TIC

Here's some typical China experiences that have happened in the last couple of weeks...

First, our window got actually HIT by fireworks. There's fireworks all the time, but we've never found them in our laundry room before.

Sharing of food seems to be very popular here. The ayi always has something on hand to give me. It's usually something small ... anytime you're eating something. This season is the small oranges. So many people walk around with a bag of 20 oranges, just in case they run into someone so they always have one to give. My volleyball kids always give me some piece of their snack. I don't want to take their food, but the Chinese ALWAYS accept it ... I think even the polite "no thank you" is actually impolite.

I think I've mentioned how a lot of the students seem to grow up with mom doing everything for them. I didn't realize how apparent this was until I took my middle schoolers and high schoolers on the volleyball field trip. One student always has her hair in pig tails, but they got messed up on the bus. I let her know that she should fix it, but she didn't know how. Her mom does her hair every morning. Then later at McDonald's, she couldn't make an order ... her mom always does it and she didn't want to make a decision. Oh my.

Also, one thing I've noticed with frequenting the evening scene ... the people here, are light weights. And it makes sense, they're so tiny. But the girls and I have caused some issues with overly aggressive men at the bars. The singers in the band joke that I need to wrap my hair up in a scarf when I go out. One night, our waiter, who has gotten used to keeping an eye on us, asked if he needed to call the police. The security guard was standing right next to him. I had to ask .... what do you guys pay him for? Apparently the "security" guard is not able to provide any actual security.