Aura Fitness Studio

I spent this Chinese New Year week vacation in New York. I fly home tomorrow, and I am exhausted. I tried to see as many family members and friends in the Tri-state area in a very short amount of time without access to a car, which turned out to be harder than I anticipated. Not impossible, but just a bit more difficult.

The one question that has been next to impossible to answer (in less than 2 sentences) is, "How's China?". As if it's as easy to answer as asking, "How's the weather?". China is fun, exciting, lonely, crazy, depressing and amazing all in the same breath. I really love my job, my students, my coworkers, my supervisors, my beautiful apartment, and the declining student loan balance on my credit file. I've realized that most people don't want to hear about that, though.

They only comprehend what is fed to them from the media. They want to know if the Chinese people really eat dog meat and what life is like living under "communism"(they fail to realize the US is the country that is over-policed and over-regulated. Ultimately, I feel more free in China than I do at home!). Most of my friends and family give me 30 seconds to describe my life in China before glazing over, so I have been answering their very vague question with three physical attributes of daily life.

May I introduce Chinglish, bad manners (spitting, burping, slurping, ear picking, nose picking in public) and bathroom humor (split bottom baby pants and squatty potties!).