How to Spend Your Weekends?

By Yan Wenhua

I have asked many people the same question, “How do you spend your weekends?”Most commonly Chinese students answer, “Catch up on sleep,” or“Attend a language class,” or“Do homework.” They think of weekends as a time to rest or study, or both.

Asked the same question,French students’ answer is: “Have fun.” They really party down on weekends. They love going to bars. A Chinese student who went with them told me, “I won’t go out with them anymore, they bar hop like crazy. I felt it would obligated to go with them to each and every bar, but by the time we go to the third one, I couldn’t stay anymore, and retreated with my tail between my legs. See, it was already early morning, and I was dog tired. I would need the whole weekend to catch up on my sleep.”Unlike Chinese students, French students think that weekends are for fun.

When asked the same question,American students say, “To exercise.” They might exercise by themselves or participate in group sports games. Others answered, “It’s better to rest up on weekends.” Although work is always important, rest is essential. Work and personal life should be separated.

Time is an important cultural element. Although the seconds,minutes, and hours are the units used to calculate time the world over; at the cultural level, the utilization of time is different for each. The Chinese use of time is flexible; the exact length of time depends on individual circumstances. In some other cultural contexts, however, time is inelastic. Each culture defines time efficiency in a different way.An efficient practice in one culture may be regarded as in ineffective use of time in another.(FromThe Most Important Things in Life,Jiangsu Phoenix Literature and Art Publishing, Ltd. Translation:Huilan)

我问过很多人这个问题：“你的周末是拿来干什么的？”很多中国学生的回答是：“用来补觉啊。”“用来上语言班啊。”“用来赶作业啊。”休息和学习是混在一起的，周末既用来休息，也是学习的好时机。

法国学生的回答是：“找乐子。”周末是拿来熬夜的。他们最喜欢去的是酒吧。一个曾被邀请同去的中国学生回来说：“我再也不和他们去了。去了第一个酒吧之后，他们居然还要去第二个。我勉为其难地去了，不好意思中途走掉，但当他们还要去第三个时，我再也受不了，先撤了。都到凌晨啊。回来后一个周末都用来补觉了，我觉得好累。”法国学生觉得，周末就是拿来玩的。

美国学生的回答是：“去运动。”他们或是做个人的运动，或是大家一起去打球。周末就是用来休息的。工作是重要的，休息是神圣的，工作和休息截然分开。

时间是重要的文化元素。尽管秒、分钟、小时是世界通行的计算时间的科学单位，但在文化层面，每一种文化用来计算时间的基本单位是不同的，中国时间是有弹性的，根据关系来决定时间的长短，而在有些文化背景中，时间是没有弹性的。每一种文化界定效率的方式不同，在一种文化中被认为是高效的做法，在另外一种文化中，可能被当成不会有效地管理时间。（摘自