7 month review

So, China's second most bored workers (second only to the countless door people who stand outside hotels, apartments, shops, restaurants for 8+ hours straight) - the 40,000 or so who scan internet sites for inappropriate material, must be doing their regular 1-2 monthly scan of blogger. It's been down for the last 3 or 4 days. I suppose I should spice this entry up a bit, to give them some good reading?

Have I mentioned before that occasionally you'll be watching BBC World News when a report on China, a not so favourable report begins, and then unexplainably, the TV goes black? Changing the channel, you realise that its only BBC World. Hmmm... very coincidental I think. It's happened about 4 times to me so far since I've been here. But most of the time I just hear enough to get the general idea... protests in Guangdong by farmers who are forcibly being removed from their land, public shaming of prostitutes in the streets of big cities... etc etc. The other day I saw a CNN feature about people employed in Beijing whose job it is to 'clean up the place' and introduce Western manners etc. They monitor bus and train 'queues' and try to ensure people get on the bus in an orderly fashion. They are also trying to persuade the public to not pick their nose in public, or spit, or wee in the streets etc.... It's quite funny. Scary that this sort of behaviour even needs to be addressed. But I can't but help think that for a country this big, changing so quickly, that it's not China that's going to catch up to the rest of the world, but it's the rest of the world who are going to have to get used to the way China does things. I don't think some things here will ever change.

Here's my 7 month report card:

Things I miss: friends (you guys!), film theatres, live bands, anonymity (in terms of being stared at), going for a drive when we feel like it, being able to read and understand labels of food in shops, being able to find food that you like, fast internet speeds, being able to access ALL internet sites, seeing the AFL on TV, a sense of order (and not chaos), being able to buy shoes that fit, being able to buy clothes that fit...

Things I don't miss: Seeing John Howard on TV, listening to politicians, TV ads, annoying TV personalities (Stand up Chris Bombalis, that smug guy on morning TV... Kochie, Naomi Robson etc), Over-saturation of all things Broncos, Ocker Aussie dudes grunting about footy, beer and chicks (on some strange level I do miss this, though), bad TV programs and the annoying adds that accompany them, my old work, driving around in cars (well, this is in both lists)...