“You don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone,” Cinderella lamented, and it’s true. And when you live in China, you realize certain things are precious indeed because now you’re living without them. Here are 64 things you won’t take for granted again:
- Privacy
- Anonymity
- Personal space
- Traffic laws that actually get obeyed
- Ample parking spaces
- Your own car
- Dishwashers (the appliance, not the person)
- Clothes dryers (i.e. not having your laundry depend on the weather)
- Central a/c and heat
- Tea cups and mugs that have handles
- Soft mattresses
- Large trash cans
- Garbage disposals in the sink
- Large refrigerators
- Ample counter space
- Insulation
- Pipes that are inside the walls
- Bathtubs
- Free toilet paper in public bathrooms
- Free soap in public bathrooms
- Free paper towels in public bathrooms
- Free napkins at restaurants
- Free ketchup at fast food restaurants
- Free water in large glasses at restaurants
- Potable water from every faucet/tap
- Getting mail and packages delivered to your actual place of residence
- The complexities, nuances, and beauty of your native language
- On-time flights
- Non-smoking areas that truly are non-smoking areas
- Never having to have a Plan B for if the power goes out
- Never having to have a Plan B for if the water gets turned off
- Never having to have a Plan B for if you run out of gas
- Wedding celebrations that don’t involve firecrackers at 6 a.m.
- Wedding celebrations that don’t involve forced drinking and smoking
- Free plastic bags at the supermarket
- Baggers at the supermarket
- Especially baggers who know not to put canned goods on top of the loaf of bread
- Supermarkets that don’t have a fishy odor
- Supermarkets that don’t have bullhorns
- Supermarkets with carts/trolleys big enough to actually put all your stuff in
- Milk that comes in gallon jugs
- Shampoo and conditioner that aren’t waxy/sticky
- Facial lotions that aren’t whitening
- Toothpaste that isn’t racist
- Cake done right
- Ice cream that’s not freezer burned
- Bread that’s not sweet
- Walnuts that aren’t smoky
- Cheese. All of it.
- Cultures that teach that it’s rude to stare at people who are different
- And that it’s even ruder to point at them
- And that it’s the rudest to shout out the thing that makes that person different, as if they weren’t aware of it already
- Baseball
- Swimming without a swim cap
- Going to the park without checking the AQI first
- Silence
- Closets
- Garages
- Yards/gardens
- Public libraries
- Drive-thru anything
- Clothes that fit off the rack
- Shoes that fit off the rack
- Just how admirable it is for anyone to attempt learning another language and living in another culture
50 Smells You Can’t Forget if You’ve Lived in China
May 8, 2018 at 11:17 am
oh my yes.
May 8, 2018 at 11:59 am
Thanks, Diane! 🙂
May 8, 2018 at 12:22 pm
I love that you took it all in stride and even thrived! Hallelujah!
May 8, 2018 at 3:15 pm
Yes! Amen! And it makes me appreciate U.S. stuff even more.
May 8, 2018 at 12:30 pm
But #35 does not count in California.
May 8, 2018 at 12:32 pm
True! But you still don’t take it for granted when you do get a plastic bag for free, right? 😉
May 8, 2018 at 4:29 pm
This reads like a check list! Love it!
May 8, 2018 at 4:47 pm
Ha ha! Glad you like it, Heather. 🙂
May 8, 2018 at 6:09 pm
Mustard… you forgot mustard in restaurants, or rather, the complete lack of mustard anywhere here.
May 8, 2018 at 7:35 pm
#65 Mustard!! Yes, that’s an important one.
May 9, 2018 at 5:51 am
The last time I was in the U.S., my dad described their refrigerator as “dinky.” It looked giant to me, and I was not especially gracious in my response….
May 9, 2018 at 7:04 am
Ha ha! Unless he was talking about a mini fridge in a college dorm room, I doubt it was “dinky.” But it’s all relative, I guess.
May 12, 2018 at 10:46 pm
Haha… I wasn’t very gracious when my parents complained about their dinky oven either!
May 13, 2018 at 7:44 am
Ha!!
May 9, 2018 at 7:16 am
YES YES YES
May 9, 2018 at 8:33 am
🙂 🙂 🙂
May 23, 2018 at 7:01 pm
Also, grass that doesn’t get hurt feelings when you walk on it. (I still feel a bit guilty when I walk on grass in a public place, and I’ve been back for 3 years haha)
May 23, 2018 at 7:34 pm
How could you crush those little lives, Heather?!? Ha, ha! Very true. I guess those signs did their job, huh?