Things I Do

Since moving to China there are some things that I do here much more frequently than I ever did in America. Here's a (non-exhaustive) list:

1. Take public transportation:

I live in a city. I can't drive a car and I wouldn't want to if I could. For only 1 yuan I can ride the bus from our end of the city to the other. Sometimes I can even get a seat.

2. Sweep my floors:

China is kind of dirty. Even with taking off your shoes the dirt, hair, and fuzz of daily life gets all over everything. I have to sweep up daily life pretty much daily.

3. Eat tomatoes:

I hate tomatoes in America. I gladly and willingly eat tomatoes in China. They taste good here.

4. Wear slippers or house shoes:

Again, China is kind of dirty. Outside shoes do not come past my entry hallway.

5. Eat eggplant:

China knows how to cook their eggplant. It's delicious. There's Yu xiang qie zi (a fried, vinegary eggplant), di san xian (eggplant, potatoes, and peppers), and some delicious eggplant dumplings (eggplant stuffed with a pork mixture, then fried). That's just a few of the ways I've eaten it so far.

6. Mop:

My bathroom is a shoilet = shower + toilet. When I shower the whole room becomes flooded (even with a drain in the floor). If I don't mop a plentitude of puddles will remain.

7. Say the word “maybe”:

Americans are very direct. Chinese people are very indirect. The word maybe tacks itself on to the beginning of many of my own and my teammate's sentences, where in America it shouldn't belong. My favorite use so far was when my team leader was telling a someone about a problem that needed to be fixed. While pointing to my toilet seat that had two huge cracks to the point that the front of the toilet seat was no longer connected to the back: “Maybe her toilet seat is broken.” Yes, maybe it is.

8. Not complain:

Some things happen here that would send me on a complaining spree in America.  For example, the water was shut off in our building for a couple of days without any advance notice to us.  There was probably a sign, but I can't read Chinese.  No big deal.  I just didn't shower or wash dishes for a couple of days.  We got water back on the third day so I was super excited to take a shower.  In the middle of shampooing my hair I watched the water pressure lessen and trickle to a stop as the water to our building was shut off once more.  I ran shivering to my water cooler to put some of my hot drinking water in a bucket.  I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair, dried off, dressed, and hopped into my super warm bed.  My initial response was to be upset and mutter to my empty apartment about how mad I was that "they shut off our water again".  Then I remembered the people I saw on the street that day that would probably do anything for the chance at the 5 minutes in the water I had.  And then I thought of my students that have to traipse across campus to a communal shower.  In the winter they will actually walk to their dorms with icicles in their hair.  I have nothing to complain about.  In reality I am blessed beyond belief, and I have a really funny China story to tell.