Can You Use Chopsticks?

I get asked if I can use chopsticks fairly regularly. I get asked this even by people who know that I've been in China for more than six months. Ken's response is "I'm alive aren't I," meaning that if we couldn't use chopsticks their'd be no way to live in China. I can't quite tell if the question is meant to convey they are surprised that an outsider would have any grip on Chinese culture or if they just assume that I am retarded. Of course I'm not as handy with chopsticks as someone who has been using them their entire life but I'm also not incredibly stupid, it's just not that hard. Mostly though I think it reflects an attitude that I've seen in other things where Chinese people are stunned if you can do anything Chinese. My very poor ability to speak Chinese is constantly praised as hardworking, when in fact on studying Chinese I'm anything but. People are amazed I can travel or really do anything else in China. Maybe it's the lack of much real contact with foreigners. If you grow up only subsumed in one culture the ability to be part of any other must seems very difficult. In fact I often think that's the single most important thing I do as a teacher is to introduce the students to some, any, aspect of American culture.

I don't really want to continue what I was talking about last entry, I've said all I have to say, but this e-mail I got from Teddy, a devoted reader of this blog, is just too funny to pass up:

Hello Danthemanstan,

Hope you had recovered from your stomach sickness.

Thanks to Liz’s blog, that I realized that you guys were taking advantage of me; and thanks to your blog, that I found that I had to support you to continue to take advantage of me unconditionally. I remember I wrote to Dave once and said:” just give me an order”. I think working in this position, order to me simply is not something "ignorant and vaguely offensive", but something can create an opportunity to cooperate and understand between each other. I’m like all of you, hope to get feedbacks for what I’m doing here. So I think an order is much better than no communication at all. Probably if I tell Liz that you and Ken would like to stay here for another year then she will have some new ideas. I’ve talked to Ken, Dave and Amy about this one week ago. That’s not a big deal. Take it easy! I’ve talked to Connie so she will send all of you a formal letter about the arrangement for May Day vocation, unfortunately still three days in total. Just continue your blog in an "ignorant and vaguely offensive" way. I love it! Take care!

Teddy

-people being taken advantage of

Teddy mentions that I was sick. Even though my stomach has adjusted to the food for the most part I must have eaten something strange last week, not that that narrows it down much, because last Wednesday my stomach was killing me. It felt off for a few days after that too but I've felt better in the last couple of days. He also talks about May Day. We have three days off for May Day unfortunately they're a Friday, a Saturday, and a Sunday, so we won't really be able to go anywhere. I'm still interested in going to Korean, but I think I'll wait for a good deal on airfare. I have to give a speech on western culture next Monday and I still don't know what to talk on, I think Brian is doing music and Ken did intellectual property. So I'm open for any suggestion in the comments section. I can use Power Point but I'd prefer not to.

P.S.
I'd also like to send people over to Ken's blog, linked on the left hand side for an incredibly funny post about a homework assignment he got from one of his students.