Top Five Grossest Things

Disclaimer:  This post is kinda gross, hence the title.  Informitive, but not for the weak of stomach.

I just cleaned my toilet, which inspired this list.  My toilet is moderately clean aside from some scum that is really crusted on there, but the unexpected surprise came from my toilet brush.

Without further ado, my top five grossest things I've seen/smelled/touched in China:

5.  The street.  While this is better after the Olympics than before, Chinese streets are gross.  It is a trash bin, a bathroom for dogs and children, somewhere to dump any dirty liquid you might have, a spitting target, its gross.  There are street cleaners, but they just pick up the larger pieces of trash.  In China, you do not sit on the floor.  There is no "10 Second" rule for dropping food on the floor.  You take your shoes off before entering your house and wear slippers inside.  Its dirty, dirty, dirty.  Which leads me to my second point:

4.  Grown man peeing in the street.  Babies do it too, but its cuter when babies do it and so you can look past sanitary issue and point out how funny their split pants are.  (Note: baby pants are lacking a crotch and butt.  there is a big hole so they can just pee and poop on the street.  There are very few diapers in China).  However, when a grown man does it, its just gross.  Ugh.

3.  Trash cans on the street.  It was a lot worse in Tai'an than here, but anytime I pass a trash can on the street, I hold my breath for as long as I can and walk faster.  Especially in summer.

2.  The bathroom in the Zhengzhou hospital.  When a foreigner gets their physicals done for their residencial permits, they need to pee in a cup and put it in the corresponding number cup holder outside the bathroom.  I was number 73 out of 150 little cups of pee outside the bathroom.  Needless to say it smelled aweful.  AND the bathroom was a squatty potty, which are smelly to begin with.  Between the smell, trying to pee in a cup and not on my shoes, and no soap to wash my hands with, it was an interesting time.

1.  My toilet brush.  I don't know who used it before I moved it, but it was BLACK with black water collected at the bottom.  I have never smelled anything so autrocious in my life.  I almost cried because I was so angry that it was IN MY BATHROOM!  Needless to say: as soon as I gather up the courage to touch it again, I am tossing it.  GROSS!  (Another Note:  there is no flushing toilet paper in China.  The system can't handle it.  But I'm used to that, so it doesn't make the list expect in passing.  But some of the other teachers who are new to China are having a hard time with it.)

Thus concluded my list.  I needed to get it off my chest.  Please don't let any of these things deter you from visiting me, the pros of being here certainly outweigh the cons.  I'll write about the pros later.