I’m in China

After a long 13 hours, I finally got off the plane with anxiety to meet Tony at the Shanghai airport.

We found each other and to my surprise, Tony's dad had also come along. Our faces turned bright with joy. Two years had passed since they had taken me in as their host child in Shanghai. We hugged, greeted each other and found the nearest restaurant. Tony went to the bathroom which gave Tony's dad the opportunity to find out how bad my Chinese had gotten over the past two years. He was speaking slowly but I still could not make out what he was saying. Tony got back to the table and we talked about my life and his after graduation. Tony works for China Eastern Airlines, which is the airline I took to China. Tony was was quick to point out how crappy he thought China Eastern Airlines is. haha. He also said, " The flight attendants are ugly, right?" I thought they were very pretty and the service was above average. In fact, every time I fly in a foreign airline I always notice how beautiful the flight attendants are. I'm sure many of you remember how being a young beautiful flight attendant was the thing to be in America about 15 years ago. Jobs in this industry were filled based on beauty not Merritt. Good to know that America has moved on from those views.

Anyway, the service was great. Maybe that's because I'm a foreigner and flying to China in a Chinese airline is exciting for me and no matter if the service was bad I would've enjoyed every moment of it.

It was great to see Tony and his dad. Tony's mom could not make it because she was working. I gave Tony his purse for his girlfriend which I bought at the Florida Mall and gave Tony's dad a box of red Marlboro's and chocolate for his wife.

We said our goodbye's and I got back on my flight to Chongqing airport where Ferris (Luo Xiaohu) was to pick me up at 12:40 AM.

I landed, got off the plane onto the plane runway (old school) and took a 2 min ride to the airport's terminal. In that bus ride, I got a quick reminder of how Chinese view their elders and how much respect they have towards them.

Everyone rushed off the plane and knobbie walked to the bus. The doors closed and magically all the people who were in that 747 were now comfortably (China comfort standards) sitting and standing in regular sized, one-story bus. The driver stepped on the pedal and quickly stepped on the brake when he noticed 4 flight attendants walking with an elderly couple who, as you could imagine, were not knobbie walking to the bus. As soon as the elderly couple got to the bus, two people who were occupying chairs, immediately offered their chairs.

The actions of this scene above are not that uncommon in America but the way the Chinese youth seemed to really care and respect these elderly people was a bit refreshing. Or maybe this scene is uncommon. When was the last time you got on a bus in America? When was the last time you saw an older person by themselves without some type of new "3000 Millennium High Power Chair?" Or, It might be because elderly people are left in retirement homes and forgotten about or maybe because independence is the only way to live in the US. Capitalism has made companies thrive off all types of consumers. Business people/ entrepreneurs know that people are getting older. They know that the children of these older people "don't have time" to care for their own parents. In result, ramps and handicapped parking are available everywhere, power chairs and non-slip bath tubs are on infomercials.

The American way has made life easy for everyone. The living standard of a 70 year old is much less minimized than that of 70 year old person in any other country (China, Mexico, Venezuela). You can be old in America and still do many of the same things you could when you were young. Most importantly, this applies to nearly all senior citizens not just the rich ones.

The way the younger generation views their senior citizens might be ugly and not Confucius like but I prefer it this way. When I'm old I would not want to depend on anyone. I would prefer to not be forgotten about but if that happens I would still be able to live my own life. It's a view and a way of life that developed from independence and capitalism.