oh china

seriously i think i say the phrase 'oh china' at least 10 times a day. i have now been in shanghai for about 7 weeks now...wow!  i moved into my own apartment 1.5 weeks ago and now i have been getting the chance to explore my neighborhood more.  i can't say that i am used to alot of things that i see while i am out and about, but i am less surprised things.  let's go thru some of the fun filled things that i have seen in china:

snot rockets:  this is something i mostly see in men and old grandma's.  they think it is okay to be walking and then just stop and shoot snot out of their noses onto the street.  don't walk barefoot around here!

electric scooters/bikes:  shanghai has plenty of bike lanes on all their roads, so u would think that ppl would use them....um, not so much.  for example, each morning i walk to the metro to get to work.....10 min walk.  within that time i have almost gotten hit about 3 times a morning by electric bikes/scooters that are on the sidewalk.  USE the  EFFIN bike lane.  oh ya and since they are electric, they are silently creeping up on u.

red lights:  mean nothing in shanghai.  well, i take it back..sometimes they mean something on main roads, but on side roads...hahaha..no way!  ppl run lights all the time..not only cars, buses, cabs, but scooters and bikes as well.  this makes crossing streets amazing.

crosswalks:  there are many crosswalks and there are even crossing guards.  i am not quite sure what rules are enforced here though.  i have been shooed to stand on the curb, yelled at for trying to cross with out the lil green man saying to walk.  however, even if the green man is up there,  cars, scooters, bikes, etc are still coming your way.  i just walk as fast as i can and then i have gotten quite good at giving evil stares to cars and scooters.

split pants:  children ages 6 months-2 ish yrs old where split pants (pants that have a split down the back) and they do not wear diapers once they are about 6 months old.  i was at  the pool the other day and this grandma took her grand daughter over to the trash can and she peed in there....awesome.  another day a lil kid just squatted down and peed on the sidewalk.  i wish it was that simple for us!

walking:  i think chinese ppl have two speeds of walking, depending on where they are going and what they are doing.  speed one: walking with friends at a ridiculously slow speed on a small sidewalk..makes it real fun to pass them!  speed two:  crazy fast and pushing..this usually happens when getting on and off the metro.  i have thrown a few elbows and dirty looks with this!

spoiled children:  the one children policy is still in effect here in shanghai...however if u have money u can have more than one child...u just pay a giant tax!  the kids that we teach are from more upper class families. the other day i was asking my students where they ate lunch b/c the words they were learning were table, sofa, etc.  one kid told me he ate lunch on the sofa and his grandma was feeding him.  he is 7!!!!!!  and i think orange county kiddos are spoiled!  there are many more things i could add about spoiled children, but that will have to be a whole other post.

heat/humidity:  last week when i moved into my apartment, it was one of the hottest weeks of the summer. it was about 110 degrees, with humidity.  i almost threw up coming up my 5 flights of stairs with all the crap i bought at ikea.  walking around the city i am just drenched in sweat....even at night.  it is just hot all the freakin time.  i sweat at 8 am going to work, i sweat at 2 am when i have come home from hanging out with friends.  i guess this is good since it keeps the toxins from settling in the my body...but having drenched clothes is not that fun.  i am grateful for good ac at work and in my apt.

these are just a few things that i say 'oh china' too!