Imagine if China Town took over New York, and you would have Shanghai. If you tell from the picture, it's very westernized. Even though many of us feel more comfortable here, it is definitely still very Chinese. So, in the theme of Chinese, I thought I would take this blog entry to explain some very distinct aspects of Chinese Culture.

1. Public Displays of Spitting: Everyone spits here...and everywhere. On the street, in restaurants...everywhere. And it's not just spitting, its loogies (spelling?). And they are noisy, with some really good phlegm action going on, sometimes even body movement to accompany it.

2. Younger Kids Attire: the small children of China have some interesting things going on with their pants. Most young kids will wear pants that have large slits in the back of them, not from wear and tear, but for easy exit for their bodily functions. And this exiting will take place, most likely, in the nearest gutter. Some kids wear diapers as well...some don't. I was quite shocked the first time I saw a parent helping their child squat in the gutter. Also, this isn't only for the lower class, its middle class as well.

3. Staring: Westerners are few and far between in the parts of China I have been to so far. The Chinese will openly stare, point, take photos/videos, and laugh when they see the group of us walking around or if I am on my own. Yesterday we walked around for a bit, and in the space of 30 minutes we had been asked to jump into 3/4 family photos, I had caught two men secretly taping us on their cell phones, and there were too many open gaped faces to count. Supposedly Shanghai is the worst out of all the cities. We have been debating as to what they will do with their photos. Do they frame them and sit them in the living room and show their friends the white people they saw? In Beijing, a mother shoved her child infront of one of the guys in our group and fixed her hair up before the father snapped a photo. Quite strange.

There are also a number of scams that a foreigner can get involved with. Being aware of them helps immensely. The most common one is someone coming up to you and asking if they can practice english with you, they will then attempt to get you to go for coffee/tea with them, where you will pay way too much money since it will end up you are paying for their company as well. On my way to the internet cafe, a man approached me and, in very good english, told me he was an english professor...and that he likes practicing his english with foreigners. I gave him short answers till I reached the cafe and as I turned to go he said "Wait, let me ask you a question, do you have any American coins?", I quickly answered "No", I have no idea where that would have led, but its one of the many things you need to be cautious about here.