Some people (2 perhaps) may have noticed that I haven't posted a word about my wonderful expat adventure in China since January 25th.  The simplest explanation is that China just isn't easy to digest, either figuratively or literally.  (My last post certainly hinted at the fact that I wasn't adjusing well!) I have struggled a great deal with the hope of "understanding" China. And of eating foods that didn't send me to the toilet 3 to 4 times daily.  I've been on the figurative and literal toilet for several months straight.  (I guess that's appropriate since the toilet is where this blog began.)  Am I finally off the toilet?  Hope springs eternal.

I fooled myself into believing that I had arrived in China with few preconceptions.  Wrong.  I didn't formulate many ideas about what specific activities might divert my attention in China, but I think I landed on Chinese soil with a foundational philosophy centered around the idea that all humans had the same desires and needs and that those needs were driven by some inate humanity and not by society.  I guess you could say I was a nature person in the nature versus nurture battle.  After all, haven't I seen it in my own family?  I have one daughter who is the spitting image of her father.  Her every movement and instinct seems to parallel his.  And the other daughter?  Well, let's just say my mother would think I deserved her, the little bitch.  They are living, breathing proof that nature rules.

So, snap, socialization plays a much bigger role than I ever would have wanted to admit.  Every relationship I have with a Chinese person starts at different point than it would if that person were another American.  And it inevitably leads to a different place, too.  Well, isn't that what I wanted? Yes, but it often leads to an uncomfortable place, a place where I feel ill-at-ease and poorly understood.  Human diversity is far greater than I ever imagined and society pushes humans into deeply entrenched habits.  Well, yes, that's exactly what I came here to learn. 

I could now list the many ways in which Chinese society raises its young to be so very different from Western folks.  Someday maybe I will.  But for now I just want to say something about diarrhea. Because I think about diarrhea every day for at least a few hours.

It is impossible to underestimate the challenge that Chinese water and  Chinese restaurants will throw down to your digestive system. Since I know you want pictures, I'll share the following food shots.  Suffice it to say that I have regrets about eating this stuff.  But don't it look in'erestin'?

 Duck, in Beijing

 The famous soup filled dumplings of Xi'an

What's inside?  I don't remember.

Yes, that is thousands of painful peppers floating in a broth

 Tea sippin' in Chengdu

 Mmm, la zi ji, fiery chicken goodness

 Pork floss, or, as it is known around our house, meat hair.

 Shandong Province specialties

 Assume the position