T T T oh my

The teachers class that I have to teach here at the school is really quite interesting. Today I started with a topic on the death penalty and asking about why have it so on. The conversation was going well until....there is little room in china for individual thought and less room for a devils advocate. Not that I advocate the devil(I know him hes an ass) but I actually had on of the teachers tell me in a none too subtle way that "most of us here are party members" I informed her that I was aware of that and though they were party members I was still interested in what they thought. The party can tell you many things but can they tell you how to think, I inquired. That didnt go over too well. I may be reading too much into it but, right now I am a bit concerned. If suddenly this blog stops being posted or disappears send help fast. I am just kidding. Dont send help, I can take care of it. Anyways the rest of it was them trying desperately to set up a "the United States is not perfect so blah blah blah" and I find that the best way to stop that nonsense is to tell the that first. Somehow the people I meet have gotten it into their heads that we americans believe that our government is infallible. I tell them straight up some of the things I think were wrong and that those things need changed. It freaks them out because if I can admit the wrongness of my country why cant they? You can see their brains trying to process it. We ended up talking about some more safe topics. But the safe topics are boring. Who really cares about TV? Or the movies? thats shit I dont even do at cocktail parties with people I kind of like . Why have small talk for an hour every week when it is a chance to explore the vast chasm that divides our ability to see the world through each others eyes. Some people will never get it i think. It is a shame though, because I miss out on an opportunity to learn from them. Ah well if they want safe and easy I can do that too.The Ts are T aiwan T ibet And of course T ienanmen not allowed to talk about them.