Sunday, November 8, 2009

Poop

So tomorrow I have another unit test in my Chinese comprehensive class. That means I have a lot of flashcards to go through! We learn a lot of new vocab every week and sometimes it's hard to keep up. But so many of the international students don't even care and just skip classes and never do the homework. There have already been three students who have been kicked out of all the classes for not coming for over a third of the classes already. I just don't understand if you are paying to study abroad that you wouldn't actually have interest in what you are coming for. Many of the international students are only interested in learning Chinese on the streets and don't care to read or right the characters. I mean, it's not the funnest thing to do and it's challenging, but it also has meaning and it expands you're ability to use Chinese in the future. Well, whatever. Not my problem.
Sense of time has been frustrating me lately. Just the fact that I like to be punctual and for the most part on time for whatever. But that definitely does not apply to everyone and can really waste a lot of time in a person's day. Words can also have very different meanings when moving from one culture to another. For example, if you say you are going to be there soon, it translates into at a least an hour and a half later. And when you say you are coming, that translates into 30 minutes minimum. It's really quite frustrating because then you have to reset a watch in your mind to try and predict and re-plan the time you will ask someone to meet you. But punctuality is really not a word in some people's vocab. I just don't know how I would get through a day when I knew I was making people constantly wait for me. I would at least feel a slight sense of apology.

1 comment:

  1. Jaye - Hello from Minneapolis. Great Posts! I am going to sound like a complete xenophobe, but i would not have called the chinese polychronic. my bad. Kristin Swanson

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