Really?!?? AKA, Cultural Mishaps in China, They Will Happen

After judging a speech competition all morning at a school that is not my own, I was asked to hand out the second place prizes. They also asked some other teachers, but I missed the details because they only gave them in Chinese and I didn’t understand everything. I was only supposed to hand out 4 of 12 prizes. But the prize girl kept handing me certificates, so I kept handing them out, while the audience laughed at me. I didn’t know what was going on, so I just kept going until someone stopped me. Later, I was interviewed for the school news, on video, and the girl interviewing me asked me this question:

Random Girl: “When you made the mistake and everyone was laughing at you, what did you feel inside?”

Really, random girl? Really? On camera you ask me this? Really?


Two years ago, this would have devastated me. Now, I just have to laugh and say, “Oh well! Such is life in China.” Cultural mistakes will be made. It happens.

For the record, I told her I felt that it is maybe good to tell a foreigner what you want them to do, but now I have learned the custom for handing out prizes. That’s not actually what I was thinking, mine had a few more curse words in it, but I felt that was the appropriate thing to say. Sorry, not a textbook Peace Corps volunteer here!