On Manners

China has very different customs with regard to manners.  There is no notion of waiting your turn and allowing those there before you to go first.  When you get out of a lift, those attempting to get in won’t wait until you exit- you have to push past them.  Now, I know this is cultural, and I know it makes me a western pig to say this, but I really do think it’s just so rude.

I think there’s a principle that underlies those common courtesies.  It’s a principle of respect- that the time of another is as valuable as yours, and that you have no right to service before anyone else.  It is a principle of equality, really.  By jumping ahead, by insisting you be served first, you are essentially asserting that you are more important than the others who waited.  For that reason, I think manners, and particularly the notion of queuing and waiting one’s turn, are fundamentally good and ought to be universal.

Shanghai Photos: Day 2

Full gallery here.

China, Day 2

It’s a little warmer today, thank goodness!

I’m waiting for Mum to get up- even having a nice sleep in to Australian time means I’m up before Mum (Shanghai is 3 hours behind).   So I’m just waiting downstairs for my coffee to boil before we go out.

When you arrive in China, if you’re staying with a relative, you have to go to the local police station to register within 24 hours of your arrival.  We went down last night after Dad got home, so Bob, the driver, could take us.

We got to the station at about 7pm, and waited a few minutes while the only police officer at a counter finished his obviously-private phone call.  He took my documents, went over to the station’s computer, played around for a minute, then called over a younger officer- who had fairly decent English- who explained to us the computer wasn’t working and we’d have to come back tomorrow.

Mum made them promise not to penalize us when we go back today, but I’m a little nervous.

The Best Album of 2008

While a few albums make the short list of best album I bought in 2008 (Midlake’s The Trials of Van Occupanther, Kanye West’s College Dropout, MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular and  Math and Physics Club’s self-titled album round out the top five) the honour really must go to Lykke Li’s Youth Novels.  As I posted a few weeks ago, I think the best songs (and the best albums) sound good, are lyrically relevant, and connect to a time in your life.  Youth Novels was 2008 for me.  I discovered LL through Megan, which makes it especially special.  Plus, Youth Novels got me started on a whole new musical odyssey, expanding my tastes beyond my folky-indie-pop and into a whole new range of music.  Not necessarily music like Lykke Li, but finding Lykke Li made me braver and more willing to try more stuff.

So, one more time, the first single from my Album of 2008, Youth Novels, here is Lykke Li’s paen to frustrated and probably-unreciprocated love, Little Bit.

A kick-arse live version, because all the copies of the original clip have been removed from YouTube.  I guess that means she’s really getting famous:

And here’s the most recent single, I’m Good, I’m Gone, of which I am immensely fond:

Finally, here is the classic every-girl song about those nights when you just don’t feel like dancing.  It wasn’t on the original release of Youth Novels (which I bought back in FEBRUARY, thank you very much!), but it was on the Australian release, which I bought last month (damn extra tracks). (btw this isn’t much of a video, but you can hear the song, and that’s what matters)

Dear Mr Jury-picker…

To the person who picks Grand Juries in Washington DC,

Please do not deprive us of Ezra Klein’s blogging for a considerable period of time.  It is bad enough TV shows are on their Christmas break.  No EK would be insufferable.

Yours,

Erin

Observations from China Vol. 1

Observation 1:  Having a maid is good.  I could get used to it.

Observation 2:  After a time, the fact my pajamas were washed after one wear would probably get annoying.