More Encounters With Crazy People

 This photo is NOT of the crazy woman described in the post. Much thanks to Google for turning up this ge.

Just when I think I can't possibly be more aggravated with being in China, we had an encounter with a truly insane person on Sunday. Remember the crazy lady in the library? This next one just might be even more certifiable.

Church services are now held at the Crowne Plaza. We're still getting used to that but they sell cupcakes there for 10 rmb, which is a pretty sweet deal. In any event, we'd gone to the first floor so I could use the bathroom. It's a long wait if you ever try to use the bathrooms on the same floor as the services. As I went into the bathroom, I asked Raelynn if she needed to go. She said no and stood with Jeremy outside the door. But as the door closed behind me, she shouted to me that she needed to go.

So in she came. I let her go first and then I had her stand outside the stall, which I now regret, so I could go. The stalls are small and I had Seoul strapped to me. The stall doors were wooden with slats in them so I could still keep an eye on her. If I hadn't known Jeremy was right outside, I'd never have just had her stand in front of my door by the sinks. But I had a misplaced sense of safety. As I peed, I heard a woman come in. She began asking Raelynn lots of questions, like how old she was for example. I could tell from her accent that she was Asian even though she spoke English. I called to the woman and told her to please leave my daughter alone. "I'm her mother," I shout but she ignores everything I say. I whip out of the door and the woman is trying to coax Raelynn to go out the door. She's holding the door open and I can see Jeremy outside.

"What is wrong with you?" I shout at the woman. Now I'm furious. She ignores everything I say to her in English and obviously speaks English rather well and she turns to me and speaks in Chinese! What the hell?!? She tells me she was just taking the girl to her father. "That's not your business! I told you to stop bothering my daughter and you kept talking to her!" The woman begins pleading to Jeremy that she was just trying to be nice and this is the thanks she gets.

Jeremy is trying to make her go away. And he tells me it's because she IS crazy. He explains that when he was working at the nearby bank branch selling financial insurance, she came in a lot and she was totally crazy. Well, damn! No duh!

Mental illness is a huge problem in the world, especially here where no one wants to admit anything is wrong. Add to that the hierarchy-style society and you have a lot of messed up people walking around here with no one doing anything to help them because "it would be insulting to them." Yeah. It's sad, but hopefully people here will start catching on that this is a real problem and these are real illnesses that shouldn't be just swept under the rug and ignored.

I learned my lesson though...even if Jeremy IS indeed standing right outside the bathroom door, I will keep Raelynn and Seoul in the stall with me until I'm done. Especially next time we go to the Crowne Plaza. Eek!

The New Nastiest Bathroom In Qingdao

What's your biggest fear? Sharks? Plane crashes? My MIL and her cooking? How about having to go to the bathroom while you're out and about? And no, I don't mean #1.

Have you ever been walking around somewhere and suddenly, your stomach decides with an evil cackle of glee that it's going to drop and you realize that you HAVE TO go to the bathroom NOW? Hear me now, dear friends for I swear to you all that I will NEVER EVER EVER complain about any public bathroom in the US again. My worst fear right now is having to take a dump while out somewhere in China. There is a HUGE difference, believe me.

We went out to Taidong today to do some shopping for Raelynn's upcoming birthday. We went to the Babies, Women's and Children's store which has hundreds of vendors and lots of good deals. We'd noticed last weekend that Raelynn had outgrown her nice dress shoes so we thought buying her a new pretty pair would cheer her up. As we walked around through the different stores, I felt my stomach pitch. Crap, I thought. I'll try to hold it. But I realized that was going to be impossible. I turn to the guy manning the shop we were in and ask him where the bathroom is. He kindly points as he tells me to go left and then straight.

As it turns out, I could have found it based on smell alone. Chinese public bathrooms smell like death warmed over, rotten urine and low tide at the pier, and that's on a good day. Jeremy urges me to wait. "I can't," I tell him. I know I'm not going to walk into the Ritz or anything. I know it's not going to be pretty. I know it's going to be like one of these nasty bathrooms I've seen before. But honestly, I wasn't expecting it to be even worse than the worst ones I've seen.

