my face, leaning in and whispering as if he were sharing the great secrets of the universe. When I first came to China I might have thought this was a little inappropriate for a student to do, but it is just the way it is.
I took the kids out to play today and an older lady came up to us to talk and ask questions. She was right in my face asking about their ages and commenting on their clothes and whatnot. It felt invasive 11 years ago; today it felt friendly.
New to China foreigners find themselves backing away while friends are talking to them and the Chinese person is moving in the shorten the distance. Quite comical.
When I eat lunch in the dining hall on campus, if I'm dining alone, I can go up to any stranger, ask if the seat is taken and sit right next to them. We're at the same table, not talking, sharing "space" and everyone is happy and comfortable.
The other night there were about four girls visiting and they were all sitting together on the couch. (If Americans were sitting on the couch, there would be three of them.) They sit all huddled and cozy. I was sitting in a chair across from them and felt the need to move a cushion and sit closer. The space felt wrong somehow.
Lines... wait a minute, what lines? There is a Chinese word for "stand in line" 排队 (pai dui) but it doesn't "translate" quite the same way as we do it in America. :) Here, there is little space between you and the person in front of you and you don't want space because someone may fill it. (I remember nearly having a panic attach in Wal-mart in America one summer when someone allowed too much space in front of her.)
I have been at a bank where I was next in line and the person behind me was standing right beside me asking a question to the teller. Once he looked and saw that a blond-haired blue-eyed outsider was standing beside him, he looked me up and down and began asking me questions like where I was from, what I did in China, how much money I made, how old I was, if I was married, "WHY NOT, YOU'RE SO OLD?!" (I think I was all of 24 at the time!) and so on... All this while we were 排队'ing together. :) Space! What space? Love it! It gives me total freedom to not worry so much that someone is in my space and try to make a difference while they are there.
When I find myself on the other side of the ocean, I feel like I have way too much space. I close in on people and find myself wanting to move my chair to their side of the table. I feel lost with all the space.
That's just a bit of the picture.... a very small bit.
Thanks for reading.
See ya next time! 下次见！
