Shopped 'til we Dropped

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This morning I went to BeiHai with Diana to meet up with her co-workers for a day in the park. We had visited the supermarket to get fixings for a picnic, so after walking around the lake and admiring the lotuses we rented a boat to ride around the lake and have our picnic. I have come to realize that the words of a language consist of only what is important to a culture. The Chinese have names for every part of the lotus plant and even know the names for peach blossoms. They keep asking me what various parts of different plants are called in English and I cannot answer their questions because I do not even think lotus grow anywhere in the United States and we certainly do not eat the various parts of the plant as part of our normal diet. As far as knowing the English words for different flowers, I think you have to be particularly interested in such things to know their names in the United States. But in China it seems knowing the names of plants is a normal part of their culture and language, not something that only a few that have made it their mission know.

For our picnic, Diana and I decided to bring something more western for the Chinese to try. One of the supermarkets near our dorm has a small "imports" section, so we found some Spanish green olives stuffed with salmon for them to try. All three of the Chinese tried them, it was something new for all of them. The faces they made were priceless when they first tried them. Now I think they can better appreciate how we feel when trying some of their foods! While they all thought the taste was very different from what they are accustomed they did eat a couple more olives and decided that they kind of liked them.

The boat ride was nice, as we each took turns steering. After we returned the boat we climbed up the hill to see some temples and then said our goodbyes to Diana's coworkers. Then Diana and I headed back to Wangfujing to get some shopping done. We actually got quite a bit taken care of, but were completely exhausted by 7pm. There are just too many people everywhere you turn. Even at BeiHai on the lake there were so many boats that we were just running into each other. It is even to the point that the Chinese feel lonely if they are not surrounded by lots of people. In two different conversations I was told by Chinese girls that had studied abroad for long periods of time, one in Geneva and the other in Stockholm, that they felt there were not enough people and that they were bored in these other cities. While I have never been to Geneva or Stockholm, I cannot imagine that they are small villages. How is come the Chinese never feel crowded?

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Comments

[Ma]

phrases
How is come? Now that is mid-western. Does everyone else understand that?

[jessica]

alone
I think "alone" is influenced by people you feel a part of. I would feel alone in a crowd of 1,000,000 six-foot blond models, or people speaking a language I don't know (West Virginia comes to mind!) I'm sure a native Swiss would feel comfortable in Geneva, but I can imagine myself feeling alone.

[Carla]

how is come?
How is come? I thought you misspelled or something! Is that a valid phrase? I think Justin might say it! It's too bad about the mall (next blog). You should market it for them!