People just need to learn to shut their mouths.
What the hell? Is there some part of Chinese culture that's entirely against surprises or are all Chinese people just blabbermouths?
My family has planned for almost a YEAR to send my brother to China as a surprise. (None of my relatives have seen him in two years, and he grew about a foot and a half in that time.) We didn't tell any family members or family frinds in China until a few days ago, when we told ONE uncle because he needed to pick my brother up from the airport. We told him not to tell anyone --especially our grandparents-- because we wanted it to be a surprise.
HE WENT AND TOLD EVERYONE. Not even a THOUGHT for us. So of course, we were pissed off as as hell when relatives started to call at 3:00 am this morning demanding to know which flight my brother was on and why we didn't tell them.
Then we found out that two family friends from the States that helped us plan/buy plane tickets went back to China on their own trips and TOLD OUR FAMILY. (Not that it was any of their own business to do so.) One of them was even like "Oh, yeah, don't tell the Zhou family because they didn't want us to tell you, but their son's coming back to China for a month. Haha." Because she thought it was FUNNY.
THE HELL?!?! THE HELL?!?! I know they mean well but to have three completely separately individuals just blurt out the secret when they KNOW VERY WELL that we don't want anyone to know is just... I dunno... mind-boggling. I don't find that funny at all, considering how long it took us to plan all this. My Mom doesn't either, so I doubt it's an "American" thing to be pissed off about a surprise being ruined. She doesn't understand it either. We called my brother after he landed in China and HE was pissed off, because he was hungry and miserable after a long flight and was really looking forward to waltzing into my grandparents' house and scaring everyone.
It's one freakin' secret. It's not that hard to keep.
And while I know my relatives will be extremely happy to see him and shower him with affection, I feel kind of bad for my brother. He's 14 years old and mischievous, and pwning all our relatives was going to be the highlight of his YEAR. It's unfair that we planned for a year to do this and people just couldn't keep their darn mouths shut. :/
Enlighten me. I feel like there's something I missed. Is it really rude or bad or something to surprise people in China nowadays? Or was that always part of our culture and I just don't remember it? ._.
My family has planned for almost a YEAR to send my brother to China as a surprise. (None of my relatives have seen him in two years, and he grew about a foot and a half in that time.) We didn't tell any family members or family frinds in China until a few days ago, when we told ONE uncle because he needed to pick my brother up from the airport. We told him not to tell anyone --especially our grandparents-- because we wanted it to be a surprise.
HE WENT AND TOLD EVERYONE. Not even a THOUGHT for us. So of course, we were pissed off as as hell when relatives started to call at 3:00 am this morning demanding to know which flight my brother was on and why we didn't tell them.
Then we found out that two family friends from the States that helped us plan/buy plane tickets went back to China on their own trips and TOLD OUR FAMILY. (Not that it was any of their own business to do so.) One of them was even like "Oh, yeah, don't tell the Zhou family because they didn't want us to tell you, but their son's coming back to China for a month. Haha." Because she thought it was FUNNY.
THE HELL?!?! THE HELL?!?! I know they mean well but to have three completely separately individuals just blurt out the secret when they KNOW VERY WELL that we don't want anyone to know is just... I dunno... mind-boggling. I don't find that funny at all, considering how long it took us to plan all this. My Mom doesn't either, so I doubt it's an "American" thing to be pissed off about a surprise being ruined. She doesn't understand it either. We called my brother after he landed in China and HE was pissed off, because he was hungry and miserable after a long flight and was really looking forward to waltzing into my grandparents' house and scaring everyone.
It's one freakin' secret. It's not that hard to keep.
And while I know my relatives will be extremely happy to see him and shower him with affection, I feel kind of bad for my brother. He's 14 years old and mischievous, and pwning all our relatives was going to be the highlight of his YEAR. It's unfair that we planned for a year to do this and people just couldn't keep their darn mouths shut. :/
Enlighten me. I feel like there's something I missed. Is it really rude or bad or something to surprise people in China nowadays? Or was that always part of our culture and I just don't remember it? ._.