Some random observations on life in China - for one, I can see why so many girls want "a foreign boyfriend". The men in China are disgusting. From a young age, they learn to make "dad noises". They're always grunting, hocking, sighing, smacking their lips, you name it. They also spit, a lot. If you walk anywhere in public barefoot, you are a madman of the highest order. And honestly, they don't really take care of themselves. They always look like they just recovered from the biggest bender in the world, with sad eyes and a whispy beard that only a 15 year old Westerner could grow. If I was a girl here, going lesbian would pretty much be my only choice.

Also China has a really "who cares about the other guy" attitude. Outside of the supermarket, people just leave the carts wherever they want. When driving, whoever cuts off the other guy first wins. And when you're done with anything, just toss it wherever you want. There's an army of city workers who patrol the streets sweeping up trash, so they're remarkably litter free, but certainly not dirt free. For having a reputation as a police state, the police and laws in the US are far more oppresive. Unless you REALLY mess up, everyone just leaves each other alone.

I'm continuing to learn Mandarin, but it's not exactly the easiest thing in the world. Unlike every other language, the tone of the word rising and falling affects the meaning. In English, our tone usually rises if its a question and falls if its a statement. Now imagine doing this for every word, and if you mess up, you've just said, I don't know, "die" instead of "hello". They do a couple of things right, though. They don't have a dedicated yes/no word, just the verb from the previous statement. So if I ask "Would you like a sandwich?", you'd respond "Like" or "Not like". Also they're really big on compounding words into bigger words, so the vocabulary is not as extensive as you might think. Phone for example, is "electronic" and "speaking". Remarkably effecient, those Chinese. One of the teachers leaving here in a few weeks is quite good after only being here for a year. I've heard him carry on conversations with waiters and cab drivers. He has a private tutor he goes to that has been teaching him, 90 yuan for a 2 hour session each week (~$15). He promised to put me in touch with her before he leaves, which I'm pretty excited about.

I have the next few days off, which is much needed - I still haven't even fully unpacked yet. The pic this time is of my welcome dinner. Like I said it was quite the fancy affair, so of course I had to ruin it by being silly.