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Beijing can be a confusing place
This is actually just plain offensive Dear faithful readers,
Sorry there hasn't been an entry for a while! I will post a full entry this weekend with lots of fun stories.
But for now, a list that I've been working on the past few days. Beijing is a mysterious place, and I can tell all the ex-pats and tourists that stick to the East side that it gets even weirder West of the second ring. Here's my top 10 list of things that confuse me about my life here:
1. Why clip your nails in the office? I guess this explains why Chinese people clip their nails on the subway in Toronto
2. Why think diapers are so expensive and annoying that you would rather your children get horrible diseases from split pants? Cloth diapers have existed for a long time now.
Details:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-07/16/content_349150.htm 3. Why spit on the street? And why dig to the depths of your throat just to find something to spit on the street? We all need to spit sometimes when something gross is in our mouth. But why do you need to take the effort to find something to spit? Is it just to make the disgusting sound that comes with digging to the depths of your throat?
As an aside, do Chinese females not find this to be the biggest turn-off EVER?!
4. Why are portions so huge? I can see Chinese people are getting fatter. Maybe you should not become the US and take it down a notch.
5. Why is everything so freaking salty? It makes American food look low sodium.
6. Why do people walk so slow? I don't understand, Chinese students walk SO FAST in Canada and the US. We used to called them "raisins" at Waterloo - "rushing Asians". What happens between China and North America that makes them speed up like 100 times? Seriously they walk SO SLOW here it's SO ANNOYING. (I'll admit I walk faster than most but Fernanda doesn't and she's noticed the slow walking too).
And then people in Beijing are like 'oh, we walk a lot, twenty minutes is considered walking distance.' That's because in 20 minutes you've walked like 500 meters!!!
7. Why do they bother painting pedestrian walkways onto the streets? It's not any more safe to cross at them then anywhere else on the road. Cars have the right of way all the time, even if it's green for pedestrians and red for the cars. The pedestrian crossings are a waste of money.
8. What's the point in a flush turkish (hole in the ground) toilet? If you're already going to have everything like a regular toilet, why not just spring for the bowl? And I know, some people think it's "more natural" to use a hole in the ground but I get this distinct feeling that the strongest advocates for that are not female. Comfort trumps all and it's really freaking awkward to crouch for everything.
9. What's with the great firewall of China? It seems completely arbitrary. The most known are that Facebook and YouTube are blocked. But blocked alongside them (that I've found so far) are goodreads (a website where nerds like myself and my good friend Tiffany post which books we've read) and IMDB (list of movies and their stars). But then things that you'd think would be firewalled aren't. Like wikipedia and all sorts of international news sources. Can someone explain the logic?
10. Why does transit stop running so early? Beijing's subway system puts Toronto and LA to shame yet it stops at like 11pm. I have to get home from Sanlitun, people!!! Fortunately cabs are cheap but I'd way rather be on the subway!
And that's my rant for now.
-Dafne
AKA that weird white girl that does weird things like eat dinner, ride the bus, and go for morning runs. Please, continue to stare at me and my weird ways.
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