06 MAR 2011 Sun – Another Day at The Farmhouse

06Mar Sun -
What are some of the minor luxuries that we as Americans enjoy?

• Do you enjoy having all the water you want from the sink, bathtub, and shower?
• Do you enjoy not having to remember to turn off the lights when you leave a room or leave your home?
• Do you enjoy having electricity any time, all the time, and plenty of it?
• Do you enjoy setting the thermostat to keep the temperature of your home the same all year round? - cooling in the summer and heating in the winter?
• Do enjoy instant hot water and plenty of hot water? On a cold winter’s day do you enjoy a long hot shower or a long hot bath? And you can have one every day!
• Do you enjoy leaving the water running when you shave, brush your teeth, or wash your hands?
• Do you like to use a bath towel one time then toss it in the dirty clothes hamper to be washed?
• Do you like to wear your clothes one time then wash them and dry them?
• Do you enjoy your clothes dryer so you do not need to hang up your clothes to dry on the clothes line?
• What about your car? Do your enjoy hoping in your car any time to drive any where you want; any time you want?
• Do you even think about plumbing pipes, sewer pipes, or electricity wires since they are all hidden and they work most all the time?
• Do you enjoy not having to have a garden to grow food so you will not go hungry?
• Are you glad you do not live like you ancestors on the farm before about 1940?

Americans are very wealthy compared to other peoples of the world. The poor of American are rich and wealthy compared to the poor of any third world country.

EATING TODAY
Chinese eating includes a wide variety of foods. Dinner on Saturday night included duck, a white fish, squid, pork, onions, spinach, bean curd, and two varieties of flat bread plus noodles and vegetables in soup. There was also food that came in a clear block that was from a pig. I am not sure what it was and I did not like it very much. I tasted everything. For lunch the next day, we finished off the duck from the night before, ate Korean sausage served with noodles and green vegetables in a soup.

A young Chinese boy (Grandson & Nephew) of 6 years of age had a plastic model of a futuristic warrior that came in box in many pieces. I helped him put the model together using the direction written in Chinese. I had to follow the pictures since I could not read the written instructions. Later we played Chinese checkers; the name Americans call this game. I am not sure what the Chinese call this game.

I am told it costs about $150 a month for all expenses to live in the Farmhouse. The house is paid for and the Chinese do seem to know the concept of Taxes. The Chinese government owns several profitable businesses including Mobile Phone Communications Company, several banks, transportation companies, and utility companies plus others. I am guessing that these companies, not been sold off by the government, create revenue for the Chinese government to operate and provide services to their citizens. Therefore, taxes on individuals are not needed. Maybe the government collects additional fees from businesses. Individuals do not appear to pay income tax, sales tax, or property tax.


Grocery/Department Store
After the visiting the farmhouse, we walked to an American style grocery store combined with department store in a building 4 stories high. I would call this a “packaged” store because all the food except the produce was in a packaged like an American grocery store. There was a bakery, a deli, and a butcher all behind a counter. It was clean and not meat was stored on the floor. The 2nd floor contained house wares that included large flat screen TVs, air cooling systems, refrigerators, along with clothes washer and dryer combinations. The 3rd and 4th floors were for men’s and women’s clothing.


Antu Apartment
The entrance to the apartment where I am staying is located on an unpaved alleyway off a side street to the major street. It is in a building where the ground floor houses an Internet Bar with many booths with Internet computers. The cost is 3 Yuan per hour or about fifty cents per hour. Internet service for a home or apartment is 60 Yuan per month or $10 USD.

The apartment building is built with nearly 2 feet thick walls; two layers of vertical bricks covered with concrete on the outside and inside. Thick brick walls covered with concrete is a common building technique in Ant U. Water pipes are located inside the brick walls. For about 3 hours each night from 7pm to 10pm the water inside the pipes are heated to provide heat to the tenants of the apartment building during the winter months. This is the only heating system unless a portable electric heater is purchased. Electricity is expensive so supplemental heat was seldom used.

There is no individually controlled heating system and no central air-conditioning system.


Angry Host
The raised platform in the farmhouse is covered by yellow vinyl sheeting. This same vinyl sheeting is used for floor covering in the apartment where I am staying. The sheeting is not completely glued down and the seams in the floor show. There is no carpeting or rugs. The flooring is easily torn and marked. No outside shoes are allowed on the floor. This morning, I started to pull my suitcase with wheels along the floor. Immediately the host started yelling at me. My suitcase may make a mark or worse rip the floor covering. The floor covering cost 2,000 Yuan to replace or about $120 USD. Fortunately, no damage was done.