苹果
It’s tough to write from the internet bar. There are plenty of reasons to avoid the filthy internet bars, ranging from the stale smoke-filled air to inconvenience of having to walk 30-minutes from my house (each way) to the only internet bar that is satisfactory for me. Instead of quickly checking email, deleting spam, and otherwise having no messages, a visit to the internet bar is a 2- to 4-hour commitment that requires I try to catch up on what has happened in the outside world. If I try to chat with friends far away, or use Skype (currently my only vehicle for making long-distance calls), my visit takes even longer. The internet bar is a fine spot for travellers, but for daily interraction with the outside world it is far from suitable.
Tonight, I turned around to listen to two guys talking about me. I had been listening to a video when the cool breeze of a fan moved. I turned around to see what was happening and I only caught the words “加拿大人” (Canadian) while two boys were turned looking at me as they discussed me, obviously thinking I can’t understand their words.
It’s hard to know exactly how they know where I’m from, because no question seems to be off limits. Questions from university students and random locals usually centre on whether you like Chinese food, Chinese girls, your nationality, and any other detail of your life that pops into the mind of the interrogator. Even Chinese basketball superstar Yao Ming was recently mentioned in the China Daily as saying how there is no topic off limits in the locker-room with his fellow countrymen, but he had to learn there were certain topics off limits with his American teammates, because other cultures have different privacy boundries. I don’t have much problem with this, except that it’s annoying when I purposly come to the internet bar for the chore it has become. There’s simply nothing fun about writing a travelogue in a place that is inconvenient and uncomfortable.
I spent this past weekend in Beijing and made a big purchase intended to remove myself from the ritual of the internet bar: I bought a laptop computer. Less than 24-hours after my purchase, I arrived in my Nanchang apartment where the keyboard ceased to function. It is a hardware malfunction and I will have to pay to ship my laptop to Shanghai for repair.
Normally I detest laptops. They are not scalable like desktop computers. They lose value quickly. The components are specially engineered and thus have less market pressures to be price competitive compared to desktops — that translates to “freakin’ expensive” for non-economists. Since my goal is to stay in Asia to study both Chinese and Korean language, I had to concede to the fact that I can’t travel every year with a giant computer in tow.
I suppose this is all to say that once I have a computer I can write more often. So it might be another week or two (hopefully not longer than that) until I can return to writing regularly.
October 27th, 2006 at 4:27 am
I am glad that you return to write in your website again. I understand you that you feel uncomfortable when you’re asked the same questions by other people in the internet bar. I believe that most of them are kind guys. They asked just out of curiosity. So you don’t need to care about them, just take it for fun. If they bother you, just forget it.
It is a pity that your laptop computer was out of function. I think the notebook PC is very convinent although it is much expensive than the desktop computer. You can take it with you whenever you go. And with it you needn’d go to the internet bar regularly. so you can wirte your experience on your website and talk with your long-distance friends everyday.
i look forward to see your next coming, good luck to your laptop computer!
October 28th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
Why is the topic “苹果”?
October 29th, 2006 at 7:16 am
Jordan: My computer is an Apple (苹果).
Caroline: I totally agree with you. These people are curious. Many are very kind and respectful. It is still not fun to live life always being watched. Just a moment ago a man held his webcam to point at me while he talked about me to his friend. Every movement I make, every step, every word (in English or Chinese), everything I buy or look at, is being watched and talked about by people around me. Unless I’m in my house, I have no personal space. Every foreigner experiences this in Nanchang, unless they look Asian; for example, people always think my Japanese friend is Chinese. My Chinese friends and my foreign friends that look Asian are always amazed at what it is like to walk with me.
November 15th, 2006 at 10:17 am
[...] Recently I mentioned on this website about different privacy boundaries held by North Americans and Chinese people. The students of my oral English class think it’s pretty funny that western women would keep their age a secret, let alone lie — even jokingly — that they’d been 30 for the past 10 years. It seems equally amazing to me that a total stranger would ask me about my salary. [...]
July 5th, 2007 at 3:19 am
Justin, it is not just Nanchang that everybody watches your every move. In Tianjin people would follow me through grocery stores to see what I buy, EVERY time I got into a taxi it would be a conversation - even when it is too early in the morning.
This lack of privacy is just a fact of life for any foreigner throughout most of China. It was part of the reason that I went home after two years, I wanted the option to just disappear and fade into the background.
Anyways, I’ve started reading your Blog again so update more often!