Beginning our last week in China
I smell a little like a campfire today. It’s from our freshly laundered clothes, delivered to our hospital room yesterday. They have that tell-tale stiff feel and slightly smokey smell of clean clothes hung out on a clothesline to dry in the city. I appreciate that about the Chinese…they try hard to not be wasteful of anything…food, water, energy, or space. Why waste the energy of using an electric dryer if clothes can hang on a line and dry naturally in the heat?
Most babies and toddlers here are dressed in clothing that has an open seam at the croch from the front to the back, so they can easily squat or be positioned over an available trash can or bush when nature calls. I know what you’re thinking…it sounds a little unsanitary. But what’s a little baby tinkle, anyway? What really makes more sense, filling up landfills with billions of diapers that take so long to decompose or allowing a little urine to evaporate naturally, or be mopped up and returned to the water treatment system? And, I understand that it’s much easier to toilet train a toddler here.
I’ve heard westerners say that the Chinese don’t understand personal “space”. I disagree. When you see a mother on a small electric bicycle, balancing a five-year-old standing behind her and a three-year-old in front, this is someone who has an intimate understanding of personal space.
There are four million people in the city of Hangzhou. Everyday I watch a small army of bicycles, motorcycles, mopeds, pedestrians, rickshaws and cars intersect with each other seamlessly, sometimes with only an inch to spare. I’m the one who is nervous and awkward, like being out of step on a dance floor. Everyone else moves with calm precision and grace.
It’s true that the elevators can get uncomfortably full sometimes. The personal record for me is 18 1/2 (including the baby in its’ mother’s arms). But when you consider the sheer number of people that the elevators need to move in a busy hospital, pressing up against each other to fit in a few more is not only understandable, it’s considerate.
We’ve begun our last week in China and as much as I miss home, I’m going to miss here too.
2 comments August 6th, 2007