I feel like I'm going to explode as I round the corner, Seoul curiously staring up at me from the carrier. "Sorry, girl," I tell her as we further immerse ourselves into the stench that had wafted into the corridor to welcome us to the bathroom. And suddenly, I stop short. There's a woman standing and waiting and as I line up behind her, I see the most horrifying thing a gal who needs to take a shit could possibly see in a public bathroom...NO DOORS ON THE STALLS. Not on any of them!

I found this photo here, from someone who apparently had a similar reaction to finding a bathroom like this. I didn't have my camera with me and even if I did, I had more pressing issues like trying to poop without being watched.

In the bathroom I encountered, the stalls were taller at least but there were no doors. If it were a matter of having to pee, I'd have held it. It was either poop here or poop in my pants. I scurried to the last stall because there was no stall across from it. A shred more privacy than the others, I thought. But as I hurried to do what I'd come to do, some of the others doing their business had spotted me and my darling baby come through and I could hear their commentary. Oh what a pretty baby! Look at that baby! All the while, I'm thinking, NO! DON'T look over here! I'm trying to poop in peace! Yeesh! GO AWAY! 

I guess I should be grateful that there were stalls at all. A friend of mine here had once told me about how she and her husband had been on a bus in a rural part of China and when the bus made a pit stop, she desperately needed to pee. She followed the other women to the bathroom and discovered the bathroom was no more than a room with holes in the ground. The other women all crouched down and pooped, talking to each other as they did. THAT would be the only thing more disturbing than what I experienced today.

To top the whole crappy (pun intended) experience off, there was no sink in the bathroom. NO SINK. Fortunately for me, it's not my first day in China so I am never without hand sanitizer. And because I have 2 kids I always have wet wipes. Still, the whole thing left me with a disgusted feeling. I'm not sure what was the worst part - having to poop like that while out, having to poop like that in a bathroom like that, having to poop like that in a bathroom like that while other people are actively talking about me and how pretty my baby is, getting ready to pull up my pants when some woman and her young son come to wait for the stall I am using and then start talking about me and how pretty my baby is, the lack of a sink...yes, I think ALL of this put together makes me say with certainty this is THE nastiest bathroom in all of Qingdao.

Another Demonic Bunny Nightmare

On Saturday morning after I'd Skyped with my folks, the doorbell rang. I assumed that it was just Jeremy returning from his weekly soccer game. Sometimes he doesn't bring his keys or he's just lazy and wants us to open the door. I'd just put Seoul down for her morning nap and was hanging out with Raelynn. "Daddy!" she shouts. I tell her to go let her daddy in.

But it's not her daddy. It's FIL.

Inexplicably, at least to me, FIL has decided to come over to bring this item...

Gah! It's another evil bunny rabbit! Straight out of my nightmares and into my home!

I'd like you to also take note that this is how it looked when he gave it to Raelynn, with the ears breaking off. It looks used, right? I mean in addition to being possessed, which clearly, it is. Like FIL.

This awful thing is mechanical too. Do the ears wiggle? Do the legs move? God, I bet those evil red eyes light right up.

 Of course, FIL couldn't be bothered to put batteries in it. I will never figure this man out. Why does he bring her things like this? I seriously think he's a few fireworks short of a Chinese New Year.

 Demon bunny is watching you! Gah! I think it has a tongue! We are never ever EVER putting batteries in Satan's bunny toy. I cannot wait to get rid of this thing. When we go to move, we will be selling any toys that are still functioning and worth selling. Others we will give away. And this thing we will shove in a hole in the ground and bury with cement because we cannot fathom inflicting it upon any other family. Die, evil bunny! Die!

Cup O'Luo Bo

I made this discovery last week but it's only just now that I've been able to write about it. I've been too busy writing about the endless construction from hell, cheapskates and crackpots that we encounter on a daily basis around here. They kept me so busy I barely had time for the main crackpot in my life, MIL, and her inability to refrain from being a slob.

This was what my counter looked like on the night in question. There are only so many times I can ask "what is wrong with her?" before I give up and chalk it up to a head full of sawdust. In this photo, I'd like you to spot the green cup. See it?

