Charou In China: Officially a Charou in China!

Day 7 – 01/10/12

It was a beautiful day in Shenyang, China today. The sun was shining and the wind remained still. Tracy and I took advantage and spent most of the day outdoors. We also got some lesson planning done. As we now have a better sense of direction and a clearer idea of where each mall and market is, we explored to greater lengths spending more time in each spot. We looked at clothes, food and made more friends.

The markets here are very similar to the Sunday flea market we have in Durban only these are opened daily from 8am to 9pm and are along the road side leading to the mall. Here you can find anything from food to high fashion at any time of the day. The atmosphere at these markets is always lively. There is always music pouring out from someone’s mini radio or a shop owners huge speakers. Tracy and I really enjoy this and on some occasions we try to sing along. If we’re lucky we sometimes find ourselves singing along to Adele or Britney Spears. At night the atmosphere is lively and beautiful. I’m not really used to night markets so I truly enjoy being able to shop for food, clothes, stationary, jewellery and even linen at any time of the night.

The lights, aroma, people and occasional firework display add to the beauty of the night markets. The aromas come from the food being cooked on the road side and sometimes from…who knows where! Most of the road side cooking is done over a coal fire similar to a braai or barbeque as non South Africans would call it. Meat or fruit on sticks is a very common snack found at these markets.

What I found interesting was that coal was also being used to generate electricity at some of these stalls. In the past week I’ve seen buckets of coal just laying outside restaurants and shops with no one to attend to them. I wasn’t sure what they were used for and I thought it was pretty dangerous to just leave buckets of coal along the road side. I later found out that China is the largest consumer of coal in the world and they are probably the largest users of coal-derived electricity. Talk about braaing everyday! Those white doctor-like masks I see people wearing everyday now makes a lot of sense. China is like a big, lit cigarette and depending on how they handle their resources and natality this cigarette will be tramped on sooner or later. Speaking of cigarettes China seems to have no rules or regulations about where, when and how cigarettes should be used. You’re allowed to smoke at restaurants and just today I saw someone smoke and throw a cigarette butt on the floor of a cell phone store even though there was an ashtray next to her. I was the only one who looked shocked so this is probably standard behaviour.

The fashion in China is very much like the fashion we see in Chinese animation – Mini, checkered skirts, long socks, platform shoes of all sorts, frilly jerseys, white shirts with bows, lots of stockings with mini dresses and shorts. The men are usually found in jeans and sweaters or funky leather coats or jackets. Occasionally you find females dressed in a smart coat or jacket which is paired with matching stilettos or handbags.

China is also the land of Hello Kitty products and other cute animated characters such Pooh Bear, Angry Birds and Mitty. They have some of their own animated characters who try very hard to express themselves in English but fail. The teachers at my school refer to this language as Chinglish. The clothes found at the malls are usually branded, pricy and have better English.

In closing I’d like to proudly announce that I found curry powder AND geera seeds today. I’m officially a Charou in China.