tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2287572224300306186.post1565898072452419244..comments2023-10-10T02:26:04.141-07:00Comments on A Broad Abroad (a blog a blog): Blame The A/C. Go Ahead...I Dare You!JQhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17398355557660230873noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2287572224300306186.post-1067906895826345102014-08-30T18:53:16.289-07:002014-08-30T18:53:16.289-07:00Oh I don't leave the house without wet wipes, ...Oh I don't leave the house without wet wipes, tissues and hand sanitizer. It helps that I have children so I can't possibly go anywhere in any country without these items, but in a place where you seldom find soap or toilet paper in the bathroom, it's a necessity. Also, no matter WHERE I am going here - even just to the store - I spray on perfume. Just like they did ages ago - smell their wrists to get rid of the unpleasant smells. JQhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17398355557660230873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2287572224300306186.post-19419630460130825082014-08-30T06:42:42.351-07:002014-08-30T06:42:42.351-07:00China will make anyone a raging germaphobe. As an ...China will make anyone a raging germaphobe. As an afterthought I packed some organic lavender hand sanitizing wipes. They became a sort of security blanket. Anytime I saw or smelled something disgusting, I sanitized my hands and then inhaled the lovely, fresh lavender. Yes, people looked at me like I was a nut. Several trips back I realized that people there will stare no matter how "normal" you are. Might as well do what you want. By the end of the trip they were running out. Next time I'll bring 5 packages! Hat off to you... If I had to stay in China longer than a few weeks, I'd be in jail or a mental institution.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09211691412408934332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2287572224300306186.post-53460318652589197542014-08-30T06:03:28.497-07:002014-08-30T06:03:28.497-07:00You totally crack me up! I bet they have a school ...You totally crack me up! I bet they have a school where MILs go to train to be extra dirty and annoying. Did you ever see my post that was basically just a photo of MIL's kitchen? http://abroadabroadablogablog.blogspot.com/2013/09/mils-kitchen.html<br /><br />So it's not just my MIL that can't cook, huh? I have a good friend - she was my first friend in Qingdao and she studied Chinese for 20 years. She'd been all over China and she said that this province (Shandong) was not known for its' food and had probably the worst food ever. I'd believe it. <br /><br />I'm a pretty clean person. My husband is too which is surprising for someone coming from his background but he lived in Korea for 4 years so I think that affected him positively. I often wonder HOW my in-laws managed to raise such a fine son without accidentally killing him due to their negligence. I am terrified to leave Seoul with MIL when I go back to work in October. TERRIFIED. Raelynn was a little bigger when I started working again. Eek.JQhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17398355557660230873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2287572224300306186.post-22603307790368307032014-08-30T03:43:22.257-07:002014-08-30T03:43:22.257-07:00Oh, dont get me started with the AC. MIL blames ev...Oh, dont get me started with the AC. MIL blames everything on the AC. When I wake up at their place with a sore throat, of course it is the AC, even when the AC wasnt switched on the entire night and MIL opened the windows to let some massive smog in the entire night!!!<br />Whenever the smog gets pretty bad I have flue like symptoms for a long time. I really wonder how people can stay the whole day outside in that dirt.<br />During the past months we have met different Chinese couples who have babies and always some crazy MIL is there as well. THey all have several things in common (mind, just the people I have met thus far): They never wash their hands, they reorganoze the kitchen into a perfect mess, they clean everything with the same oily rag, the AC is always bad, they can't cook and their general idea about hygiene and health/medicine is far below that of a caveman/cavewoman. <br />I mean I am not overly "clean" or whatsoever but what I have experienced thus far in China and with MIL's just drives me nuts (my wife can't stand this either anymore, she wonders how her mother could actually raise a child)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2287572224300306186.post-2786846631344312192014-08-29T20:30:46.249-07:002014-08-29T20:30:46.249-07:00Oh the country yokels are THE worst, aren't th...Oh the country yokels are THE worst, aren't they? And it is SO hard not being a snob here. I know these people are just trying to be nice and friendly but I so don't want them coming near me with hands they didn't wash after taking a shit or blowing snot directly onto the ground instead of a tissue. I especially don't want them touching my children with their filthy hands. My in-laws will be over for dinner later because we're going to Guangzhou and something about tradition before a trip, my husband said. But I swear if I hear one word about the evil kongtiao, someone is getting a plate of dumplings lobbed at their head.JQhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17398355557660230873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2287572224300306186.post-52358265239114642232014-08-29T11:03:57.695-07:002014-08-29T11:03:57.695-07:00This is so familiar. Whenever we or the kids get s...This is so familiar. Whenever we or the kids get sick, he blames The Chill from the AC or open windows. This is a man who has a PhD in engineering. The rational part of his brain knows about germ theory, but the other part, which heard his parents and grandparents go on about The Chill during his childhood thinks differently. When I got a stomach virus in Beijing, of course The Chill from the hotel AC was to blame. ;) My own theory was that it was germs from the bus tour hicks from other provinces that were swarming Tiananmen Square when we visiting. You know the ones: matching hats, spitting, squishing their doughy bodies into mine. Shudder. It's amazing how quickly China turns me into a snob.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09211691412408934332noreply@blogger.com