Ok, next, I want to show you what was INSIDE that green cup. Are you ready?

You know you want to see it, don't you? Of course you do!

 I had to move it to our table to get good lighting. Can you see what's inside? 2 slices of luo bo, that annoying Chinese radish!

 Come closer...closer! Gah!

As if it's not bizarre enough to find shit like this in a cup, here is an even closer view of the 2 slices of luo bo. As you can see, these are not fresh. They had a rubbery texture and were not fit for eating. Yet that old cow is saving them. I think she needs to start eating the shit she leaves out. Jeremy won't make her though. "It could kill her!" Well, I could kill her too, especially if she keeps leaving my kitchen like this. Oh but my husband loves his troll of a mother so I have to let her live. Hopefully soon we'll be able to move away and she can cut up 20 luo bo and leave them around her house to keep her company.

Just Stop.

I still can't even since the other day, and now, there is this funness...

 You can still see the first hole they dug on the sidewalk further in the background behind this giant pit they've dug that I surmise can only lead straight to hell. If you are a regular reader of my posts, then you have probably already guessed that this is not the first time they've excavated a huge hole here. But! It is the first time that they have made one THIS big. At least since we've been living here. Oooooh.

Remember, here is what it looked like the other day:

Why they keep doing this, I will never know. Because, were it me with this project, I would have fiddled with the shit underneath the concrete and bricks BEFORE laying down the new bricks but what the fuck do I know about construction? Not much but I will tell you this...I have never seen so much fuckery in my whole life and I come from South Florida where they are constantly building new condos and kicking the shit out of the natural habitat. I've seen all kinds of weird shit back in my native Florida, but not anything quite like this. What, did they do all this work and then some chode comes in and goes, "Oh yeah! Oopsie Daisy! We forgot to put pipes down there. Tear it up again, boys!"

I know I'm often apologizing for my half-assed photos on here and this one is no exception. Sorry. Seriously. I suck. But I'm not a completely inept photographer. I was just trying to snap this quickly as Raelynn and I ran to Hao Shufu's awaiting taxi. We were already running late because someone *coughcoughRaelynncough* eats slower than a turtle. Unfortunately, because I was moving as I was taking this photo, you can't see what made this even more amusing...someone had thrown a whole cabbage down there. No idea if it was accidental or intentional but it made me wonder.

When will this shit end?!? At least it's not interfering with my sleep but damn! Just stop already!

Keeping Up With The Konstruction

Remember the other day when I said this? Well, that didn't take long for them to destroy it again, now did it?

This is right in front of my building, which Raelynn and I are walking away from as we head off to school. OF COURSE they are already digging up the sidewalk they just rebuilt. OF COURSE!

Here is a close-up of the hole they've dug into the sidewalk. Lord knows what the reasoning behind this is. Perhaps people here like to dig holes. Whatever the case, there are several more of them down the street. I bet it's for some wiring or plumbing or something like that. Which begs the question: why not do that BEFORE laying down the new sidewalk so you don't have to, you know, dig it up and redo it again?!? That's what always bugs me here - common sense does not exist. At all.

WTF Is In My Kitchen?

In case you're wondering, "shagua" means "stupid" in Chinese. 

Just once, I would love to come home from work and find my house up to par with my level of clean. It's a pipe dream, I know, but I still secretly hope each day as I unlock the door that when I walk in, I will find Mary Poppins instead of Trollzilla holding my baby and greeting me with a sparkling house that doesn't reek of the lingering greasy smells of fish she fried for lunch, and left out alllllllllllll day on the counter.

After working all day, all I want is to spend time with Seoul, and once she's sleeping, hang out with Raelynn. I also wouldn't mind something that wasn't nasty for dinner. Instead, I get things like barf in a bowl and a psychotic mess of random napkins on the floor, sofa, table, chair, under the table, under the sofa, on the kitchen counters - basically everywhere except for the garbage can - that I am now either forced to clean up or leave in place which only enrages me more and also encourages my in-laws, as if to say, "Hey, I like garbage on the floor. Please throw some more down there. Also, add more vegetables and dishes to the countertops because I can still see some of the counter peeking through. I'll just prepare dinner on the floor on top of your garbage pile."

