My reunion with squatters.

I used squatters when i went to India and I was pretty dang stoked to be using them again.  For those of you who don't know, squatters are little holes in the ground that people in most asian countries use instead of toilets.  They're a little sketchy, but I personally don't mind them.   We hadn't had to use them until our touring yesterday, and some of the other girls were a little terrified.  Don't worry, I saved the day.  I gave them all a quick lesson in proper squatting technique.  Everyone was able to relieve themselves despite their levels of terror and disgust and no one fell in the squatters or peed on their pants.  Mission accomplished.  

Sidenote:  we encountered a great variety of squatters yesterday and I am proud to say I had the privilege of using each and every one of them successfully!  Let me tell you about the variety of squatters you may encounter if you ever travel to Asia:

  -the ghetto squatter: This is the most common form of squatter.  Flies in the stall, door won't stay closed,  no flushing, no sinks to wash up outside, and of course.. BYOTP (Bring Your Own Toilet Paper).  Hold your breath before you enter these bad boys. 

  -the elegant squatter: If you run into one of these you should be thrilled! They're a rare specimen indeed.  The elegant squatters are not only clean - a treat in and of itself,  they also flush (If you need to go #2 this is the place!), at least 70% of elegant squatter doors stay closed, they usually have sinks-though not always soap, and sometimes, in the extra exsquisite ones,  they have toilet paper!  

  -the canal squatter: Careful when you step into these, there's not just a little hole...half the floor is missing! Canal squatters require several stalls lined up in a row to function properly.  There's a little ditch running underneath all the stalls that you straddle as you squat.  The ditch we ran into yesterday was like a foot and a half wide though, talk about a challenge!  Everyone's pee is just running through the canal trying to make it's exit while you're trying to take a leakyleakyleioleio.  I recommend these only for the expert squatter.  

  -the a-little-too-exposed squatter:  Similar to the ghetto squatter, only with a large window on one wall.  Personally, I'm not a fan.  


and here for your viewing pleasure, is a video some of the girls made on squatters and proper squatting techniques!:

Chinese TV

Taken from email #2, 5/26/11

Haha, if you ever get a chance to watch this stuff I would highly recommend it.  My personal favorites include: overly dramatic music videos, extremely cheesy commercials, ridiculous game shows, and ... of course, Chinese soap operas. :)  One game show had contestants strap a teddy bear to their stomach then crab walk over triangular blocks... how the stuffed animal contributed to the difficulty I don't know, but it sure gave me a good laugh! 
sidenote:  we saw a commercial for facewash with bleach in it.. we're all trying to get a tan in America and they're bleaching their skin white over here!  

Food

Taken from email #2, 5/26/11

The restaurant with the NASTIEST thing I have ever eaten.

The food is getting better, I'm actually liking a lot of it!  Oh, and guess what folks, I'm eating fish!  I ate two bites of fishy fish and then a ton of this fish that tasted like chicken, next thing you know, I'll be eating sushi.  I also ate a bite of one hundred year old egg that we had at another "gourmet" restaurant.  disgusting.  I was the only one brave enough to try it; we filmed it, and I almost puked on camera.  

I've decided delicacies really aren't my thing. 

I didn't try the half incubated egg, but the girl who did said it was gross. 
 One girl Karen plucked out a fish eye and ate it, which led to the whole table gagging.  

Watch your step... it could be your last

Taken from email #2, 5/26/11

The other day we were walking over to lunch at the dance studio and there was a Chinese man walking in front of us (well duh, there's Chinese people walking everywhere.. it's China). All of the sudden the Chinese guy walking in front of us fell into the ground! Apparently he stepped on one of the man hole covers and it just came right off! Luckily he stuck out his arms and caught himself on the edge, because from what we could see there was about a forty foot drop, then dark watery abyss. freaky. Payden lifted him out and then he just brushed himself off and kept walking like it was no big deal... no crowd gathered or anything. Apparently near death experiences are a common occurence on Chinese sidewalks.

Dancers

Taken from Email #1, 5/24/11

okay, wow. we just watched the 8 year olds who were training to become professionals for a second rehearse. WOW. I'm pretty sure those girls don't have spines. They're some of the most amazing dancers I've ever seen in my life and they're EIGHT. ridiculous. for those of you who speak dance: one of the girls raised her leg up in arabesque and just kept going and going until it was at about a 160 degree angle with her other leg (mind you, her back was still up, then was no penchee) then she reached her arms up behind her head and grabbed it and pulled it straight to 180. I've seen people do that from a scorpion but never lifted straight from arabesque! They're amazing. We also walked into the studio for a meeting today and met the company we'll be working with, we walked in and this huge room full of people started clapping for us. :)

 We each stood in front of the group and introduced ourselves, then we all went around trying to get to know them. I can only imagine how amazing these guys are after seeing the 8 year olds dance! Payden sang lady gaga for them, and Jenny sang them a song too, they're both in the BFA musical theatre program so they're pretty darn amazing. 

 The boys were all really shy except for two or three of them, one of the brave ones did a chopstick dance for us and then suddenly the whole company started yelling out "MICHAEL JACKSON!!!" and pushing one guy out in front of us, he did a great michael jackson dance for us, so funny! 

 haha, I was planning on teaching them a little hiphop but I don't think that's going to be necessary anymore.

Mojito

Taken from Email #1, 5/24/11

They love to toast here, they all come around to the different tables and clink glasses with each person. Problem is instead of toasting all at once, they come in groups of 2-5. I think I downed about 50 shots of orange juice last night, which resulted in me getting up to use the bathroom twice in the middle of the night. 

 They also brought in blue and green drinks in wine glasses with palm trees to lunch today, thankfully one of the girls who drinks tested it to make sure it was nonalcoholic for us mormon girls. Apparently the green one was a Mojito minus the alcohol, fun!

Bad hair days

Taken from Email #1, 5/24/11

I'm wearing my hair with it's natural curl, and since it's so humid here, it's even curlier. I thought they'd be all excited to see the three of us with curly hair because no one here has curly hair.... nope. They think it's ugly and funny looking haha. They still love us though. (Don't worry mom, the chinese men aren't attracted to me, so you can be assured that your fear of me falling in love with one of them won't become a reality. haha)

What's that Asian men?  You don't want to date a makeup-less lioness?  How strange.