Eavesdropping for English

Conversations in English are music to my ears. Through all the hustle and bustle of nothing but Mandarin being barked out every direction, one has a tendency to feel a false sense of inarticulacy. I feel like I’m in a Twilight Zone where people are moving and living and interacting around me while I’m in my own little I-only-speak-western-languages box. When someone pipes up in English, I immediately zone in, especially when the conversation is not directed at me. Hence… the following eavesdropping story.

It was overheard in the lobby of our building that students living on the 6th and 7th floors were cut off from the building’s electricity supply to accommodate the visiting international Olympics volunteers living on the 8th, 9th and 10th floors. The 8th floor is mainly our Purdue group, the 9th houses the students from Emerson College, and the Aussie’s from Queensland University of Technology are up on 10. The conversation was between a Chinese student and a Canadian studying here at the CUC and living in this building.

Upon receipt of this information, my mind went into overdrive. First of all, how pompous am I to think that I could use electricity freely as if I were in my own home. This isn’t satirical blogging; I really mean it. Who I am to assume the AC should run all day or that the outlet could be crammed full of camera chargers and phone adapters and blow dryers? Andrea and I have drastically cut back on our energy usage. We’re not sure if it will help out our friends on six and seven, but we figure it’s worth a shot.

Secondly, what does it say about this place that it is willing to sacrifice the comfort of it’s own to accommodate visitors? And why does it take a Canadian student to actually say something about it? I fully understand the laws of hospitality and the need to make guests comfortable, but I feel this is somewhat extreme. A few days ago, the CUC big shots showed up at Jane’s door with a mini-fridge. They had learned that a couple of Emerson professors had fridges, so they ordered one to be delivered to Jane’s room. So now we’ve got multiple people upstairs with home appliances, yet the regular CUC students are really roughing it just a few flights down.

While I tend to disagree with the means before the end, I have felt quite welcomed on many occasions on the trip thus far. It is a little bit fun to have people so committed to making things perfect for me, and I can’t even begin to combat that fact. The Chinese have a very hospitable way about them, and they should be commended for it. And while I’m tired of hearing cookie-cutter memorized English responses to my salutations (i.e. “My pleasure,” in response to, “Thank you”), the experience in that regard really has been… quite pleasurable :)

XOXO