It's interesting to think that in America one of the most embarrasing acts to do to somebody would be to take their private clothing and hang it up for everyone to see.
However, as you can obviously see... China does not adopt that philosphy! Haha. What's mine is yours is certainly the idea here.
This applies to things such as personal space: where the other day when the bus was so crowded that people were literally hanging out the door as the bus was taking off from a stop. And, because of the lack of space, I was definitely spooning with the person behind me. Haha.
Also, the what's mine is yours idea applies to eating and dining. They would like you to know what food they ate for lunch as the bones and other inedible food has been left for you in a nice, little pile on the table. It's just really strange to see people eat this way, where all of a sudden they just spit up the bones and other materials right onto the table.
However, I will admit that I have adopted this at times when I'm eating pork meat and then all of a sudden come to some real grisle or tough part of the meat that I can't eat. When Lisa and I bought some ground up pork meat for taco's, there definitely were about 7-8 times that I spit some of the meat up as I couldn't chew it.
I was pleased to hear last night that one of our Chinese friends here doesn't enjoy eating fish that much. He, like us, doesn't enjoy all of the sharp little bones getting caught in your throat and stabbing you. Glad to know that we are not the only ones.
Finally, I pity the people who have to clean out the desks in our classrooms. China just really is an interesting culture. It's not that we are better, it's just goes with the more indiviualistic nature. As you can see from the picture and the above observations, people just share and put their stuff everywhere. In class, they leave all of their trash and junk in the desks. They wait for someone else to come by and clean it up. I just haven't gotten used to the idea of dirty empty wrappers and have consumed drinks all in the desks.
People know that I'm not the cleanest person, but I do have a thing with food. I don't like food being left out too much, or to a point at least. But this idea of trash being left everywhere applies to the street also. People just throw their trash into these 2 feet high concrete squares with a high opening in the front, or right onto the street. By the end of the night, the refuse is pouring out from them. Someone then comes by and sweeps everything up.
Oh, and speaking of sweeping everything up... you know that the street sweeper is approaching because it plays the ice cream truck songs! Haha. We got a kick out of that as we heard it approach. Good thing there weren't any little American children with us, as instead of ice cream that would have been blasted by water to clean the dust off the street.
In conclusion, none of these things are bad as long as you don't let it get to you. I will admit that seeing not only clothes hanging from the BRANCHES OF TREES but also FISH, that I was a bit shocked. Yes, fish were hanging from tree branches to dry out I guess. Underneath a humongous rabbit in a cage that was waiting to you know what.... China...an interesting, adventure filled place. :) -Shane and Lisa
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