10 Things I Love About Life in America

Three months in, a few things I love about being back in America:

1. Walking into a store that has clothes and shoes in my size, and no one telling me I am too big or fat for their store.
2. Buying produce without having to weigh it first at a chaotic produce counter where if you don't shove to the front, you never get your stuff weighed.
3. No one screaming "Hello!" in my face as I'm walking by.
4. Super clean public bathrooms!
5. Everything smells so good. (Americans are very particular about smells, aren't we?)
6. Indoor climate control everywhere you go.
7. People smile at you and hold the door*.
8. Target.
9. So much cheese!
10. No firewall, no need to censor what I'm Googling, and I can take pictures of whatever I want.**

*Stores in my part of China don't have doors, just an open wall, but no one smiles.

**In the video I posted recently of my neighborhood, you might not have noticed I was being very careful to keep the camera on my side of the street. That's because across the street was a large firehouse, which in China is a military installation. You're not allowed to photograph that kind of thing, and they had an armed military officer at all times outside the firehouse keeping guard. You always need to be careful in China where you're pointing your camera.

Tomorrow, 10 things I miss most about living in China.

Reason #362 I'm Gonna Miss China

#362: The conversations I have here that I will have no place else. For example:

T., holding out to me the t-shirt he wants to wear that day: "Does this shirt smell too much like hot pot*?"

And I love that he doesn't ask me if it smells like hot pot, but if it smells too much like hot pot.

I take the shirt. I sniff.

Me: "It smells a little like hot pot, but unless someone buries their face in your chest, it'll be okay."

T.: "Cool." (Throws on the shirt.)

I'm really gonna miss China.

*I routinely shower after eating hot pot, because yes, the smell somehow permeates everything. 

I'm Pretty Sure His Eau du Testosterone Works

So, did you know Mad Men Season 3 is premiering soon? Spoiler alert: nothing much happens in this show, it's a lot of talking, but the talking is really interesting and the 1960's clothes are fabulous. Also, Don Draper is hot in that 'you're-sort-of-a-scumbag-but-you-wear-the-hell-out-of-that-suit-and-I-love-your-late-night-shagging-stubble' kind of way. I recommend it. I bought it on the street for $1.00, but I think it's free in America on cable.

And in preparation for the 3rd season premiere, you can make your own Mad Men persona. Here I am getting hit on by Don Draper:

So realistic, you guys. I can't go to NYC without getting hit on by ad men. It's the hat and gloves, I think. (And I do actually own a hat like that, and elbow gloves. Definitely taking them to NYC.)

And you just know this guy smells like Indiana Jones in a suit: all man. Jon Hamm, I salute you. (And yes, I miss big, strong American men, why do you ask?)

The Body Shop Oils

I picked up a few of these tiny home fragrance oil concentrates to take back to China. I can't control the smells of rotting meat, sewage and stinky tofu that assault you in the streets, but I can make my apartment smell pretty. These are especially great for travelers because they weigh hardly anything. Fresh-Cut Grass, Red Poppy, and Tobacco Flower are my favorites. 

The Body Shop Home Fragrance Oils, $7.50 each

Smell

I don't like unidentified smells. I often ask "What's that smell?" (and often get teased for it), but I don't think I underestimate the importance of smell. Have you ever smelled an old perfume, type of food, etc. and had a flood of memories come back? It's incredible. I bought a sealed package of chopsticks in Bangkok and opened them at home several months later. They smelled just like Bangkok, a very distinct smell, and the memories were instantaneous.

I have mentioned here before I love the smell of men's t-shirts, so it was interesting to read in a recent magazine blurb that the way men and women smell to each other can have as much to do with how they get along as looks and personality factors. If someone smells "off" to you, you are probably not going to be attracted to them, no matter how handsome, beautiful or likeable they are.

Have you ever been inexplicably attracted to someone you know is totally wrong for you, but just can't seem to shake it off? And, have you ever known someone who seems logically so right for you, but you just can't make yourself feel it? Chemistry: can't turn it on, can't turn it off. Both can be frustrating. But maybe it comes down to smell. And I kinda like knowing not everything about it me is operating on a conscious, logical plane. I still have some animal instincts at work. That's pretty cool.

The Smell of Love
Women's Sexual Satisfaction Linked to the Way Men Smell