This morning we woke up early enough to watch the frosh students get up for their early morning calisthenics. Every morning around 6:45am, these kids are woken up and forced to come down to the field, check-in, and do these stretches and calisthenics. I can't believe they have to do this... in college. I had to do this one year for Chinese School Camp as a kid... which I thought was ridiculous... but college kids??
The 4 of us loaded up the school bus and worked our way downtown, dropping the kids off one by one until it was just me and the driver. First stop – Ginny had class so we dropped her off at a bus depot downtown, then the train station where Frank and Jenn got off to board their train to Beijing (Jenn’s headed through Beijing back to Harbin; Frank has a biz trip in Beijing), then finally to the airport where I got dropped off.
I’m thankful that I learned Chinese in college… despite forgetting much of it, I can still hold basic conversations in Chinese, and sound like I know what I’m talking about... as long as we don’t start talking specific subject matters – business, culture, politics, all that stuff. Well, not that I understood everything we were talking about but I don’t think he noticed I didn’t have a clue at times. If you’re ever with me when I’m having a conversation in Chinese and I start staying things like “ohh… zhen de ma (really…)..waah (wow)… zhen de… (my intonation rises in question)… oh… shi zhe yang (it’s that way, eh?)…” that’s the signal that I most likely have no idea what the dude is saying. Happened a couple times today but for the most part I understood. It was interesting – we were talking about how difficult it is to raise kids in China nowadays. How kids are all so spoiled now. They all want to wear name brand things. They don’t want to study. They want to eat McDonalds and KFC. We have the one child policy and they are just all so spoiled. They demand so much, and if we can, we work hard and we can’t help but give it to them if we can. And, if you have a son, it’s even more difficult because you need to buy them a house, the ring for a girl, and all that… because in Chinese culture the guy pays for everything, the wedding included. He’s got a son who’s still young, but he’s already thinking about those things! Poor guy. He seemed so sad and distraught by the state of this generation, by the pressures that the kids bring to their parents, and just the overall state of the economy and life in China. We talked some economics but luckily not into great depth because I would have totally been lost there. In English I’d have a hard enough time, let alone in Chinese.
It’s interesting because I feel that I’ve had a couple conversations with drivers and random people about this rising generation of kids. In a recent (different) conversation, the parent was telling me.. we don’t want to spank them nowadays, but then we don’t want yell at them… we don’t know how to manage our kids. It seems to be a real problem that Chinese society is facing, and without much solution or help in mind. A spoiled generation – 10 years ago when I studied in China we were already talking about these one child - 小黄第 - little emperor...spoiled brats. One child, treated like a little emperor by the parents and grandparents on both sides of the family, getting whatever they want. And now, it seems those children have grown and becoming teenagers. The problem is getting worse and worse, a real headache and challenge for Chinese parents, especially those with meager incomes who put everything towards these little emperors...any savings they have. How will they ever retire? How will they ever enjoy themselves?
After I got on the plane, one of those little emperors, a 3-year old, was sitting in front of me – moving around, jumping on his airplane seat, refusing to put on his seatbelt, refusing to sit down, refusing to eat, refusing to listen to his parents. The only person that could appease this little emperor was the stewardess who bartered with him. if you eat your meal, then I’ll give you a special toy… if you don’t sit down and put on your seatbelt, then you’re going to have to stay with me forever and leave your mom’s side. This stewardess must have a lot of experience negotiating with these tiny emperors.
After I arrived in Shanghai, I jumped on the metro to my friend’s office, and am now just doing some work, catching up on emails and life in the Sbux and McD’s across the street. While sitting at sbux…a guy walked straight into the glass window/wall that I am sitting against. A huge loud bang echoed through the store. Poor guy.. that had to hurt… physically… his pride...everything. Pure brillance.
Enroute to dinner at a Portugeuse Chinese / Macau’in meal, we had to stop at xiao yang’s bun store.. oh man, this place has THE BEST sheng jian bao! We had some of these when Jenny was still here in Shanghai and she loved them! So yummy. After a delicious dinner, we headed to meet Lisa’s friends at the Shangri La top floor bar to get a nice view of the Bund and buildings at night. Unfortunately we just missed the lit up buildings and streets! Oh well, it was nice regardless.
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