Small Animals Take on Distinctive Human Behaviors and Characteristics

During the past week with the Chinese professors, I began to understand how they learned English and how they categorized and filed away the bits and pieces they gathered as they experienced many everyday American activities. In order to absorb the important things and not overwhelm themselves with too much detail, they take a summary snapshot of the ideas, sometimes absent the humor, emotion or details that we Americans might ruminate endlessly.

Last night, on an evening driving tour of Washington, I pointed out landmarks that they might find interesting. They echoed their summaries of what they knew or recognized, as if I were quizzing them with flashcards or playing Alex Trebek on Jeopardy. Supreme Court building - "first Hispanic justice - Sotomayor!" US Capitol- "Congress!" Vice President's home - "not Cheney..." ["It's Biden," I said.] The Old Executive Office Building "Eisenhower Executive Office Building!" I started to explain how the Frenchman Pierre L'Enfant planned Washington with numbered streets going north and south, letters east and west and state at angles everywhich way. They interrupted and together shouted "L'Enfant Plaza Metro." "Yes, that's right, " I replied and continued. At the conclusion, one said "Oh, M street West to East." "Yes sort of," I said, "except where it is one way and only East to West." So much for the simple snapshot.

"What is the relationship of the Governors to the Senators," they asked. "Nothing formal," I said. "The Senators do not report to Governors," I explained adding facts about their roles. "But," I said, "most Governors have offices in Washington and have staff who help them lobby Congress to get things for their states." "Oh," they answered in unison, "we have that in Beijing." I decided not to complicate the lesson with further discussion.

En route to the airport this morning, the women asked many questions about the area outside the Washington Beltway and things they had heard about the United States and Americans. "Are there still Indians," they wondered? I squashed their mental [movie] pictures of American Indians as savages when I explained that many now live in poverty on land that is absent buffalo and not good for growing crops or enabling self sufficiency. That was not what they expected.

They asked about the Amish. Some of their classmates had been to Pennsylvania and talked about the horses and "carts" and how the Amish are environmentalists because they live off the land and do not waste resources. "This is religion?" one asked. I answered "yes," realizing later that that their picture of this religion is absent some pixels.

We talked about their classmates and who would be flying back with them and the man who complained every day that he was hungry. I joked that I hoped they did not have to sit next to him. They giggled and called me "very funny."

"Do you know the stories of Winnie the Pooh," I asked. "Of course, " they replied, puzzled that I would ask whether they knew about something so obviously Disney. I told them that their descriptions of the hungry man reminded me of Eeyore, who seemed never to be happy about anything. They agreed, seeming surprised that I would make the comparison. [I thought my joking about how many Eeyores I have dated would be lost on them so I kept that thought to myself.] I went on to say that I think that most groups of people anywhere have each of the characters in Winnie the Pooh. "There is always an Eeyore," I said, " and hopefully a Tigger to balance out his negativity. " "Yes, the one who bounces and has no teeth," one said, recognizing the character and possibly grasping my analogy. As is typical of conversations we had over the week of their visit, the other summarized succinctly, "yes, small animals take on distinctive human behaviors and characteristics." And so they do.

I hope one of them was seated next to a Pooh, who would make good company on a long flight back to Beijing.