When it comes to being a lost laowai there are somedays where i feel like i’ve landed on Mars. Â However, on an equal amount of days i feel like i fit right in and this is perfect. Â But there’s still one thing i need help with and you are the perfect community for me to ask.
Picture this with me…
You are enjoying a quiet, peaceful morning at McDonald’s with two steaming hot pancakes and a beautiful cup of burnt coffee. Â You’ve got the iPod in and you’re reading a book you’ve been looking forward to for weeks. Â Then, out of nowhere, the guy who chose to sit three feet from you when the whole restaurant is empty decides that NOW is the perfect time to groom his fingernails. Â In my world, this process takes about two minutes and it takes place in the comfort of my own bathroom. Â Not in China. Â Here, they clip those nails anywhere and everywhere and on this particular day at McDonald’s it took him 30 minutes. Â Maybe i’m too American. Â Maybe i’m too soft. Â Maybe i’m just weird. Â But i was so grossed out that i took one more sip of coffee and then i had to leave.
Then three days later it happened again, but at a different place. Â What is with people clipping their nails in public? Â Someone please, please, please explain to me what the deal is. Â I’m a culturally sensitive person and i show a lot of patience when stuff happens that i don’t understand. Â But come on, 30 minutes to clip your fingernails while sitting in a public restaurant?
Responses?
How the hell else are you going to get the perfect dynamic to clean your ears?
Seriously though, totally disgusting.
This made me laugh because I experience it often…my husband is Chinese, and not Chinese/American either, he is from Asia. He is totally obsessed with clipping his nails (& not in the bathroom either!)…it’s almost ritualistic for him. I agree that grooming is important, but I’m with you, it takes 2 minutes tops! He makes a big production, and god forbid I misplace them…he would rather I didn’t touch his at all. Now, granted…this happens in our home, but I know where you are coming from 🙂
You don’t wanna 一竿åæ‰“ç¿»ä¸€èˆ¹äººï¼ I’m Chinese and I think even two minutes is too long for this particular activity. And what sort of men clip their fingernails anyway? It’s for girls!! I just clench my fists and they fall off naturally!
Bloody wussies…
Well that’s better than seeing the little kid outside drop trow and start taking a dump in the tree well outside of McD’s. Like you I was just ready to enjoy a little peace and quiet.
I just laugh and chalk it up to life in China. What else can you do?
How about this, what do you do?
You are enjoying the quiet of the morning and you are eating and then two guys plop right down in front of you and expect you to speak to them? Then when you say that are a little busy they proceed to stare and look at you and then have a conversation about you at YOUR TABLE!
my students clip their nails in my classroom while I give a lecture.
I just turn up my iPOD and bury my head in my book and pretend it’s not happening, but then maybe I’ve been here too long.
spitting in the restaurant gets me more than the nails. that’s been happening a lot lately.
i’m actually surprised when i see the nail thing because i thought that chinese traditionally had the same superstition of nail clippings used for witchcraft as in the west. i guess they got over that one. umbrellas indoors too.
I really dislike seeing girls pop their boyfriends zits on the subway. Gross. Or people using their cell phone to clean out their ears.
Personal grooming just isn’t so personal in China.
My favorite is the one nostril snot rocket that the men and some of the older women like to do in the streets (I’ve seen it in restaurants as well).
You are not weird nor too sensitive. It’s just they have no manners yet. My friend is a PhD and he’s doing research in a lab. His fellow PhD simply pick their nose, fart and burp in public, no problem.
Well, that’s China 🙂
ps technically this is Hong Kong…
@warpedOne i saw a guy do that at the mall here from the third floor down to the first where a bunch of people were sitting. couldn’t believe my eyes nor their lack of reaction.
At least in McDonalds you have the option to move away or leave. My one and only time flying Business Class was ruined when my neighbour on the flight to HK used the whole trip as a personal grooming session. Fingernails … toenails .. ears, nostrils … all got a good manual cleanout.
@everyone: i’m so glad that i’m not alone in this. You all have made me feel very normal. Thank you. And sense posting this i have considered the old motto, “Do as the Romans do.” I’ll let you know if/when i cut my nails in a restaurant.
I’ve been here about a month now. At first I was disgusted over the snot rockets and public nail clipping. My girlfriend urged me to try out these cultural experiences for myself. Though I tried the nail clipping and snot rocketing on the streets, I found that I love it. No rogue nail clippings finding their way into my bed or wasted tissues on snot. What an amazing culture! I love China!
After a filler game in one of my lessons a few years back, I discovered that my students carry nail-clippers and metal ear-hole cleaner thingies on their keyrings with their keys… Still, what makes me feel even more weird is the guys who grow an extra-long nail on just one finger…
This was an amusing post. And the responses are even better.
I must admit, I haven’t witnessed the nail clipping that much in China. Though, I try to ignore as much as humanly possible.
And @BJ, I’ve seen better. At a Pizza Hut in Xi’an with my visiting parents, a baby pees on the table. Mother picks up the baby and it shits on the table. Father picks it up in a napkin and drops it on the floor.
lol i cannot believe this. Im off to Xian in March 2009, make sure to avoid pizza hut then 😀
If you’re astonished by these kind of behavior, you need to adjust your expectations of China a little, ie, make it lower. Many foreigners buy into those China rising stories too much before coming to China, and thus not surprisingly they find the reality often in a steep contrast to what they expect. As a Chinese who migrated to the west in my 20s, my opinion is it takes at least another 30~50 years before China can enter the league of developed countries. Before that, just be prepared to be surprised any time. I visit home on average once per year, and have no problem putting up with the many backward phenomena. You think clipping finger nail in public is bad? You’ll have a heart attack if you step in a public toilet in the 80s~90s cities or in today’s rural area.
All these are still way better than gun shooting in the streets, schools or whatnot in the US, and this happens more often than everyone would expect.
..Oh wait, you would say, this is only caused by a small group of people and you can’t just presume everyone is like that…
I live in Sydney where there is a large Chinese percentage of the population. It doesn’t exactly gross-me-out when they clip their nails on the train.. Its just annoying.. “Click….click…click….click….” for 15 to 20 minutes. The trains here are dirty anyway so its not such a big deal in that regard but certainly annoying.
I’ll be in China (incl. Xi’an) in march 09 also 🙂
@NoWonderYouAreLost: Repeat after me: “These things are completely unrelated.”