What is this? What happened? Oh, that's China for you.

I have been in China for 5 weeks now (not counting being in Hong Kong for two weeks prior to Nanjing). Whenever we cannot figure out the logic behind something or find something particularly unusual and ask "WHAT?!" The answer is usually "Oh, it is China." This is a short list of things I still find strange.

1. Public urination

Sure, when you gotta go, you gotta go. I can understand that. But when babies wear crotchless pants so they can pee whenever they like and when mothers tell their young kids to pop a squat in the middle of the subway station, I do not understand. I have been to China before and seen kids peeing on trees outside...but in a subway station?! Before you ask, for obvious reasons I cannot post pictures of kids peeing in inappropriate places. Lo siento.

When I was in Hong Kong, a friend was talking to me about public urination and defecation in China. In broad daylight, her friend saw a grown man pull down his pants and squat to take a poop. She said, "You could see everything. 前邊有一條, 后邊有一條。" So gross. 

 2. Crazy flavors

When I was at the grocery store, I saw a container of gum that had three different flavors. Cool! You get variety. I should be more careful when grocery shopping.  When I tried the first piece of gum I felt like Veruca Salt eating Willy Wonka's gum. I didn't realize it at the time but the three flavors were: 1. lemongrass peppermint 2. lavender peppermint 3. cucumber peppermint. 

I wouldn't have been able to read the entire label but I do know the word 草 means grass. I probably should have avoided a container of gum that had the character 草 on it three times. I also didn't really look at the pictures. Oops.

There are lots of interesting flavored chips. I do not eat chips but may have to try some out. 

3. Fruit platters in nightclubs

Many nightclubs here only have bottle service. When you buy a bottle of liquor, it comes with a beautiful plate of fruit. My friend said the only time he eats fruit is when he is out clubbing. I'm not hating on the fruit plates because I love me some fruit. I just think it's strange and funny. Most of the people at the club are smoking, getting drunk, and eating fruit. Does anyone else think that's weird? 

4. Whitening creams

I understand why they have this in stores. I guess the American in me thinks it is strange. Also, using chemicals to make your face whiter can't be good for you. The other day I was at the store buying body wash and didn't want to spend time reading labels. Body wash is body wash, right? No. I'm glad I glanced at the description because it was a body wash meant to whiten your skin. Pass. 

5. School on Saturday

We do not have school next week because of the national holiday. (People don't have to work either.)  Because we will be missing a whole week of school, we had to make up that class today. In the states, if we miss school because of a holiday, we don't have to make it up. In China, we have a week off of school... but you still have the same number of classes. Oh well, I can't complain. We have a week vacation and it is only once. My poor little sister has school every Saturday. 

6. Traffic patterns

 I highly doubt I will ever have enough cojones to drive a car here. Pedestrian zebra lines are painted on the ground as more of a formality than an actual demand for drivers to stop. I can understand because if they stopped for every pedestrian, they would never be able to get anywhere. 

It is common for cars to avoid hitting pedestrians by swerving and driving on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic. Oh, hell no. I get scared when I am in the cab and the driver does this. 

Practically none of the people on bikes, mopeds, or scooters wear helmets. I never wear a helmet in the states but sometimes I feel like I should here. I have gotten hit thrice in the past week-twice by people on bikes and once by someone on a scooter. I hope I do not break that record. Every time it is because they turned without looking or just didn't see me. I have been trying to keep more distance but it is hard when there are so many people on the road. I am convinced the metal basket on the front of my bike is not meant to hold things but instead meant to serve as a protective shield.

I figured after getting hit three times, it was finally time for my bike tune-up. Mom and Dad, my brakes finally work! It feels like I'm riding a different bike. I don't have to death grip my brakes, they are much more responsive now. He also changed some old rusty parts all for 28 yuan (4.46 USD). I definitely should have done this a month ago. 

7. Firecrackers

Chinese people love firecrackers. During class we hear them go off all the time. At the beginning of the semester our teacher explained it to us. He noticed that we were distracted by the noise but he had toned it out. He said that Chinese people set off firecrackers for happy occasions-someone just got married, someone had a baby, store's grand opening, store's grand re-opening, etc. It used to be ultra distracting but now I just smile when I hear them. Somebody nearby had something happy happen to them. Mazel tov!

Three things I am grateful for:
1. National Holiday!
I am going to South Korea with three of my classmates. I wanted to make it to North Korea but I don't think that is going to happen this time around. None of us know any Korean, and we haven't started planning. We are going to have a planning session tomorrow and then we leave the day after. Whee being young and spontaneous. 
2. Yesterday, I went to teach English at a migrant school. It was my second week teaching and this time I was on my own. Class went better than I could have hoped for and it was so fun. I was a bit tired after a long week but knew I could feed of their energy. I taught them body parts by singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." We also learned prepositions to incorporate this week's lesson with last week's lesson. Each time we teach at the school, swarms of kids ask for our autographs afterwards. It is still strange to me. I'm thinking our foreigner novelty charm will wear off after a few weeks. 
3. Skype
I meant to spend the morning working hard to get all my homework done before we leave for Korea. Instead I Skyped several friends and family members. Worth it. I always love Skyping with people from home.

Random: I think it is funny that I couldn't find a Chinese translation for "YouTube" or "Facebook." That would make sense seeing as how they are banned.