Doc Momma: Things I Want to Remember About China

Spending two weeks away from home, and not just anywhere but on the other side of the world, makes one really appreciate all of the invaluable attributes of one's home country. I will say, while we were certainly increasingly homesick as the trip wore on, I truly tried to soak myself in the Chinese culture and made it a point to try and memorize so many of our moments while we were there, especially the mundane, day-to-day details and the things that make China, well, China.

On our way back to the States, my hub and I compiled a list of some of the *interesting* things we noticed during our two week stay. In no particular order, here are some of our observations:

English words on t-shirts. Everywhere we looked, there were English words on shirts. Not unusual EXCEPT that the majority of the time, the sayings made absolutely no sense. And sometimes, they were just down right shocking. For example, our sweet guide in Inner Mongolia had on a shirt one day that depicted three cute cartoon girls on it. Each girl had a word bubble over her head. And each word bubble said the exact same phrase: "I will f**king destroy you." Only, the "f word" was actually written out. Yes, I'm serious. No, she had no idea that that's what the word bubble said until after our friend informed her. And also below, a couple other shirts I saw in a store. See what I mean?!

Our sweet guide (love you, Aggie!) wearing THE shirt

Swim caps. Many Chinese hotels require swimmers to wear swim caps when in the pools. Although our two hotels, which had a lot of Western elements, did not require them, almost every swimmer in the pool wore one anyway.

Warm drinks. All drinks in China were served room temperature or hotter. Our guide told us that, to the Chinese, room temperature is considered cold. Not surprisingly, when my hub and I ordered a beer during one of our airport delays, it was served room temperature. And of course, we were repeatedly told not to drink the water in China (This is why we only consumed bottled water for two weeks, including when brushing our teeth); so, we didn't add ice to it. Thus, warm beer it was. Bleh!

This is the glass of water that was poured for us at dinner one night :0 (notice all the floating particles)

Phones everywhere. This actually made me a little sad, and I don't think it's a China problem. I think it's an everywhere problem. People were so consumed by their phones. I would often look around and see only the tops of heads as people were staring down at their phones. :( Sadly, this is very often the case here in the US, as we all know. I don't like it one bit.

No seatbelts/carseats. While there are seatbelts in the vehicles, no one uses them. And car seats aren't used at all, which is why Bella sat in our laps wherever we went (luckily, she's had zero problem being in a carseat now that we're in America). The (other) crazy thing is that the drivers and pedestrians are INSANE in China! We saw soooooo many times that a pedestrian avoided being hit by a car by an inch. And a car crash was avoided by an inch. And no one flinches at all. It is just the norm there.

Lap riding

Other Americans feel like instant friends. In some places, especially while we were in Inner Mongolia, it was rare to see an American. So, when we did, they felt like instant friends - someone else who spoke our language that we could easily communicate with...score! Also, because Americans were few and far between (again, especially in Inner Mongolia), we were stared at all.the.time. Our guide told us that, for some, we may have been the first Americans they had ever seen.

Bikes and mopeds everywhere. So may people ride on bikes and mopeds there! There were just rows and rows of bikes and mopeds on the sidewalks.

Underground walkways. There were underground walkways under many of the busy streets, which was nice given the crazy driver/pedestrian issue I mentioned above. ;)

Adoption reasons. The most shocking thing we learned while in China was something our guide told us. We were asking her about what locals thought when they saw us Americans adopting a Chinese child - what were their perceptions? Were they negative or positive? She said those who were educated on international adoption looked upon it favorably, recognizing that one of our goals was to provide a better life, better education, better medical care for those who would otherwise be in orphanages for the duration of childhood. BUT those who were uneducated had made comments to our guide before: Some asked if Americans took the children back to America to kill them and sell their organs. Others wondered if Americans simply wanted these children to use as slaves back home. Luckily, our guide always made it a point to properly educate them after hearing these horrible untruths. But still. Absolutely breaks my heart to know that some people think that.

