The tallest nail gets hammered down.

Part of the complex philosophy of the Chinese, don't stand out.

So how will this society become the world power it wants to be?...... because of it's numbers......
China 1.3 billion people. America 300,000 million. I really don't know.

"Losing face" is another ingrained cultural philosophy. It means to be be embarrassed or to make someone embarrassed. Consider this - asking a question embarrasses you because you don't know the answer and if you ask someone a question and they don't know the answer you have embarrassed them. So you don't ask someone a question unless you know they know the answer. Huh?

The word for "question" in Chinese is "problem".......however there are no problems in China. This sounds sarcastic but it has been this way forever.

Interestingly, Mao (of the Mao Tse Tung /Cultural revolution) wrote a letter to his people in 1963, about 8 years after he was in power, and asked them to tell him what he could do better. This was a set up, once all the literate responded, about 40,000 or more, were rounded up and shot or put in prison.

So it is feared if you question anything you will be shot/fired from your job/in some sort of trouble. Can you imagine how my classes are going?

The kids have learned from their parents, who grew up in this terrible time.

I have begun week of 4 of teaching and it is going well, in spite of these challenges. I have had some hits and misses but I am having more hits now. Here is a picture of one of my classes, I took it during a break.I am so busy these days, teaching, taking Chinese lesson classes and just getting through daily life. The Chinese lesson classes are HARD. I mean really HARD. The pronunciation of the Chinese letters are 'song' like but the actual words are hard sounds. I ask you, if you are learning the sound of a letter shouldn't we learn it as we will use it? No no I am told, this is the sound of the letter and here is the sound of the word. Just to make it more interesting every word has four tones or sounds. So you learn the word jiang and then the 4 tones. What does jiang mean? No idea.But I have to learn the 4 tones before we can move on. You see each tone of jiang has a different meaning. And the tones are so subtle. Yeah this is a hard language.

I did manage to get out and buy a new briefcase/bag for work. I needed one that was made of synthetic material, my leather one was about to get ruined. Everything here is dirty and gross! A plastic type material can be wiped clean, won't get ruined with water and can be banged around without care. But I did get a nice fakey fake Prada! What fun shopping.
The lovely shop girl started her pricing at 1,800 yuan = $264.70 I decided immediately that I did not want to do business with her. This thought process has a flaw as every single one of the shop keepers who see a western face automatically go for the highest price and hope you don't know any better and will pay it. This is also a culture of negotiation. It is expected. As I walked away she said: ok ok you are my first customer today so lucky price for you. 1,500 yuan = $220.59. Not interested. As I am walking away she begins screaming - yes, screaming like a witchy housewife, - ok ok 1,000, ok ok, 500, ok ok, best price 230 yuan = $33.80. Now we are in my price range for a bag. She then swore it was leather....can you say pleather! What do you think?

Weather has cleared up finally, 4 days in a row sunny and warm. We had 4 weeks of rain and grey. It is so nice to see the sun. One evening after a gloomy day I decided a face mask with some aroma therapy built right in was in order. As you can see I also bought a 'lifting' face mask. Not sure why, I don't think I am sagging just yet in the face. Oh, well couldn't hurt.I bet you probably wanted to see a picture of me not quite so fettered. Fear not!
Lisa will be here in 3 weeks and we will be traveling to Beijing to see the Great Wall of China and some other wonderful sites. I hope to post all kinds of pictures of our time with her. Stay tuned.