Day 4 ~ Lessons I've Learned Since Arriving

Even though I've only been in China for five days, I've learned several really important lessons:

First off:  Chinese people for the most part dislike Westerners.  Most of them just glare at you even though you try to smile and be polite.  When they aren't glaring at you, they are laughing at you.  At this point, I think I like the glaring better.  Otherwise it is tough on one's self esteem.

Secondly I have learned that you have to fend for yourself when crossing the busy streets.  Not only do you have to watch out for cars and taxis, but you must also watch out for bikers, motorcyclists, and buses.  As a pedestrian, it feels like you are playing one BIG game of dodge ball, but with cars instead of balls. I may let this metallic pink Audi run me over though.  Then the car would be mine!!  It was unbelievably GORGEOUS!!!

Third:  Chinese food in American is NOT the same as the local food here in China.  This is my plate of calamari.  There were ten rings before I started and nine after I finished.  Yucky!!

Calamari ~ Love in US hate in China

I am eating a lot of watermelon and noodles.  I am also making a fool of myself eating with chopsticks.  Still it is fun and I'm sure I'll get better as I practice.  These are my breakfast choices:  Steamed bun with custard, potsticker, rice ball with pork, and watermelon juice.  The French toast was normal looking, but not the same.

Fourth lesson:  There are not enough pictures on the front of items in the grocery stores to figure out what one is buying.  Donn and I have learned the Chinese character for cow and will be working on the chicken character next. There are two entire rows of noodles in the local Walmart store.  Also this store is not the cheapest place here to buy things.  In fact, it it one of the most expensive.  Doesn't really matter though, because we couldn't figure out what we were buying.  So we bought nothing.

Walmart at InCity