The lighter side and cultural differences

My girls know that I live and breathe China in my heart. They know that I know Shanghai about as well as any city I've lived in the USA. I am attuned to Chinese custom after travelling so many years to China. My girls as well have traveled a few places domestically and abroad, and have come to expect differences in behavior and culture outside our little village at home.
However, we had a good bit of fun noticing and discussing these differences. For example, we noticed several instances where the English spelling was a bit off in the signs, but we also reminded ourselves that we are not skilled (at all) in Chinese, and that in our village, we rarely even TRY to accommodate foreign language subtitles on signs, much less portray them with perfect spelling and grammar.
Given this, we embraced the differences with a smile, with few exceptions. Squat potties were still a bit difficult to get used to, as was the hocking (clearing the throat), and very loud and grandiose expectorating on sidewalks, into (or near) trash cans, or any convenient corner. It made us all very leery of sitting down, putting down our backpacks, or leaning against, any surface.
At first our daughters looked like tightrope walkers as they focused constantly on the ground, avoiding any questionable stain or dark spot in the pavement. By the end of the trip however, we just resolved to walk plainly, and burn our shoes when we got home.

On our first day in Shanghai, we were up way before the dawn, and from our 20th story apartment window, what first looked like garbage in the streets, turned out to be a pre-dawn vegetable market... in the street.

In TianZiFang, a quaint tourist district near DaPuQiao subway stop, American style pizza slices were on sale. They did have "Pepperoni" and "Hawaii", but we liked "Porko" and "The Pig", and were curious to know the difference. We noticed that "The Pig" looked a lot like Pepperoni, and "Pepperoni" had a lot of other vegetables on it.

I don't think we ever want to discover how delicious a toilet is.

Darth Vader and Yoda wishing us a Merry Christmas

So....should Christians not trust anyone??

This children's store was in several locations in Shanghai, and was definitely themed, like "Old Navy" or "Gap", and the theme appeared to be "Thug Life". This three-eyed guy was seen on a lot of shirts on teenagers around town, and other clothing in this store had a lot of vulgarities and English expletives written on them.