Article for Sierra Mountain Times

Hello- Sorry it's been awhile. Not too much excitement going on here these days. Although we did get our first snow! Below is an article that I wrote for a newspaper that my brother Thomas is the editor of. If you want to read the newest one you can go to www.sierramountaintimes.com and type in "From Foreign Lands" in the search bar. Some of the info is from my blog, but there is some new stuff as well. Enjoy!


From Foreign Lands by Daniel and Amanda Atkins
November 24th, 2008 · No Comments
Hello again folks, friends, and family
Well, we are still here and China continues to surprise us. Old Man Winter has been creeping up the last few weeks and temperatures have been hanging around the 30’s lately (F). So naturally our survival instincts kicked in and told us to do what any good American does when it gets too cold – TURN ON THE HEAT!! Unfortunately for us, and millions of others over here, things operate a little differently on the other side of the Pacific. Apparently the government over here has a lot of control over certain things (hmmm? Really!?) One of those being the HEAT. After realizing there was nowhere in our apartment to turn on the heaters that were in every room we inquired about it to some friends. They laughingly informed us that the heat would be on November 15th. Of course, November 15th!!! And why not, it was mid-October when we asked “how do we turn on the heat?”, and Nov. 15th was “only” a month away. So, as I sit here in my frigid apartment, on November 15th, which we have dubbed “National Heat Day”, the heat has NOT come on. Stay posted for more on this topic…if we survive.
Besides the heat issue, things are good. We’ve been enjoying the local cuisine, which ranges from amazingly cheap and delicious to unbelievably disgusting looking and expensive. Some interesting food items we have seen or read on the menu are chicken feet and hog nose (which can be found in the snack section near the potato chips – seriously), spicy octopus balls, squid on a stick (on every street corner), wriggling grubs, yummy squid salad and live toad. I consider myself somewhat adventurous in trying new foods, but it stops when things are still moving. As to whether or not Chinese-Chinese food is better than American-Chinese food the answer is a resounding YES! Sorry, Panda Express.
Part of the fun about being in another country is noticing the cultural differences here. An example of this would be the baby and toddler’s “special” pants. You can see pictures of these baby pants online by typing in China baby pants on Google images. Basically, the young children here wear pants with a slit down the back so they can pretty much take care of business at anytime in almost any place. Sometimes a parent will scoop their child up and run them to the nearest trashcan, but there isn’t always time for this. Sure the kids are cute. But this has to stop.
Cultural difference #2. Smoking…smoking…and more smoking. I know that we hail from California and there are few public places left where people can indulge in their lung cancerous behavior (which is great!), but in China this form of population control still runs rampant. Cigarettes are practically free here too, maybe 50 cents a pack U.S. dollars, so that isn’t helping. And they smoke everywhere, literally. Restaurants, schools, gyms, theme parks, taxis, zoos, pre-schools…..you can smoke them on a train, you can smoke them in the rain, you can smoke them in my face, you can smoke them ANYPLACE!!!! Hopefully they will figure it out soon, but I doubt it.
One of our best experiences over here so far happened by total chance. About a month ago we went for a walk along the coast of Dalian. We followed a road on a really nice boarded path that was 12km (still don’t really know the conversion). We enjoyed a wonderful view of the coastal part of the city, got some exercise, and had an amazing experience with a random group of people picnicking on the trail. As we were walking past a group of people lunching on the sidewalk we couldn’t help but notice their big spread of food. We were about ready to get lunch ourselves, when one of the guys offered me a breaded roll looking thing (turned out to be tofu) and gestured for me to sit down. So, I did, and soon we were sharing beers, soda, cucumbers, fish, and other unknown food items, with about 10 Chinese people who didn’t speak any English. Actually, they spoke about as much English as we speak Chinese, and their 10 and 12 year old kids were the best. Every time one of us would take a drink they would all drink and say “CHEERS!” The incredible hospitality from these total strangers was definitely a highlight and we plan on returning the favor someday to some random travelers when we are back home.
That’s all for now, thanks for reading.
Chinese Phrase of the Day- “Du_sh_o qíen?”- How much does this cost?