Three Stories : 沉默内敛的中国人和热情洋溢的西方人

沉默内敛的中国人和热情洋溢的西方人

 

How are cultures different in different countries? I would like show you by three stories I have experienced. The stories were caused my passion comments sent to three friends from three countries, respectively. They gave me different responses. 

•    Chinese 
I saw a picture posted on WeChat group by my college classmate. We haven't seen each other for thirty years. In that picture, she was smiling as sitting on a snow ball. I was so excited to see her and could not help posting a comments as below:

“生活需要七彩阳光。即要投身革命工作； 也要享受阳春白雪。”

“雪中的微笑”
“In those snow scenes, I see your smiling face.
30 years ago, I said good bye to you and you said good bye to me.
30 years later, we are both thousands miles away.
When will I meet you again?
When will I see you again?
All I have memories are your smile.
My vision quickly blurred making difficult to watch your smile again.

So glad you shared, my Dear friend.” 

In that chat group, there were thirty three Chinese classmates. I didn't get any comments from any one. Maybe they didn't understand English very well. But, I thought the main reason is that Chinese people usually are shy to express themselves, or you can say they are not open. 

•    Swedish 
My friend, Katy, is a Swedish. We often chat by sending massages on Facebook. One day, I sent her a message:

Winter already came to our world. Just this movement, I received a picture from my college roommate in North China. A heavy snow attacked her area. 

In those snow scenes, I see her smiling face. 30 years ago, I said good bye to her and she said good bye to me. 30 years later, we are both thousands miles away. All I have memories are her smile. 

She replied as: 

“Your classmate was not able to see you. No problem my dear. I get a chance to see you. This weekend, I will be traveling to Canada. Next week, I will fly down to your Country to visit you and your family, okay? If not okay, when would you want me to visit you?” 

I was totally confused by her behavior. Why was she so care about me? We never saw each other. Sometimes, I thought she was too passion. Sometimes, I thought she just wished to comfort me. Anyway, the cultural background made me hard to understand her. 

•    American
My friend, Allison, is an American lady. We knew each other in a small town. She did a lot of help to me. We separated ten years ago, but communities on Facebook. Recently, she changed her profile picture with a smiling face one on Facebook. I clicked "like" and gave a comment like this:

“All I have memories are your smile. When will I meet you again? When will I see you again? ”

She soon emailed me, “We are doing fine.  Still miss our Bible study SO MUCH!!!!! We would love to come to see you, but everything just costs so much.  We would LOVE to host you!

We had SO MUCH fun with you, We think of you often. How many hours are you from us?  We are 30 minutes north of Branson and 30 minutes south of Springfield.”

Actually, she can reply me on the Facebook. But, she didn't do it. I thought she was very care for my comments. In my impression, she is a very open and lovely lady.

Three stories sound funny but it indeed happened. Living in this world we have a lot of things need to learn.