Hi Friends and Family,
I'd like to share my thoughts about my first day of training. I hope you enjoy them, but don't fail to see the deeper meaning embedded.
Top 10 Things I Didn't Know Yesterday That I Know Today
10. Motorbikes and traffic look as dangerous from the side of the road as they do from the back of one.
9. It's customary to honor the guest at dinner by presenting them with the head of the bird. The entire bird is cooked.
8. You can pass the head of the bird to the host by complimenting him/her two times. That is important. It's one thing to eat pigeon, another to eat the pigeon's head.
7. When a Chinese child comes up to you and starts walking or a family stops you in the street, it's because they want to practice English with you.
6. If you feel like Chinese people are staring at you when you are in their city, they are. Most don't meet too many Americans. I now empathize with our minority populations. Very humbling.
5. You can watch "Mission Impossible" starring Tom Cruise in English with Chinese subtitles in China.
4. Students don't learn phonetics (phonics) until middle school, yet have English classes beginning in first grade.
3. If you eat everything on your plate, they give you more.
2. If you leave food on your plate, they think you haven't eaten enough. Thus, it's a fine line.
1. The secret to chopsticks is to use wooden chopsticks; plastic ones are too slick, and if you are left-handed, they try to make you eat with your right hand by telling you that you are doing it wrong. (Flash backs to elementary school and cutting circles with right handed scissors because the teacher insisted).
