Hot water - Chinese medicine

When I first came to China, I landed at Pudong airport in Shanghai and had to walk a long way from the international to the domestic terminal. I got thirsty on the way and stopped at a water dispenser to have a cup of water. There was a cup holder on the wall next to the dispenser and a sign above the cup holder saying that the cups were not suitable for hot water. The dispenser itself had three buttons with Chinese writing. I stood there for a while completely puzzled and didn't know which button to press. Luckily, a Chinese man who spoke English came to help me. When I asked for the cold water, he said that there is no cold water in China and that the three buttons said 'warm', 'warm' and 'hot'. I pressed the first button in disbelieve and the display showed 29 degrees Celsius. The second button showed 30 degrees Celsius and the third showed 100 degrees. So I went for the 29 degrees. It wasn't refreshing to drink warm water on a warm day. This is when I remembered that my wonderful assistant Jing had told me a few times that she herself and the entire nation drink everything warm or hot, even in summer. She also told me there are people who drink cold drinks, but women switch to warm liquids during their period.
This was my first encounter with warm/hot water, and many more were to come.
In Guiyang, I soon noticed that all Chinese were carrying thermos with hot water or tea and drank even warm beer. I also noticed that refrigerators in the shops were not plugged in and were only there for decoration.
The first time I heard the advice 'drink hot water' was when one of my colleagues got sick. From that moment I kept hearing it from all Chinese people I knew. When I was down with flu for a few days, I gave it a try and got well after a few days. Not sure if it was the healing effect of the hot water or the warmth and sleep I had during those days. I made some Chinese happy when I replied to their messages that I would drink hot water in order to get well again.
Sometime later, there was a huge and furious discussion in one of the expats groups on WeChat about hot water. They were saying, that at least in Guiyang, hot water was the solution and medicine to everything (see image below) and when they went to a hospital, the doctors would advise them to drink hot water and wouldn't prescribe them any medicine. Even though this was serious, I had to chuckle while reading. Naturally the Chinese in the group chat disagreed and said that we were exaggerating.
A few months later, when yet another food poisoning tied me to my bed (I had survived various food poisonings until then - or Mao's revenge as they are called, which are part of the game when moving and living in China), a dear Chinese friend came to my place and took me to a nearby hospital. Even though I knew that I was suffering food poisoning, the doctors wanted to be sure, or earn some money, and made me undergo various examinations like ultrasound, etc. To my fortune, they prescribed me some meds, but also gave me a very valuable advice: to drink hot water.

Well, try it if you want and email me your experience. Feel free to tell me if drinking hot water has made you healthy/healthier, prettier or made you find the love of your life.
Until then, cheers everyone!

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Creativity

I posted the photo underneath in several WeChat group chats a while ago and waited for reactions. The reactions came and they came massively.
I took the photo from a window a few months ago and it shows the creativity of (Chinese) children. In this highly technological world, in which everyone seems to be staring at some sort of screen, be it a mobile phone, a tablet, a computer, etc. this little girl chose to do something creative while waiting for its mother. All it needed was some water in a puddle. Some others might have jumped into the water and made themselves wet and dirty, but this little girl had a better idea.
The comments in the various group chats can be divided into two main and several subgroups. The two main are Asians and Westerners and the subgroups are Asian men, Asian women, western men, western women, the Americas, central and northern Europeans, eastern Europeans, southern Europeans, Arabs, Africans, etc. You get the picture. However, it all goes back to the cultural background and upbringing of the users.
Women saw this action positively and their comments were also highly positive. Men however, share a different opinion depending on the place of origin. While Asians found it highly romantic, cute, etc, northern Americans and central and northern Europeans found it rather irritating and spoke of society pressure and seeing marriage and finding love as the ultimate goal in life. One user must have read my novel, as he quoted: .... secretly they don’t want the prince of their dreams to drive up on the first date in a rusty Fiat Panda but hope that he gets out of a Porsche and floats elegantly around the car, and that a red carpet is unrolled as he opens the passenger door. Depending on whether you are feminine or masculine, this can be the material of a chick-flick-girl-on-a-horse-novel full of princes, love, hugs and kisses or of soft porn in a late-night private TV-programme ....
Some other men and emancipated women, (there were some Asian ones among them to my surprise), lamented that there's too much pressure on young people to get married and have children at a really young age.
This is true and it happens in many other countries and cultures, not only in China. Chinese people however, seem to be very romantic. If you visit the country or if you watch couples travelling around the world how they act with each other, you will notice that there is a romance between them that could come out of the above mentioned chick-flick novel. 
Even the Chinese government is convinced that foreigners come to China to find true love and published an article about it a while ago. I posted about it. My post can be found here (Luv is in the air) and the original article by the Chinese government can be found here.