"Wine." One night we went to a "Hot Pot" for dinner with the other two families we were with, along with our guide (similar to a fondue restaurant here). The guys each ordered a beer and I asked for a glass of wine. "Wine?!?" Our guide was shocked. She looked at me like I was crazy. The other two mommas agreed they would like a glass as well. You can imagine our surprise when they brought out the tiniest "wine glasses" ever and a clear little teapot with this clear liquid. Hmmmmm...maybe they brought us some water to clean our palettes between bites. May as well participate while we wait for our wine. So, we took a swig and OH.MY.DEAR.LORD. it was like pure grain alcohol. This is what they called "wine." (I suppose it was some sort of rice wine?) No wonder our guide looked at us like we were crazy when we ordered it. She thought we wanted to get sloshed? With our new babies in tow? Nope. Eventually, we were able to communicate that we wanted just a glass of red vino. But man, that is a taste (and laugh!) I will never forget. :)

The "Hot Pot" where it all went down ;)

Napkins were a premium. Napkins weren't always just sitting on the tables in restaurants. We had to request them at times and even then, they were very, very thin. I also carried tissues with me at all times as toilet paper was not always available.

Unusual food options. It was not uncommon at all to see cooked poultry (and other animals) with their heads still attached. And pretty much every animal organ was available for consumption (no, we didn't try any of them). Also, some of our friends who we traveled with went early and toured Beijing. While there, they saw live scorpions on skewers (like, were still wriggling around like crazy) for sale. If someone wanted one (for consumption), the seller would fry it right there in front of them. Ummm...no thank you.

Flight delays and cancellations are almost expected. 'Nuff said. And I know they happen in the States, too, but I think it is more surprising when a flight is actually on time over there. Frustrating but it is what it is.

Number of people. The number of people who live in China is just mind boggling. The second city we were in, Guangzhou, has 16 million people. And it is NOT the biggest city in China. I could.not.get.over. the unbelievable number of housing units. We are talking, these talllllllll apartment buildings, side-by-side-by-side, everywhere we looked.

Apartments as far as the eye can see. And this doesn't even remotely do it justice!

Smoking indoors. This is something else that made me sad. People were still permitted to smoke indoors. And while I didn't see a ton of smokers, it was no fun to be eating a meal with a smoker puffing away nearby. :/

Flavored cheese. Yes, flavored cheese. We visited the most beautiful "mall" while in Inner Mongolia (it is nothing like an American mall). It was four stories high and each level was basically one giant room with beautiful display cases showing items for sale on that particular floor. On the very bottom level was a section solely devoted to selling beef jerky and flavored cheese. And by flavored cheese, I mean things like chocolate cheese, blueberry cheese, poppy seed cheese, etc. And we sampled them all! And then, brought some home for our friends to try. :)

People cut in line without flinching. Ohhhhhh this was so frustrating. People who just step right in front of you and act like it was no problem, no matter how long the line, no matter how many groceries they had in their cart.

See-through bathroom walls. This is just how the rooms were constructed in both hotels we stayed in. No big deal. Except, it was a big deal for us Americans. ;)

Beautiful flowers. Beautiful scenery. The areas of China that we were in were generally very well landscaped, with tons of gorgeous flowers. And as if that wasn't enough, there were often beautiful mountains providing the most scenic backdrop.

Squatty pottys. Most of the public restrooms boast what I call squatty pottys - basically the toilet bowl is a hole in the ground that you literally squat over to do your business. :0 Luckily, there was usually at least one "Western" toilet in most places we went, and if there wasn't we just went about our way until we found one.

I opted out of taking a photo of an actual squatty potty (you're welcome :), but rest assured that one exists behind each of those stall doors

Shopping centers. Aside from the gorgeous "mall" we visited in Inner Mongolia, the rest of our shopping excursions centered around places like those shown below. The buildings were usually six or seven (open) stories tall. Each floor was booth after booth after booth. And each booth contained just tons and tons and tons of stuff.