So, today I took a train to Hangzhou, and as I was getting on the escalator I accidentally bumped my suitcase up against a lady's foot a little tiny itty bitty bit. Then, of course, I said excuse me (in Chinese), but she was too busy looking at her foot and internally "owww oww omg it hurts so much" when, yeah I saw the foot, and there wasn't even a mark or anything at all. Then, completely ignoring that I said excuse me, says to her friend "what country is this girl from that she can't even say sorry in Chinese?" omg! I was so mad, am still so mad that I want to just go and make cube steaks! I've actually never made cube steaks in my life, I just know making them includes a lot of hitting meat, which is exactly what I want to go and do right now. It would be totally fabulous.
First off, what is wrong with you woman?! You care about yourself so much, that you don't even bother to listen to an apology before yelling out loud to everyone that I didn't apologize to you. Second, what on earth does where I'm from have ANYTHING to do with my ability to speak Chinese?! Really, just typing this I have made about sixteen cube steaks in my mind. I don't know why sixteen, but I am super mad, so I don't even care! Anyway, woman, how do you even know that I wasn't Chinese?! Huh? There are Chinese people who are white too. I don't care if other Chinese would call this woman "uneducated". Even if she were educated, I'd still say she's an asshole.
Now, enough about that. The point of me writing this blog is to help me calm down anyway, so let me teach you all a very valuable lesson that will help you out a lot in China. I will say I have mostly adapted to Chinese culture really quickly, and I already match it very well, but there is still a tiny bit of American inside of me that always wants justice (I am batman, confirmed), but in China it probably isn't going to happen. If your Chinese is good enough that you can understand these kind of scornful remarks like I can, just look away and let yourself calm down. I have seen how the situation goes time and time again when you're not calm and make a remark that you'll later wish you hadn't. When you come to China, you are often going to come in contact with the type of person who is so proud that they can't admit that they are wrong even if what they are saying makes no sense. If you mouth off to this person for your American sense of justice, there's a good chance they'll start a fight with you, make a scene, and then you'll both be off to the police, and I can tell you, the police won't care about your "justice". In this situation, you'll both be in trouble, because all the police men and all the workers in the train station really want is peace. With so many hundreds of thousands of people going in and out every day, they will do anything to have as much peace as they possibly can.
They say "you can't argue with a fool", actually I believe it was Mark Twain who said that, but its been said a lot, and I think that's the best policy. If you go ahead and fight with them, then ultimately you're no smarter than they are. Plus, you can still get your justice, but in a way that's much much more safe for you. Wherever you're going, you know when you get there there will be someone you can tell all of this to, and who will totally agree with you, and give you a big hug. I don't know about you, but I always cry when I get really mad, because inside I'd love to be punching someone in the face, but my good sense stops me from doing that, so when I got in my taxi I just started crying, and I so wanted to just let all of it out on the taxi driver, because the ride is so long. I didn't though, because I thought he probably wouldn't understand Emma style angry Chinese rambling, so I saved it for Hui when I got back, and he just laughed and gave me a hug, and now I feel all better........but gosh now what am I going to do with all these cube steaks?
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