Things I Miss

China has been an interesting experience. It's very different from my upbringing and my experiences living in New York. I've learned a lot about myself during my time here. I'm excited to be going home next month! I'm excluding people from this list because they aren't fixed to places. Regardless, my family, friends, and Boba should know that I miss the hell out of you!

Things I Miss About Home

People looking at me like I am a normal person. 

Sometimes residents of Dongying stare at me like I am a walking unicorn or like I slapped their mother. When I am going up stairs, people walking in the opposite direction will stop beside me and stare in my face.  

Being able to fully communicate. 

My Mandarin isn't horrible and it allows me to do the basics. I can understand what's being said to me most of the time. Mandarin (as far as grammar is concerned) really isn't a hard language. As soon as you know the vocabulary; you string the sentence together and it's right most of the time. It's the writing system and the tones that are the killers. I would have loved to learn more, but unfortunately Dongying does not have any place for me to study.  

Food, food, food, food!!!!

I really really really love food, especially delicious food. I resided in New York prior to my departure to China. One of my favorite things about NYC is it's variety of food. You can pretty much find anything! I was born and raised in the South, so you know I was eating right there, too! I can't eat any bird or egg right now due to bird flu in China. I'm not willing to take the chance. I love me some chicken, but I'm not ready to die for it.

Internet

The internet in China is atrocious! The speeds are very bad (at least the places I've been); not to mention the censorship of websites. Of course things like Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress (basically social networking) are blocked here. Brit and I also have to deal with things that we desperately need (Sallie Mae and other bill paying websites) deciding not to work one day. I have a VPN, but my connection at my school is very bad, so sometimes I can't get on it.

Not Seeing Bodily Functions

In China, it is very common to see men urinate in the grass, kids defecating and urinating on the sidewalk, and people picking their noses like there's gold inside. It's common to burp loudly with your mouth open, sneeze and cough and not cover your mouth near people.