Recently the Kindergarten department (think 350 sum kids between the ages of 2.5 and 6) took an outing the the "Zoo". I place "zoo" in quotes because it really was more of a combination of Jurrasic Park for safari animals and the American Circus back in the 1800s(before all those animal-huggers got so pepped up on protecting their furry amigos or pungyos).
One part of our outing was a "safari drive." Instead of having people walk around to see all the animals in their different habitats, they just paved a road right through the center of them and let you drive through. The entry was seriously Jurrasic Park style with large electrified gates that opened to allow our Giant tour bus through. And warning signs that told you that "you're not allowed to tease the animals," and that "those who disobey will have to suffer any consequences" i.e. one of the lions, tigers, or bears making you their mid-day snackey. yummmmm... tastes like megwa (american). Well no kids lots any appendages, but we did have a giraffe try to stick his head through the bus window. We fooled him...it was shut!
Next it was off to the 1800s American Circus (you know the one where you could see the bearded lady?). We got to watch two bears boxing. Full on standing upright with boxing gloves on. We watched a monkey, a bear, and a deer (?) race around their circular track. The monkey's legs were moving at about 300mph and he kept looking back every quarter of a circle to make sure that he was still beating the bear----the deer type animal was way behind since it had to push it's bike while walking beside it since it couldn't ride it. There were acrobat girls who swung around on an Elephant. And a monkey who lit the "Olympic torch" (he did a very good job, and was wearing a stripped shirt).
Each of us Kindergarten teachers were assigned to one or two P1 students (they're the 2.5 to 3 year olds) for the day. They assigned me one girl, not two, because they said she was very "independent." haha. Her name was TingTing. She was pretty independent and I think was one of the few kids who didn't take a nap during one of the "zoo events," even though she did konk out as soon as we were on the bus headed back to the school.So keeping in mind that we all had tiny little kids, with tasty tiny little appendages walking around this "zoo", it was interesting to find that they had a lion and a tiger with nothing more than a collar around their neck, laying out on pedestals along the walkway for people to come up and pet. One of the "zoo" keepers practically kidnapped one of Eric's kids to get him to come over and put his hand on the lion.
Lastly, is my most "china-esque" memory yet. While at the "1800s Circus" we were all siting in the second flight of seats with a walking aisle in front of us. Midway through the show I look to my left and see that the kid next to Eric (who was next to me) was being held in his mom's lap kinda oddly. Flashbacks came into my head of earlier in the day when the P1ers had to go to the bathroom after lunch the Aiyi's would just pull down their pants (right there on the grass where we had just finished eating) and hold them so that they could pee on the grass. So this lady was holding her kid in the same weird way. And I thought to myself (me of little faith)... nooooo... this lady is NOT going to let her kid pee right here in the stands with tons of people squished in on three sides, and another whole flight of people not far in front. About as soon as the thought had swept through my mind I see pee/water flying in an arch out of the ladies lap. Yes, apparently she IS going to let him just pee right here. As the ark of liquid flew back and forth and slowly formed a small tributary across the walkway I nudged Erik and told him to "pick up your backpack... PICK UP YOUR BACKPACK!.... The kids in the row in front of us got warned by one of our Chinese teachers just in time to pull their back packs out of the line of the river, although one boys bag had already reeked the consequences of splashage. So here we are.... the kids must have drank about 10 gallons of water because that's about how much is now sitting in the walkway..... After some chiding from the people around her, The lady grabbed a piece of newspaper that was sitting in the walkway and starts sloshing the pee up with it. Mind you this is a Single piece of newspaper, and her kid just let fly 10 gallons of liquid. We could probably pull in some simple geometry of surface areas combined with some Physics on the saturation potential of a Single piece of newspaper to come to the conclusion that the newspaper was quickly of no good.. and the lady was simply sloshing the pee into a puddle, and all over her hands. I spent the rest of the show watching in dismay as kids ran by right through the puddle of pee. My mind imagined putting a red tracking dye on the pee to monitor it's spread, and I decided that day that my roommates and I would be more committed to the practice of taking off our shoes before we enter our apartment. I've found that this practice became a cultural practice, because you have to do it in China to help prevent the spread of Hepatitis, etc.
TingTing didn't seem to notice this peeing escapade.. and thoroughly enjoyed the entire "zoo" experience. Well thoroughly in-as-much as I could tell as she didn't speak much to any English, and I don't speak much to any Chinese. :)
Ahh the joys of a Cheap Hair Wash
Time to walk to the Hair Cutting Place: 8 minutes
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Definition of a "hair wash" = hair wash, hair properly conditioned; head massage, face massage, shoulder and neck massage, arm massage, and some back massage; hair dry.
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Total time: about 40 minutes.
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Cost: 10RMB / 1.25 USD
=happiness for all!
Hope all is well! Happy Thanksgiving to all! Amazingly enough, I'm in China and I've already had one true thanksgiving meal--and it's not even Thanksgiving yet! :) yeah! One (or two) more tomorrow. Tryptophan here I come!
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