Surprisingly Unsurprised

This week I realized there are quite a few things that surprised me when I moved to China 8 months ago, that don't come as a shock anymore. Certainly many of these things still are different and noticed by me, but I'm not stunned by their happenings as much as I was when I first came.

• putting on a jacket to go inside. Seriously, when the heat is turned off, and there are chilly days, it's warmer outside that inside, so I spend most of the day outside, staying warm
• going to 3+ grocery stores to buy all needed ingredients. My basic groceries come from one store, imported groceries from another, fruit from a third, and vegetables from a completely different store as well. Grocery shopping days are long days!
• seeing personal beds in the backs of little shops. There are lots of little shops whose owners live in the actual shop where they sell whatever they sell, so it's not uncommon to see a bed and blankets in the back corner.
• mannequins. The bigger clothes shops, like the ones in malls or outdoors gear shops, etc, have so many mannequins. They used to really scare me when I was shopping, because there are always so many to avoid. Usually they have clothes on, but sometimes, near the store's closing time, that's not even guaranteed!
• friends holding my hand or arm to help me cross the street. A way of showing that you care here is to "help" your friends in "dangerous situations," like crossing the street. I'm quite confident that I could cross the street without holding a friend's hand, and have done so numerous times, but it's not uncommon for a friend to help me cross. Now that I've gotten used to it, I kind of enjoy returning the favor!
  
• guys carrying large feminine bags. One of the expectations that girlfriends have of their boyfriends is to carry their purses for them, so often the girl has nothing in her hands, while her boyfriend/husband is toting a big shiny bag for her.
• fireworks every weekend morning. A funeral, wedding, or a store opening or closing are all causes for firecrackers. Often on Saturday mornings I am awaken by the chain of gunpowder going off, setting off car alarms in the process. The remains of the fireworks are also commonly seen, little red shreds of paper in a pile on the sidewalk. After all, China invented gunpowder, why wouldn't they use it?

firecracker remnants...picture taken from my apartment looking down

I'm sure this process will continue, as I keep living here. It's fun to look back and see how the adjustment into a new culture has taken place, and to look forward and wonder how it will continue!