Thursday, July 25, 2013

explain THAT.

This'll have to be quick.

We've had about 12 hours with our first visitor, L. I must say-- things are off to a great start! He is very easy to talk to, curious, helpful, and kind. There's been nonstop discussion ever since we picked him up, and I suddenly feel like I'm uneducated (or at least, unable to formulate coherent thoughts and explanations) about basically everything in America! In case you were wondering if there were any social, cultural, or political differences between China and America...let me be the first to tell you: there are. And if you want someone to really explain those...I'm probably not your girl. But I'm trying anyway!

Topics we've hit on already:

(Oh, and please note-- none of these were remotely contentious or 'debate'-ish, just very civil discussion/question answering. Lots of laughing and smiling throughout!)

1. Differences in educational systems/philosophies of China vs. USA. (I did okay here, give myself a B)

2. The 'gun culture' of/in America, including questions about how hard it is to get guns, where you get guns, how much they cost, and what kind of guns people are allowed to have. Oh, and why it was so important to the country's founders that they put it in our Constitution. (I struggled here with trying to present a balanced perspective. D.)

3. Related to #2, but slightly different: Hunting. Primarily: how do hunters not all kill each other accidentally. Thankfully I have a lifetime of living in Georgia and a redneck brother, so I was a little better prepared for this topic. A-.

4. Slightly related to #3- wild animals, and are there any in the woods in our backyard? (A+. Nailed it.)

5. Homelessness in America- why are there people sleeping on the porches of buildings, can they get jobs, does the government help them, will the police make them leave? (C, but since I'm pretty sure my bleeding heart was visible through my shirt, I'll bump myself up to a B+)

6. What does it mean that UGA is a "party school", what are parties, how do we feel about that reputation? (B.)

7. Population density of various places- for example, L said that he comes from a 'small town' in his province in China. Wikipedia reveals that his 'small town' has over 1.5 million people. We explained that that is larger than most of the 'big cities' in America. Then he wondered how many people were in Athens: 119,000. For giggles, we looked up how many people live in the city WE live in: a few over 2,000. He was dying laughing. I helpfully added that there are also 2,000 cows, so let's not discount that. (A+, since most of this discussion was aided by Google and Wikipedia)

8. Beaches of the East Coast, Florida, Mexico, and the Gulf- how far away from Athens they are, how good the beaches are (A+ I WAS BORN FOR THIS CONVERSATION) (except for when he asked WHY the beaches of south Florida/Mexico have clear blue water and the north FL/GA/SC beaches tend to have murkier, non-blue water...totally failed there. Magic was the best I could come up with, which isn't really impressive to people getting their PhDs in physics. F.)

All in all, we're off to a great start. Obviously I need to do some more research about...you know, everything in America, but other than that we're good. On the plus side, he declared both Matt and I to be 'warm-hearted,' complimented my cooking many times (it is the best food he's had in America!....so basically, I just beat out airplane food in a competition. YES!), decided that Lola is very smart, and said that the bed was very soft. I can only hope that those things count for more than my explanations about gun control, homelessness, and the fact that his cell phone bill will be 8x more expensive than it was in China ($6/month!!!!). 

21 comments:

  1. Crazy the topics that came up. I cannot imagine submerging myself in another culture entirely and trying to figure it out...I'd have a ton of questions. Thinking you and Matt make perfect tour guides of the USA!!! Enjoy!!!

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  2. So many interesting conversations in less than 24 hours! And it sounds like his English must be pretty darn good, as you said, if he is able to have conversations about those topics and actually follow along. When I lived in Spain, I tended to stick to the basics... like the weather. Ha!

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  3. Look at you! Warm-hearted AND a good cook. So I got in the car with Derek and Drew yesterday and realized that we both had khaki shorts and peach shirts and our sperry's on. Who is the first person I thought of? YOU!! :)

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  4. So funny! I don't know why the water is clear blue south and not so clear blue north either!

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  5. I'm so glad it's going well! It sounds very interesting and I'm looking forward to hearing more adventures with your new friends!! A lot of those topics I'd have a hard time explaining too haha. At school, I lead an english conversational group for a semester and they asked so many random questions and most of my anwers were like "ummm just because?".

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  6. A+ for tackling such difficult questions! The fact that he thought a population of 1.5 million qualifies as a small town is so funny. Here's a question for L: Where do they put all those people? Do they stack 'em up in cubbies? Just kidding, don't ask him that!

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  7. So I actually have a degree in International Studies but think I would be very unprepared for these questions... props to you for attempting to answer them :)

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  8. I love your answer to number 8. Magic is my go to answer for just about anything I do not have the answer to...which isn't much...because I am awesome! LOL!

    $6/month - I wish! Canada has come of the highest cell phone rates. I have an iPhone 5 and I'm hitting close to $100/month!

    Can I come to your house soon and be your Canadian student??

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  9. You sound like a great American! When we went to Costa Rica, we asked many of the same questions. It's funny how you expect a local to have all the answers. I was thinking, would I know this stuff if someone asked me. And as far as UGA being a party school...I love but alma mater but not so sure about sending my daughter there.

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  10. What interesting questions. And hilarious that his small town has more people than our state capital... even when you start adding in the "metro" area.

    Perspective.. what a glorious gift.

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  11. This makes me think of the citizenship tests that immigrants have to take to become a US citizen. I am pretty sure that I wouldn't be allowed to stay here if I had to take it.

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  12. Whoa... Did you your head hurt after all of that?!?! My favorite is the water... magic is the best explanation by far!

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  13. You did way better than I could for answering random questions about Canada. "Just because" would be my go-to answer and then I would have to give myself many Fs. Did you figure out your average American IQ score? ... Are you creating an Excel spreadsheet right now to do that?! :)

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  14. This was hilarious. It reminds me of being an ESL tutor for international students when I was in college. I answered a LOT of questions about weddings during the year we were engaged. And you may now be able to appreciate how thrilled I was when I got a student who wanted to meet with me twice a week to discuss episodes of Friends. Best. Student. Ever.

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  15. That's a great question! Why IS the water down in Mexico blue and crystal clear, but up north and in New England, it's all murky?!

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  16. This sounds like so much fun!!! Keep us updated cause this was an awesome and hilarious post! I just got back from China and we also chatted a lot about education, the role of the government, and gun control. They also asked about teh size of our hamburger portions, and I bet you can get a good score on that one if it comes up! Laughed out loud at my desk at this " Obviously I need to do some more research about...you know, everything in America"

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  17. You nailed it! I seriously would be a stuttering idiot if I was asked some of those questions. Quiet the inquisitive one you have living with you. Have fun and keep sharing!

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  18. What interesting topics! I would hope I would do okay if I were asked questions like that! I would do best with educational systems and hunting/wild animals (also because of a redneck brother and growing up in GA). I also believe it if because of magic that the Gulf water is clear blue. Excellent answer in my book.

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  19. I am glad you're telling us all this ... it's interesting & cool! I love it. :) And i think you did a great job answering his questions!! I wouldn't have known a few of them either! LOL.

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  20. This is awesome! My friends had a foreign exchange student from China once and he was a bit of brat, so it's nice to know that older students are representing China better ;) Also, I hardly ever comment on your blog because I have a lot of problems commenting from my iphone; not sure what's up with that...

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  21. Haha, love this! Well I told you already to your face, but if I were traveling to another country I would hope to stay with someone as awesome as you and Matt!

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