Jeremy had a work meeting this evening so once MIL finally buzzed off, I was left with the aftermath of her whirlwind half-assed cleaning spree. Which, as you probably know from previous posts, means I had to clean up after her. While Raelynn played with some of her toys and Seoul slept, I began tidying up the kitchen to MY standards of clean, not hers. And I found some interesting things because my mother-in-law is Chinese and apparently, that means I should just tolerate her bizarre-borderline-insane habits of leaving out things like this...

 This is a plate of fried tofu. It has been sitting out since yesterday. I left it to see what would happen and I was not at all surprised to find it still there today. I know, I know. I expected a miracle I guess since I thought someone would dispose of it. Why leave a whole plate of food out like that? Why make it if you're not going to eat it? It's this cultural confusion I can't get behind in this country. I've lived here 4 years and I still have yet to figure this shit out. It's as mystifying as those bloody Chinese characters themselves.

I told Jeremy I was going to throw it out and he implored me not to. See, because if I do, then MIL will be all like, "Hey, where's my mummified tofu?" And he'll tell her I threw it away and she'll get angry. But if he TELLS her, "Hey, your tofu has fossilized after sitting out for so long. You should throw it away because if you eat it, you'll get sick," it's less upsetting to her. I asked him why she doesn't eat it and he said, "Are you crazy?!? She could die!" And that my friends, is when I facepalmed. Seriously. This. Culture. Makes. Me. Nuts.

 Half an apple. WHY would you do that?!? Why wouldn't you just eat the whole thing?!? She cut half up for Raelynn because every day she HAS TO do this. Because she's an old zombie who can't do anything different a day in her life. The world will go to pieces if Raelynn doesn't have an apple! And that bag? That is a dirty bag full of raisins. Urgh. I want to cry.

 Look how dirty. WHY is it here?!? Go back to MIL's house, you!

Finally, we have a tupperware filled with an assortment of plastic bags, garlic and luo bo. FUCKING LUO BO! You know, I went through this tupperware and I found 4 - yes, FOUR - completely different cut up luo bo. That means she cut up one, ate some of it, then cut up another...oh! And she left some out on the counter too in another bag and I threw that in the refrigerator. WHY CAN'T YOU JUST EAT ONE WHOLE LUO BO AND THEN CUT UP ANOTHER ONE??? WHY DO YOU KEEP LEAVING RANDOM PIECES OF LUO BO AROUND MY KITCHEN AND HOME??? WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?????????????????????????????

The Crazy Construction Continues!

I'm so behind on my blog posts. Sorry guys! But here's one to tide you over, chock full of more insane construction photos from my street.

A giant hole. What's most surprising to me about this is they actually put something up around it so no one would fall in. Times, they are a'changin'.

Sorry for the crappiness of these photos, but we were in the car when I took them. Here's another make-shift gate to prevent people from falling into the holes. Or pooping into them. Not sure which.

 As we're driving down the street, a steamroller is passing us.

I will just caption this with my husband's favorite exclamation:
JEJUS!

It's what Koreans call Jesus. Because in Korean language, there is no "z." It's one of those Korean language things that has stuck with him ever since moving away from there.

 I wish this photo had come out better. They've already laid the new sidewalk but for some reason, are jackhammering this part. There's a guy with a wheelbarrow pushing the debris and he's gone and ruined my photo by pushing it in front of the guy with the jackhammer.

 We park and of course I notice that someone (or something) has already ruined the new sidewalk with poo. It looks like it probably came from one of those yippy small dogs though. Still, that's just wrong. I think the sidewalk maybe stayed feces and urine free for about 1 hour, tops. That's my official ruling anyway.

And for Lord knows what reason, they tore this part up after putting it down. If I were the owner of that car there, I'd be piiiiiiiiiiiiiissed.

For now, that concludes my construction craziness photo series. If there's more wackiness to document, you'll find it first here.

Even Crazier Chinese Road Construction

In July, I posted about some nutsy road construction they were doing on our street. You've seriously got to check it out. Go here for that. Well now, just a few months later, we have more insane road construction happening on our street. Check it out...

