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Are peaches and grapes expensive compared to other fruits in that area? Also what kind of grapes do you *have* to peel, I've never peeled a grape except if I do it just for fun

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I'm honestly not sure either. I guess there might be a variety of grape in China with super thick peels? We always get just normal grapes in my family.

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Concord grapes (and similar ones which I know are much more popular in Korea at least) have thick skins that you can eat, but many people don't eat them. You can either peel them, or if you are being less fussy about it, often it's easier to just squeeze the inside of the grape out right into your mouth.

If you haven't tried concord grapes, I'd advise you find some. They are so good compared to average table grapes. They have a lot more flavor.

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I will! That sounds super interesting!

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yeah i was wondering about this, like if the mom asked what kind of fruit she likes and she tells her, how is that rude?

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Apr 25, 2023·edited Apr 25, 2023Author

I think this is a cultural thing. Sort of like how, if an America friend brings me a gift of chocolates, I'd happily say thanks, take it, and find an opportunity to give them something back. But in China, it's rude as fuck if you don't refuse the gift at least a couple of times. Similarly, it's polite of the MIL to ask what kind of fruit you prefer, but it's also considered polite to insist that you'll eat anything or that you don't need fruit at least a couple of times.

This is honestly mostly the boyfriend's fault--for just screenshotting conversations back and forth. You don't need to be polite and careful with your boyfriend the same way you do with his mom that you're meeting for the first time. If my husband asks me what i want from the store, I just tell him, no matter what culture. But even with my own parents, if they're like, "Hey, what kind of snacks do you want me to get for you when you visit?" I still insist a couple of times, "I'm not picky, I'll eat anything." Before I'm like, "Well, if you insist, I guess I like sour cream and onion chips."

The boyfriend should've reworded what she said to his mom, like, "Well, I'm sure OP would happily eat anything we have on hand, but if you really want to go out of your way, maybe peaches or grapes?"

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It's interesting to see how education in China has many of the same problems in the US. Having a silly immersion program/material is just the sort of thing people like here; it's similar to some of the ideas behind balanced literacy and other discovery learning trends. The childcare blogger is similar, though the classes do sound really slow.

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I think Chinese people have the wrong idea of what extracurricular classes are about. I mean, the way I think of them, as a mother myself, is that they're basically extended daycare. They're just a place to drop off the kids where they can have fun and not be in my house, because spending too much time with your kids is annoying. It doesn't really matter what they do or don't learn. I just want a place that's fun enough that I don't have to fight with my kids over whether or not they go, so I get a couple extra hours a day to have alone time.

Immersion programs also don't work unless you have a larger environment, right? Like, immersion works if you're actually taking your kids and living in an English-speaking country. But just a couple of lessons every week where everything is in English sounds like it'd just be frustrating and confusing for the kids.

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The key to getting immersion to work well is to couple it with actual instruction. The immersion is just where you get practice and feedback. Otherwise it's like you said, just frustrating and confusing.

To be honest, if I were in a society where it's potentially really important for a kid to get in the top 50% of their class, then I might think about extracurriculars like the person in your post.

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It's like, you can easily see the good intentions behind these government policies, but they also sound like they were written by a five year old who never thought to learn about previous laws and how they're going to affect new policies.

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Extracurriculars can be pretty important for U.S college admissions, as far as I know, but that only really starts mattering in middle school 🤔

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I think this is due to a lot of people complaining about primary school in China just being a place where knowledge is crammed down student's throats and everyone teaches to the test, and these kids don't grow up with any amount of fun or exploration or creativity. So the government put in requirements that primary schools also have to test for a number of """fun""" activities, like jumping rope or legos or whatever.

And now, there are a whole bunch of tutoring places guaranteed to make your child ace their jumping rope and lego exams, so they never fall behind of their peers. Because China is fucked.

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“Isn’t this just like how the US immediately jumps out to put out fires right after Pelosi is done visiting Taiwan? I see we’ve learned from America how to rile people up, then look all innocent.”

Totally the same. Taiwan is exactly like post soviet states, lol.

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It's also super confusing, because it's not as though US state officials have never visited Taiwan before? And nothing's ever really come of it.

A Russia-Ukraine war has...well, it has happened before, but what's going on now is still huge and unprecedented and a much bigger deal.

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