china's clubbing culture

It's been way too long, friends, but nothing's really happened. In fact the only purpose of this update is for me to bitch about China's clubbing culture. Get excited, it's gonna be great.

1912 is Nanjing's bar district. There are random other bars floating around, but this is the best place to go clubbing because if one club gets boring, no problem, just hop in next door! The club we most frequent is Mazzo, and because we've been there so often, we've made friends with a few of the managers who can get us a table on really busy nights.


So last night, we splurged for sushi (and by splurged I mean we spent 150 RMB each...or about $22) and headed over to Mazzo...where it was packed wall to wall with people.

In the States, if a ton of people are packed together in a club and someone bumps you, usually that person will turn around and say sorry or make some sort of apologetic gesture or roll their eyes at the drunk person who pushed them into you so you both laugh about it or something like that. In China, not so much. If they bump into you, they slam into you, and when you turn around, they glare at you like it's your fault--how dare you be in their way?

In short, I've perfected my foreign bitchface here, due mostly to these situations. Last night, I was literally smushed between 10 Chinese people, all of them shoving at me and generally being obnoxious. Finally, once my frustration level had gone to 11, I stuck out my elbows, enacted the foreign bitchface and powered through. I stepped on all of their feet, got quite a few dirty looks that were returned, but I got that line to move.

And now it's time for a feminist rant.

The way women--all women, not just Chinese women--are treated here is disgusting. I'm not saying that in the US, women are treated perfectly, because obviously nowhere is perfect. But being in China has once again made me appreciate America so much more than when I'm actually in America. Last night I saw two Indian guys with a Chinese girl in between them, literally holding her there--when the song was over, she peaced immediately and I saw her shaking her head at her friend. I've had my rear end grabbed on more than one occasion--sometimes not even on the dance floor, when I'm just trying to get through a crowd of people. 

And it's assumed that because you're out on the dance floor, you want some random guy trying to grind with you. No, I'm here with my friends and I've actively moved away from you more than once, and it's not because I want you to chase me, it's because I'm try to get away from you! Story of my life.

Okay, rant is over.

To end this on a lighter note, I went for a run yesterday, but the track wasn't open yet so I decided to run in the area around Nanjing. You would've thought I was some celebrity the way people stared and gawked at me. The reason: white girl with blonde hair, wearing shorts, running. People reacted as though I was running from something, and maybe they should be running too. "Yes, in fact I am running from Godzirra."

My parents are coming to China in 2 days!! Just so everyone knows. Yay!