Hodge Podge of thoughts...

I know this is a hodge podge of thoughts and comments, but wanted to share more on some of the Chinese people we have met so far

I am starting to learn a few more phrases from Mary’s driver Gu, but more importantly I have been able to talk to him about what it is like to live in China and then I teach him a few new English words - for example "hysterical", "boring", and “exhausted”. He likes to ask about food as well – so we talked about BBQ and what having a BBQ means. I also tried to explain lasagna and the various shapes of pasta – a la penne and fusili, but I think sticking with spaghetti is just easier right now.

We talk about the Chinese versus American government, we talk about travel. He has only been about 2 hours south of Shanghai ever in his life (he is 31 years old). Gu (sounds like Ku) tells me that it is VERY difficult to get a visa to travel outside China for Chinese citizens. We talk about inflation and how much more expensive Shanghai has gotten in the last few years. The pluses and minuses of living under Communism – now you have the option of not having the government pick your job, but if you are poor and from the countryside, it is extremely difficult to move up in life.

How it is a very family oriented culture – he and his wife live with his parents. You still shouldn’t give money to people begging in the streets – he says most of them are lying and don’t want to work hard. I asked, even the ones holding cute babies – he said yes, sometimes they just “borrow” a friend’s baby. I asked him if the Chinese liked it that more westerners are here – he said yes and no. One of the things he mentioned was that we have brought in too much fast food and sugar. The Chinese population is starting to deal with overeating and weight related problems.

There is not really any health insurance and if you can’t pay for your care as soon as you walk into a clinic or hospital they WILL turn you away. You have to usually know someone at the hospital to be seen by a decent doctor too. Gu laughs at my stories just as you all do – and thinks my Chinese is very good after 6 weeks and appreciates how hard I’m trying. As much as they all stare at me, I really haven’t had anyone not try to help if I really needed it.

We met a nice gentleman on the subway the other day – he was 72 and retired. In only a 5 minute subway ride we learned he used to be a mechanical engineer and learned English and Russian when he was in school. After our brief interaction, we realized how silly we were not to have exchanged contact information – can you imagine the great conversations we could have had about his life in China for the past 72 years - I’m sure he has even more of an opinion on how his country has changed. We hope that we’ll run into him again…