Between the popularity of crouch-less-paints for children, mini-skirts for day time use, and spitting just about anywhere I can't help but to think the country with the longest and richest history in (possibly) the whole world might have gone astray... a lot!
I'm not trying to say that there's anything wrong with China's culture I just don't understand how children urinating in public buildings, people ignoring the fact that they affect any one's life but their own, and half dilapidated buildings is a culture.
China's a very strange place, I don't think I could begin to describe just how bizar it is, and no one would understand they depth of the oddity with just a two weak vacation here. But believe me, it's bizar. I've been a lot of places in my life. I'm no Carmen Sandiego or anything - I'm just saying I haven't spent my whole life in rural New England either. I've seen enough strange stuff to not get shocked easily but China often makes me go "What the fuck?" After being here a month and a half I still get the erge to text people when I see strange stuff happening.
So children really do wear crouch-less pants, mostly without diapers. I've only ever seen one kid wearing a diaper on under crouch-less pants. A lot of the little boys have at least a hole big enough for their penis to fit through. The kids are prompted by their parents to pee everywhere. And not just every once and a while, I mean sure - sometimes a parent in America is desperate and they lead their kid over to a tree and try to sneakily get them to pee. But in China it's everywhere. I have seen a kid being held over a trash-can in a mall to pee and a mom just pulling out a little boy's penis at a bus stop (facing the street), that's just normal here.
The Chinese people are convinced anything can give you diarrea, I don't really know why - but they are. They're also convinced that the sure to any sickness is just to drink hot water. No - not tea - hot water. That zhou (pretty much rice and water but they translate it as "porridge") should be eaten every morning and that ice is the devil. I mean, I'm sure this comes more from the fact that I live in an area that is essentially a small town (of roughly 3 million people). Also this comes more form older people than young.
Women's clothing is almost a 50/50 split between dowdy/childish and consisting of way too much of the color pink and prostitute. I guess it's not fair to judge what is and is not appropriate women's wear in another country. But when the skirt you are wearing out in the day to McDonald's hits well above the seam of your panty hoes, I don't know what else to compare you to but a prostitute. The women here all cover their chests - there is neither a scoop or a v neck in site. Women's footwear is also about a 50/50 split between really ugly sneakers and just as ugly 5 inch platform stilettos. Needless to say, I feel that Chinese women are confused about how they want to be perceived.
The spitting! It is so gross. Blowing your nose is strange here (I've only seen one person do it other than a white person) but hocking a loogie is totally cool. I'm fairly certain I've written about this before, but still - EW! I was told by another foreign teacher that kids will just go to the trash can to spit up mucus in the middle of class, gross. I don't understand how spitting out one's mucus is superior to blowing into a tissue...
Chinese people do not understand lines. They can not form one and they can not follow one. They also can not walk in a straight line, and when they do manage to it's when they are taking up an entire street or just close enough to the people next to them that it is impossible to get by them and they are traveling slower than a snail and just looking around. I'm convinced that Chinese people dont walk, they meander. I would die if I saw a Chinese person walking at a sensible pace, just die. When they're late they run (or if their women teeter around on their tiny little feet and high heels). Chinese people as a whole have very little perceived respect for the people around them or ingeneral for anyone who's not themselves. Before coming here I always thought that China would be a community based country, but I don't feel that way any more. People are out for themselves and don't seem to have a care in the world about anyone around them.
Want to learn more about Qinhuangdao? Checkout this website my friends made. (There are even some pictures of me on there!) http://qhdconnect.spruz.com/
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