Counter-Culture Shock amid Snowmageddon 2010
For Chinese New Years, all sane foreigners have only two options: leave the country or stay at home- because traveling within China when most of the population is also in transit would be akin to swimming in honey-slow, suffocating and sticky. I decided to return to the US for my ten day vacation.
Counter Culture Shock Countdown:
1) The snowplow fail When the few inches of snow descended upon Dalian, I scoffed at their subpar snow removal, fondly reminiscing about the efficient and skilled snowplow/salting trucks that roamed the streets and highways of Pennsylvania.
However, I arrived in the US during the "Snowmageddon." While I was not surprised at DC's snow incompetence- since every year they are surprised by snow- I was somewhat bitter at being trapped in Chicago overnight- then arriving to Pittsburgh in a state of emergency- streets unplowed, electricity cut, etc etc. Though I will say that, as always, my town was perfectly plowed and functioning as normal.
2) The mullet - so, when I was in China, I was very wary of all hairstylists- because Chinese hairstylists are used to chinese hair- thick and straight- not fine, curly hair, such as mine. For this reason, I only allowed them to trim my hair. When I went back to America, I went to a hair salon and received a mullet. straight up MacGyver- style. Maybe not quite as dramatic. But bad enough that I invested a great amount of money in hairbands.
3) small yippy dogs- in China, if one owns a dog, it's a small dog. I have stated several times that I prefer large dogs, and that I would only own medium to large dogs. Hence, imagine my surprise when I returned home to find Daisy: the smallest, yippiest, most adorable dog in the world. Daisy might, on a good day, be the size of small handbag. Small dogs = not so bad at all
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