Bad Manners

Last night as we ate dinner in a restaurant on campus, Matt hunched over and actually sucked some noodles directly off the side of his bowl. And it occurred to me... We've picked up some pretty bad habits over here.

It's not that these things are rude in China--they're completely normal; but in America, I'm pretty sure our mothers would be appalled. For example...

- We not only suck noodles off the side of bowls; we also slurp our soup.
- There are even times when we don't use spoons with our soup at all; we just pick up the bowl and drink away.
- When we eat fish or chicken with bones in it, we just spit the bones out onto the table.
- While waiting in line, we have no problem crowding the person in front of us so that no one else can get in.
- We also have no problem elbowing those overly persistent people who still try to cut in front of us.
- And a favorite pastime is arguing with a shop owner that her products are not only way over-priced, but also not great quality. (This is not rude here... It's just how people shop.)