My (Chinese) Life in Pictures

I am well aware that my blog, of late, has basically only been about the hideousness that is bidding and how sick my kids and I always are here in China. 


BOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING.


So the other day when I was flipping through some pictures on my iTouch, I found some China-related photos that I have not yet put up on ye old bloggity-blog, and I thought it would be a good time to share!


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I call these next pictures: "And This is the Sort of Thing That Makes Me Utterly Crazy." 


Let me explain.


Okay, so, we have Subway here in Chengdu. Subway, the American sandwich place. Where you go through the line and they build you a sandwich and you tell them what you want on it, etc. We Americans are probably all very familiar with Subway.


And the sandwich-builder behind the counter has many food choices for you to add to your sandwich, right? There are different cheeses and veggies and cold cuts of all kinds and flavors, etc.


And here in China, the Subway tries REALLY REALLY HARD to be what it's supposed to be. 


Only...

Only, know what that meat is in the middle? Of course you don't. Your brain can't process it. I'll tell you what it is... it's RAW BACON. As in bacon that is raw. I am not making this up. Would you like a raw bacon Subway sandwich? OF COURSE YOU WOULD.

Yes, you guys, I kid you not. Sitting alongside the cold cuts that actually deserve to be there (such as sliced ham and sliced turkey, etc.), is the RAW BACON. For your dining pleasure.


The first time I saw the raw bacon, I FREAKED THE HECK OUT. No joke. I did everything I could to use my 2/1+ (but still completely pathetic) Mandarin to try to explain that THIS. IS. BAD.  That you do not feed this to people on a sandwich. That you must cook it first.  


The Chinese sandwich-builder guys nodded and smiled and just kept on keeping on, not changing a thing.


Well, I was so horrified that there was a Subway here feeding people raw bacon on their sandwiches that I literally went to a local Mandarin teacher and explained the situation (she is Chinese but has spent a bit of time in America and so she understood what I meant and was also horrified at the raw bacon thing) and had her dictate to me EXACTLY what I should say in order to communicate the seriousness of the situation.


So I went back to Subway, armed with perfect verbiage. And I told the Subway sandwich-builder guys EXACTLY what the Chinese teacher had told me to say. I used EXACTLY her words. And they nodded and smiled and told me they understood... and then they changed nothing.


It's been months now. And that Subway keeps feeding people raw bacon sandwiches.


I am NOT making this up.


In fact, last week when I was there at Subway, I watched them build a sandwich for a young Chinese child - probably about 4th or 5th grade or so:

Yep, I watched the Subway sandwich people build this raw bacon and cheese sandwich for a Chinese child standing in front of me in line.

And I would end this story with something witty if I could just think of something witty to say about it. 


CHINA. Land of things happening that you would never see anywhere else. I hope. 


And for those of you living in Chengdu, if you would like to visit this Subway (I don't know if all the other Subways here in Chengdu do the raw bacon thing or not, but this one sure does) it's the Subway across from Treat on the bottom floor of the Raffles Mall. YUM.


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[A quick note to all of my friends on Facebook - THANK YOU! I love you guys! I still cannot get on Facebook, but when you guys post something on my wall, Facebook emails it to me in an email and so I can see it that way and I am grateful, though I can't sign in and respond as I would like. Hugs to you all!! I will be back on Facebook (and Twitter!) someday!!]

Comments

[7]

I've had a sandwich from that Subway and it did have bacon on it. But, they put it in their little flash bake toaster oven type thing which I would imagine cooks it at least to a certain extent.

Anyway, it tasted fine and didn't kill me. ;-)

[A Daring Adventure]

And we are all glad that it didn't kill you yet, 7, because life on this earth is much better with you here.

And just for the record I would like to point out that the little warmer thing warms for upwards of 20-40 seconds, max. Hardly enough time to kill anything icky that lives on/in raw bacon. And I would also like to point out that using the warmer thing after the sandwich is built is OPTIONAL and that not all people choose to use it. I have seen raw bacon sandwiches without the application of said warmer thing be given to customers. FREAKS. ME. OUT.

Can you please quit eating raw bacon sandwiches, 7? For our whole family is fond of you. Don't make me have to do some sort of raw bacon intervention on you or something.

[Mom]

You can get (and probably will get) the Trichina worm from undercooked bacon. This is not something you want, as it/they could be in your blood stream for years. One can only imagine how seriously anyone could be infected after eating raw bacon. I can't even think about it. NO! BAD! WRONG! And don't go to that restaurant anymore because if you see anybody eating it you might have to knock the sandwich out of their hands, and then somebody might put you in jail for being a crazy person. The restaurant people would probably even testify against you. It's for darn sure they wouldn't want you there anymore. How about some nice, chocolate-covered grasshoppers instead? Yeah, that's better.

[Mom]

Not only that, but how do you know that when they were slicing the ham, cheese, and turkey, that they didn't use the same knife to cut the bacon and bread? And why wouldn't they?

[Jennifer Curby]

Hi Kolbi

I can't even begin to imagine how anyone could eat raw bacon....yuk.

I hope all is well. I love reading your blogs. They make me smile.

Has Matthew decided where he is going to go to college?

I think of you often,

Jennifer

[Nomads By Nature]

I think I just threw up in my mouth.

[7]

I don't know. I just think we probably have bigger pork problems to worry about:

http://www.chinasmack.com/2013/pictures/thousands-of-dead-pigs-found-floating-in-shanghai-river.html

[Sam]

At least it was not dog or cat meat! I was holding my breath afraid you'd be saying it was! Bleck! That's nasty. Almost as nasty as when my little girls play chef and make something really gross and want me to "taste it!" Gag! Soon you will be somewhere with cleaner air and live tweeting birds! Prayers for you!!!

[Darin]

That actually sounds delicious, believe it or not. Actually, were this virtually anywhere but China, I wouldn't care too much, given that the trichinosis prevalence in most countries (including the US) is laughably low. China's, however, is comparatively high.