Plans are becoming more certain that I will change my China address to Jiajing’s parent’s address. This has been a very big decision for me as it is not easy to take an old guy like me and start living with those who have lived in their culture all their life. Since I am the one entering their culture I am the one who must adapt.
I have learned much about this culture over the last four years through conversations with many Chinese students, by reading, and spending time with Jiajing’s parents. When I enter into a cultural experience I don’t think about the discomfort I might experience, I look for what I will learn and the benefits that could come from such an experience. This is how I view living with Jiajing’s parents.
One way to prepare to live there is to begin now to live like they do. You see they have no heat in their apartment, so when it gets cold outside, you guessed it, it gets cold on the inside. To prepare me for what that is like I have made the decision not to turn on the heat in my apartment. I want to prepare myself now so that when I move I will have one less adjustment to make.
When Americans are uncomfortable they try to change the environment so that they are comfortable again. Americans have had the blessing of many resources to do that. In a developing country like China, when you are uncomfortable you learn how to make the most of it. If you are cold you add more clothes or put on an extra blanket, you don’t go turn up the thermostat. It takes fewer resources to add clothes than it does to warm the environment.
Maybe someday Americans will find themselves without the resources to adjust the environment. What will they do then? Will it be like the story of “Who Moved My Cheese?” when the two little people felt it was their right to be provided with more cheese or will they be able to adjust like the two little mice when they notice the supply of cheese getting smaller? I face that condition now and I choose to learn what it is like to live with even less resources that I have now. Maybe that sacrifice will pay big dividends in the future that I am not aware of yet.
I have learned much about this culture over the last four years through conversations with many Chinese students, by reading, and spending time with Jiajing’s parents. When I enter into a cultural experience I don’t think about the discomfort I might experience, I look for what I will learn and the benefits that could come from such an experience. This is how I view living with Jiajing’s parents.
One way to prepare to live there is to begin now to live like they do. You see they have no heat in their apartment, so when it gets cold outside, you guessed it, it gets cold on the inside. To prepare me for what that is like I have made the decision not to turn on the heat in my apartment. I want to prepare myself now so that when I move I will have one less adjustment to make.
When Americans are uncomfortable they try to change the environment so that they are comfortable again. Americans have had the blessing of many resources to do that. In a developing country like China, when you are uncomfortable you learn how to make the most of it. If you are cold you add more clothes or put on an extra blanket, you don’t go turn up the thermostat. It takes fewer resources to add clothes than it does to warm the environment.
Maybe someday Americans will find themselves without the resources to adjust the environment. What will they do then? Will it be like the story of “Who Moved My Cheese?” when the two little people felt it was their right to be provided with more cheese or will they be able to adjust like the two little mice when they notice the supply of cheese getting smaller? I face that condition now and I choose to learn what it is like to live with even less resources that I have now. Maybe that sacrifice will pay big dividends in the future that I am not aware of yet.
