East meets West

This week in Madison is the Taste of Madison!!! and there are restaurants and vendors all around the square and it'll be a blast!

But the East meets West component of this post is here; when sending a mass invitation to people, people from East and West respond differently. Western people will typically RSVP whereas Eastern people will either not show up, show up, or show up with extra guests.

The small problem with this is when you have Eastern (say...Chinese) students coming to America to study, and you send a mass invitation to them to attend the Taste of Madison. At a certain point in time, you start to wonder if people will show up, or not, and if it's worth your time to wait.
The Westerner part of me says, "I clearly typed to reply to the email so I know that you're coming...so no replies means that no one is coming"
The Eastern part says, "Chinese people never RSVP, typically show up late, so in the end...they could very well be showing up and may feel tipped off by my unannounced absense."

Fortunately, this is all not a big deal. It's easy to go from the Union to the Capital and students would easily be able to locate the festivities. So thanks!! to C for her flexibility and the cultural lesson of East meeting West...I feel much better about the courtesy email to reschedule that I sent to people, and waiting there regardless of whether or not students arrive.

for more information about East meeting West and West meeting East, please read Harmony in Conflict by Richard W. Hartzell. He is a journalist who lived in Taiwan for over a decade collecting and learning about Eastern cultures; he does an excellent job contrasting East and West so that it is clear what the typical Eastern and Western reaction would be in a variety of situations.