Questions...

I was just thinking last night about the questions people ask us here. We exchange students get asked a lot of questions. Like, A LOT. And the majority of them are reaaalllly stupid. To the point where I can only assume they're rhetorical.

FOR EXAMPLE:

SITUATION 1. I am eating lunch at the English Corner, I finish, collect my garbage together, and stand up.

QUESTION: "Where are you going?"

ANALYSIS: This is my most FAQ. Sometimes, it's reasonable, but EVERYONE asks it so gets really annoying. But a lot of times, they'll ask when it's totally 100% obvious where you're going.

SITUATION 2. It's a slow, quiet day at the English corner I have another two hours until my shift ends, everyone's stretched out on couches, I'm standing, staring off into space, yawning.

QUESTION: "What are you doing?"

ANALYSIS: All I can do is laugh. In this particular situation, I felt I simply could not answer the question. Instead I asked (while laughing), "what does it look like I'm doing!?" And the girl who asked the question started luching, because she realized how silly the question was. And I get asked this question ALL THE TIME!

SITUATION 3. My friend Alyssa calls "Wo ai ni!" (I love you!) to me from about 30 feet away one afternoon when she passes me on campus, just being silly, and then immidiately bumps into a prominent professor on campus who we are familiar with, and he asks her this question.

QUESTION: "What are you doing!?"

ANALYSIS: Totally different than "What are you doing?" This one, I think, is a strong taste of what it means to live in a shame-based culture. After a question like this is asked, it's followed by a long, unfaltering stare in which the offending party tries to explain themselves while getting embarrassed. Personally, I think it's a dirty trick BUT it's not my country or my culture, soo...

SITUATION 4. I climb into my bunk, ready for bed, and say good night to my roommate.

QUESTION: "You don't want to take a shower?" Followed by inquisitive look.

ANALYSIS: If I had wanted to take a shower don't you think I would've taken one!? That's how I answer in my brain. This one I believe is a real expression of curiosity, but questions like these often come at times I really don't feel like being questioned.

SITUATION 5. I'm at the English Corner, talking to students, and the topic of popular movies comes up.

QUESTION: "I saw 'Brokeback Mountain' but I didn't understand it. Could you explain it to me?'

ANALYSIS: This question actually comes up a lot. Other variations are, "Are there lots of gays in America?", "Do you think those people are normal?" and, my personal favorite, "Are... you normal?" They are totally befuddled by homosexuality, and there's an added twist that all of the four male exchange students are gay (and left-handed, incidentally). One journalism student interviewed me for an article she was writing on "gay people and how we should treat them". But I think it's great that they are willing to ask questions and learn rather than let prejudice develop from their ignorance.

Anyways, it's a quite major cultural difference I hadn't counted on at all. Go figure, huh?