文明

Eleanor, briefly I shall present you with several things I have learned in my short few weeks here in Beijing:

1. Never wear your seatbelt in a taxi, for apparently it is insulting to their driving skills. Just today, as I was sitting in the front, I had a momentary lapse of sanity and common sense and decided to put it on. The cab driver began waving his hand at me, telling me not to put it on; I obliged, chastised, murmured an apology, and watched, bemusedly, as the cab driver then proceeded to put his own seatbelt on. (Also, it is not at all strange to ride in the front seat of a cab when there is no one in the backseat.)

2. Despite the Chinese government's insistence on 文明, or "culture", in preparation of the Olympics, one must never follow those rules or risk a life of being unpleasantly trod upon. The idea generally follows ideas such as:

不随地吐痰。 Don't spit on the ground.
不损坏公物。 Don't damage public property.
不破坏绿化。 Don't destroy trees, flowers and grass.
不乱扔垃圾。 Don't trash everywhere.
不乱窜马路。 Don't cross streets against traffic lights.
不说脏话粗话。 Don't use vulgar or obscene languages.
不在公共场所吸烟。 Don't smoke in confined public place.

There are more guidelines that often line the walls of subway stations, in an effort by the government to simply brainwash the masses of commuters through constant repetition. However, I find that they are simply hindrances. For instance, you simply cannot be polite and let others off of the subway car before you get on; you must instead rush the doors or risk having them close on you, and sometimes if you push the elderly people out of your way quickly enough, you can get a seat before the pregnant lady gets there.

3. When stuck in the middle of a five-lane street, it is best to make eye contact with a driver before you dart out in front of their car. But, contrary to what you might think, bicycles are by far much scarier than the huge city buses bearing down on you and refusing to brake. So far, I have been hit by three bikes, but only one car (it was reversing slowly at the time, so perhaps it does not even count after all). In fact, I caused a bike pile-up just last week (four people fell off of two bikes thanks to me), and if it hadn't been so embarassing and frightening, it would have been amusing.

4. You must add "r" to the end of everything for anyone in Beijing to understand you. For instance, I might tell a taxi driver the following, "Beida xinan men." And when he looks at me blankly, I must correct myself, "Um... xinan menrrrrrrrrrr." He then nods and chastises me for trying to put on a seatbelt (actually, most taxis are missing the actual buckles so it's a fruitless attempt anyway) and drives me on my merry way.

But enough. Today I went temple hopping, and I am quite fatigued. Now I shall peruse more of your journeys through America and then complete mes devoirs.

PS: I bought my ticket to France. I am most dreading it; is that normal?

爱丽