China!

China is such an interesting place. I love that the culture is so different, but sometimes it's difficult. My students are incredibly homogeneous in their views.
I think the idea of a national culture is difficult for Americans to grasp. When I first went to University I was amazed at how differently people from my own state could think and act. We had people from the central valley who grew up in places where agriculture was the big industry. These people have a totally different out-look on things.
Interestingly, when Camilla and I met, we were very surprised by how similar our cultures were even through we were from opposite sides of the continent. Everything in between our homes is very different, though.
America doesn't really have one culture (I know that we have some similar values, we also have American pride, but we are not one in culture). In my class I try to talk about "Western Culture", but what does that mean? To ask "what is the culture like in America?" is like asking "what is the weather like in China?" (extremely varied). But, I think in many ways you could ask the question "what is Chinese culture like?" and get as reasonable of an answer as a question like "whats the weather like in Southern California?" (generally mild!).

So, in my years in China I have been forming opinions and having them broken down, but in general I know more about Chinese culture than I ever did before I came to China. There are so many differences between Western and Chinese culture that I don't know where to begin, but here goes...