Puzzlate

Yes, it's a made-up word. I say it because there are things here that both puzzle me and fascinate me.

Exhibit #1
Shekou is a pretty clean little city. When we leave for work in the morning, workers are arriving at our complex to sweep the sidewalks and driveway, mow, wipe railings on the stairways, that sort of thing. Walking down the street or entering the subway you see the same thing. Today I even saw a man using a feather duster to clean the inside of a sign that was encased in glass. I mean, it's pretty meticulous. The fascinating part is that some people seem to completely disregard cleanliness. Today I also saw a man finish a bottle of pop and just toss it over his shoulder into the street. No big deal. The other "dirty" thing that takes some getting used to: people hocking loogies willy-nilly on the street. It always makes me shudder.

Exhibit #2
Something that puzzles me is the fact that it's scorching here (in fact, I'm sitting in our office right now and looking out the window at the apartment across the way, and some guy is just chillin' in his boxer briefs on his patio! Hehe!) yet it never feels cool and refreshing inside buildings. Yes, they have air conditioning here. But everywhere you go (our school included) they leave the doors open! Apparently they aren't concerned about their energy bill. Sheesh! And the drinks inside the drink coolers at the 7/11 or grocery stores are never really cold. It's such a bummer. One needs to cool down in this crazy heat and humidity.

Exhibit #3
More fascination: the Chinese people's fascination with children. Maybe it's because they can't have more than one (although I think Marty found out that yes, you actually can, you just have to pay a tax on your 'extra' children), but they simply adore Everleigh. Last night we went to eat at a little restaurant nearby and one of servers kept coming over to see if Evs was eating. He even took the spoon and fed her a few bites of her meal. Then when we were done he picked her up and kissed her! Whenever we meet people with children on the street they stop and coo at her in Chinese, which she just might understand. She has little conversations with our door woman every day. It's basic - ni hao (hi), she she (thanks), xi jian (bye-bye) - but completely unprompted by us. Her English is also evolving. She's using more complete sentences. Today when I got home she was babbling away about her day. "Hi Mommy! I go for a walk! I see the slide and swing! When daddy come home?" We've read that when kids are exposed to more than one language, their speech can stall out and delay briefly while they process what's what, but so far she seems to be doing okay. Aling counts to her and sings little songs in Chinese, so before we know it we'll have ourselves a little translator. Thank goodness, because the most puzzling thing of all is the Chinese language!