Differences
I wanted to start this list, and I'm going to add to it throughout the rest of my stay here. This entry has been back-dated so that it will be easy for me to edit anytime I want up until I leave. :)
Things I'd see in the US, but not in Shanghai:
- Parking meters
- Parking lots
- People smoking weed
- "Click it or ticket" signs reminding people to wear their seatbelts
- Tanning lotion, spray-on tans, and tanning spas.
- Big families with 4 or more kids
- Hipsters
- Root beer
- Taquerias
- Road rage
- "Pimped out" cars and lowriders
- Super big rolls of toilet paper
Things I'd see in Shanghai, but not in the US:
- Bike parking meters
- People walking around in their pajamas
- Kittens and puppies in tiny cages in pet stores
- Chinese boy-band-wannabes with bouffants
- People riding on motorbikes (sometimes even with their tiny kids) without wearing helmets
- Whitening lotions and creams for your skin
- Buggies, or motorbikes converted into taxis.
- Parents holding their kids as they go to the bathroom on the street, or a woman holding out a plastic bag for her son to pee into on the metro train.
- Squat pot toilets
- People wearing face masks (for filtering air or for keeping their face warm)
- Women doing Chinese folk dancing all together out in the square by the mall
- Geriatric playgrounds
- People doing tai chi in the mornings
- McDonald's and KFC doing delivery
- People smoking inside restaurants/bars
- Buskers on the streets playing erhus
Things I'd see in the US, but not in Shanghai:
- Parking meters
- Parking lots
- People smoking weed
- "Click it or ticket" signs reminding people to wear their seatbelts
- Tanning lotion, spray-on tans, and tanning spas.
- Big families with 4 or more kids
- Hipsters
- Root beer
- Taquerias
- Road rage
- "Pimped out" cars and lowriders
- Super big rolls of toilet paper
Things I'd see in Shanghai, but not in the US:
- Bike parking meters
- People walking around in their pajamas
- Kittens and puppies in tiny cages in pet stores
- Chinese boy-band-wannabes with bouffants
- People riding on motorbikes (sometimes even with their tiny kids) without wearing helmets
- Whitening lotions and creams for your skin
- Buggies, or motorbikes converted into taxis.
- Parents holding their kids as they go to the bathroom on the street, or a woman holding out a plastic bag for her son to pee into on the metro train.
- Squat pot toilets
- People wearing face masks (for filtering air or for keeping their face warm)
- Women doing Chinese folk dancing all together out in the square by the mall
- Geriatric playgrounds
- People doing tai chi in the mornings
- McDonald's and KFC doing delivery
- People smoking inside restaurants/bars
- Buskers on the streets playing erhus