THIS IS CHINA

When you’ve entered a bathroom stall, used the toilet (either Western or squat) and then realized (too late) that there is no toilet paper provided. This is China.

When people approach you and tell you your children are too cold (in the winter) or too hot (in the summer), while their own child, regardless of the season, sports trousers that completely lack a crotch. This is China.

When (unsolicited) advice is offered, telling you should cut your three-year-old daughter’s shoulder length hair while you are unable to distinguish if their six-year old is a boy or girl given their buzz cut. This is China.

This is China. Or TIC for short. It’s the phrase we reach for when an adult man in a Speedo crouches beside our beach blanket with a cig and chats with our three-year-old (or maybe just in his wet undies, if he has come to the beach on a whim.) We’ve come to say that the only thing worse than a Speedo is a baggy Speedo, or perhaps baggy, soggy undies! This too is China.

TIC… the words we utter when we’re frustrated, irritated, puzzled or ticked (or is it TICed?)

But there is another side we often fail to consider:

When ... the heating element goes out in the dryer.... An hour later a repairman arrives on a beat up 125 cc motorbike and one hour and ten minutes later your clothes are tumbling again. You’re only out 6 bucks. This is China.

When you hop in the back of a taxi and the driver tells you are: lucky, pretty or young (or some combination of the three.) This is China.

(It could also be cheap therapy… hop in the back of the cab and cruise around the city for a half hour while he tells you your hair and kids are great and you come from the best country on earth. America… very goodah… usually followed by a thumbs-up.) This is China.

When you can buy GAP socks out of a carry-on size roller case or picture frames from Target or IKEA on the street, for a fraction of the U.S. retail price. This is China.

I think you get the idea.

This is China.

And, this, is our China experience.