My dad come to visit me during the National (October) holiday, which was super awesome. I traveled from Zheng Zhou to Beijing by myself to meet him and them bring him back to school. Dad actaully ended up being a couple days late, so I tooled around Beijing by myself, eating as much foreign food and cheese as I could. (Hello Starbucks and a real latte!!!!)
The first day I was there I walked around Tianamen Square and people watched. It never ceases to amaze me that Chinese people do things differently than Americans. Obviously I know this to be true, but seeing it can be a totally different thing. Of course, I made a list.
6. Pop a squat. Chinese people don't sit on the ground. The ground is gross, I have said this many times. So, the Chinese have developed a way to sit without touching the ground. They squat with their feet flat on the ground. Its pretty amazing. Ive really only ever seen little kids do it in America, it requires being pretty skinny and small boned, something Americans don't always have. This position is also required for the use of a squatty potty, and I am getting better at it. But I still don't find it restful.
5. Umbrellas in the Sun. Contrary to America's obession with being tan, Chinese women are obsessed with being pale. On sunny days there are just as many umbrellas and parasols as if it's raining. They don't understand the concept of sun bathing or tanning (Christina, don't come to China) and they often put bleach or some sort of lightening agent in lotion or soap to make your skin whiter. Hence why I brought lotion from home.
4. Kids in Split Pants. I may have mentioned this already, but kids pee on the street and little kids don't wear diapers, they wear crotchless pants. It's always funny to see a kid in his or her parent's arm with their little bare butt hanging over the side of their arm. Parents must get peed on all the time, though I have never seen it happen. They do have a particular way to hold their peeing baby so they don't get splashed on. When Dad and I were in Xi'an we took the bus to our hotel and the baby next to us started peeing on the floor of the bus. Of the BUS! Dad nearly got off, and I am so jaded that I hardly even noticed untill the little stream of pee threatened my shoes. Needless to say, most of my shoes are not coming back to America and are not allowed in my house.
3. Picture taking. Chinese people, like Japanese people, are intense about their photo poses. There is always a peace/victory sign involved, usually on both hands. They also need to stand right next to whatever it is they are taking and point to it. They also don't wait for you to finish your picture before walking in front of your camera. I have had my picture taken by many people, some with me and some from afar. My friend Jess with blonde hair attracts more attention than I do, which I'm kind of grateful for. Though I do get asked if my hair curls naurally pretty often.
2. Purse Holding. When couples go shopping or out together, the man always carries his woman's purse. For extended periods of time. Even if it's frilly and pink. I think it's a way for him to stake his claim. But men in the US would never get caught dead holding a woman's purse for more than 2 seconds. For the most part. That's something that I appreciate about Chinese culture: men are not threatened by things like holding purses or other things that would be stereotypically 'gay' in the US. Of course it can go a little too far, like pop stars in pleather playing sparkly guitars (yes, it IS too far, Jess). It does through off my gaydar but I don't mind.
1. Matching Couple T-Shirts. I have mentioned this in one of my early posts about campus, but my favorite thing that I have seen here have been couple t-shirts. Chinese valentines day was right before I moved here so I saw a lot at the end of August, but I did find a few in Tiananmen Square. There appears to be a rule that couple t-shirts cannot be innocuous. They need to be a bright color (mostly purple or yellow and ocassionally pink!) and very distinctive. I took this picture of the first couple after seeing two other couples with matching shirts and being too afraid to take their picture. I shouldn't have been shy, I think they like the attention more than I do (which isn't too hard). I found the second at snack street (more about that later) and asked if I could take their picture. They got one with me too, so I guess it was a fair exchange.
The next day I went to go see the pandas at the zoo. Needless it say it was a zoo with all the people there (get it? yeah? yeah?... it was a zoo at the zoo...? I hear you laughing Holly Allan). But seriously, it was crazy. Expecially in front of the pandas. Below is a picture of the area when you first get into the zoo and it was packed like that as far I could see over them. I fought the valient fight to get in to see the pandas and the big ones were boring. They just slept while a thousand people took their pictures.
However, the baby pandas were freaking ADORABLE, I wanted to take one home in a basket. They had just gotten fed so they were chowing down on their bamboo leaves and rolling all over themselves while doing it. These were the pandas who were from Sichuan where the earthquake hit before the Olympics.
This post is turning into a beast, so I'm going to leave you with one final thought before taking a break. That thought is: PANDA HATS. They are amazing and I bought three. I first saw this girl wearing one at the summer palace and I HAD to take a picture with her. It turned out she spoke pretty good English and she told me that they were selling them all over Beijing. I found one not ten minutes later and picked two up for 30 RMB (less than $5 for both) and wore it all day. Amazing. I still have it and I wore it to my first couple classes after the trip and my students thought it was hilarious and crazy that their teacher would wear such a cute panda hat to class. It has come in handy when we sit on the roof to talk and drink beer. Very warm and fuzzy.
