Little Costs and Big Gains
A few days ago, I went to a restaurant that I have been to so many times before. It is across the street from my school. It’s owned by a family. I have gotten to know them quite well over the last couple of years. They also have a nine-year-old boy who just loves to talk. I was in there about a week ago, and he asked me what American Money looks like, and what I thought about Chinese Money. So, a few days ago, I went back to there, and I took some American Money.
He was fascinated by it. He was very confused as to why it was all green. In China, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100RMB bills are all different colors. He also found it fascinating that we have denominations as small as a penny and a nickel. In China, prices are only calculated to the tenth, so the smallest coin that they have is a tenth of an RMB. As we were having the discussion, the father, grandmother, and cook also joined in. They to had never seen American Money and were very curious. I’ve since come to understand their fascination. For some reason, when you see money from other countries, it seems as real as Monopoly money. It just doesn’t look real, so you can’t quite understand its economic value. We also talked about exchange rates and how much certain things cost in the States.
Before I left, I gave the little boy and the cook a dollar, a quarter, a dime, a nickel, and a penny. They couldn’t believe it. I told them it was a gift. The father quickly realized the economics of the situation, and wasn’t going to let me pay for my food. My food cost about 65 cents. He started talking way to fast for me to understand, so I did what any other confused foreigner would do. I called my Chinese Teacher. She explained to him that it was a gift and not to worry about it. So, I paid for my meal and said goodbye. Before I left, the father told me that I have really changed their opinion of Americans. They thought that all Americans cared about was money, and they never thought they would see one giving it away. I was so happy to prove them wrong.
The people that run that restaurant are some of the sweetest people that I’ve ever met, and I’m sure that we’ll be friends for a long time.
"To be clever enough to get all that money, one must be stupid enough to want it."
- G. K. Chesterton
He was fascinated by it. He was very confused as to why it was all green. In China, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100RMB bills are all different colors. He also found it fascinating that we have denominations as small as a penny and a nickel. In China, prices are only calculated to the tenth, so the smallest coin that they have is a tenth of an RMB. As we were having the discussion, the father, grandmother, and cook also joined in. They to had never seen American Money and were very curious. I’ve since come to understand their fascination. For some reason, when you see money from other countries, it seems as real as Monopoly money. It just doesn’t look real, so you can’t quite understand its economic value. We also talked about exchange rates and how much certain things cost in the States.
Before I left, I gave the little boy and the cook a dollar, a quarter, a dime, a nickel, and a penny. They couldn’t believe it. I told them it was a gift. The father quickly realized the economics of the situation, and wasn’t going to let me pay for my food. My food cost about 65 cents. He started talking way to fast for me to understand, so I did what any other confused foreigner would do. I called my Chinese Teacher. She explained to him that it was a gift and not to worry about it. So, I paid for my meal and said goodbye. Before I left, the father told me that I have really changed their opinion of Americans. They thought that all Americans cared about was money, and they never thought they would see one giving it away. I was so happy to prove them wrong.
The people that run that restaurant are some of the sweetest people that I’ve ever met, and I’m sure that we’ll be friends for a long time.
"To be clever enough to get all that money, one must be stupid enough to want it."
- G. K. Chesterton
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