Breaking All The Rules

As Christmas quickly approaches, Jeremy and I took the kids and headed to the mall this weekend. In America, I'd just say fuck it and order everything online because there is no way in hell I will set foot in a mall there after Thanksgiving all the way through around January 10th. But here, it's quite different at this time of year. Sure, there's Christmas crap everywhere. And Christmas music, much to my joy (and before you think I'm insane for that, please come join me for Chinese New Year and you will understand what annoying music being piped through a sound system truly is). But Christmas shoppers? Not really.

On a Sunday at around lunch time, the Marina City mall, which is usually busy even when it is not the holiday season, was very placid. I was thrilled. I'd wanted to go there because there's an H&M. I had no idea what to get Jeremy for Christmas except this shirt I'd seen him looking at the last time we were there a few weeks ago.

Can I just tell you how much I love H&M? It's true. I can always find something I like in there. Always. This time, as soon as we walked in, a sweater called to me. It did. It was so me, it wasn't even funny. I rush up to it and adore it some more. It's black and has a fluffy pink heart in the center. Oh I have to have it. HAVE TO. It's 149 rmb which isn't too bad. And they have it in my size. Oh please fit me. Please look nice on me. You have to! Jeremy loves it. He wants me to try it on. On the way to the fitting room, I find another gem. A Tiffany-blue sweatshirt with a horse silhouette on it. It's so soft and comfy. I dash off with one of those too. I hand the baby to Jeremy and try on clothes faster than Superman. Lucky for me, both items look awesome so I've just gained 2 very fab Christmas gifts. Sure, there's no surprise but at least my husband knows they fit and they are liked.

Now for him. We head to the men's section. There's a huge sale going on but the shirt he liked is not where it was before. I finally find it and discover it's 249 rmb. Jeremy doesn't want me to spend that kind of money on him for a shirt. But it's Christmas, I'd protested. I want him to have something he really likes. So he says he'll look at the sale items instead. And for about 300 rmb, we found him 2 dashing sweaters.

We were high on a shopping buzz. And to top it off, Raelynn had been such a good girl. We decided to buy her an ice cream from McDonald's to reward her. After that, as we were walking around, we saw some weird displays. I thought they were dinosaurs and wanted a closer look.

 Well, it's not a dinosaur but it is some sort of life-size creature from some movie. Which movie, I've no clue but there's some poster to the left that seems to be advertising it. Unfortunately, it's in Chinese. And my Chinese just happens to suck.

But you know what? Despite my sub-par Chinese skills, I will tell you this: I understand the sign posted with the creature there. That coupled with the roping tells me that you do not want me to get close to this display or touch it. So I don't. But the Chinese people around us? Oh, China...

 This little girl's mom told her to get inside with the creature. Great parenting. Let's ignore the sign that's posted which, Jeremy says, essentially translates to "do not touch or climb." Why is it that I suck at Chinese but yet I totally understand and obey the sign that I can't really read? Oh, and the man with the baby in the first picture? Just before Jeremy snapped that photo, he was putting his baby on top of the creature. We just didn't snap a photo quickly enough.

Yes, go ahead. Touch the display even though it says not to. Get inside the roping even though it is obvious you are not wanted within its' confines. Brilliant.

Lost In Translation

Forgive me for not posting sooner. It's been really hectic over here with redecorating our house (yes, that means we're giving all the in-law interior designs the old heave-ho, which I will devote a whole new post to with photos as soon as possible) and planning for my family's visit in 10 days (which will warrant at least one whole post to itself and quite possibly more as I document my parents' first ever interaction with their first ever grandchild). Add to that one very cute but demanding baby, Chinese lessons and interviewing for teaching positions. That equals one very busy me indeed.

Lately, I've really been trying to step up my game on my Chinese lessons though now that Raelynn is on a bit more of a routine. Plus, MIL misunderstood my meaning the other day and became upset and left in a huff. I know, I know. You probably think I was happy to see her go. I would have been if I hadn't accidentally offended her somehow. It seriously wasn't my intention but in any event, now that all is well again in the Qu family, I'm working hard to build my vocabulary and grammar faster so that we don't have any more misunderstandings. I might not like her and I especially might not like her watching my child, but she's free daycare and she loves the baby. If I get hired for this job (we'll hear in a few days whether or not I get the high-paying teaching gig), we need her to keep an eye on Raelynn.

Besides, I might just wind up on the 301 bus, which has this 'friendly' sign up:

Yes, it says "Please speak mandarin chinese" (and they didn't even capitalize "mandarin" or "chinese" which was irritating on a whole different level). I love this! I asked my husband about it but he wasn't certain why they would post a sign like this. For one, if you can read the English, it is quite likely that you don't know Mandarin Chinese. Or you're like me and don't know enough of it to solely speak the language. For another, if you can read the Chinese characters, does that mean that people from Hong Kong, who use the Cantonese dialect, should just keep their mouths shut? I'd also like to point out that as we got on the 301 bus, my husband was speaking to one of our Korean friends in, you guessed it, Korean. Oh we're such rebels you know. It was nice of the lady collecting the bus fare not to kick us off.

It reminds me of the whole hullabaloo that went on in the states a few years back (well, more like 5 years ago) at that famous cheese steak spot in Philly. The owner had put up a sign that said "This Is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING Please 'SPEAK ENGLISH.'" It was later ruled that he didn't violate any ordinances by posting this sign. In China where disorder is always served up fresh each day and laws don't really exist, no one cares if we as foreigners are offended. No one cares about our human rights or whether we understand or not. America isn't the only country with a diversely growing population, but in America, people are desperate not to offend anyone for fear of litigation. Here, you are forced to learn the language or forever be left open for interpretation. Which basically means speak Chinese or DIE...on the 301 bus at least.