What????

 

This photo was taken today on the INSIDE of our house. 

We discovered when we came home from school.  Apparently, when the water guy (we have to buy giant bottles of water due to water quality issues) was here to drop off our "water order"...he decided to do a bit of advertising...ON OUR KITCHEN WALL!

He was not our "regular" water guy...this guy is eager to assist us with our further water needs...and so, he left us his "card," written where we can easily see it.

This happens often Here.  (not the writing on the walls inside our home...at least not ADULTS writing on the walls)  But, all around town you see things just like the photo above on walls, the sides of buildings, the back of trucks.  It's advertising.  There is no phone book Here...so if you have something to sell, you write it on the wall and put your phone number on it.

This is year three for us, and truly it takes a lot to surprise us...but this surely did.

The second thing that struck me as surprising happened yesterday when I was coming down the staircase in our school building. 

I saw a few "items" on hangers, dangling from the stair railing (in a MAJOR HALLWAY of our school.)

UNDERWEAR

Men's underwear that had been (apparently) laundered by a workman who is working/living at the school (this is also common.  If you hire workman to work on a building, or do a project, they will live right there on premises...until the job is done.

We see things hanging up all over the place.  Our cook at the school last year would regularly hang his underwear and purple socks out on a small tree just outside the kitchen door of the school.

But in the hallway...INSIDE the school?  This is the same staircase that classes of kindergartners, first and second graders frequent in their day.  Hanging from the same railing that they (the students) must grasp to go up and down the stairs...some guy's funky underwear.

A third thing.

We got our "School Supplies List" for the New Guys and Bub for the Kindergarten.  Though it is not new to us, I realize I've never shared with you one of the unusual, to a Westerner's mind, items that we must send with our children everyday.

A hand towel to mop up sweat on the children.

The hand towel is actually placed under the back of the child, between the shirt and skin.  To absorb sweat.  (If I've not mentioned in awhile, we do produce a copious amount of sweat here in our fair city.)

However, to my thinking, doesn't the extra, terry-cloth layer make the child hotter?  But last year, when I failed to send the "sweat towel" daily to school...I was roundly chastised by the teachers. 

So perhaps you think this is a function of our hot summers?

No. In Fall, Spring and Winter we are to dress our children in SO MANY layers that REGARDLESS of the climate, our children SHOULD SWEAT profusely...daily.

Ergo...the "sweat towel" is required.

One last thing.

Brownie was in the elevator of our apartment building last week.  And, sadly, the elevator malfunctioned...she was "stuck" in the elevator, alone.

We were on the other side of the elevator, speaking soothing words and coaching her through the trauma. 

She was cool enough to press the emergency button and speaking in clear Chinese, told the guards where she was.  (Not bad for 6 years old!)

Anyway...after about 15 minutes a young man, we'd never seen before came sprinting up the 8 flights of stairs to our floor.  He had the special key to unlock the door and free Brownie.  We were all relieved as you might imagine.

But what was surprising to us was the counsel we received from another resident of the building...

"DON'T USE THE ELEVATOR."

"What?" we questioned.

"DON'T USE THE ELEVATOR...IT IS NOT GOOD."

"Well, surely they will fix it?"

"NO, YOU SHOULD ONLY WALK UP AND DOWN THE STAIRS."

"Thank you for your help."

So we're left with that familiar feeling that often besets us...is it superstition...is it wisdom...or does he think we need to lose more baggage from around our middle?

No more information...do we do the wrong thing if we don't take our neighbor's advice?

So, until we figure it out...I think I'll go get my sweat towel, hang out my underwear on the staircase...and graffiti my neighbor's door...maybe I could drum up some business for English tutoring?

We're not in Kansas anymore.