Monday, October 16, 2006

Adventures in China

This past week in China was much more low-key as I was able to spend time with great friends from Houghton. While Amy was teaching, Rachel and I went exploring.

Want to draw a crowd in China? Let a couple of white kids make a sand castle on the beach.












While going for a hike, we came across a small waterfall. There was a group of people down on the rocks and they told us to come down. We thought, "This will be a nice place to sit and have lunch... we shouldn't be in their way and they won't be in ours."

When we got down on the rocks, the whole group applauded!!! They had been waiting for us!!!

We came to find it was a university tourism class on a field trip. They began to grill us with questions about our hobbies, how we liked China and if we had girl/boyfriends. One student confessed this was the first time he had ever spoken to foreigners.

It was VERY FUN!!!! It'll be tough to come back to Canada/USA where no one applauds for my arrival.















Found above an urinal.

I don't know what it means, but I think it should be found above all urinals!

5 comments:

rebequinha said...

Wow, that is priceless...I guess civilization = urinals, huh? (I guess that means I'm uncivilized, then...*grin*)

On another note, aren't you glad you're staying in Asia for a while longer? So you can be applauded and cheered wherever you go? :)

Anonymous said...

I'll applaud for you, Noel! And I know some other admission counselors who will definitely do so, too :)

Tim

Whitfield said...

grins I've been bitterly disappointed since being home some 24+ hrs. NO ONE has applauded me. Or asked me if I'd marry them (actually, that never happened while I was in Asia. Thankfully!!). Or stood in a circle around me, openly and unabashedly curious at what I was doing. :)
I most definitely miss our joint cross-cultural experiences. grins

Anonymous said...

Regarding your unusual urinal pic...

A literal translation of the Chinese is, "Move forward one step, walk toward civilization." The word for "civilization," wenming, can also be translated "civility" or "courtesy." The idea is probably, "Be courteous by standing close to the urinal when you pee"-- so the next guy doesn't have to step in your product.

Thought you'd like to know!

Noel said...

Thank you mystery blog translator!!!