Culture in the Blender

I was walking down a hallway in my university’s analysis center with a Chinese staff scientist, whom I spoke English with. (I don’t even know what ‘electron’, let alone ‘transmission’ or ‘microscope’ are in Chinese.) Another Chinese student came along, and they started speaking Chinese. The second the staff member opened his mouth, it was clear he was from the countryside. I immediately caught myself thinking “He’s just some country boy that got an education, I’m from the capital and speak standard Mandarin!” And then, of course, I caught myself thinking that I shouldn’t judge him for being from the countryside. It didn’t occur to me until hours later that I’m not Chinese.