Decurso
Barfly
Things you own end up owning you
Posts: 581
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Post by Decurso on Oct 19, 2005 5:54:43 GMT 7
"They get 5 rmb haircuts and eat 5-10 rmb meals, exclusively Chinese. They usually don’t show a lot of contempt for those who want normal conveniences, but neither do they recognize the absurdity of their own actions. This kind of snob is specific to big cities, but is otherwise basically the same as the “Real China” snob"
I guess this is me...and I still don't see the absurdity.It's just sensible money management.I have to send money home and want to come away from here from savings.I don't miss western food or western bars enough to pay top dollar for it...and the food is great at the cheap dive restaurants I eat at.I ate at Pizza Hut once and came away feeling totally ripped off....AND one of the girls I ate with got sick from it.How ironic.
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Crippler
Barfly
Beware the conspiracy!
Posts: 345
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Post by Crippler on Oct 19, 2005 10:18:20 GMT 7
I don't give a flip what others do, where they choose to live, whether they are ex-pats or locals, or whether they choose to stay in the big city or travel the countryside. I really only care about doing what I want to do which includes living in small towns and sometimes travelling to the city or other areas to experience China. Wonder what kind of snob that makes me...  ?   |
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Post by Lotus Eater on Oct 19, 2005 11:13:29 GMT 7
"They get 5 rmb haircuts and eat 5-10 rmb meals, exclusively Chinese. They usually don’t show a lot of contempt for those who want normal conveniences, but neither do they recognize the absurdity of their own actions. This kind of snob is specific to big cities, but is otherwise basically the same as the “Real China?snob" I guess this is me...and I still don't see the absurdity.It's just sensible money management.I have to send money home and want to come away from here from savings.I don't miss western food or western bars enough to pay top dollar for it...and the food is great at the cheap dive restaurants I eat at.I ate at Pizza Hut once and came away feeling totally ripped off....AND one of the girls I ate with got sick from it.How ironic. With you on this one Decurso - but it is not so much money that makes me eat at the local holes in the wall - it is the good food and having the locals know me. Same with the hairdresser - it's the relationships. They laugh at (and help me with) my Chinese, they welcome my friends (Chinese or not) with additonal free dishes of food, they give me good prices on stuff. I am the 'this doesn't happen at home' type snob! |
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Post by Mr Nobody on Oct 19, 2005 16:29:20 GMT 7
I guess this guy just isn't our kind of person. I don't deal with people of his class.
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Ruth
SuperDuperMegaBarfly 
God's provisions are strategically placed along the path of your obedience.
Posts: 3,915
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Post by Ruth on Oct 19, 2005 16:38:37 GMT 7
Snob!! 
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Post by Mr Nobody on Oct 20, 2005 7:54:32 GMT 7
Guilty as charged.
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Post by con's fly is open on Oct 20, 2005 18:12:50 GMT 7
Okay, Guilty on the Toilet Snob charge. And devoutly a "I had the balls to move to China and you don't" snob, although that only comes up online.
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Post by Chips Downe on Oct 20, 2005 20:44:17 GMT 7
How about this for snobbery... how much of your salary do you give away each month? (Yeah, now I'm broke, but I know I've helped people, and it makes me feel good.)
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Post by con's fly is open on Oct 20, 2005 22:04:45 GMT 7
What salary?  But that's a good question: I don't know of any charities in Suzhou, let alone reputable ones. I'd like to help out... maybe a public school in the dingey part of town. |
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Post by Lotus Eater on Oct 21, 2005 9:46:37 GMT 7
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Post by hankuh on Oct 21, 2005 14:22:22 GMT 7
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Post by Lotus Eater on Oct 21, 2005 16:02:56 GMT 7
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Post by Mr Nobody on Oct 21, 2005 22:25:17 GMT 7
I believe in another philosophy. I get all the cash, mine and the wife's*. I do with it as I will.
*The wife has a radically different philosophy, but we don't need to go into that right now. She is standing too close and might read this.
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Wolf
Charter Member and Old Chum
Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.