 If our building were in this photo, it would be to the left. I think I see a sliver of it behind that tree on the left side. Look at this busted-up road! It adds to the dumpy ambiance of this crappy neighborhood, the one my friend Andrea had dubbed "the part of Qingdao that time forgot." Seriously. When I look up and down our street, I KNOW I am in a third world country.

Anyway, to the right, in orange, you can see a worker laying bricks. Because they also tore up the whole sidewalk. Just because. Photos of that in a moment, but first...

 Here's more of the view down the street to the right of our building.

 Now I'm turning back toward our building. I'll just let these next few photos speak for themselves...

 They poked these holes into the asphalt. I am soooooooo happy our windows don't face this way. I shudder to think how noisy that would have been.

 The sidewalk as we're walking to our building. Or rather what was the sidewalk. Now it just looks like a war zone. They are laying the bricks you see from the giant stacks down right now. I think they are working around the clock on this. No kidding...they were at it when I woke up and looked out the window at 5:45am.

 Taken right in front of our building while my back is to our building.

A close-up of the rubble.

I shit you not, this is about the 10th time they've destroyed our street like this since I've been living here. I moved here in November of 2010. So yeah. They are ALWAYS doing this. Just when you think it's peaceful again, they start demolishing something else. And through traffic can just forget about it. The honking is enough to drive any person over the edge.

They also have these big piles of sand that they're using with the bricks and they have thoughtfully lined the side with the smashed up road bits with it so that it is nearly impossible for 2 cars to pass each other, making a drive down our street a total nightmare.

People that like living here don't live in our neighborhood. Maybe I'd like Qingdao if I didn't live in this neighborhood too. Or have in-laws like mine. Then again, maybe I should look at it positively...perhaps the construction crews were simply digging me a hole from China to the US. Oh how I wish. If only it were that simple!

Kitchen Nightmares

I've got lots to blog about but am too tired to really get into it now. But don't be sad because I have this short and sweet post to tide you over with.

Remember what my kitchen looked like the other day? Yeah. I didn't have to clean that up. But I did spend a considerable amount of time cleaning our kitchen this weekend. Because I don't want a kitchen like MIL's kitchen.

Despite this though, MIL is determined to convert our kitchen (as well as the rest of our home, from what I can tell) into the kind of grotesque hellish mess that her entire abode is full of. And I'm powerless to completely stop it because there aren't enough hours left in the day by the time I return from work to correct it. Any steps I take are completely destroyed the next day. Like when you write your name in the sand near the shore on the beach. Swoosh. Gone. And thus, so are my cleaning efforts. My wonderful husband does all he can but even working together, we cannot completely rid our home of the yuck that she constantly spreads around.

So today, I go crawl into bed early and attempt to catch up on the sleep I so desperately need, and while I do that, please enjoy these photos of what MIL left in our kitchen...

Do you know what I love about this? The fact that there are giant jugs of oil right by the stove? Ah, safety first, my friends. No, no. Not that. I looooooooooooove that there is an insane amount of apples piled into an enormous bowl OUTSIDE of the refrigerator. Not that there's room inside it for all 100 of her apples she brought for us. At least it's cold enough outside to leave apples out without them spoiling but we'll never be able to eat all of these before they go bad. Maybe I'd better whip up a pie...

Also, I just want to point out the green onions that she's also left out.

And the dried crud on the cabinet doors. I just cleaned those! I am the only person who wipes those down. I'm so glad I wasted my time doing that this weekend so she could gunk it up already. Thanks MIL.

Hurricane MIL Destroyed My Kitchen

Hurricane season just ended in my home state of Florida, but that doesn't mean I'm immune to Category 5 disasters right here in Qingdao. I cannot even begin to stress to you all just how happy I will be when my kitchen no longer winds up looking like this:

Or when we live in a place with a whole different kitchen. One that doesn't suck. One that isn't constantly being invaded by people who do THIS to it.

Please note that the above photo was taken AFTER she did some cleaning. Yes, AFTER. I had tried to snap a photo before but got caught up with the baby. She must be catching on that when I say, "What the fuck is this shit?!?" I'm talking about the unholy messes she's created.

