Weak Stomachs BEWARE

DISCLAIMER: If you have a weak stomach or get grossed out easily then maybe you should not read this post.

I have been in China two weeks now and I have been saving all of the strange/gross things to tell you.  I will, however, have to get used to these things if I want to live her for six months.  For right now, I have a coping mechanism, and it is to swear quietly to myself.  The fact that I have not been able to speak English means that I cannot use my favorite words in the language (curse words).  Therefore I am resorting to Chinese forms of cursing, such as Zhen de a? meaning Are you f***ing serious? And Cao for F***.  Occasionally I will slip these into speech when I cannot find a way to express myself.  Believe me, I know it is bad but it has been a great way for me to relieve stress.  Anyway, here is my list thus far:

1. Everyone here spits all the time.  They will spit in the street, on the sidewalk, and even in restaurants!  By far the grossest thing I saw was a guy “snot rocketing” i.e. blowing this nose with his hand at the table next to me in a dumpling restaurant…zhen de a?  Also, I hate the frozen “loogies” on the side walk. 

2. People do not wash their hands, but yet love to share food.  I get it, Chinese culture is all about sharing and Chinese people really want to make guests feel welcome, but I can barely stomach it when my roommate will use his hands to place food on my plate.  Also, everything is served family style sans serving utensils, so we all use of chopsticks…chopsticks that have just been in your mouth and now you are using them to serve other people…zhen de a?

3.  I know my Mum will read this and freak out, but seriously I’m fine…I have shampoo for it and it is taken care of…but my little friend Li Jiang who you all know apparently had lice.  I know this because she always wants to try on my hat.  Long story short, my head was really itchy the other day so I had one of the care takers of the dorm look at it and yep, it was lice!  My little buddy gave ME a gift this time…cao!

4.  The plumbing in China is so bad that you cannot flush toilet paper, so instead of flushing it you either A. do not use it or B. throw it in the trash can…and I thought having septic at home was bad!  Not only is seeing used toilet paper in the trash can gross, but it makes the bath room smell awful!

5.  Last for now is the fact that a lot of food is thrown out daily from restaurants.  This is not the gross part…the gross part is the maggots under the trash bags that you can see squirming on the street after the trash is removed…cao.

This is not meant to be a bash on China, I am sure we do a lot of things that disgust them.  I mean I sleep with rats in my ceiling at school…who am I to judge living conditions…

It is all about customs and what you are used to.  I am starting to be less zhen de a? and cao! about all of this, but if you plan on traveling abroad just remember the first few weeks will shock you.  It is important to not have a bad attitude and embrace everything about the culture…and a coping mechanism never hurts.  It keeps me smiling.