Subway and Sandstorms

It's May 1st and that means that it is the start of the 7-day Labour day holiday here in China. My friendly, neighborhood Party friend (and by this I mean person working for the Communist Party and my school simultaneously, whose job it is to spy on my and report back to the government...making sure that I am not touting some negative information to students or something) sat down and had a meeting with me to tell me that the Party wants me to be safe over the holiday and to watch out for thieves. Her speech fell on deaf ears though b/c that's my daily life here.....making sure to be smarter than thieves...... otherwise I'll be down another Ipod and that would just be monumentally unfortunate.

I was having dinner in Shekou (where all the foreigners in the city seem to live, esp. those with children b/c the two International Schools are there) with some friends last week and was witness to the very reason that Americans have a terrible reputation as foreigners. We were finishing up at Subway when a boy of about 15 strolls in with a friend. He's on his cell phone practically yelling into the speaker that he is about to get a "free soda" and that he is "so thirsty he could drink all the soda in the store." He tears the phone away from his ear to tell the person behind the counter that he'd like a da (word for big in chinese) coke "give me a da coke now." The kid got the cup, filled it up, drank it down in one gulp while spilling soda out both sides of the cup and onto the floor and then repeated the disgusting act b/c according to him "We're in America if we're eating in Subway and that means FREE REFILLS." Then he yelled to his friend across the store that they should get going. But.....not before the final atrocious act. The kid sees that in Subway there is a sign that says "Baked Fresh Daily" and by this they are referring to the sandwich bread. He then goes on about how he loves the smell and taste of fresh bread. So instead of ordering a sandwish to taste said wonderful fresh bread like the rest of us patrons did in the restaurant....he reaches behind the counter to where the display breads are housed (a glass case of the 5 bread options that patrons can see and choose from ie not meant for eating) and picks up a loaf, takes a big bite out of it and leaves! In what universe are things like this ok to do? Jenny and Tim and I were thoroughly appalled!

The deluges that characterize southern China spring have finally arrived in full force, meaning that it rained for 48 hours straight this week. I happened to be downtown buying a carry on rolling suitcase (looks like a real Swiss-army suitcase, but I paid $16 for it....let's hope to gets me to and from Beijing and back to the US) and the case and the rain created an interesting trip home. It was rush-hour and I decided to wait for a bus that usually isn't as crowded as the main bus into my part of town. I stand under my umbrella trying to protect the suitcase and keep an eye out for the 311 on the road. Well I wait 50 minutes and no bus....not one 311. This is monumentally strange b/c during rush hour they come every 2-5 minutes. By this point i'm soaked b/c the sidewalks are flooded and then people entering and exiting buses are squeezing by with umbrellas and the run-off is getting my clothes all wet. I trudge down to the next stop and cram on an overcrowded 113 bus and head home. But oh the evening isn't over. Some little kid is eating a hamburger near me and crazy bus driver makes 1 of 90 sudden stops and the kid's burger flies from his hand and lands ketchup side up on....my skirt. Awesome. What a long evening.

My classes at school have been cut in half because the Junior 3's are now studying full time for their high school entrance exam, so I have a lot of free time during the day, but my evenings are still busy. I take chinese lessons two nights a week, tutor a corporate exec two nights a week and starting when I get back I am going to teach an English corner at Shenzhen University.

I'm heading up to Beijing tomorrow to see Tammy for a week and am very excited to be going back to my beloved Beijing. Though....I'm not so excited about the massive sandstorms the city has been suffereing from. 300,000 tonnes of sand from far western Xinjiang Autonomous Region 'fell' on the city on Monday two weeks ago! My friend said it looks like yellow swirling fertilizer in the air and forces daily dry-cleaning of work clothes if you're out walking in it for even a minute or two. You can blame deforestation for this problem; there aren't forests to prevent the sand from sweeping across the north of the country. Apparently the sand was seen as far east as Tokyo.