(Graffiti out at 798.)


I am beginning to settle into my neighborhood. Bought a dress from the woman who lives in a stairwell next to the subway station and met Kudusi, a year and half year old baby boy and his mother, who live in the hutongish neighborhood I look down on from my bedroom window. Kudusi's father is Nigerian, and his mother doesn't know where he is now, but the baby is absolutely beautiful and has six teeth.

According to my aiyi, American children are all very gorgeous, but then they get fat.

Tidbits: A 16 oz bottle of coke is usually 2-3 yuan, or $0.28-0.43. In one of the local flower shops, red roses are 4 kuai/yuan/RMB each. (About $.58 US.) Apparently in the south there's a movement in the goods industries to produce all of the worlds' flowers, fruit, etc, and ship them abroad. One subway stop away, at the world trade center mall, you can ice skate at an indoor rink for 20 yuan ($2.8) per every hour and a half. Apparently that whole cardboard in the dumplings thing was a scam...over zealous reporter.

Western thought and Chinese thought is very different. In the west, we're focused on the individual, creative and critical thinking, with sense of ethical responsibility and social guilt. We have to save the world! Most people in China don't seem to care much about that. They just live as happy as they can and try to do the best for themselves and their families. Human kind is a seriously tiny blip in the life of this planet and an even smaller component in the grand universe. I find that Chinese way of thinking much more practical. At the same time, I've begun to shower a lot less than I used to in the states. Perhaps because here I see how many people there are in the world, I'm more inclined to do my small part to conserve.



My mom is laid up at the moment, and can't get to a computer, so I figured I'd honor her requests for picture posts of miself. If anyone reads this and is able to bring her a copy, I'd really appreciate it. And if you happen to be at my parents house, can you bug them about getting a computer/internet? And maybe tell my parents I love them and I'm glad they are alive? Thanks.

On my way to the improv workshop tonight I saw the moon through the day's haze over the forbidden city. Yesterday night I wandered for a couple hours through the embassy neighborhood, saying "Hello" to all the soldiers that march with such precision. Working on starting a compost and trying to find red worms, which has resulted in some interesting online discussion with other ex-pats. ("The public security bureau has worms?")