Posts: 1,150
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Post by Wolf on Oct 31, 2005 6:23:01 GMT 7
Meh. If you're going to live in a country long term, then why not learn the langauge. Also, everyone seems to go on about how Chinese has the most speakers of any langauge in the world (more or less true for even just Mandarin, as far as I know), then is it any wonder that a laowai or two might move over to learn the lingo?
As to being a cheapskate, well why not? Paying 5 kuai for a perfectly good haircut, and having a 3 kuai bowl of noodles with a couple of your students is more sensible than snobbish.
The EFL expat community can be awfully self concious at times. I think too much so for our own good. Who CARES how we live? There's no set precedent (EFLing in even Japan only became popular in the late 1980s), so just follow your heart.
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Post by con's fly is open on Oct 31, 2005 20:47:35 GMT 7
Given my spending habits, I think having a stay-at-home wife watching the pursestrings would actually save me money.
And I'm with Wolf: savings in the bank, personal safety and creating opportunities to do what you want are the only important roles for money.
And charity. I suppose.
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Lager
SuperBarfly!
Posts: 1,081
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Post by Lager on Nov 4, 2005 4:01:25 GMT 7
I agree on budgeting but.......one of my pet peeves was laowai who want everything for pennies.
One person I almost killed was a co-worker. She bargained over something and got the price fromm 100 down to 30 or so---then at the last minute decided tp only pay 20. The Chinese just walked away---it was obvious she wanted the thing at less that cost---a waste of all our time.
I got to the point I found it humiliating to be around people like this---have a bit of class.
As for food yes often the cheap places are great-----but are they REALLY better than the pricey Chinese hotels. Honestly I;d prefer those (the sort of place "welcoming parties" are held in.) And cleaner........
In a way there is a "snobbishness" about seeing how little you can pay for things...
Ah well I'm done for the day ranting.
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Post by Lotus Eater on Nov 4, 2005 7:27:56 GMT 7
I think the food at the 'hole in the wall' places is way better. Firstly it is genuine local taste - not sweetened or 'de-spiced' for laowai. They are way too busy to even think about such things.
2ndly - if you go back to the same few restuarants often enough, you can establish relationships with the laoban and fuwuyuan and end up having a great time talking to them etc.
And then I also like street food - I love wandering down the street buying a taste here, another one there and just mingling with the liveliness of the street life at night. Sitting at at table in a hotel restuarant does not ahve the same education/entertainment factor at all.
And cheaper is better when you plan on living on your Chinese salary and save for travel!!
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Post by Mr Nobody on Nov 4, 2005 17:27:01 GMT 7
Cheaper is good, but I agree, wasting ten minutes on 10 rmb is a waste of bloody time.
I would rather have the ten minutes, and 10 rmb isnt' that important. Compromise is needed, I think.
I have no idea what other laowai do, since I know none outside of this forum.
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Post by con's fly is open on Nov 4, 2005 19:41:21 GMT 7
I'd rather someone else bargained for me. I suck at it.
I second Lotus: I end o hit the same places to eat/swill coffee, and he fact that I'm polite, friendly and clean, plus show a litle humility, yields their best service and food.
The snobbery label becomes circular afer a while: anyone who demonsrates standards, and rejects something because of them, could be shoehorned in. Hygiene snob? Personality snob? Literary snob? Etiquette snob?
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Post by Mr Nobody on Nov 6, 2005 20:20:06 GMT 7
"If you expect the best, you very often get it" Some damn rich dude.
There is truth in this, but doesn't mean you have to be a snob, either. I seem to get the best simply by asking, not demanding, in a polite and helpful way.
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Post by ilunga on Nov 7, 2005 13:39:55 GMT 7
You're all talking sense. You can't beat a bowl of pao mo or hu la tang for a tenth of the cost of an unsatisfying Pizza from the hut. I've got to scrimp as best I can nowadays student-style. It's nothing to do with trying to be hard-core.
Agree with Lager too. Some laowai need a good kicking, the way they try to barter. I won';t forget these three guys in a DVD shop. They spoke zero chinese (not even numbers) and had a girl translator with them, I felt sorry for her. They were buying five kuai DVDS and spent the best part of five minutes trying to get the price of six down from 25 kuai down to 24. Embarrassing!
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