Speaking Chinese, Racism and Bop It
Just for the record, I spoke Chinese twice yesterday during our shopping trip in Oxford. Twice.
The first time, we were in a sports shop trying to find some umbrellas (as two of ours are broken and the other two have been lost... by me... oops) in the bargain bin. There were loads of other things in the bin marked down to 19p, so even though most of them were useless, I was still looking. The person next to me, as he was also searching for a bargain, chuckled and said something to me about looking for cheap things. From his short utterance, I was almost certain he was Chinese, so I asked him, in Chinese, if he was Chinese. He laughed, not because he thought it was funny, but because (I assume) he thought I was speaking English and didn't understand me. So then I told him that Rich and I had lived in China and that we speak Chinese (again in Chinese) and then all of a sudden, it all clicked for him. "You speak Chinese!!" He was pretty excited, but mostly, just stunned. So we carried on shopping, said a few more things to each other, and then we had to go.
The second time was on the bus ride home from the city center. A man got on the bus and tried to use a ticket for a different bus company. The driver told him he couldn't use the ticket for the bus we were on. The man started arguing; someone told him he could use this bus- he didn't understand. After a few minutes of "negotiation", the guy sat down. The driver turned the bus off and told him if he doesn't get off the bus, we wouldn't move.
Rich yelled out to the guy, "Pengyou", meaning "friend" in Chinese, because we thought he was also Chinese and we wanted to help him. A woman, about our age, looked at Rich in disdain and told him to shut up. She had that look in her eye, like she thought Rich was being a trouble-maker.
The guy didn't move, and neither did the bus driver. So we walked up to the guy and explained to him in Chinese what was going on. We told him that he had to get off the bus, because otherwise we wouldn't move and that he shouldn't worry, we would help him find another bus. He still was a bit hesitant; it seemed like he was confused and that he felt like he was being treated unfairly. He asked us to talk to the bus driver and make him take him. We told him that the culture here is different than that in China; if the bus driver stops the bus and says you have to get off, you have to get off!! While this was going on, the woman that had told Rich to shut up, actually apologized to him and said, "I thought you were going to be racist."
In the end, Rich offered to buy a ticket for him; he refused and bought a ticket his own (why the bus driver didn't offer this in the first place, I don't know... they do tend to be pretty unhelpful), instead of getting on the bus he had the ticket for and the next stop was ours, so that was the end of that experience.
There were three things about that second experience that really made me think. The first was that it rarely happens when someone has a wrong impression of you in a situation like that on the bus and then in a few minutes, it can all turn around, and their impression can change... and you know it has. The woman thought Rich was being racist for yelling at an Asian man on the bus, when actually, he was just trying to help. The fact that we spoke Chinese (or to her, perhaps it was just 'foreign speak') seemed all too bizarre to her as well. We do have to give her credit for actually apologizing, though.
The second was that bus drivers could really use some compassion training. This is not the first time that there's been some kind of misunderstanding on the bus and the only answer from the bus driver has been, sorry, you can't take this bus. Rich and I spent two hours in London one night trying to get a bus back, only to find a bus that we had tickets for parked 200 meters from the bus stop. He was at a stoplight, it was 4 in th morning on a cold night, and we had the right tickets. Would he stop? No, he wouldn't even roll his window down to talk to Rich at first. Come on. On our way into Oxford city yesterday, a middle eastern (?) man tried to get on the bus with his bus pass or id or something, and the bus driver said, sorry, the photo doesn't look like you; I'm not taking you. He made him hold his hair back, move his head, etc., to try to identify him; again, it was raining (yes, it has actually started raining a bit more in England!!), could he not just have let him on the bus???!!! If bus drivers could at the very least tell the riders their options, like, sorry, this isn't the bus you are looking for; you need the U5 bus. If you wait a few minutes, it will be here... This seems especially important in an International city (like Oxford), where English is not the first language of many people...
The third thing was that I couldn't quite figure out why the Chinese guy was behaving the way he was. I was surprised that he didn't just get off the bus and say sorry. Most Chinese people don't really want to draw attention to themselves, right? I guess he was just so sure that he was right and that the bus driver was wrong that once he started arguing with him, he couldn't back down for fear of losing face?? My guess is that since he was headed to the hospital (which we found at when he finally bought his ticket) at 9pm on a Saturday night, he must have been in a hurry and that he had more important things on his mind than dealing with a bus driver like that...
What a strange day that was. Today, I get to start my third paper. The other two are finished... finally...only one more to go!! Yippee!!
Also, just for the record... On Christmas day, I thought I scored 290 on Bop It (a present from Jim and Claire). Well, I was wrong. Yesterday, I got a new high score- 250, so I guess I had only scored 219 that day... :( I don't think I had messed up either, so is 250 the highest score you can get?? Someone fill me in.
