Homesick

I realize that I've been in China for approximately 3 days, but I'm already homesick. I miss Erin, but the longer I'm here, the more I also miss the U.S. Everything here is just a little crazy, and it makes you sort of miss the ordered world that is America.

This evening we went to a little restaurant called The Seagull, which is right around the corner from our hotel. It has a huge, nice outdoor patio, so we decided to just sit and enjoy the sweltering heat of a southeast Asia evening. About 15 minutes into our Tsingtaos, we hear what sounds like a waitress dropping a glass. But in this case, it was a patron hurling a glass across the restaurant. This was followed by much screaming and shouting and the hurling of about 5 more glasses and plates. At this point an employee of the restaurant came out to calm the man down. He turned his screaming at a waitress over to punching a waiter, and then he threw some more stuff. I'm not talking about throwing it down at the ground, I'm talking we were watching in part to make sure we didn't get hit 30 feet away. The whole episode went on for about 10 minutes, and at the end, the guy, still ranting, sat down, had another beer, and finished his cigarette (don't even get me started on the smoking...nothing wakes you up in the morning like a nice breakfast buffet and 30 Asian businessmen smoking). In the U.S., this dude would have been shown the door, but here, the restaurant accomodated him. It was wild.

I also experienced several cab rides of terror today. It appears that the basic premise is that they just assume that other cars will avoid you, so if you're approaching a speeding delivery truck head on, the cabbie assumes that the truck will eventually hit the brakes or the curb. Pedestrians are speed bumps. Women frequently carry umbrellas to keep the sun off while riding bicycles, and nobody even slows down for them. It's intense. Renting a car over here seems like a very, very bad idea. I spent 10 minutes trying to hail a cab after work, and finally a car pulls over with a smiling Chinese kid screaming something at me out the passenger window. I politely declined his offer for a ride, but he kept hassling me. I kept imagining waking up missing an arm in a basement in Mongolia. Finally a real cab picked me up, and after driving for several city blocks in rush hour traffic up the wrong side of the street, I was dropped safely back at my hotel. I'm sure Tide will get the urine out of my boxers.

Here are some more pics for your enjoyment. The Chinese sign would say something like "Pictures for you to like."

This is a row of bars right behind our hotel. Frequently there are some cute girls hanging around them. Hmm...


This is the House of the Flying Beer Mug...better known as the Seagull...


This is "The Sea World" which is basically a dry docked boat with a hotel on it. It's also surrounded by restaurants and shops. It's quite the tourist attraction...


The Sea World features the Overpriced Coffee Shop like everywhere else in the world...


More shops at The Sea World...