Settling series: Jason shows me around China

August 30 and 31 is our first weekend in China and my hubby decided to take me around town. Mostly still part of our furnishing days. For the first two weeks our strolls usually involved groceries and malls. My dad even teased me about us gaining weight since all we did was go to the grocery. We’ll that’s us. My hubby just won’t allow our fridge to run out of food.

"Inside a mall.""Outdoors."

In one of our food and furnishing shopping days we learned the value of photos. Funny actually, for non-chinese speaking tourists in China photos and cartoons help you get by in this country. Just point at a photo and you can order. However, we also suggest that you look at the pictures intently. Better yet learn to ask and clarify the ingredients of your food. In our haste to have our lunch that day, we accidentally ordered a soup with pork intestines. I really thought it were beef strips, much to my shock as my hubby and I took a sip of our soup!

"Maybe it's good, lets try."

Another thought I’d like to share so far is that a smile counts, yes more so in a country with a different language than our own. I smile and I get a smile back. Locals help me more and are nice to me. I learned a few Chinese words, combine it with sign language and a lot of smiles, and so far it has gotten us somewhere. I guess as a PR and Marketing practitioner, I am working on different level.