Chinese is a little better, but not toddler level yet. I'm still working on basic words although my comprehension has gotten way better and now I can differentiate words easily and say tones properly. Problem is my vocabulary is still too small. Hongbao was interesting. I got one for 5RMB, a bunch for 10, a couple of 20, 4 of 50 and 1 of 100. I think it depends on what the person giving can afford (I also think they give more to their own kids, tho my friends parents gave her the same amount as me)and if say it is for an older person sometimes they give them multiple envelopes and I noticed the grandparents getting hongbao too, then going and giving the kids MORE envelopes during the following days, just randomly. I think they gave away their own parent-hongbao and their majiang winnings lol. I felt kind of bad though, like I was taking money from the kids when I am a grown woman. My friend's parents know I'm 27 but they absolutely refuse to believe I can be older than maybe 24 -_- and I'm sure her family thought I was younger. I tried to slip the kids (teenagers) my hongbao and they wouldnt accept it either. #2... Hmm #2 is a nice guy to me, super nice but for some reason with him I have always gotten a bit of a sense that he thinks WAAAY too much about mianzi and guanxi. I know for a fact that he has used me and my other Western friends for this purpose before because he asked my permission the first time, but after that he just started volunteering me for stuff (which I hate) and I refuse to go along with it, so he ends up losing face. Anyway, last time I saw him I was with my guy friend from Iraq. A bunch of us went to #2's city to see his show in mid january (where I finally hung out with #3 alone) including a german guy from my school who is pretty tight friends with #2. So, we all know each other so german guy casually invites my iraqi friend to go traveling with them and he accepts the offer. 4 guys were going: 2 german guys (who dont care who goes, they invited everyone), boy #2 and boy #3 (who also doesnt care). My Iraqi friend called boy #2 to find out the details and make sure he could go and boy #2 acted totally cool and normal, even talking to me about it while talking to my friend (on QQ) but he lied to my friend about all the plans and on the day of leaving refused to answer his phone or text when my friend called to find out where to meet. This after my friend had changed his schedule to go along. Finally at some point the german guy found out he was calling and sent him a text saying "sorry we couldnt invite you." Seriously rude behavior. But I know german guy would have sent the text earlier if he had known, so boy #2 was keeping that private, he intentionally did that to my friend. He also hasnt talked to me since that day, the same day he gave me boy #3's QQ #.

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Chinese Culture
China Culture, China Konwledge