I live in Alabama.

I've been saying a lot (A LOT) of bad things about Chiina in this blog. But to be fair, I need to point out that I've never been to Beijing or Shanghai – maybe people are less retarded there! Everyone keeps telling me that Foshan (the city I'm living in) is the Alabama of Chiina. It's where people are the most closed-mined and conservative in Chinaa. However, I've spent about 15 weekends in Guangzhou (the third biggest city in Chinaa) and from what I've seen, people are just about as stupid there as in Foshan.

Oh Foshan, how I hate thee! Foshan is where SARS originated. And, apparently (I haven't found anything on the internet about this) the Bird Flu ALSO started here too. F'ing crazy, right? But makes perfect sense to me.... no one (NO ONE) ever washes their hands here – ever. I’m serious; some people literally go through their entire lives without washing their hands. And I'm not exaggerating!!! Before I leave here I'm going to record my Chinese friends explaining how soap is bad for the skin on your hands so that everyone will believe me! I have to carry soap with me where ever I go because there is never any in bathrooms (including in schools or restaurants).

And then there's the sneezing and spitting. People don't cover their mouths when they sneeze or cough. That would be unheard of here and they have no idea about the spreading germs thing. "What are germs?" And since the pollution is so awful AND because every man in this country smokes (and exposes his family to second hand smoke), EVERYONE is always coughing and sneezing on each other. It's disgusting!! Also, everyone is always spitting. Chinese people believe that excess saliva contains toxins and needs to be expelled from the body continually. So, people are always spitting. People spit on the floor in grocery stores, restaurants and in my f'ing classroom!!