Culture Clash In Seat 46C

The last time I flew to America from China I took Air China, which has a Chinese flight crew. This time I took United, which meant we had an American flight crew.

The young Chinese guy in the row ahead of me brought a lot of carry-on luggage, and I watched through culturally enlightened eyes the way the flight attendant tried to deal with him. She was being so American! And he was being so Chinese! She kept telling him that it wasn't fair for him to have three bags, because it meant that someone else wouldn't have space for their luggage. And he kept answering in a very Chinese way: "But my bags are already here, and they fit." And she kept right on with her very American line of reasoning that the fair thing to do is to check some of his bags. And he wouldn't give an inch, because he didn't see why he should. In China, if you're first, you win. And that's that. And I'm watching this go on for 5 or so minutes and I want to tell this woman, "You're in charge! Just tell him you're checking some of his bags. You're the boss. He won't challenge you." And sure enough, after about 10 minutes of this back and forth culture clash, she finally told him, "I'm checking this bag." And he didn't protest at all.

An appeal to fairness rarely works in China. Hierarchy and rank, these are the things people respect. There is no such thing as 'fair.' It means you have to shove your way onto a bus, but there is a certain freedom in things not being fair (when it's in your favor, that is. So learn to throw those elbows!). Being a teacher in China is just about the easiest teaching job in the world as far as discipline goes because your students pretty much fall in line with just a mean look. You're the teacher, you have the power. Early on I confiscated students' ringing cell phones and took them home with me for a few days. This got the message across, and I rarely had cell phone problems after that. In fact, there was a Chinese teacher who threw a student's cell phone out a fifth story window! I never had the guts to do that, but if I had, it would have been totally okay.

I wonder if next time, the flight attendant will just take the bag.

Currently reading: The Gita, translated by Irina Gajjar
Currently watching: Seinfeld reruns
Currently cooking: artichokes
Currently shopping online for: work clothes and a cool, not-too-formal briefcase-type bag

I need to rename this blog, but I'm not sure yet what it'll be. Stay tuned, so exciting!

NYC: Shopping and Shipping

Did you know that if you buy something in NYC and have it shipped out of state by the seller, there is no sales tax?  So instead of paying the tax, you can spend that money on ground shipping and save yourself the trouble of having to haul your purchases through the city, subway, airport etc. You'll have to wait about a week to get your stuff, but then you get the excitement all over again of discovering what you bought. 

I did this on one of my trips to NYC that was mostly about shopping (back when I had a job that made money). At each store, I just had my purchases shipped back home for a small fee, and I was able to spend a week in NYC with only a carry-on sized bag. I always travel by subway in NYC when I am there for pleasure, so having a small bag is very convenient. (When I went for work I had paid car service, but most of the time I was there for pleasure.)