Squat toilets

I feel as though the words "squat toilet" general induce a feeling of disgust in people. Most people see squat toilets as gross and unsanitary. I don't believe this at all. I actually think squat toilets are much more sanitary.

Sure, squat toilets are pretty gross. When you walk into a public toilet in China it's pretty nasty. It smells, there's normally a thin layer of dirty liquid on the ground and you know some of that liquid is urine. There are overflowing bins next to the toilets where the toilet paper goes (you don't flush it). The first reaction most people have would probably to cover your nose and run. But really squat toilets are great. When you really think about it having western style toilets in public places is kind of gross. I mean, you put your naked skin somewhere where tons of other people have put there's. Also, how many times do you see urine on toilet seats? How many times have you yourself sat in someone else's urine? Yeah, that's gross! I'd much rather get someone else's pee on the bottom of my shoes than on me! Squat toilets are just so simple and quick to use. I mean, who wants to sit on a squat toilet for a long time? That just hurts your calf muscles after a while. You get in, you get out, and there's no sitting on the toilet and texting when ten people are waiting in line.

Squat toilets are just so basic, there the bare minimum of what you need, which truly reflects the Chinese way of life. I have a huge respect for Chinese people and how they live. I feel so spoiled in comparison. I am guilty, like all other college students in America of complaining about how small the dorm-rooms I lived in were. I also complained (like every other student) about having to share my dorm-rooms with other people. But the most people I ever shared a room with was two other people. In China, the students share their dorm-rooms with 5 to 7 other people. That's 6 to 8 people in one room. I've visited a number of college campuses and when I do I always peek into the dorms. One of my Chinese friends made fun of me last week for doing this. "That's just a dorm, what are you looking at?" It was hard to?!" Is pretty much how my response went. He then told one of our chinese friends that the next time I was on their campus she had to show me her dorm room. Because of course me going into a mens dorm... was impossible.

Here's another way College in America and China is so different. My female Chiese friends who are in college will giggle and ask me if I've ever had a boyfriend. I try to explain to them that I've never known a person in college in America who hasn't had at least one boyfriend or girlfriend. The ideas relatively unthinkable! Relationships are such a big part of the college experience. But in China the students don't get any time to themselves let alone a room for them to go and be alone with someone. The lack of privacy in China is another thing that makes me feel like a selfish brat. Getting alone time in America is easy, most of the time I simply want more time alone than I'm able to get, but in China, I feel as though being alone is next to impossible. Parents are out of work by the time students get out of school, the students might even leave for school earlier than their parents leave for work. Many students board at school because even an hour commute to and from school is too much for the students to do twice a day, every day, six times a week. They live in big rooms with 10 or 15 other students. They go to college and have dorms full of people then they go back to live with their families or get a job where they get housing. At my school many of the Chinese teacher live on campus, the young unmarried ones. They share a room with another person, there is not kitchen area in the whole building they live in nor bathrooms or showers. They have to go to another building to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and have to go to a public bathhouse to shower. (I'll explain public bath houses in my next entry.) Other people who work on campus  like the man with the mail, the security guard, and the cleaner (yeah, I'm pretty sure there's only one for the whole school.) All of them live in a room on campus, the same room they work in, or a room adjacent. Many of the small restaurants here have a back room where the family lives, sometimes you'll even see them go into their living area to cook. You also will see washers or TVs in the room where you eat for the families.

The truth is -in a lot of ways- I wish I had grown up that way and experience that life. It's impossible to not feel like an entitled fuck looking at people living this kind of life. The thing is, it's relatively easy to live in better living standards then you're used to. It takes time to adjust, but you'll enjoy the adjustment. But living in conditions that are less than what you're used to is very hard and frustrating. No matter how open minded you are or how much you want to experience something new adjusting down is hard to do.

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/