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Post by ChinaGurl on Jan 11, 2005 23:26:04 GMT 7
What do you think of this statement?! True or false?
"No matter who you are or what you've done in the rest of the world, the second you arrive in China you are the same as any other westerner here. Stumbling around, seeking the correct way to get along, learning about the culture, learning the language. We all become babies again. None are exempt."
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jan 11, 2005 23:33:11 GMT 7
True on some levels, perhaps. However, we are not all the same...some of us tend to land on our feet better than others. I also suspect that one can adapt somewhat to culture shock with experience...
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Post by ChinaGurl on Jan 11, 2005 23:43:46 GMT 7
What I'm referring to is more... credentials and qualifications. For example, having a university degree or two doesn't mean you'll be able to adapt any better to the lifestyle or the customs than someone who doesn't.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jan 12, 2005 1:16:00 GMT 7
Ah. In that case, I think it's true. Not much you can learn in a classroom that will prepare you for this, really. Sometimes people with degrees can sort of think in a straight line. This is not necessarily an asset in China.  |
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woza17
SuperDuperBarfly! 
Posts: 2,203
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Post by woza17 on Jan 12, 2005 9:52:51 GMT 7
I am not sure if this is related China but on sunday i went to a winter camp demo and the other FT told me that he tells his students to not see the FTs as representative of western countries they are usually running away from something or they have a lot of problems. Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, should I have protested (was he including me in this statement). I thought I was running towards something. The FT has been here for all on 3 months.
He also went on to say that he doesn't like or trust any of the foreigners in our compound.
OK, what is puzzling me is I can't think of a suitable reaction.
How would you have reacted?
Confused
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tom
Upstanding Citizen
Posts: 124
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Post by tom on Jan 12, 2005 10:08:54 GMT 7
As a firm advocate of confrontation and communication, I believe you should have kicked his butt right then and there. What limited compassion!!! ( I suspect ). You should suggest he hurry back home and teach his bretheren the pleasures of being more like himself'
imho
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woza17
SuperDuperBarfly!
Posts: 2,203
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Post by woza17 on Jan 12, 2005 10:57:26 GMT 7
China in answer to your question. I have always felt quite at home here. The hardest part for me was to know what was expected of me and once I realized what was wanted, it has been quite a smooth road .
Tom I hate confrontation, going back to when I was 6 years old. ( I then used to just hit anyone that annoyed me)
The guy is a wanker and I never have to see him so I can safely put him from my mind and on some levels I have to agree with him I have been burnt quite a few times here by FTs.
Just recently one of the FTs was going to Hong Kong so I asked him could he buy me a couple of books that was 5 weeks ago and when I callled him to ask about the books, apparently they were stolen while he was having his lunch. Which is complete bullpoo this is a person who I have taken out for dinner had him to my Xmas dinner party (he actually brought along a tupperware container, empty of course)
I even bought the guy dental floss because he couldn't find any.
Both of the above profess to be Christians, well the later is a Messianic jew which would make him Christian in my book.
There is a lot of bitchiness and gossiping with the expats here and I was warned against a woman here not to have anything to do with her but if you tell me not to do something I will invariably do it. She has turned out to be one of the nicest people I have ever met and I am dam sure that everyone knows it.
It is a long rave and probaly off topic but I do feel the better for it.
Cheers
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tom
Upstanding Citizen
Posts: 124
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Post by tom on Jan 12, 2005 11:48:03 GMT 7
Waz, I don't seek out confrontation, but I face it when it rears it's ugly head, and things are said or done that go so much against the grain of every ideal I've ever been taught or taught myself. Some people say things or preform actions that are so blatantly ignorant and mean that I have to confront them. Your fellow FT seems to be a case in point. Lucky you, to get such sound advice from a never been in China banjo picker.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jan 12, 2005 22:10:01 GMT 7
He may have not yet been to China, but Tom's absolutely right: kick the bastard square in the nuts.
Among many other things, the guy is undermining your (and our) credibility in the classroom. We have precious little anyway, and don't need this loser filling the students' pointed little heads with this kind of poo.
My experience has been that the students are pretty good at eventually figuring out who the real losers are all by themselves...
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Post by hankuh on Jan 13, 2005 8:03:12 GMT 7
Inexcusable! This sorry sack of pig poo arrives and immediately gets on his little soap box ready to dis his foreign teachers just to ingratiate himself to the young uns.
You want to take the tweeb outside, grab his throat with your left hand, his crotch with your right hand, and squeeze both hands at the same time and see which parts break first.
Anyway, the sad thing is if you do confront the guy in a reasonable, logical, rational manner, he probably is such an arrogant dimwit, he would just make you more angry.
Eventually, as said before, you do your work, and let him do whatever the hell he is trying to do.
I think the good will triumph over whatever he is trying do, and if he ask you for a favor, just look at him and laugh and walk away.
I actually have a very similar situation going on this past semester with Dumbass. He too is new, and a know-it-all, not to mentioned a depraved jerk.
I just go my way, and he goes his way.
If he wants to jabber about me to students, bad mouthing me, whatever, I figure those students can determine what kind of person he is; although I truly want to break out a can of whoop ass and put him in the lovely hospital here, it would be against my greater interests.
You have to weigh the momentary emotional satisfaction with the long-term. Go for the long term.
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Post by ChinaGurl on Jan 13, 2005 11:16:24 GMT 7
When I came to China, I had no expectations. I just knew it was going to be different than anything I'd ever experienced.
I think that I was referring to having a little humility.
By the way, the above quote was the last in a series of e-mails to Uriel Wittenberg. I think the saga is over; I seem to have tried his patience, apparantly by pointing out that he is the worst kind of teacher: the kind who tries to motivate his students to learn by making them feel dumb. He did it at CFAU, he did it to me.
On a lighter note, I won by having the last word, and squeezing in that I think he's a supreme asshole.
I know it's unrelated to the rest of the post, but I wanted to put it here anyway.
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woza17
SuperDuperBarfly!
Posts: 2,203
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Post by woza17 on Jan 16, 2005 12:17:33 GMT 7
Thanks people, feel a lot better. I actually went to Hong Kong and bought the books myself and am halfway through The Dragon Lady, same author that wrote The Soong Sisters. Fascinating book, I was going to keep it till the holidays but I am the same with chocolate, no willpower.
In 100 years not much has changed as regard the expat communities.
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