The Chinese have an aphorism for their relationship to America. It goes something like this:
The Chinese government and the American government hate each other, while the Japanese government and the American government love each other. The Chinese people and the American people love each other (when the actually meet), while the Japanese people and the American people hate each other.The literal translation of the Chinese name for America means "The Beautiful Land."
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I went to the Apple Store today to pick up a new phone. I stood in line right behind two guys from China, there to pick up two more phones. They picked up two yesterday also.
When I first joined the back of the line, only one of them was there. His friend returned in a few minutes, and asked permission to join his friend in line. I said no problem. They were obviously together.
A short time later a security guard walked up and told him he shouldn’t have done that, but it was okay since I gave permission. She was trying to prevent fights.
The second Chinese guy went around behind me. It took my five minutes to assure him it was okay to rejoin his friend.
We talked for about ten minutes, about phones, and different aspects of them.
They were good guys.
We had stopped talking before an Apple employee came along and told me the phone I wanted wasn’t in stock.
I turned to leave and took a few steps, and these guys called out to me to say good-bye and wish me good luck.
I felt bad for not having said good-bye to them, but I went out of my way then to make it plain I wished them the same.