Interesting Tidbits from "Middle Land" (China)

Hello All,

We have been here in Hangzhou for 5 or 6 days at the moment (it's one of the two, but the days are really running together.) Teaching is going well at the language school. Our first day here was full of interesting tidbits of Chinese culture and since we have arrived in country I have been compiling a mental list of need to know information that I wanted to share. So.... here they are in no particular order. Some are just observations, but if some of them sound funny.....they are.

1) The day we arrived at camp the head counselar told us that we should watch out for severe behavior disorders. He said the reason is that 95 percent of the kids are spoiled only children. That was an interesting underconsidered consequence of that infamous policy.....bratty kids!

2) The banner welcoming us to the Foriegn Language school was a banner welcoming us to the camp. It read "Welcome capers to English School!" (Not my typo)

3) The term "communism" means different things to people of different socio-economic classes.

4) Wu Mart is the coolest store in the world! They have turtles all bagged up and ready to go at the meat counter. The best thing is, is that they are still quite alive and I only noticed it when I saw a bag scamper accross the counter to freedom. (Unfortunatly "freedom" was a 3 1/2 foot fall to the floor.)

5) Squatty potties are cool! According to the Chinese "western toilets" are gross. After all, who wants to sit on the same seat as everyone else?

6) Along those same lines. They wash our clothes here but they won't wash our socks and underwear. As a matter of fact, the majority of Chinese people who have washing machines don't either. Apparantly "they make the other clothes dirty in the machine." I am dead serious.

7) MSG is just a fancy transliterated acronym for "Causation for extreme colon discomobulation."

8) All 20 minute taxi rides should cost between 2 and 3 dollars US.

9) Don't ask what kind of meat it is. Just make sure it is hot.

10) Quilted Northern is my one true love. Never shall I leave her. Never shall I forsake her. She is my greatest comfort and my most desired companion. Oh how I love her!!!

11) Don't drink ice water, even when it is 90 degrees. You should get a fancy insulated Nalgene bottle and drink hot water. It "makes your tummy warm" and anyway "cold water is bad for your stomach."

12) "Drinking a beverage with a meal is bad for your digestion......."

13) A Chinese government official has the most difficult job in the world. Aside from clear differences of opinion, they still have a monumental juggling act going on. Twice the population of the US lives on a few dollars a day and the other similar number is screaming out of the Third world and into the First. The scale of everything is unbelievable. It makes the "super-cities" of Europe look rather pale (no pun to London). New York is a close proximity...just imagine that every other building was currently under construction.

These are just the ones that I can remember at the moment, but I will be sure to keep you duely informed. All fun aside, teaching is going really well and it is really digressing (at leaderships insistance) to an English themed Summer Camp. The kids get so lambasted by school work during the year that it is good for them to have a break (even though they are still in 4 hours of lecture a day).

China is so competative due to the number of people entering University and the work force every year that I have had to rethink my wrong perspective of the parents here that make there kids study so much that when you ask they what they do for fun they reply "study and homework." The parents really don't have any other choice. If their kids don't pass the entrance exam (and do quite well on it) for university, they won't get in. Period. There just isn't any room. Perhaps this has been the most eye opening realization thus far....though the MSG has caused me to open my eyes a time or two!

Hope all is well,

Jonathan (For Katy)