So, since being in China, I've learned many many MANY new Things. I find(and have always found) the chinese Culture very interesting. I thought I knew about chinese Culture befoure I came here. I mean you Guys know how often I went to the Asia World Market on Legacy Dr. Oh how wrong I was. There were a lot of Things when I came here that surprised me! So many Things are very different here, and I had(and still have) a lot to learn. Some Things disgusted me, some Things even scared me. But, there are many Things that still impress me, even after being here for a while and getting used to it.
For an Example: You know when you go to a chinese Shop in a America and the shop Clerk follows you around the Shop, and it's a bit annoying, because it's like they are following you to make sure you don't steal anything? Well, I have good News!! This is a very common Misconception, actually! It's just a Part of their Culture. In China, when I first went into a Shop and they followed me, I thought, "Are you kidding me?? If they're going to stalk me in every Shop, I'm going to get tired of that very quickly". In Fact, in China, they do follow you around in every Shop. I asked my Friend, "are they following us because I'm a Foreigner and they think I'll steal?", he giggled and told me, "NO NO NO, they are following us because they want to help us if we need something." I was happy to hear that, and I soon started noticing that there were Employees all around the Store, almost as if they were stationed somewhere, waiting to help everyone. They were following even the chinese People, so I didn't feel so singled out then. So, when they are following you around the Shop, they just want to help you if you have any Questions or Concerns.
The Service Industry here is always very impressive. When you go to a Restaurant for Example, if they are full, they will go find another Table and some Chairs somewhere, anywhere, and set you up a Table to sit at. As a Matter of Fact, no Matter where you go, they always find a Seat for you and say, "請,坐下"(Qing, zuoxia), or, being that most of them think I don't know any Chinese(Or they just wanna accomodate as best they can), they will say, "Sit down puhleez!". Also, in the Restaurant, they will stand at your Table and help you out with the Menu. I don't mean like if you can't read it. I mean, you can say Things like, "Is this one good?", or, "How is the Chow Mein here?" They do NOT accept Tips. I sometymes leave a little 1 yuan Coin under a Bowl or something, so they can discreetly pick it up and slip it into their Pocket. But I only do this at the poorer family-owned Restaurants. If you don't wanna be embarrassed, do NOT leave a Tip in the franchised Restaurants! They will chase you down the Street(literally, it happened to me once) and give it back to you. If they accept the Tip, they risk their Job and their Reputation. In the family-owned Restaurants, I think it's ok if you hide it. If someone sees, they might blush a little and leave it on the Table, but they know what it is, and they aren't going to make a big Deal out of it.
If you go to the Supermarket, I mean the huge ones like Carrefour or something, they aren't going to follow you around. It's too big, easily 3 * Super Wal-Mark's Size. But when you go into Clothing Shops, or even the Clothing Department at Places like Carrefour, they are just as helpful as any other Place. If you don't know your Size, they can just put their Hands on your Waste and immediately know which Size. The first Tyme this Phenomenon happened to me, I was greatly surprised and amased. The Service Industry of China is trained extremely well.
I was in Haikou the other Day riding the Bus(which also helpful, they will drop you off wherever you need to go, just let the Driver know, AND it's only 1 Yuan!) and I saw a Group of Waitresses being trained for a new franchised Restaurant opening up. They were lined up like Soldiers being inspected with an Instructor giving them a Lesson. They were even doing Pushups at one Point!! They want their Women/Girls in the Service Industry to be petite and look very nice for the Company. The Nurses at the Pharmacies and Hospital do mandatory Exercises(Taichi) every Morning befoure the Shops open/befoure the Nurses' Shifts change.. It's quite interesting to me.
Some Vocabulary Words from this Passage in Chinese:
1) Culture - 文化(wenhua)
2) Restaurant - 餐館(canguan)
3) Nurse - 護士(hushi)
4) Waitress - 女服務員(nufuwuyuan)
5) Supermarket - 超市(chaoshi)
6) Job - 工作(gongzuo)
7) Reputation - 名譽(mingyu)
8) Exercise - 鍛煉(duanlian)
9) Taichi - 泰籍(taiji)[I'm not exactly sure about this one]
10) Pharmacy - 藥房(yaofang)
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