Only in China?


Advertisement
China's flag
Asia » China » Shanghai
June 15th 2009
Published: June 15th 2009
Edit Blog Post

Rain:

Environmentally speaking, Shanghai is very similar to Angers, France--well, all of Brittany really (upper-west region in France). In both cities, it is dire for one to carry an umbrella. Naturally, depending on the umbrella, it can be a bit of an annoyance--one more thing to put in a purse or backpack. Nonetheless, if one hopes to avoid the acid rain (thanks to pollution), it is absolutely imperative to include it along with other daily purse necessities. I mean let's face it...in China...ya just never know. It might be a beautiful, sunny day when you leave for work, but by evening, it's an entirely different story. It hailed, for example, a week or two ago in the afternoon while I was at my internship, but it was gorgeous outside by dinner time. Only in China? Not quite.

Something to keep in mind: When it rains, amazing things can occur. What occurs in Shanghai, China when it rains? Taxis fly through puddles thus splashing dirty water onto poor bystanders; businessmen walk down the street with their nice, Armani suits completely drenched; and the most interestingly bizarre thing...dog owners. Some dog owners are relatively normal, they don't put sweaters on their dogs or feel the need to add more bling--basically, the animal is beautiful as is. The other day, I ran into a dog owner who cared for her dog a little too much in my opinion. I walked into Family Mart to grab some juice--all very well and good-- and after having paid for my drink, I then headed for the exit door and voila!!! There laid an opened umbrella on the ground with a little sweatered dog sitting there just waiting for its owner. Only in China? Well, that's a "HELL YES!" for me.

Bottled water:

Bottled water is insanely inexpensive in China. In fact, I might be the super-annoyed traveler when I get back to America and have to pay $3 for water or more depending on where I buy it. In Shanghai, it's about 50 cents or less. Pretty great, right? There is one thing about bottles in general that I'm still getting use to: liquids filled to the rim! Vicky, my Mandarin tutor, filled my tea cup all the way to the rim one day--to the point where it spilled all over the table.My first thought was: "Uummm...What the $&%^?" However, I used my social/verbal filter and kindly asked, "Um, Vicky darling...is there a particular reason why you over-poured the tea??? You crazy Chinese woman!" Hahaha The last bit I didn't say. 😉 But according to her, the Chinese fill all liquids to the rim because it means "wishing good things onto someone" or something along those same lines. As a result, ALL FREAKING BOTTLES ARE FILLED TO THE VERY TOP. So...Attention...Cuidado...Be Fucking Careful...I've spilled water on myself several times and it can get a wee bit messy.

Advertisement



15th June 2009

Hey, I've been following your blog for a while as I'm planning to do an internship with NSC within a month in Shanghai. It's really fun reading them :) Keep the updates coming!!
16th June 2009

Thanks
Glad to hear you like my blog. I'll be leaving Shanghai/NSC in a month, so I hope you enjoy it and good luck!
23rd June 2009

bottled water
Thank you for the great insite on bottled water...Miss you... at the same time I'm enjoying your trip to China...XXOO Mom

Tot: 0.1s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0434s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb