I don't know what goes on in their minds, and I wish I didn't have to think about it at all. ... Were it even conversation it might potentially be forgivable, but whoever thought up "catch every opportunity" ...
I dislike it all because I don't want to be the one telling some largely harmless kid to...
Early in my stay here. I used to go out in a local park most mornings to take a tai chi class. There was a Chinese in the group, Martin, who had spent a decade in Australia and had excellent English.
So one morning I'm taking a smoke break after an hour or so of practice and a young girl wanders up and shyly tries out her English. She's 17, just finished Middle school, will be an English major next year, and has never spoken to a foreigner before. Chatting with her is fine; she is quite pretty, very sweet and just generally a nice kid.
She is in the park at 7 am to walk the family dog, accompanied by an uncle. Martin wanders over and tells me that the uncle is lecturing his niece, telling her that she must take full advantage of the opportunity, come to the park every day and practice hard. I excused myself and went back to tai chi. Martin and the uncle had a conversation. I never saw the kid again.
She was a nice enough kid. I'd happily have chatted to her a few times, but the pushy uncle blew it for her.