Mao, and Living in Another Culture

Well....I called the Foreign Student Office this morning, and they still have not received the scholarship result. The girl whom I have now become very well acquainted with said she was pretty sure it should be in by Friday, and to call then.

If this should seem strange to you who live in the States, don't let it bother you. :) It's part of what I like to call 'the game.' Every culture is a game, with many many unspoken rules.

If you've ever played the card game Mao you might understand just a little bit of this idea. I learned how to play in college with some very good friends. Ahhh, I miss those days (and I miss you guys!!!). What great preparation for cross-cultural work.

Game Spoiler (read on if you already know how to play Mao, or want to cheat a little; if not, skip down to Living in Another Culture)

In Mao there are nearly always a few who have never played, and a few who have. The only thing you're told before the game begins (if you've never played) is that you cannot be told the rules. A few kind people may tell you that you cannot speak either, except at special times. If you speak when you shouldn't, you get an extra card. And, if you break a rule, you get a card. You may be given a curt description of why you got the card, but it's not likely to help much. For example, someone might say, "talking" and give you a card, or "failure to say ______" and give you a card (that one is a little more helpful, sometimes).

Pretty quickly you find out what a great failure you are, and you have a large amount of cards in your hand. For the beginner the game is basically watching, and getting cards. You make errors and get cards. And then you figure out a rule!!! There is MUCH rejoicing (only very silently, because if you were to shout out, hurrah!, you'd get a card too). However, after a while, after observing and collecting cards, you may just stretch out a bit and try to penalize someone else. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don't. If you're wrong, you'll get penalize a card. But, you begin to get the hang of it and it can become quite fun, especially when you are no longer the newbie and you get to penalize some other sore beginner.

I'll not share anymore, so as not to spoil too much fun, but if you would like to introduce this game to your friends I have several links below to help you introduce it to your circles.

Living in Another Culture

Playing Mao is like living in another culture. I don't know all, or even most, of the rules, even after playing the game for five years! Granted, there are A LOT more rules than Mao. And every day is a learning experience. It could bother me that this is the FOURTH time I've called, hoping to hear whether I have the scholarship or not. But if I take my cues from my Chinese friends (and NOT my foreign ones who don't know the rules anyway) I'll play the game MUCH better, and I may even win from time to time. I learn when to act, when to speak, when NOT to speak. And the coolest part is, once you've got down the basics, you even get to add your own influence to the rules...but I don't want to spoil Mao for you. You just have to start playing.

If you've never played Mao, and don't know ANYONE who knows how, here's a site that has all the rules and a description of the game. It'd be great to introduce to your family and friends! (In all fairness, if you don't know how to play but know others that do, it's much more fun to play-learn rather than read-learn) And this site has some interesting history, possibly tying it to...China...of all places. Wikipedia also has a fair description, also alluding to the infamous Chairman of my current homeland.

Special shout out to Jason P. Walters, Jill (who very recently got married; yay Jill!), Sarah, and Kristian and the rest of the gang with whom I had many fun late nights playing many different card games in preparation for cross-cultural living.