Ten Things That Still Surprise Me About China

That I never seem to see the same article of clothing being worn by different people (except the really cool "I (heart) China" t-shirts, I wish I knew where to get one!)
come on, seriously? with nearly 1.5 billion people in China you would think that you would see at least the same shirt a couple of times... like in the States at the mall... "yep, thats an Old Navy shirt" or "hey, I got that same shirt at the xyz Wal-mart, where'd you get yours?"


That wherever I look, in any direction, there are bound to be no less than 5 huge cranes at work around me
from our back gate we can see six... walk a block and there are at least four more that we know of, and in one section of road we were driving on the other day in less than a miles distance I counted, no kidding 24 of them!


That you can go a couple blocks in any direction and seemingly be in a completely different place.
There is so much growth happening in so many different aspects of life here. There are parts of the city that remain genuinely full of history, there are parts that seem so sleek and fancy they may have been in the Matrix movies, there are tons of places without a bit of green for blocks and blocks (actually, our city is now trying to become a forestry city and there are trees and plants and flowers going in everywhere you look, pretty awesome!) and then there are parks here at the river's edge that lead you into the countryside and they are lush and beautiful...we pretended we're in Hawaii last weekend!


That we can feed our family a great meal for about 5USD and still have leftovers!
meat skewers, flat bread, steamed veggies, fresh veggies and fruit . . . OR . . . two kinds of noodles, meat skewers, grilled mantou bread (so yummy!!!) and fruit . . . delicious!


That at almost any store (excluding Walmart and Carefour) I can ask for a cheaper price and get it . . . with some fun bargaining in the process!
It can almost make shopping an addiction when you add the challenge of getting the cheapest price :)


That Rachel is so safe when we go out that often when I am shopping I have to check and see if she is with me before moving on.
Chinese people, as a general rule, love love love children! They dote on them, they spoil them, they feed them and play with them . . . that's why when we go to the vegetable market I no longer assume that Rachel has picked up a tomato or grape to eat of her own accord . . . some sweet shop owner down the line has enjoyed watching her as she plays and talks to herself and has offered her some fruit as a snack. The other day she was two shops down munching on a tomato . . . the lady told me she looked hungry (possibly a polite way of saying she was too thin??? but she's soooo not) which leads me to . . .


That we now live in a society where everything is everybody's business . . . what you are wearing, what you are letting your children wear, where you are going and how you'll get there, where you work and how much money you make, how old you are, how you parent and how you became parents (adoption) and whether or not you can have your own children since you did adopt, and whether or not your adopted Chinese daughter is getting enough Chinese food to eat.
These are seriously the questions we get nearly every time we go out. You would think that once we had heard them over and over for two years that we would get used to it and not find it so surprising . . . and yes, there are days that this is true. And then there are days when the lady you want to buy eggs from asks you if you can have children "of your own" and if not, what the problem is . . . those are the days that still surprise me.


That many people are so anxious to be kind and helpful to foreigners they are unable to communicate with.
I'm not sure why this still surprises me, except that I come from a culture where you are taught NOT to yell "help" when you need help, but to yell "Fire!" so that people will actually pay attention to you . . . I guess that could have something to do with it.


That they can eat rice three meals a day and still be thin as rails and healthy as horses, but when we eat rice at each meal we gain tons of weight and feel like crud!
My Chinese teacher actually cleared this up for me one day. He said its because we don't drink hot tea or have hot soup after each meal. If we would do this, we would feel better. You know, he's right. I began doing it and I don't feel as icky after a big meal with lots of rice! Which leads me to . . .


That the Chinese people have a cure for everything and that it sounds absurd to me most of the time, but it works!
Just like the tea drinking after meals, there seems to be an easy solution to almost every problem we have come across. Its amazing . . . and when we actually get past the disbelief that it will help and try it, it nearly always works . . . and we are surprised. Our general "stereotype" of Chinese people is that they are smart and healthy. Well, that's because in general that is true! They study very hard, thus they are smart. They eat very well and know how to eat well (even if they don't know that they know how to, they just do) and so they are healthy. We have much to learn from our host country.