I have looked at old emails and journal entries and here is what I wrote two weeks after being in Beijing about the Chinese culture and Chinese studying English and scams in China
One thing that is odd are a lot of people want to practice their English with a native speaker. With this being said it is really difficult knowing if that is all a person wants to do or if there are other motives. Examples of this is a guy at the school was given what he thought was a free English tour and then wanted to treat the guide to lunch as a reward. The guide took him to a restaurant that was a small hole in the wall place and after the meal the waiter presented him a bill for 600 yuen, about 80 American Dollars when a normal nice meal here would go for 1/10 that price- a total scam. Then two nights ago a women followed me and my buddy around telling us she just wanted to practice her English. She had on a normal business outfit and spoke really good English. Well, it turns out she was a prostitute and actually got really mad at us because we really thought she just wanted to talk to us in English and when we took her to a bookstore to ask what language book she thought was good, instead of a club or whatever, she got pissed. Another instance was a girl insisting that I help her brother with English and that we go off the campus to meet him. I kept telling her that I wouldn’t go and that she would have to bring her brother to the campus. I met them two days latter and they kept insisting that I go off campus with them. The situation looked pretty safe so I agreed and once off campus her entire family and some others were waiting for me on the side of the road and took me to lunch at one of the fanciest restaurants in Beijing to ask me to tutor the brother in English and he would even help me in Chinese. I agreed, but lets just say I am really having trouble guessing what the local motives are for things. I think this will take me sometime to learn. Oh, the restaurant I ate duck, and it was amazing, even the brain part (ewww)
The family was really amazing. They kept asking me about the weather in California for some reason.
