There are a number of things I've been mentally cataloging since my arrival in China. The most extensive list so far is the "Things Chinese People Don't Mind Doing in Public." Here's a few of the highlights so far:
-"Going Out" Pajamas! - by far my favorite. Going by the people in my neighborhood, pajamas are perfectly appropriate attire for an afternoon stroll, a trip to the news stand, or just the best outfit for hanging out on the sidewalk in front of your house all day. And I'm not talking simple sweat pants and t-shirts. I mean full-on floral and/or cartoon patterned two-piece button down sets.
-Last week at the grocery store near my house there was this dude leaning against the cigarette counter reading the newspaper - wearing only his boxers.
-You can easily judge how hot it is outside by how many men have their shirts rolled up to their armpits.
-I was walking on a busy street by my work the other day and I was puzzled to see two women sitting on the sidewalk, one doubled over with her head in the other woman's lap. For a second I was SURE she was cornrowing her hair, but no - she was combing through and systematically yanking out all the grey hairs.
-Right around 6pm I popped over to the convenience store opposite my apartment. Turns out it was dinner time for them as well:
I bought my ticket to South Africa this week. June 15th, 2010.
On Thursday this week I attended the Kunshan Beer Festival. Only about 20 minutes outside of Shanghai, Kunshan seemed like a very nice place (going by the train station, the taxis, and the dumplings, which is all I saw of the city.) But the festival didn't disappoint on the amount of Crazy China they fit into a fairly Western tradition.
I went because there was supposed to be a pretty fantastic German tent set up Oktoberfest-style. Which there was, but I was too cheap to fork out the $30 for a ticket. Instead, we bought $0.70 Suntory bottles from the Suntory tent, which was by FAR the nuttiest part of the festival. We walked in on some kind of "strip dancing performance" as the MC called it, and later they had beer-chugging through a straw competitions and then the MC started singing terribly while bubbles shot out of the stage.
strip dancers:
frenz:
we met some local yokels who spoke little to no English, but they kept buying us pitchers anyway. the two people across from me are my roommates, Jackie and Richard:
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