Most users however agreed that this girl showed creativity and created something out of nothing. Not sure about other Asian cultures, but the Chinese are highly creative and artistic. They dance, sing, draw, paint have a passion for calligraphy and many other things.

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Little messages

As a teacher, you must be prepared for surprises of all kind. Students are unpredictable and no matter their age and the country, you find little messages in their homework or papers that make you smile.
One of our students last summer decided to leave us a sweet message and made our day. The paper landed in Leslaw's pile for correction and he showed it to me.
The author is Doris, a tall and beautiful young lady and one of our better students. Thank you very much for that! You showed that you like English and you were always friendly and kind. Keep it up Doris and I wish you great success in your further studies and career!
I will keep it in my collection and it will remind me of a great summer in Shanghai.

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Taxi! Taxi!

Taking a taxi in China could be both, fun and frustrating. My first taxi ride ever in this country took place in Guiyang a bit over two years ago. To my fortune, I wasn't alone and one of the other people spoke very little Chinese and roughly knew the way to the place we wanted to go. Since there are no taxi ranks in Guiyang and in many other cities and since you can't call a centre to order one, you can call a driver directly if you have his number, you have to go to a street or corner and hope to get one. Don't hope for an empty one, because they hardly are. Just waive and wait until they stop in front of you and tell them where you want to go. If you're lucky, the person or people already sitting in the taxi are going more or less the same way or direction, so the driver tells you to get in. The fare isn't split, each one pays the full fare for their ride.
So, plan ahead if you need a taxi and either don't live downtown or don't want to go to popular places. It's more time consuming if you are in a group and need a taxi for the three or four of you. You'll have to wait longer (or very long) until you find an empty cab. It took me more than half an hour to get a taxi to the airport. Luckily I had plenty of time.
Even hotels are often not able to call you a taxi and tell you to hail one on the street.
Finding the place you want to go is another hurdle to master. If it's not the airport or a train station, the driver will surely surprise you. Why and how? For a start, the drivers don't speak English of course - I happened to have only two drivers who understood and spoke little English. The next surprise is that many can't read. Of course they can't, you may probably think. How could they read if they don't speak. I'm not talking about English or any other foreign language, I am talking about Chinese. A former Canadian colleague of mine who has been in Guiyang for a while, produced some little paper cards with little phrases, names and addresses to show to people and drivers. The surprise is big when the drivers shrug with their shoulders because they can't read the Chinese writing. I tried to be more creative in my struggle to go places and started taking photographs of the places I have been and want to visit again. So instead of showing a paper card with Chinese on the one and English on the other side, I started showing photos of landmarks. And they never seize to surprise you... Why? Well, there's ONE rainbow bridge, ONE Grand Theatre, ONE shopping centre with the name Estee... and what do you get? Shrugs and funny looks. The other strange thing is, that they don't have sat navs in their cars, so I use my phone to show them the way. To my surprise I have never had any major problems going back home. They all seem to know the street Jinyang Bei Lu. Hand signs are another challenge, because they don't understand what we are trying to tell them. They often stop when you show them 'go straight' and don things you don't want them to do. Sign language is different in this country and I learnt the sign for 'go straight' by accident, because one driver used it and I copied it.
Finding house numbers is difficult too, because they either don't exist or are where they are not supposed to be or the entrance is somewhere around the corner, etc. Be in for many surprises.

