????
Here's the background.
Most Saturdays, I head over to Mcdonald's for lunch because it's really close to my work and consistently fast (even with the crazy rush of students with their parents/grandparents in tow), and that way I try not to eat it during the week. Yesterday was particularly busy, so I wedged myself into a booth across from a mother and her little boy (with ice cream all over his face). Shortly after, another mother sat down to my right with her daughter. The two kids watched curiously as I ate my meal. Meanwhile, it took every ounce of will not to lean over and wipe ice-cream-boy's face. I actually picked up a napkin to do it a couple times, but stopped myself. M and I joke that when something gets to us, we can't clench our fists. Usually it's when I'm intentionally doing something to annoy her. Needless to say, as I clutched my double cheeseburger (which, by the way, has 59% percent of the daily value of sodium. freaking a!) I could feel the strength leaving my grip.
But, I digress.
I quickly finished my food so the mother to my right could set her daughter down and eat in peace. As I went to dump my tray, I noticed the above pamphlet sitting on the rack for empty food trays. It looked kind of like the delivery menus that they'd been passing out that week, but the guy lifting his shirt to reveal his sores kind of caught my eye.
The literal translation is: I this am how AH?
The actual translation, according to M, is: What is this stuff on me?
So I'm not trying to make light of the situation or the pamphlet, because, Lord knows, there's a need for more awareness here. I'm just passing on the shock that I had when coming across such a, for lack of a better word, striking image.
So 中国的AIDS awareness加油! Let's just hope they can work on refining the campaign just a bit...
