Out & About

Warning: this post is random. People ask us about our daily life here and it's hard to explain. Parts of this city are more developed and polished than you could imagine, and then right next door, it's very clearly not. Here's a glimpse of some of our regular activities around our city of 7+ million people.

Let's start with shopping. Ten years ago when Kevin and I taught at a college in Changchun, we were the star attractions when shopping or walking down the road. Now, people hardly notice us because they are only focused on our kids. They are fair-skinned, blue-eyed and always mistaken for twins. They've had their pictures taken with strangers 174,000 times. Approximately. Here we are shopping at Wal-Mart:

Here's a shot of the Christmas decor section at Wal-Mart:

In October, there was much smaller display of Halloween masks and children's costumes. I don't remember seeing that at all last year. Decorating for all Western holidays is definitely increasing. Many shops and restaurants will have Christmas trees or wreathes displayed. There is a fancy four-story shopping mall close to Kevin's office. We had lunch there on Thanksgiving, and I noticed Haagen-Dazs was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

But the funny thing was right next to it, in the middle of the mall's main walkway, was this enormous Halloween display (still there more than a week into December).

In another shopping mall near our home, a Charlie Brown Cafe opened this year. We visited it a few months ago with two volunteers from our Saturday English classes. I had fun getting to know these girls as they translated for me in the adult class for several months.

Speaking of coffee, another friend of ours opened her own small "Book Cafe" for people who enjoy coffee, books and wifi in a cozy environment. She lives in an apartment on the cafe's second floor.

I've been meaning to explain for ages how we pay bills here in China. Bills are never received or paid by mail. Phone, cable and internet are paid upfront on a pay-as-you go system. Every month or two, we add money to our cell phone number by going to one of many China Mobile shops. (Anyone can add money to any phone number, so it can be a fun way to anonymously bless someone with unexpected money on their phone.) Every six months, we bring our cable box's sim card to the telecom office and reload it. Every two months, our electric bill (along with the electric bills of all of our neighbors) are pasted on the downstairs door of our apartment building. We detach it from the metal door, and take it in person to pay the balance.

For water and gas, a worker comes to our home to check the meter, and then we pay in cash on the spot and are given a receipt. This usually happens between 6 and 8 pm, about every two months. We pay our landlord six months of rent at a time - all in cash. We pay preschool tuition on the first day of the month with all the parents waiting in line either at drop-off or pick-up to pay the cashier. Our Chinese friends have bank accounts and debit cards, but credit cards are rare and personal checks don't seem to exist.

Let me know if there are other aspects of Chinese culture you'd like to see or know more about.
~Dayna