Let's discuss this mess, shall we? She's piled a ton of cookery on the stove. She's left 2 giant containers of oil out. She left an assortment of dishes on the counter, next to her jumbo board she uses for rolling out dough for dumplings and that sort of shit. And that dirty rolling pin...memo to myself: go check the fucking drawer of kitchen utensils because you know old batshitcrazy MIL has probably thrown it in there without washing it. Oh and dig the dirty oily rag on the counter. I was just discussing that with an avid reader of my blog in the comments on another post. No matter how quickly Jeremy and I snatch up dirty rags and throw them in the wash, she will even more quickly grease up and grungify another one. If we didn't do that, I shudder to think how long she would go without washing a rag. Hang on. I almost threw up thinking about that. I think that will be what I use when I feel myself overdoing it on sweets. I'll think of the rag and I'll gag. And then I won't want to eat anything. Hmmm...it's just crazy enough to work! Goodbye, last bit of baby weight!

This is the other counter. The dish rack has been moved here, thanks to Jeremy. Don't ask. I hate it here. Although it DOES free up a lot of space on the other counter. You know, so MIL can stick random shit by the sink.

Anyway, just look at this shit. She never puts anything away. A bag of flour. A bag of peanuts. A pot filled with some meat dish. She served it to Jeremy but didn't even think to serve it to me. Pity, because it actually looked and smelled decent. No, no, no. Better serve Jennifer the baozi I know she hates. Baozi and cucumber sticks. Yes, my lovely daughter-in-law won't lob them at my big, fat lopsided head. NOT. You can see some of the baozi (those are steamed, stuffed buns by the way, in case this is your first time here) in that bowl by the electric kettle. And hey, by the blender, dig the beer mug FULL of green tea leaves. No joke.

 I moved it to the kitchen table to take better photos and show my husband. Lest anyone ever complain about the price of tea again. Or have any questions about who is wasting it. I'll give you a clue...MIL!

Just look how much tea is in there! Sweet Lord! And why are you using our beer mugs?!? My in-laws are so bizarre. Instead of using the countless coffee mugs we have, they use beer mugs or a glass I'd use for cold water to make their tea.

Half of that beer mug is filled with tea leaves! Gah! I give up. I'm going to throw in the towel. Or in this case, the oily rag.

Give Me A Hand, Won't You?

What do these gloves all have in common? Read on to find out.

Earlier this weekend, I went to wash the dishes and discovered that there were 3 right-handed dishwashing gloves at the sink. 3. Curious, I asked my husband who had 3 right arms in the family and he chuckled, saying I just had to make do for right now.

What did MIL do with my dishwashing gloves?!? Why do we only have them for the right hand?!? Also, I did not like this "make do" business. I know China is a third world country but it's not hard to buy a pair of dishwashing gloves here.

I am mystified.

In the bathroom, we keep an extra stash of old, worn-out dishwashing gloves for unpleasant chores or situations that don't come up often. Cleaning the air filters would be one. Scrubbing poop explosions from the baby would be another. Actually, it's more like HE than we. He started it. It's his collection of gloves. But last time I checked, they were in actual pairs with left and right hands accounted for.

And I thought 3 mismatched right-hand only gloves was a totally bizarre find! Jeremy checked them today and now there are 6 - yes, 6! - gloves and ALL of them are the right hand. Where did the left hand go? All I want is a pair of gloves that represent both of my appendages.

I mean, just LOOK at this!

Have you ever tried to wash your dishes with the wrong glove on one of your hands?!? Just give that a try, won't you? At least I don't have to suffer any longer at the hands of the 6 right-handed gloves. Jeremy stopped on his way home and bought us a brand new pair of gloves. Let's see how long these last before 1) MIL fills one or both with water when she's washing dishes 2) MIL rips one or both of them or 3) the left one wanders off to a home occupied by less nutsy people. Stay tuned!

Designed By FIL

It's been a hot minute since FIL has given us something to gawk at. Remember all this? Yeah. Just scroll through all that for a moment. I especially love this project.

FIL's been refraining from his half-assed repairs and decorating for a while. But today, he apparently couldn't help himself. I came home and saw this...

