if a taxi driver or someone in a small store when we
actually have time to talk realizes that i actually speak chinese, i
have noticed a really clear pattern in the last few months of the
questions they ask me. i have been taking note of this with taxi
drivers especially, but today i noticed the same pattern when i was at a
tailor's shop to get pants hemmed. while they were working on that,
they asked me these things:
1. what country are you from?
2. where do you work?
3. what do you teach?
4. how much money do you make?
5. how old are you?
6. are you married?
7. do you have a boyfriend?
i have been wondering lately how honestly i should answer some of these questions. usually i think, it doesn't matter, i'll just tell them, because i'm probably never going to see them again (if they are a taxi driver), or if they are a small shop owner that i probably will see again, i don't really care if they know or not. the part that is a little weird to me is that the drivers who are not official taxi drivers who wait outside my apartment complex where real taxis are hard to find--those guys, who probably all know each other and talk to each other about the various foreigners they give car rides to--they probably all know where i work, how old i am, and that i am not married and have no boyfriend. they also probably all know that i play the cello, where my lesson is, and that it's on tuesday nights. i know this is true to a certain extent because if i get in one of their cars with the cello but i'm not actually going to my lesson, they try to take me to the place where my lesson is even if i try to tell them to go somewhere else!
it's also interesting that when i get in the elevator of my 35 story apartment building to go to my apartment, i think about 50% of the time, there is a person in the elevator who i may or may not remember ever seeing before who knows which floor i live on. people from little 3rd grade boys up to grandpa's who just kind of stare at me can push the button for my floor for me.
anyway, about the above questions, the only one i never answer is how much money i make, because i don't really want to get in a conversation about that. but i wonder if i should consider a bit more before i answer the last 3 questions! i don't know if it really matters or not.....
the other thing is that all this has got me thinking about how chinese people view my life. these are taxi drivers and tailors and bakers in little tiny shops who ask me these questions. and then i start thinking about what their life is like and then i think about what my life is like and also what they think my life is like. and then i think we should all just be so thankful for our lives in general. i need to live in thankfulness more. i tend towards pessimism. but why do i do that? maybe i look inward too much sometimes, which is not always bad, but maybe i should look up and around more before looking inward, and remember to be thankful. there are many good things. plus i feel pretty happy that i can have a conversation with someone i randomly meet, at least to a certain extent, if they don't speak super fast in dialect and refuse to slow down!
1. what country are you from?
2. where do you work?
3. what do you teach?
4. how much money do you make?
5. how old are you?
6. are you married?
7. do you have a boyfriend?
i have been wondering lately how honestly i should answer some of these questions. usually i think, it doesn't matter, i'll just tell them, because i'm probably never going to see them again (if they are a taxi driver), or if they are a small shop owner that i probably will see again, i don't really care if they know or not. the part that is a little weird to me is that the drivers who are not official taxi drivers who wait outside my apartment complex where real taxis are hard to find--those guys, who probably all know each other and talk to each other about the various foreigners they give car rides to--they probably all know where i work, how old i am, and that i am not married and have no boyfriend. they also probably all know that i play the cello, where my lesson is, and that it's on tuesday nights. i know this is true to a certain extent because if i get in one of their cars with the cello but i'm not actually going to my lesson, they try to take me to the place where my lesson is even if i try to tell them to go somewhere else!
it's also interesting that when i get in the elevator of my 35 story apartment building to go to my apartment, i think about 50% of the time, there is a person in the elevator who i may or may not remember ever seeing before who knows which floor i live on. people from little 3rd grade boys up to grandpa's who just kind of stare at me can push the button for my floor for me.
anyway, about the above questions, the only one i never answer is how much money i make, because i don't really want to get in a conversation about that. but i wonder if i should consider a bit more before i answer the last 3 questions! i don't know if it really matters or not.....
the other thing is that all this has got me thinking about how chinese people view my life. these are taxi drivers and tailors and bakers in little tiny shops who ask me these questions. and then i start thinking about what their life is like and then i think about what my life is like and also what they think my life is like. and then i think we should all just be so thankful for our lives in general. i need to live in thankfulness more. i tend towards pessimism. but why do i do that? maybe i look inward too much sometimes, which is not always bad, but maybe i should look up and around more before looking inward, and remember to be thankful. there are many good things. plus i feel pretty happy that i can have a conversation with someone i randomly meet, at least to a certain extent, if they don't speak super fast in dialect and refuse to slow down!
Well, that's one good thing to be thankful about: that you can have conversations with complete strangers in Chinese! Anyhoo, if you were giving out that kind of information here in the States, I'd be worried about someone breaking into your apartment or something, but I have no idea what the crime is like in China, and if that's a big concern out there. I'd assume not, but I tend to lean more toward the optimist, almost to a fault. I used to carry around a "thankfulness rock" in my pocket. Every time I put my hand in my pocket and felt it (which was quite often) I'd think of something I'm thankful for. Just a thought. :)
ReplyDelete-Stacey
Are any of your taxi drivers cute? Hook it up! Haha.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's so easy to stand out in a foreign country, and outside of the US people are way more open and curious. Lots of random people tried to talk to me in India, and I was told not to tell them anything. I got pretty good at having a conversation without giving any information, even when they ask for that information very directly. "Where are you from?" "Oh, we just came from this other city in India. It was really fun." Obviously he wanted to know I was an American, but I wasn't allowed to say that, haha. :)
ha! no usually the taxi drivers are just...taxi drivers. and even if they were attractive, we wouldn't be able to have much of a conversation beyond the six items mentioned above. so... =)
Deletei'm not in the same situation you were in in India, so in this case i don't think it matters so much if i give this type of information, and information i shouldn't give i don't even really know how to say, so it's probably all good. =)