How I Landed in Hot Water

Hello awesome people! Today at my job I served a customer a nice, hot cup of water after her massage. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary since it's something that we do for all our customers. Upon taking her first sip, I saw her take a sip and make a face. She remarked how it was weird to drink warm water. I couldn't help but laugh and share some of my stories from China.

In a previous post, I talked about things I miss. I definitely forgot cold things haha Even our ice cream in the summer time would be be melted because the freezers would barely be on in the store. Brit and I hated to go to Pizza Hut in the summer time where it was sweltering hot and be given hot water. In the winter time, I learned to appreciate it, but in the summer time.....um no! Hot not lukewarm or room temperature but freakin hot as hell water surrounded me everywhere. When Boba came to visit I was sure to buy lots of drinks and keep them super cold in my mini fridge a week before he came. He loads his drinks up with ice, no really he goes in. Luckily, when we were in Beijing we got to enjoy normal cold drink temperatures ^^

Ice was pretty non-existent and believe me you didn't want it anyway. The water in China is undrinkable. Most restaurants in Dongying would forget this and if by a snowball's chance in hell they had ice they would have filled up the ice tray from the tap. Eileen got a HUGEEE stomach ache one time because of this.

I work at a Japanese medical salon. I am the only non-native Japanese employee. I was told the reason we serve water at 120 degrees is because it is the same temperature as your organs. It seems like I am the only person that catches some customers giving their drink the side eye.

I'm not a fan of hot drinks either, actually I kind of hate all hot drinks except for hot chocolate. I'm a Southern girl, so my aversion to hot drinks makes since. I like my temperatures hot and my beverages cold. When I first came to New York, I would burn my tongue all the time because I just wasn't used to drinking hot things. 

You give me a fresh ice cold glass of sweet tea and lemonade I'll stan for you. Give me a glass of freshly made piping hot Kool-Aid and I will look at you like you farted loudly at a funeral. 

Dongying Time Part 2

Sorry it has been so long since I updated! Things have finally been calming down for me. Happy new year! Enjoy Bob's last couple of days in China!

On Sunday (5/5), I took Boba to the electronic mall. He is a technophile, so I figured he would have lots of eyegasms checking out the merchandise. We meet up with Remus and Kim; she is one of Remus’ students. The three of us had gone out together a few times before this outing. 

Before we met up I sort of had a weird vibe, like I should have cancelled or something, but I thought nothing of it. When we arrive, Kim stepped in front of me and placed her hand on Boba’s shoulder. She proceeded to tell him that he was very handsome. -_- It definitely irritated me and rubbed me the wrong way. Since I’m abroad, my second thought was is this culturally acceptable? Usually my feelings aren't off, but you never know. I had no idea at the time (I know now that it isn’t. I told Dean what happened, and he was shocked and angry that she did that). 

Sometimes I get the feeling that some people here are shocked that I have a boyfriend and are even more shocked to discover that he's a different race than me. First off, no one expects me to have a love life. Remus says the first question he usually gets is does he have a girlfriend. The next question is does he like Chinese girls which is super awkward for him because he's not an Asian woman fetishizing douche. Foreign women in China don't usually get asked these questions. I don't think it has anything to do with my attractiveness; I think it's mostly based on me being Black and female. There is a lot of issues with anti-blackness and colorism in China (as well as other countries in East Asia). Lighter skin (specifically white skin) is perceived to be better than darker skin; these ideas existed before Western colonialism. Some women here use umbrellas in the summertime because they don’t want to get darker. Also, for some reason here the male foreigners are constantly asked about dating but the females are never asked. Nicky met her husband (Pan Chao) in Dongying and they were recently married and people (foreigners and locals) are very shocked to hear that she has a husband let alone a Chinese one.

I personally wouldn’t ever do what she did; Brit and I have told each other that we think the other’s boyfriend is super cute, but I wouldn’t tell her boyfriend that. If I made a remark, it would be about how they looked great together (they are so freakin cute!). But like I said before, something just made me uncomfortable. Boba handled it like a boss which one of the many things I love about him. We’re both super nice people, and we don’t think everyone wants us. But we both can sense when someone is flirting or stepping out of line, and we politely disengage. He politely said thank you, stepped back to stand beside me, and took my hand. Needless to say, I was ready for the outing to be over. We hung out for about an hour looking around. Then we took the bus back to the college campus. On the bus, Kim ran into a friend. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her gesture towards Boba and say something in Mandarin to her friend. 

When we arrived on campus, I could sense that she still wanted to hang out. I said I wanted to take a nap. She reluctantly said goodbye, and we headed to Remus’ apartment. We hung out there until dinner time. 

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.