Anecdotally

I’m actually kind of surprised at how well these blog entries are turning out, but I credit them more to the excitement of my life than to my writing skills. Along those lines, here is a list of random things that I’ve noticed:

-You must be in a foreign country when you can see your breath in every elevator.

-When you’re walking down the street and you see parents taking their kid’s pants off, don’t worry. The kid’s just about to take a leak. On the sidewalk. Speaking of which…

-All of us kids in the Chengdu program live in two apartments right across the street from each other. Right next to one of them is the “West China High Tech Hospital,” and somebody reported that on her way to school, she saw some kid peeing on the steps of the hospital. I hope it’s more sanitary inside.

-When you press the “close door” button on the elevator in China, the door actually closes. I always feel deceived in the States when I press the button and nothing happens, but here if you want to close the door, you can.

-When you see Nike commercials with guys playing ping-pong in slow motion—it’s not a joke.

-I saw a Chinese guy with an afro today looking pretty fly. I think I looked at him as strangely as all the Chinese look at me.

-Climbing mountains while it’s snowing is an even worse idea than trying to climb mountains in Wyoming while it’s raining.

-If you go into a hair salon and it looks kind of sketchy, think twice before agreeing to have your hair washed, because you might have just been solicited.

-Everyone—including your middle-aged female Chinese professor—probably knows more about the NBA than you do.

So now you know.