Pictures

street vendor with her snack on a bike cart

I decided to post more pictures than just those that I have on this blog, so when you have some extra time, check out more pictures here. Enjoy!

Culture of Chinese Children

I found a little park near my apartment this week where I could study and enjoy being outside. Because the heat was turned off a couple weeks ago, my apartment is often cooler than outdoors, so I go out to warm up! Every day that I went to study there, there were 10-15 kids under the age of 3, and it was fun to people-watch as I studied Chinese.
For each child, there was at least one caretaker, often a grandma, it seemed. If it wasn't the grandma watching the child, it seemed to be the mom, though it wasn't uncommon to see a grandpa, either. Many brought little stools down from their apartments to sit at eye-level with their baby in the stroller, or to have a place to sit other than the cement benches surrounding the area. Clothing usually doesn't show the sex of the child, so a common question was, "Is it a boy or a girl?" Sometimes the question wasn't necessary, if the baby was sitting in a position with the split pants open enough for the observer to tell! In the picture below, you can kind of see the split pants of the baby that is lying down.The adults talked amongst themselves, not shy at all (they seemed to know each other from that same setting, and I did notice many of the same people the days that I went), and often the topic of conversation was the child. I read in a Chinese newspaper today (written in English, my Chinese characters aren't that good...yet!) that the average family in China has 2.9 members, which means that if one set of grandparents live with the family, which seems to be common, there are 4 adults for each child! This factor causes Chinese family dynamics to be very different than American family dynamics, I think.

Picture of the Week

This intersection is just down the street from my apartment - I cross it every day on my way to class. Big intersections have stoplights, and a few round-abouts exist as well, but this one (2 lanes crossing 4 lanes), along with many others, is small enough it doesn't 'need' any traffic signals. No stoplights, so cars, bikes, people all just squeeze their way through, often with a little laying on the horn. When riding my bike, I've learned how to use "blockers" - the cars, trucks, or buses, often taxis, that aggresively drive through the intersection, allowing me to ride with the oncoming traffic on the other side of the blocker. At this particular intersection, and many others, most of the time I am able to cross without ever having to stop or put my foot down!

Inflatable Water Balls

Spring is here! With the last few weeks have come some beautiful spring days, and I couldn't help but take advantage of the warmer weather. Last week, I went on a bike ride, ending up at a city park. As we were walking around the park, I saw inflatable balls, like plastic bubbles, out on the lake, tethered to a pole on the land. Inside each bubble was a kid, most of them under the age of 10, running in circles and falling as they lost their balance on the water. After making sure it wasn't just for small children, I waited for my turn to climb in my water ball. Slipping inside the opening, I was zipped in and the bubble blown up around me, then sealed shut. Completely waterproof except for the condensation from my breath, I walked/rolled/was pushed onto the water, where I tried to stand, run, balance, and do cartwheels in this inflated ball on the lake!

Filling up the bubble


Ready to join all the Chinese kids

Trying to stand...

success! (for a split-second)...

...and failing

I loved it - such a strange sensation of being enclosed in a ball - on the water! I felt like I was the 10 year old again, giggling when I fell and trying unsuccessfully just to stand.