The Chinese seem to have very few reservations when it comes to smoking. Even right under the signs that say NO SMOKING even in the elevators. Maybe especially in the elevators. It seems they think it a courtesy to go to the restroom to smoke if they are in a building. But even then they don't bother to throw the butts in the urinals or the toilets. They simply drop them on the ground. Even on carpet.
And they have traffic signals, too. Big bright ones. They even have timers on them to say when the lights will change. And just like most places the roads have lanes. But these things are not important to the Chinese. The general rule of thumb is that you need to honk if you are passing someone, and otherwise just kinda go with the flow. Especially the various ebikes and scooters and bicycles.
So when they see the lao wai (direct translation is 'old whitey', just really means westerner. Kind of a lighthearted insult like calling an elderly gentleman 'old timer,' but this applies to all westerners regardless of skin-tone or age) never smoking indoors, driving inside the lines, etc., they get the impression that we are a very law-abiding people.
They also love English words on their clothing, the way folks in America get Asian stuff tattoo'ed on them without any way to check what the word means. One kid at my school, maybe 8 or 9, had GO TO HELL on his shirt. A guy in the elevator last week had a great big American flag on his back and then GREAT BRITAIN.
No comments:
Post a Comment