Chinese Mannerisms

China is on the other side of the world for a reason. They do things quite differently from us "westerners." This blog is not to complain about it at all, in fact this blog is just to talk about the differences. Some of them are funny, and some are interesting. These are things I have known almost since day one in China, but haven't done a blog about yet. Today is the day! I have a video of some of the things because it is very difficult to explain them in written words. Cathy, one of Stan's students will be helping me with this by exhibiting these mannerisms. The other things, I can just explain by writing. I showed this video in my class this week. I taught about differences in culture. They enjoyed it...I hope you do to!



Thanks for helping, Cathy!

I just have 2 more things and they are easy to explain. When a Chinese student, or Chinese friend calls me, I will touch the green answer button and before I can place the phone to my ear, I will hear, "-llo? Hello? Juliane? Hello? Hello?" Then I finally get the first chance to say hello and the conversation continues. Any Chinese person I have ever spoken with on the phone has never waited for me to say hello first. haha! It's so funny!

Last but not least, I think maybe even my friends and family know this in America about Chinese people. They claim no personal area around them to be their own. ei: They ain't got no bubble! :) There are so many people in China, they can't have a bubble. They get used to being around a lot of people, so when they do have a lot of free space, they don't use it to it's fullest, like American's do. For example, in class when I break them up into groups, maybe there are 5 girls in a certain group. There are 4 chairs/desks bolted together in one row in the classroom. Instead of using the row behind them, they might all 5 squeeze into the 4 chairs available. There might be a whole row they could use, but they will gladly, with no protest share the 4 chairs. I mean, they are all small (skinny) enough to do it with ease, so I guess they think Why not? Well that about sums it up. I'm sure there are some things I am leaving out, but I just wanted to focus on the physical mannerisms they do differently.

I hope you enjoyed the video and reading about the differences in culture! Thanks for reading and don't forget to think about me in China! I love you all!