I love this silky scroll thing, by the way. We picked that out to replace all the horrible things that my in-laws had in this house when we moved into it. When I first saw this arrangement though, I thought, "Who the hell touched our scroll? Why is it draped over the lamp?"

Upon closer inspection, I discovered this...

See, the lamp's neck was a bit broken. It wouldn't raise up any higher. This didn't bother us. But it apparently bothered FIL. So he decided to string it up and tie it to the same nail our scroll hangs from. Because. Because he's severely touched in the head? I've no idea. It's not like this lamp is miles higher than it was. I just fail to understand the purpose of this repair. Jeremy didn't understand either. He just laughed at my confusion over this and then patted my hand, reminding me that we'll move soon enough. Please God, let us move away from here as soon as we can so I don't have to fight the urge to string FIL up. Why anyone would think this is a great idea is beyond me. Then again, it's FIL so that explains a lot.

Attack Of The Socially Awkward Woman

This past weekend, Jeremy and I celebrated our 4-year anniversary. We had enjoyed a nice lunch, even with our toddler and infant present. After our lunch, as we were leaving the restaurant, Jeremy asked one of the employees there if she'd mind taking a family photo for us. Of course, she was happy to oblige. While Jeremy was asking her, Raelynn and I were exiting the restaurant. It's inside a very high-end but very dead mall. There are a few very expensive stores, a Starbucks and a play place. It amazes me that it still opens each day.

Just outside the entrance to the restaurant, there was a big red Chinese display, perfect for a photo opp. I put this photo in the last post but here it is again, in case you're too lazy to look...

You may or may not have noticed that in this photo, Raelynn seems highly agitated. That's because she is. See, she was tired from our busy day already. But as we were walking out of the restaurant, a Chinese family consisting of a mom, dad and a little boy, probably around Raelynn's age, were about to walk out the doors of the mall. The woman spotted Raelynn and me. She then began jabbering like an idiot in Chinese, grabbing her giant smart phone and poising it in photo-taking position and began approaching Raelynn with rapid speed. Raelynn became frightened so she ran from her and this stupid woman kept chasing her.

As this is going on, I'm telling this woman, in her own language no less, to stop. But she ignores me and keeps pestering my poor daughter, who is now running in circles around that red display in the photo you see just to get away from her. I'm also trying to catch Raelynn myself so I can take her away from this moron but it's hard for me to go fast thanks to my new sandals I bought in Guangzhou and Seoul, who is sleeping in the carrier. But despite these obstacles, there's no way in hell that I'm letting that lady get a photo of my child after she scared her. Now this woman's son gets in on the chase, following his mom's lead. They seem to think this is hilarious so now I begin shouting quite loudly and angrily at her in English this time. It finally gets her attention. She's laughing until she sees the look on my face. Which tells her I'm going to kill her if she doesn't get out of my sight now. And she finally figures it out that I don't want her scaring the shit out of my child just so she can get a photo and show her idiot friends that she saw a mixed-race child today. She quickly shrinks away, taking her son with her.

This is the kind of shit I have to put up with here all the time. I hate it. Chinese people love to brag and show off. They'll snap photos of foreigners like me and tell their Chinese friends that I'm a friend when I don't even know those people. They do it to us all. And they love to snap photos of our children too. Not all people are as socially inept as that stupid woman though. Some people actually come up and say hello and talk to us first. We're always happy to let polite people take photos of or with us. But people like that woman can walk their shitty asses into oncoming traffic.

Oh and to further illustrate what a chode that woman was, my husband told me that as she was leaving, he spoke to her and she said her son started chasing our daughter first. That's right...she blamed her own child. No, asshat. YOU started chasing my poor child and your son copied your behavior. What a bright future that kid will have with you as his mother. After the photo was taken, we walked right out of the mall. That woman and her family must have run as fast as they could because they were long gone. Good. You have to be a complete dumbass when you scare someone's child just for a photo of them without asking the parent's permission. Or not even picking up on the fact that you are scaring someone's child.

Does this happen anywhere else or is it just in the socially awkward country known as China? Let me know in the comments if you've experienced this here in China or elsewhere in the world.