Archive for August 11th, 2009
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11
Aug
2009
Gifts and Presents
you be careful:)
Some time ago as I was invited to the Christmas eve celebration of a German family and also experienced this kind of occasion for the very first time, I did feel so embarrassed at the scene of exchanging the Christmas gifts. This was not about how expensive or how cheap a present you sent (of course I would say a tin of cola is surely not acceptable^_^), but about the manners there. In China as invited to a feastful dinner or similar occasions, it’s quite frequent to hand over your present at the first moment you see the host to show your gratitude. That son lived with me together in an apartment so I wanted to give my gift to him who’s in my sense on behalf of his whole family. But he just refused and said I should save this until we were at his home. So I had to stuck it into my pocket again, which was embarrassing enough to have killed me.
And later as we arrived at his home, I remembered his words this time and just observed how things went on. But out of my expectation there came an American girl too who was also invited, and now I had a problem. I just prepared a good and “big” present package for the while family and this girl got some more small presents along with her so that she could also send them to others at presence. Surely you can image how enjoying I felt to receive her cute present with empty hands on my side. If this was in China, I could at least spare the following terrible scene, because we Chinese never open the gifts at once to express our happiness and thanks. But here in Germany I have to, like others do. So again I had to admire her gift to be so wonderful in front of her while not daring to see her face.
So this is my unforgettable experience and I would very much suggest my fellow countrymen to keep in mind^_^!
11
Aug
2009
Bureaucracy in China and Germany
Bureaucracy has a history!
Talking about this topic, people somehow always have to sigh. I was confronted with so many cases even before I left the university, let alone was could have happened when starting your career. In both countries there dominates a real funny word to describe this phenomenon, namely the “stamp country”. So in this sense if you want to get things down, you normally have to get well prepared for possible torturing and suffering. I almost did not got my graduation degree cause I missed the appointment with the chief for 10 minutes later due to a traffic jam as I came a far way from 2000 km to Beijing, yet the chief said “you have to come the next year for it!” And I don’t want to talk about how picky and tricky my visa inspection process had been.
Now I’m in Germany, people get caught in the same situation. For a bank card you have to deal with the clerks for like years and at last it turns out that you have to contact their head bosses from far away via telephone yourself. After that, there would normally be a long time for you to wait and get relaxed. And according to Hofstede’s theory which I recently am engaging in, this would be described as PDI, Power Distance Index, which says to which degree people perceive and accept the bureaucracy and privileges of powerful people. No wonder, in both countries the index is high.
So one very important tip for you to carry on your life in Germany and China is that you always prepare yourself enough time and try you best not to burst into rage, which only brings you more trouble and mess your life up easily.
C’est La vie!