Living Abroad - what I'll miss

I’ve been living in Kunming, China for the past 11 months with my family. We’ve had some ups and downs and like any adventure, the bad times will be forgotten and the good times will live forever in our photographs and memories. But, memories are not perfect, so I am going to write down some (just some!) of the things I will miss about living in China.

Food

• shau er kuai - rice tortilla, warmed on a grill, slathered with a variety of topping. I always choose the peanut butter spread. It’s warm, nutty, and semi sweet.
• street grilled tofu and vegetables - as it sounds, some small restaurants have a grill ’table’ on the sidewalk where you can pull up a low stool The table is about 2.5’ tall and filled with charcoal. The chef(?) has a variety of vegetables, tofu, and meat that can be grilled. Basically, you sit down and start pointing and eating. The meat always looks sketchy to me and there is a super spicy dipping sauce available if you dare.
• communal eating - Unlike the USA, in China at normal Chinese restaurants one person orders food for everyone and everyone shares. Picture the lazy Susan filled with a quantity of food that can’t be finished and all eaters plucking pieces of food with chopsticks. Is someone sick? Are you worried about getting sick by sharing? Well, no one seems to care about this, so just go with the flow.
• fruit vendors - on the streets here, there are many vendors with rolling carts selling seasonal fruit. It’s a joy to walk up, and snag a bag of cut papaya, strawberries, or other local fruit.
• peanuts and sweet potatoes - like the fruit vendors, there are carts all around the parks selling freshly steamed peanuts and sweet potatoes. Grab a bag of peanuts and eat and just drop the shells on the ground. Just like the ball park! Sweet potatoes often supplement our dinners or are good right on the spot.
• eating food in a plastic bag - so, in China, no one touches food with their bare fingers/hands. I believe this is because sanity conditions are sketchy. So, you see people carefully maneuvering the plastic bag around the food and taking bites. Sometimes, food stalls will hand you a plastic glove.
• food stores - the random supply store is ubiquitous here. They all have a row or two of packaged food. Need a vacuum packed chicken leg in hot sauce, they have it. Pistachios, beans, ramen, pumpkin seeds, stuff you don’t recognize. . .they have it.

Daily Life

• random stores - follow on to the food store point above. You want wire, a lock, food, drink, smokes, meat on a stick, rain coat, tape, notebook, pen. . . if you can’t find it, you are not looking hard enough!
• parks - Green Lake park is very close to our apartment. I will miss going there to people watch, relax, feed the fish, and exercise. Most of the parks we visit are enjoyable and pleasant.
• walking around the streets - the sights, smells (some good, some bad), people watching, discovering shops selling everything
• taking the kids to school - each morning, I put Eden on our bicycle, and walk the bike with Will to his school. Eden and I watch will walk into the gated school and then I pedal her to kindergarten. At Eden’s school, I park and lock the bike, walk Eden up to her classroom, sit and read a page of two of one of her books, kiss her goodbye, and head home. Total time is about 25 minutes.
• working from home - working by myself has been rewarding. I’ve got the time to explore ideas, research topics, and set my own schedule. Truth be told, when I worked from home, I would work all day with little breaks, so I put in way more than 40hrs/week. But, it was easy because I was doing what I wanted to do.
• walking - no car here, so I walk (or bike) everywhere.
• badminton - people play badminton on the sidewalk or in the park whenever they have a moment. Spontaneous & fun

Random

• dudes cutting down a tree - ordinarily, this wouldn’t be something to be missed, but the way it’s handled here is a treat. First, a team pulls up in a truck, they jump out, some dudes block traffic with their own bodies, traffic stops, another dude starts going at the base of the tree, few minutes later the tree falls, dudes start cleaning it up, traffic starts flowing without care for dudes, dudes don’t wear any safety gear. Tree is cleaned up in less than 10 minutes and dudes are gone.
• random explosions - guy put his aluminum ladder on an electrical line and explosion ensued
• work at all hours of the day - OK, I won’t really miss this, but it’s worth noting. People will work anytime of day provided they are getting paid. I’ve seen a demolition team busting up a building (across from my apartment no less!) from the hours of 11pm until 6am. I’ve seen people sweeping highways with brooms. I’ve seen garbage collectors in the heat of the day with stinky trash. I’ve seen our security guards do mostly nothing but sit around and smoke from a bong.