...And thanks for all the fish

Well today is Thanksgiving Day and what a rainy crappy day it is! I’m still recovering from this stupid sinus infection that is sending snot everywhere (hey, I'm in China now - and its not like I showed ya pictures - *gross*). Its cold outside and miserable – so why shouldn’t I stay inside today! Well because I’ve been inside for the last 3 days and I’m *dyin’* here! So I forced myself to get up and go to my Chinese lesson (after 2 days of antiobiotics, I should (and am) feel(ing) a little better).

So instead of me learning something new to say, the first hour of my lesson Apple and I talked about Thanksgiving and Halloween and Communism versus a Democracy. In the end, her take away lesson learned was what “Pig Out” means. As in… “Tracy and Will are starving themselves all day long because we are going to “pig out” tonight at the Marriot for our Thanksgiving Feast with 16 other expats.” Just great - what else could I teach her. Couldn't she at least have brought the themes together and say George Bush is a pig (I'm still waiting to be struck down by lightning). How’s that for international communication.

I was impressed that she was willing to talk about my censorship experience on CNN – with the whole Tibet issue. So I dug a little deeper – why doesn’t the Chinese government want you to know about Tibet?? (I play stupid like I”ve never seen a “Free Tibet” bumper sticker anywhere). She actually knows – Chinese think that they will have border problems and Tibet will have problems so why would they want to be independent? And one party in charge – it gets things done – like any easy decision to build a subway. So I ask – well what if you want that money to go toward better healthcare than the subway. She shrugs. At least something gets done (One point for Communism). I asked if she has ever voted. She said once while at the University, but it is basically a card with a bunch of names – no campaigning and no info about any candidates. For most people it is difficult to go somewhere to vote – ie they don’t publicize it (imagine that). Besides, two parties just didn’t work in China she says – see what happened between Mao and Chiang (as in Chiang Kai Shek). Interesting.

Next topic (thanks Apple for the segue) – Taiwan. Oh if you only knew the touchiness of these subjects in this town – but she didn’t flinch. She explained why the Shanghainese didn’t like the Taiwanese (they are supposedly stingy because the Taiwanese companies in Shanghai pay their employees less). Oh is that all? I thought maybe it was because they have their own little democracy down there that the Chinese government isn’t too happy about. Silly me.

In the end, my take away lessons included 1. learning my numbers up to a million, 2. how to say "Micheal’s dog is on his right side" (very helpful I might add) and 3. that both Communist and Democratic governments each have their own problems. Gosh, who knew Chinese would be this easy! NEXT!