It's the people's disposition: 01 (Peru / China)

After my first trip to Peru in 1986, I was having a chat one day with an academic at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) about it.  She'd been brought up in Taiwan, a soft-spoken, gentle-mannered person who had married an academic at SOAS.

    I told her about how gentle and good-natured I'd found the Peruvians to be, in spite of their poverty, adding that it was evidence enough that poverty is not always the reason (nor should it be the justification) for people behaving badly.  This was said keeping in mind my hearing some people say, "With life being so hard for them [whoever it is one's talking about that's behaving badly], you can't expect them to go about being good-natured and patient."

    She said, "是人的素质 / shì rén de sùzhì / it's the people's disposition".

    She went on to give an account of her experience in Beijing doing her pastoral duty visiting the SOAS Year Abroad students.

    Having lived in London for a few years, where the practice at a restaurant is for the customer to stand just inside the door upon arrival, to wait to be allocated a table.  Which was what she did in Beijing when she went out for her first dinner.  She was ignored for a long time, then one of the waiters/waitresses noticed she was still hanging around by the door, and shouted at her, "What are you still standing there for?  Go and get a table and sit down!!"  Everyone looked up at the academic, who was so mortified and traumatised by this that she left immediately (in spite of having already waited for so long for a table).

    She never ate out again for the rest of her pastoral visit, buying food to eat in her hotel room instead.

(Peru, 1986; China, 1986)

disposition: (from googling) a person's inherent qualities of mind and character.

The guardian angels in one’s life: 11 (The then-boyfriend)

 

I’d saved up for two years in Taiwan to cover my first year in London, not wanting to rely on my mother (with all the repercussions that would go with it should I not do well in my studies:  “You have wasted my money!” blah blah).

    The excellent advice I’d been given by my then-boyfriend was:  “Focus on getting good grades for your ‘A’ levels.  Once you get in to university, you are safe for the rest of your course, so you can work part-time then.”

    (In those days, there was only the end-of-year exam for Year 1, to confirm that you can indeed last the course — four years in my case.  The next exam was at the end of Year 4, so one could work part-time in Year 2 and Year 3 — or enjoy student life, which included [for some] being at the school bar after lectures, before sobering up in the final year.)

    So, I had a study plan for my ‘A’ levels.  I’d get back from classes around 5pm, eat an early dinner, then go to bed, with the alarm set for midnight.  The two TV stations shut down at 11pm in those days, one couldn’t really cook in the middle of the night, so there was nothing else to do but study.  I’d go back to bed at 4am, having put in four hours of work (which was worth eight hours, as it was all quiet and I was totally focused), then get up at 8am to get ready to go to class.  On some days, I’d study all the way through to 8am, which meant that I’d put in 16 hours of work for the night.

    Yes, I got good grades, and yes, I got into a good college (SOAS / School of Oriental and African Studies / University of London) where I had the most enjoyable and productive time, learning lots.

    Thank you, Peter, for teaching me such a good strategy.  I’m very grateful.

(London, 1977–78)