Now that we have been here nearly a week it is interesting to note all the cultural things that we have observed. Traffic in China doesn't bother me as much as you would think, when I am riding in a car or van, but crossing the street seems like taking your life in your hands. The Chinese people seem to be able to figure out which cars will stop for them, and dart through the traffic. I don't understand the system so to me like a very serious game of chicken that could end with me getting run over by a bus. Luckily you can walk around a block without crossing streets, so hopefully there isn't something wonderful on the other side that we are missing.
When we try to go shopping or eat out, it is amazing how overstaffed everything seems. It is the same in the hotel. There is a guy who opens your car door when you pull up in front, and then at least two ladies standing just inside the doors just to greet you. One morning they looked like contestants in a beauty pageant, with red sashes. Our guide said the sashes read, "welcome to the hotel." Maybe 5-star hotels are like this in the US, which I wouldn't know because I definitely don't stay in them at home. It isn't just the hotel either--every store we have been to is the same way. The grocery store has all sorts of people. There was a very young-looking girl in extremely short, tight, shorts and a funny hat standing in the noodle section. When we tried to buy the last two small noodle cups that our guide said Shi Wu would like, she grabbed one and put it back on the shelf. I guess you aren't allowed to buy the last one of something. Today when we went to a restaurant, there were 3 or 4 young girls in purple uniform dresses and while gloves, who brought menus, but the waitress had a different outfit, and there were hostess type people in different outfits. Of course since there were 3 American women and two Chinese children at our table, we may have had extra help, since we were curiousities. People made extra trips back and forth so they could get another look at us.
One thing that takes some getting used to is the Chinese habit of not drinking cold drinks. They don't drink them room temperature either. This must be the only place where you are served a big glass of hot water at the spa when you are getting your feet massaged, or at lunch. I was very grateful for my glass of hot water today at lunch. Yesterday we at the famous Lanzhou Beef Noodles, (which any other vegetarians will be glad to know can be ordered without meat) and you aren't supposed to drink anything while you eat them. They were steaming hot and so spicy my lips were burning, so I think I would have been a cultural philistine and had some water anyway, but I had left my water bottle in the diaper bag in the van. The milk at the breakfast buffet is also hot, and kept so faithfully in a big carafe just like you would keep coffee in.
Some of the funny things are the women in what seem to be unnecessarily seductive outfits. You really don't know why some of them have such short skirts on. There are all sorts of cultural messages here that being big clumsy Americans we have no idea how to interpret. We spend a lot of time feeling confused, and people don't speak English. The hotel has the most English, and to get anything you have to make the trip 19 floors down, to the front desk. Pantomime just doesn't work over the phone. They know a few words of English but they don't understand much of what you try to say to them. We still don't know why one morning at breakfast a waitress came to our table to offer tea or coffee, the next morning she brought us each a fried egg, which we hadn't asked for, and then the next we didn't get brought anything. I've been to Guatemala and to 9 countries in Europe, and I have never been this confused. Of course the Chinese writing system is a huge barrier. The stores have big signs but only the stuff you can see in the window give you any clue about what they offer.
Chinese people consider the fasten seatbelt sign on planes to be purely optional, and on our domestic flight we were wondering why so many men had to go to the bathroom. You would have thought there was crisis for Chinese men's bladders. When we started smelling smoke we realized they were going in the airplane toilet to smoke. Smelling smoke when you are flying over the Gobi desert isn't very comforting. I've already written about how they will not stand in line, and how lanes in the traffic are optional. Our guide drove the wrong way down the street just this morning and no one batted an eye. The trash trucks and street cleaning trucks play music, just like the ice cream truck at home. I have heard only two tunes. One is the song about mamas, which Shi Wu likes to sing, and she sings it whenever she hears the trash truck. The other song is Jingle Bells.
Other tidbits--green tea oreos are not very good, Chinese diapers leak, and the potato crackers with the label, "House of Steamed Potato," are a great snack when you need something salty. I've had two packets of them today.
