observations

i don't notice as many things around china as i used to. here are a few things i noticed lately though.

• nobody has any problem riding 2-3 people on a scooter, including 2 full grown men riding together.
• a nice looking fountain/pond/watery area in a park that has a walkway across it can become a place for driving scooters onto the walkway into the middle of the watery area and washing the scooter. also, laundry.
• when it rains everyone who rides scooters wears ponchos and i started noticing all the different colors and styles as i thought about getting one for myself since i've been riding my bike in the rain so much lately. (yes, i ride when it is raining and get wet. it's hot outside and i don't really care. i just change clothes later.) i am now the owner of a dark pink poncho. the only other choices were blue or red, so i chose pink. red clashes with my bike, and everyone chooses blue. i haven't worn it yet though because i guess it's still at the point where i would rather get wet than stop and take the poncho out of my bag and put it on.
• my colleague sings happy birthday with the high harmony like michael scott. every time.
• my ayi is very very nice. (ayi basically means "auntie." i am the ayi of every chinese baby whose grandparents force it to wave to me and say "hello" in chinese. the ladies who clean are school are ayis. the lady who cleans my house is an ayi. so it can also mean "helper," i think. also, your actual related aunt is ayi.) my ayi came from her house and let me in my house one day when i locked the keys inside. she is the only other person that has a key to my house when my school is closed and there is no one there who can get a key for me. (i really should give a key to someone else too...). she also did not take all of the money i left for her, just because she worked one less week in the month this month than she normally will.
• i have a really good relationship with quite a few of my students. the benefits of staying in a place long-term-ish are really evident to me right now.
• i love that my bookshelf is organized. it will also make me happy when the pictures that i bargained for at stuff mart can be hung on my wall (it's not as simple as just putting some nails in the wall since the wall is kind of like concrete, so someone will help me with it at some point.)

now i'm just thinking of random things and not actual observations, so i will stop now. =)