China: Life

Willows Whisper Lightly: A Misleading Title

The water formed a rivulet and as gravity exerted its force the liquid flowed downwards and towards the depression where my carry on suitcase was situated.  I sensed the impending danger and moved the suitcase as the water streamed by.  People walked through it and another young child was playing with a toy in the stream of pee left moments before by a child whose mother had pulled down her quilted pants exposing her fat little bottom to the cold world allowing her to relieve herself on the busy walkway in front of the ticket entrance at the Jinhua train station.  It’s just a cultural thing I am told and therefore I should be tolerant of such behavior, but then in Kuwait abusing a nanny is also a cultural norm.  I guess I’m odd I don’t like to see children or adults piss in public places and Arab men shouldn’t beat the hired help.  Why is it that a country that can orbit a woman around the planet and sell sophisticated medical diagnostic equipment to hospitals in the European community not be able to use disinfectants in their washrooms, or deodorant under their armpits.  I’m  just sensitive, I know.  I watch as a Chinese store owner comes to the threshold of his food store and “horks” and spits on the sidewalk where his customers walk as they enter his store. I watched another man as he places a finger over one nostril and forcefully blew the contents of the other on to the street, also while positioned in a store front.  I had no desire after that to buy food, or anything else from those stores.  Sanitation is lacking in China  and I am thankful that heavy rains clear the streets on a regular basis.  In my own school I can not bring myself to use the public washrooms as they are not properly cleaned, instead I have to make the trip across campus to our own apartment.  I have asked the Chinese admin to use cleaning products, but that would cost money and cut into the budget, then maybe the Chinese principal would have his driver chauffeur him in a VW instead of an Audi.