Day 147 - Comparing Japan and China

Sunday, July 3rd, 2016

Smog

Unknown

Don't we all?

Shimou and I went to Chinese Canteen again. That place is great bang for your buck. I kind of wish they had the nutritional content of their food, but.. nutritional facts? what're those? At least it’s definitely helping with building muscle, and my weight has stayed the same. Logically, that means more muscle, lost fat, right? right?! Should have taken measurements when I first arrived…

Japan and China

Over dinner, we talk about Japan. The kids will speak Japanese to me sometimes, though it’ll be a broken conversation that goes something like “hello!” “You’re welcome!” “thank you!” “let’s eat!”

Something from The Van Gogh
Thing Yesterday

I asked Shimou how she’ll feel when she returns. She left because didn't want to work with Japanese people. They follow the rules, always. They’re also very strict for everyone else to do the same. It’s the opposite of China in many ways. China seems to be about doing what you want despite the rules and finding ways to play within the lines to get what you want; the Japanese might bristle at this idea. China/Beijing is kind of dirty and doesn’t seem to care about the environment, while Japan has a reputation of having cities so clean “you would be willing to eat food you dropped."

Toilets

"Japan probably has the nicest toilets in the world. Public toilets, I mean. In the grocery store, you can wash your butt. You can listen to the music." Shimou reported, probably referring to the music overhead on speakers, and not that which is made by the washing of one's butt. "When they pee, they think the sound of the pee is awkward for others, so they press a button to play music" she further explained. Chinese toilets are... kind of the opposite of that. They're either holes in the ground or standard urinals. Usually you can tell when a bathroom is around because you can smell it.

Dragons with Antlers are a thing, I guess

We set up our plans for the trip, budgeted the flights and guesstimate the costs of rooming. It seems there'll be about ¥8000 left over for daily expenses and within country travel if we use only my funds to pay for both of us. This is excluding the re-signing bonus that they titillated us with, and apparently won't receive until the school year begins. As a result, I may borrow against it for a safety cushion. 

FaceTimed with my aunt, cousin, and his girlfriend for an hour of bad internet, only to eventually throw my hands up. Funny story: my uncle had apparently been learning Chinese, and was taught some bad words that he was told meant something else. As a result, he accidentally told a shopkeeper to give him fellatio. Funny, I still haven’t that phrase just yet. 

Who says dirty phrases are the first you learn?

Words of the Day

English - Mandarin [pronunciation]

Bitch
biǎo zi
[bee-ow-zz]
Asshole
bú shì dōngxī
[boo shurr doh-ng-she]

Editing Music
Larmes de Caramel
Elsa Kopf