China

Our China: The Crack of Dawn

July 22, 2013 by Carey Jane Clark

When we first arrived here, as the initial jet lag was wearing off, we quickly concluded that more than our internal clocks were askew. The time itself was wrong.

Instead of greeting dawn at nearly 6:00 a.m. as we had in Toronto, the sun streamed into our room (and our children’s–they were 6, 4, and 2 at the time) at 5:00 or so. It didn’t help that there were just thin curtains in the kids’ room, and the bedrooms were on the east side of the apartment.

What was the reason for this disorienting dawn? Turns out, China has no time zones.

Take a look at China on the map.

This isn’t a small country. There should be time zones–if China operated like other countries. Apparently, the story is that there once were time zones, but they didn’t work, so they were abandoned. So what happens instead is the culture of the places changes. In the west of China, people get up late and go to bed late. Here, people wake up early–a market in our neighbourhood opens at 4:00 a.m.–and go to bed early.

Here’s a picture out our bedroom window at 4:30 a.m.

I won’t show you a picture of 10:00 p.m., because it would be too dark. All the lights are off (and there isn’t an abundance of streetlights, either).

In the summer, there’s little need for anyone to tell us what time it is if we wake up early. We don’t even have to open our eyes. Because around 4:30, the chirping of the crickets rises into a crescendo just prior to being drowned by the hum of cicadas. Then a man somewhere on the mountain sings out loudly with a Tarzan-like yell. (It’s a thing. People do it here. We don’t understand why.)

No alarm clock necessary. (Not that anyone in their right mind would set an alarm for 4:30 a.m., but you get my point.)

So if I’m yawning while I write this post (after 10:00 p.m., I might add, ours the only lights in the neighbourhood that are on), you’ll excuse me, right?

Our China: The Knife Guy

June 24, 2013 by Carey Jane Clark

We sold pretty much everything we owned when we moved to China. At the time, we figured we’d be here for at least five years. Now if you ask, we’ll shrug and say we’re not sure. We understand now that things can change in a moment here, but we foresee a longer stay.

I did keep a few things for my kitchen when we came–like a favorite paring knife or two. But soon after we arrived, I had some dear Chinese friends show me how much better it is to use a cleaver. Now, if for any reason, I use a paring knife, and JavaMan happens to be around, he’ll say, “Why are you using that?”

A cleaver really is a wonderful thing. And the one kitchen utensil I really missed when we were back home in Canada.

To keep my cleaver kuai (fast), it’s gotta be sharpened. But never fear, at least once a week, the knife guy comes to the neighborhood. He carries his work station with him, and a megaphone. The megaphone blasts out a message, but it’s not the message itself that draws attention, it’s the sing-songy way the canned announcement goes out over the megaphone. When we returned to China last year and heard the message blasting around the neighborhood for the first time, Pumpkin confessed to having missed his little song.

Recently, the knife guy came by and I had my knife sharpened. Though I know better, I left a thumb in its path the following week. So, in case you should be convinced of the need for a cleaver, you may want to follow these safety tips:

Our China: Slippers

April 25, 2013 by Carey Jane Clark

If you’ve ever been to an Asian country, or even watched an Asian movie, you probably know that people here wear slippers inside the house. The Asian custom of wearing slippers actually differs from country to country. It’s much more strict and complicated in Korea, for example, where a different pair of slippers must be worn in different parts of a house or building.

But here in China, when entering a home, people are often offered a pair of slippers to wear in the house. Outside shoes are taken off at the door, and homes often have built-in cupboards or purchased shelving specifically for the storage of shoes, near the door.

There is a definite sense that the outdoors is dirty–particularly the ground. And no wonder. People spit on the ground. They allow their pets to urinate or defecate on the ground (and usually don’t poop-and-scoop). And it’s not unusual to see a young child or even an adult find a corner they think looks private and urinate outside. Add to that the fact that a lot of China is a big dustbowl due to deforestation, and you’ve got a really good case for thinking what you may have tracked in on your shoes isn’t so wholesome to be spreading around the house. New research actually strongly supports this notion.

But what’s the deal with the slippers, anyway? Why not just tramp around barefoot in the house? Or in your socks?

There is a widespread belief stemming from Chinese medicine that many diseases can be caught through your feet–that cold feet can cause the whole body to be ill. So wearing slippers protects you from the cold floors and keeps you healthy.

There is no one harder to keep in socks than my son. He prefers barefoot even when the floor is freezing cold (which is common here for at least six months of the year). So needless to say, he doesn’t wear slippers a lot either. But when visitors come to the house, I am constantly being scolded for letting him run around in bare feet. They are sure he will become ill. (He’s probably my healthiest kid, just for the record.)

As Canadians, we’re accustomed to removing our shoes at the door, anyway. It’s a Canadian thing. Now we’ve also become accustomed to wearing slippers also–well, most of us.

Our China: Spring

April 16, 2013 by Carey Jane Clark

So here’s the thing about spring in China. They turn off the heat–whether, as the popular Facebook meme portrays, spring has “fully installed” or not. The heat is government-controlled, and shuts off April 1st. This year, April 1st was 3° Celsius (for you Fahrenheit folks, that’s not quite 38°).

So not exactly toasty.

But what we’ve noticed–this year anyway–is that everyone has decided it’s spring and stubbornly refuses to wear warmer layers. While the rest of the winter, we hardy Canadians are being scolded for not wearing enough layers, now, we’re walking around still sporting our winter attire while our Chinese friends are walking around without jackets–or very thin ones–no gloves, and shoving their hands in their pockets.

Part of the mystery might be solved by looking at the following images:

The first image is from my computer’s weather bug. The second one from the Weather Channel. Someone is lying. And my bet is most people think it’s a lot warmer out there than it really is. Add to that the fully-concrete-no-insulation construction of 99.9% of all China’s buildings, so that when it does warm up, it’s often warmer outside than in. All in all, it’s just not all that warm here. I’m wearing about the same thing inside as out.

And I’m about ready for spring. But wait, there’s hope!

Today, I spotted this right here in our apartment complex: