have no feelings.
WENDY / She says that in America, if you borrow money from somebody and
have some trouble,
people expect you to pay it back no matter what.
— Of course, these days, even in China, some people are like that, she says. Especially those people born in Cultural Revolution. But they are not real Chinese.
When her grandfather died, she says, he had a whole trunk full of IOUs from people he knew would pay him if they could, except that they couldn’t, and it just went to show what a big heart he had, that he did not ask them. On his deathbed he just said that he wanted all the papers burned.
— That is how real Chinese think, she says.
— Wow, we say.
Lanlan is amazed that people in America drive and eat at the same time, eating in cars makes her shake her head. So dangerous, she says, really it should be illegal the way it is in China. Plus she thinks it must be bad for people’s digestion, digestion being another thing she talks about a lot, besides catching cold. What is good for the stomach, what is bad for the stomach, what has heat, what is cool. She likes teaching us stuff, and Lizzy can tell you a lot of it already—that garlic and bananas have heat, and that pears are cooling, also lotus root. Forget that she barely knows what a lotus root is, even, Lizzy’s like Elaine at school, she just says stuff if she feels like it. Lanlan thinks eating and driving must be bad for the stomach. She says she doesn’t know how Americans can eat without stopping to eat, although obviously they do because look how many fat people there are! Many more than in the movies. She says she heard that once Chinese people come to America, they get fat too. Of course there are fat people in China now, more and more of them because of McDonald’s, but still not as many as here, she cannot believe how people eat. How huge the sandwiches are, so big people can barely get their mouths open wide enough. And the drinks—so big people need two hands to lift them.
She does not want to eat at all, looking at them, she does not want to become fat like an American. Also the smell of people here makes her want to throw up. How people smell! That’s one thing you don’t realize from the movies.
LAN /
Chinese people do not smell.
WENDY / She wants to know if people will smell less in the winter when they are wearing sweaters. She is surprised how hairy some of the people are too, she knew that from the movies, but still didn’t realize how hairy, even some of the women, she says, and there are men who look
one hundred percent like monkey.
LAN /
Even their backs are covered with hair.
WENDY / And the way they sit, she says. The women not even covered with clothes some of them, and big as mountains and all over their chairs. She’s surprised American chairs are not bigger. And she stares at the black people with that hair braided all different ways, or else loose like a big ball of seaweed, she wants to know if it has any use, like if they can cut it off and sell it for something. Scrub brushes maybe, or pillow stuffing. She’s amazed at how different people look from each other, she knew it from the movies but still she’s shocked by that, and by how complete strangers say hello on the street, even if they never saw you before. She says the first time that happened she ran away.
LAN /
Sometimes I saw men let women walk in front of them. Even open doors for them, as if they were important! Just like in the movies. I was amazed to see that.
And nobody ate the squirrels, even in the countryside, that’s what the girls said. There was so much food. People let whole trees full of fruit just fall to the ground.
LIZZY / It all made her want to throw up, which I understood. Because to be honest it all made me want to throw up too, sometimes.
WENDY / She can be warm and bright, full of funny songs and funny voices, but she can sink away like the sun, and come back as the moon. She is suddenly
WENDY / She says that in America, if you borrow money from somebody and
have some trouble,
people expect you to pay it back no matter what.
— Of course, these days, even in China, some people are like that, she says. Especially those people born in Cultural Revolution. But they are not real Chinese.
When her grandfather died, she says, he had a whole trunk full of IOUs from people he knew would pay him if they could, except that they couldn’t, and it just went to show what a big heart he had, that he did not ask them. On his deathbed he just said that he wanted all the papers burned.
— That is how real Chinese think, she says.
— Wow, we say.
Lanlan is amazed that people in America drive and eat at the same time, eating in cars makes her shake her head. So dangerous, she says, really it should be illegal the way it is in China. Plus she thinks it must be bad for people’s digestion, digestion being another thing she talks about a lot, besides catching cold. What is good for the stomach, what is bad for the stomach, what has heat, what is cool. She likes teaching us stuff, and Lizzy can tell you a lot of it already—that garlic and bananas have heat, and that pears are cooling, also lotus root. Forget that she barely knows what a lotus root is, even, Lizzy’s like Elaine at school, she just says stuff if she feels like it. Lanlan thinks eating and driving must be bad for the stomach. She says she doesn’t know how Americans can eat without stopping to eat, although obviously they do because look how many fat people there are! Many more than in the movies. She says she heard that once Chinese people come to America, they get fat too. Of course there are fat people in China now, more and more of them because of McDonald’s, but still not as many as here, she cannot believe how people eat. How huge the sandwiches are, so big people can barely get their mouths open wide enough. And the drinks—so big people need two hands to lift them.
She does not want to eat at all, looking at them, she does not want to become fat like an American. Also the smell of people here makes her want to throw up. How people smell! That’s one thing you don’t realize from the movies.
LAN /
Chinese people do not smell.
WENDY / She wants to know if people will smell less in the winter when they are wearing sweaters. She is surprised how hairy some of the people are too, she knew that from the movies, but still didn’t realize how hairy, even some of the women, she says, and there are men who look
one hundred percent like monkey.
LAN /
Even their backs are covered with hair.
WENDY / And the way they sit, she says. The women not even covered with clothes some of them, and big as mountains and all over their chairs. She’s surprised American chairs are not bigger. And she stares at the black people with that hair braided all different ways, or else loose like a big ball of seaweed, she wants to know if it has any use, like if they can cut it off and sell it for something. Scrub brushes maybe, or pillow stuffing. She’s amazed at how different people look from each other, she knew it from the movies but still she’s shocked by that, and by how complete strangers say hello on the street, even if they never saw you before. She says the first time that happened she ran away.
LAN /
Sometimes I saw men let women walk in front of them. Even open doors for them, as if they were important! Just like in the movies. I was amazed to see that.
And nobody ate the squirrels, even in the countryside, that’s what the girls said. There was so much food. People let whole trees full of fruit just fall to the ground.
LIZZY / It all made her want to throw up, which I understood. Because to be honest it all made me want to throw up too, sometimes.
WENDY / She can be warm and bright, full of funny songs and funny voices, but she can sink away like the sun, and come back as the moon. She is suddenly
Similar Books
