After two long visits by two different computer technicians, my computer seems to be cooperating again so I'm back online. Yay!

Today in class, I had a bit of an embarrassin experience. Two boys from the evening class I taught last term came to join my graduate class this morning. And to be honest, I didn't even realise that they were not supposed to be in that class, I just registered them as 'my students' and didn't think about from which class.

Anyway, we were discussing manners and politeness in different cultures, and kept coming back to the Chinese concept of saving face. The students were unusually quiet for some reason. Finally, in the second hour, one of the girls stood up and loudly proclaimed: "I have to say this, we all deeply dislike outsiders coming to the class. We cannot take it, we really hate it."

I had no idea what she was talking about...

Then one of the boys said, "but Elina, you told me last time that I could come to your class". I know I haven't said that, as I know they don't like other students coming there, but he probably asked me what time my class is, and I have told him.

So here we are, talking about saving face, and I am there in front of them, in an embarrassing situation, feeling how tense and silent everyone is, trying to look at the floor, with me blushing and not knowing what to say. In the end, I just told them that it's their class and if they don't want outsiders then that's the way it'll be. But they wanted the other kids out straight away, which would have been very embarassing for them, so I asked the class whether we could let them stay until the end of the class, as we had just been speaking of politeness...

It probably doesn't sound too bad, but I could just feel how everyone was very, very unconfortable - and so was I. Lost faces, I can tell you... But the rest of the class was much more relaxed and they started talking again...

Anyway, it's holiday time now, we're off to Dalian tomorrow, going through Beijing. Let's see what's going to happen with the SARS situation, when a few hundred million people all get on the trains and cough in each other's faces... And we'll be right there in the middle of it, I'm not worried about myself, but I have to say that I am a little worried of the whole situation getting out of hand with the holiday travel. But let's hope for the best.

For all of the Finnish people, HAUSKAA VAPPUA!!! :)