Chinese people

So like Chinese food, I have various thoughts on the people here. While this may be due to my relationship with the various people, I still want to write about it. So here's my thoughts about these crazy Chinese.

If you want to make Chinese people happy, just speak to them in Chinese. It can be as simple as Ni Hao or Wo jiao Jeremy. They'll go nuts. This works best if you look foreign, but I've been told by a few people here that I look Asian, whatevs. They might start speaking in Chinese to you, but you can just give them a confused look and they'll understand. Some will then try to teach you some Chinese while others will still be excited that you said something. Best example of this was my trip to KFC (which is huge in China, btw). When I got to the counter, I said Ni Hao, the cashier got excited. Then I asked for a menu in English. She smile, jumped, yelled "Menu!" and ran off and got one. Between my minimal Chinese and her not much better English plus some sign language, I got my food, paid and left. She was smiling the whole time.

Some people though, try to take advantage of this, especially venders. They like to rip you off because you can't read the prices or understand them or argue about the price with them. You just got to be firm. But they're really pushy. If you even look at something in their store, they'll expect you to buy something. You can't browse or they'll start talking to you and telling you how good this is or how great that is. It's kinda annoying.

They're also really pushy in general. Trying to get food, walking down the street, riding on the subway, it's bad. Sometimes on the subway you're so packed you can pick your feet up of the ground and not move. Or when trying to get food at lunch they'll just push you out of the way. Part of this is because everyone and their mom only has 30 minutes to eat lunch in really poorly designed dining halls. It's a challenge to get the food and a bigger challenge not to drop it once you do.

The people I live with, though, are always eager to help. They correct my Chinese, show me where to eat, help me find classrooms, and give directions to cab drivers. They make life so much easier and I feel like I can only give a little bit back through English. Maybe we'll be more helpful when they need to understand the English books.

So that's my impression of the Chinese people. They're always on the go and you need to get out of their way. I would compare it to NYC. Which makes since as Beijing is a big city. So maybe we're not that different. Except for the fact that no one would get excited if a foreigner spoke English, it's expected.