Even though we mainly post fun stories about living in China and traveling around Asia, it is important to note that life in China is not always easy!
1. Sure, it's kind of fun to go to the underground shopping in Shanghai and see how low you can get the prices for fake items such as purses, wallets, jerseys, etc. However, did you ever think you would have to worry about buying counterfeit meat, eggs, milk, soy sauce, formula, etc, etc, etc???? It's actually pretty scary!
2. Be careful where you eat too because as much as the government likes to control things here, there doesn't appear to be much regulation with regards to food / restaurants (if you didn't gather that from the above issues). Therefore, restaurants do not close if they fail an inspection - I guess I should just be happy that there is an inspection process, although I don't see these signs in all restaurants so I am not sure they are required in all cities / restaurants. Anyway, for those that did have an inspection, they will either get excellent, pass or fail. If they fail, it is not necessary to close your restaurant - just post the sign so customers know the results! The Pizza Hut in Wuxi got a "Pass" - wonder what the different levels actually mean?!
3. The pollution is not always easy to deal with either - and we miss seeing stars at night.
4. Sometimes what you think is the simplest of tasks (going to the bank to pay a bill) turns into a huge headache! You may end up going back and forth several times - wasting much time - trying to figure things out. It can be pretty frustrating, especially when you have a 2 year old "celebrity" with you and everyone surrounds you to touch and try to pick up your daughter! Thankfully my coworker Rose has been a blessing and has helped us with so much to minimize these headaches! They are inevitable though ... sometimes we just don't bother with things because it is not worth it!
5. Getting around with Ava is not always easy. Sometimes I wish we could hide her with a blanket so people will leave her alone. Every once in a while we get so fed up that we tell people it's "wu kuai" (5 rmb = about 80 cents) when they take her picture! It's actually quite funny to see their reaction to this! Ava has become accustomed to saying "No!" to people when they look at her, which is kind of sad, but I think she gets sick of it too!
6. At times it can be difficult to get to things we would like to see online. Luckily we have a VPN so we can get to Facebook, U-Tube, Netflix, our blog, etc, but it doesn't always work ... and the Internet (which is supposedly the fastest we can get) can be sooooo slow! I hate to complain about this though because it really isn't a necessity. It just makes life being 1/2 way around the world from all of our friends and family so much more bearable when we can see what is happening in their lives!
Anyway, a Parker colleague of ours also living in China forwarded this article to us. We thought it was interesting!
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