Thursday, May 23, 2013

What I Will and Won't Miss About China

Woke up this morning to what will be our last full day in China.  I want to shout hooray, but there is this small part of me that thinks I might actually miss some of this once we are settle back home.  Who would have thought?


List of things I won't miss about China:

The smell
The filth
The traffic
The crowds
The heat and humidity (although I hear we may not be getting away from it when we get home)
Not being able to drink the water
Not having ice
Warm drinks
Soda because it was the only thing safe to drink when out
The smog
The rain, oh my word the rain
The stares from every other person who crosses our path
The noise
The chaos everywhere
The uncomfortable beds
The elevator not having a capacity limit and feeling like a pack of sardines
The street vendors wanting to sell you everything possible
Seeing the handicap people lying on the sidewalks begging for money that they will never see because some person who forced them there is standing near by to take it.  (yes, this is probably the most awful thing we have witnessed here and it's so incredibly sickening I haven't been able to write about it yet)
The constant wonder of what is actually in my food (we were served DONKEY in Xingtai)
Black Tongues
THE SQUATTY POTTY



List of things I will miss about China:

The people.  The ones who stare, but then smile and talk to us and even though we don't understand them you know what they are saying is good.  Or better yet, our translator who when with us tells us they said "she is lovely, or lucky girl."
Our guide Jack, we will miss him terribly.  I could write an entire post just about Jack and I just might.
The other adopting families.
The hotel staff, some of which have been so good to us.
The cleaning lady at our hotel in Beijing.  She was the sweetest woman and tried to so hard to practice English and talk with us and she doted on Mercy every day we were there.
The breakfast buffet, oh my word was it yummy!
The shower in the Garden Hotel in Guangzhou was amazing.
The tropical landscaping and flowers
The fresh tea, I will never drink Lipton, Stash or Trader Joe's again
The train ride we took from Beijing to Xingtai and Shijiazhuang
Some of the food
The hotel pool (we never used it because it always rained, but it was beautiful)
Having the bed made for me everyday.
Writing on the blog everyday and everyone's Facebook comments, because there will be no time for any of it once we are back home.





3 comments:

  1. Great list!!!!! Some of it made me laugh. Some of it made me nod along. It will be good to have you home. Shall I invite you for tea? With a side of donkey????? Lol

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  2. Hooray - another tea convert!We can hook you up with tea. Mike always brings back large quantities - some which I am selling. It is lovely to spend time in a tea house chatting and sipping! kim

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  3. Hi Jane! I'm enjoying catching up on your wonderful journey. This post made me LOL. The "Things I will Not Miss About China" sound exactly like Argentina! lol ~Chris

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