The first time, we were in a sports shop trying to find some umbrellas (as two of ours are broken and the other two have been lost... by me... oops) in the bargain bin. There were loads of other things in the bin marked down to 19p, so even though most of them were useless, I was still looking. The person next to me, as he was also searching for a bargain, chuckled and said something to me about looking for cheap things. From his short utterance, I was almost certain he was Chinese, so I asked him, in Chinese, if he was Chinese. He laughed, not because he thought it was funny, but because (I assume) he thought I was speaking English and didn't understand me. So then I told him that Rich and I had lived in China and that we speak Chinese (again in Chinese) and then all of a sudden, it all clicked for him. "You speak Chinese!!" He was pretty excited, but mostly, just stunned. So we carried on shopping, said a few more things to each other, and then we had to go.
The second time was on the bus ride home from the city center. A man got on the bus and tried to use a ticket for a different bus company. The driver told him he couldn't use the ticket for the bus we were on. The man started arguing; someone told him he could use this bus- he didn't understand. After a few minutes of "negotiation", the guy sat down. The driver turned the bus off and told him if he doesn't get off the bus, we wouldn't move.
Rich yelled out to the guy, "Pengyou", meaning "friend" in Chinese, because we thought he was also Chinese and we wanted to help him. A woman, about our age, looked at Rich in disdain and told him to shut up. She had that look in her eye, like she thought Rich was being a trouble-maker.
The guy didn't move, and neither did the bus driver. So we walked up to the guy and explained to him in Chinese what was going on. We told him that he had to get off the bus, because otherwise we wouldn't move and that he shouldn't worry, we would help him find another bus. He still was a bit hesitant; it seemed like he was confused and that he felt like he was being treated unfairly. He asked us to talk to the bus driver and make him take him. We told him that the culture here is different than that in China; if the bus driver stops the bus and says you have to get off, you have to get off!! While this was going on, the woman that had told Rich to shut up, actually apologized to him and said, "I thought you were going to be racist."
In the end, Rich offered to buy a ticket for him; he refused and bought a ticket his own (why the bus driver didn't offer this in the first place, I don't know... they do tend to be pretty unhelpful), instead of getting on the bus he had the ticket for and the next stop was ours, so that was the end of that experience.
There were three things about that second experience that really made me think. The first was that it rarely happens when someone has a wrong impression of you in a situation like that on the bus and then in a few minutes, it can all turn around, and their impression can change... and you know it has. The woman thought Rich was being racist for yelling at an Asian man on the bus, when actually, he was just trying to help. The fact that we spoke Chinese (or to her, perhaps it was just 'foreign speak') seemed all too bizarre to her as well. We do have to give her credit for actually apologizing, though.
The second was that bus drivers could really use some compassion training. This is not the first time that there's been some kind of misunderstanding on the bus and the only answer from the bus driver has been, sorry, you can't take this bus. Rich and I spent two hours in London one night trying to get a bus back, only to find a bus that we had tickets for parked 200 meters from the bus stop. He was at a stoplight, it was 4 in th morning on a cold night, and we had the right tickets. Would he stop? No, he wouldn't even roll his window down to talk to Rich at first. Come on. On our way into Oxford city yesterday, a middle eastern (?) man tried to get on the bus with his bus pass or id or something, and the bus driver said, sorry, the photo doesn't look like you; I'm not taking you. He made him hold his hair back, move his head, etc., to try to identify him; again, it was raining (yes, it has actually started raining a bit more in England!!), could he not just have let him on the bus???!!! If bus drivers could at the very least tell the riders their options, like, sorry, this isn't the bus you are looking for; you need the U5 bus. If you wait a few minutes, it will be here... This seems especially important in an International city (like Oxford), where English is not the first language of many people...
The third thing was that I couldn't quite figure out why the Chinese guy was behaving the way he was. I was surprised that he didn't just get off the bus and say sorry. Most Chinese people don't really want to draw attention to themselves, right? I guess he was just so sure that he was right and that the bus driver was wrong that once he started arguing with him, he couldn't back down for fear of losing face?? My guess is that since he was headed to the hospital (which we found at when he finally bought his ticket) at 9pm on a Saturday night, he must have been in a hurry and that he had more important things on his mind than dealing with a bus driver like that...
What a strange day that was. Today, I get to start my third paper. The other two are finished... finally...only one more to go!! Yippee!!
Also, just for the record... On Christmas day, I thought I scored 290 on Bop It (a present from Jim and Claire). Well, I was wrong. Yesterday, I got a new high score- 250, so I guess I had only scored 219 that day... :( I don't think I had messed up either, so is 250 the highest score you can get?? Someone fill me in.
posted by C Hill at 10:36 AM
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