Of course Guiyang isn't representative for the entire country, but I have had very similar experiences in Shanghai, too. The driver couldn't find the club we wanted to go, didn't know one of the towers in Pudong, etc. However, I had a very nice ride on one of my nights out. The driver had a screen in the centre console where a show from a club was broadcast. Ladies in sexy outfits dancing on a dance floor isn't something you expect to see in a taxi (photo and video underneath).



The inside of the taxi looks odd to us at first. The driver is in a cage for his protection.

 Here it's plexiglas instead of metal bars.

Live show in a Shanghai taxi.

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Only in China - Part IV

China is undoubtedly a country full of curiosities and I would like to take you to another small journey and show you some more in the fourth part of the series Only in China.

Every Carrefour has a doll, whose dress changes several times a year.

 Hand cakes? Seen in the Chi Feng Lu station in Shanghai. 

 No comment needed.

 From a restaurant in Shanghai when I went out with Howard.

 This was posted on WeChat with the title ObamaMao.

 How much can it carry? Spotted by my colleague Leslaw on campus (SISU - Shanghai).

 Pretty in pink. Spotted outside Hunter shopping centre in downtown Guiyang.

 Pretty in pink II

 Fully loaded.

 From the sleeping beauties collection - bus driver near the EXPO Shanghai.

 One of the workers mending the roof at SISU.

 The second worker.

 Sleeping in stereo.

 Spot the mistake. From a restaurant in Chi Feng Lu station Shanghai.

 You can be sure the following people don't have a clue what it says.

 And another sleeping beauty near the EXPO in Shanghai.

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Around SISU

Hongkou, the area where SISU is located, used to be an international concession and the so-called Shanghai Ghetto, where 20,000 Jewish refugees found a home can be found here. The area has a very interesting history, but you hardly see any tourists around. Pity, because it is a very beautiful district with many beautiful and historic buildings.
The Lonely Planet Shanghai says the following:

Hóngkǒu and North Shànghǎi (虹口区、北上海) may not have the lion’s share of sights in town, but prize chunks of heritage architecture rise up from the swirl of street life and an authentic grittiness survives.
The up-and-coming North Bund area beyond Sūzhōu Creek is worth exploring for its impressive buildings – including the granddaddy of heritage hotels, the Astor House Hotel – looming art deco blocks and noteworthy concession-era classics. The American Settlement was originally here, merging with the British Settlement in 1863 to form the prosperous International Settlement. To the west, Zháběi became infamous for its sweatshops and factories and was later flattened by the Japanese in 1932.
A rich vein of Jewish heritage survives towards Yángpǔ in the east, dating from the days when Hóngkǒu was home to thousands of Jewish refugees, mostly from Germany, who transformed ‘Little Tokyo’ (where 30,000 Japanese lived) into ‘Little Vienna’. The Ohel Moishe Synagogue stands as a testament to this era. Wander round this neighbourhood and you’ll also find examples of Shànghǎi’s trademark terrace-style shíkùmén (stone- gate house) architecture, lòngtáng (alleyway) houses and narrow alleyways filling in the gaps.
Close to the Bund, Hóngkǒu has some well positioned accommodation options and while notable restaurants may seem thin on the ground, work your shoe leather and you can find excellent options from across China. 

Clink here to see what Time Out says about Hongkou.

The photos underneath show a part of my daily way to work.

Hanging gardens (of Babylon???)

Many shops and food places near the university.

The part of uni where you can find us. There is a photocopy room in the first building on the right, the small building on the right behind the gate is where the security people are and the taller building behind is where we teach.

The security people building.

That's where we teach - building J.

Building D, directly opposite, where some of the exams take place. See any letters on either buildings? Why D and J if there are only two buildings? The mysteries of life...

Along the path outside our building.

Beautiful building on the way home. No idea what it is.

There is a housing area opposite SISU and there are a few food places in there. Howard took us for lunch on day. The place is quite comfortable, offers a laid back atmosphere and good food.

This is a part of the menu.

There are crucifixes up the walls in my home Bavaria, but here ....

Merry Christmas in summer. 

Mobile phone addicts. Smoking has been banned this year.

The place from outside.

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