A Few Quirks of Life in China

After some thought, I've decided to start a mini-blog segment devoted to sharing some of the smaller idiosyncrasies of life here: the things that I carelessly let fall through the cracks because at the time I was too overwhelmed with singing mushrooms or haggling for amazing kitchenware or backpacking through Laos, Thailand or Cambodia. Now that our number of remaining days in China have dropped into the double digit range, I thought it was time for some serious "China-quirk blog cramming." After all, it's now or never.

left to right: rabbits in cages, three bowls turtles, one bowl ?, one styrofoam crate of fish

 
#36 Turtles in a Mixing Bowl: pet or lunch?

I'm getting mixed messages. The first time I came across this street display I was emerging from a subway stop on my way to IKEA. I saw the turtles swimming around in their bowl and then my eyes traveled to the fluffy baseball-sized Floppsy, Mopsy and Cottontails nestled in stacked cages just beside them.

My first reaction was the joyful elation of any warm-hearted child who in the first moments of laying eyes on a fluffy friend can offer no resistance to the overpowering, pre-programmed desire to a) hold it! b) take it home, where it will inevitably c) grow old with me and be my best friend for life. I estimate that this process takes about three seconds (including visualizations) and only ends for adult-children when d) I'm adult and I know better [than to buy animals on the street in China], I can't possibly care for this animal, must regain pre-animal sighting composure mode kicks in.

But then I got scared.

Another, smaller display. Turtles in bowl on left, rabbits on the right

This is China. They eat everything here. Wait a minute...are these animals friends or table toppers? After months of agonizing over this completely unnecessarily, I'm choosing to believe that the answer is friends. That's what everyone seems to try to sell me on anyway, and they have no idea I already had a name picked out for my rabbit.

#61 Whatcha' Readin?

On the subway, if you are reading a book plan on sharing it. Pull an English title from your bag and you're sure to make some new friends fast. They won't talk to you, but they will read over your shoulder. And they don't stop when you look at them when a face that says, "what are you doing?" They just stare back at you and wait for you to turn the page so they can hunker down next to you for more pairs reading. The same rule applies to text messages and emails.

# 14 Pea Popsicles

Please note the sunglasses

 These delectable/horrendous frozen treats have been a point of conflict here between my spouse and me.  He thinks they're disgusting. I think they're amazing. Yes, they are made with peas, but I don't think they taste like peas. As a rule, I'm not very fond of peas. I eat them, but they're not my favorite; so I don't think this is a factor. It's just a tasty popsicle. The wrapper is also fabulous. Couldn't find that in America.

That's all for today, but there will be more later.