I have two short stories from this past week that made me scratch my head. The first has to do with the weather. Last year on my birthday (October 9) it was snowing in New Ulm, MN. I had never had snow on my birthday, at least as far back as I can remember. This year I wore shorts 3 times in the first week of November. The weather continues to be very mild here before the real autumn weather settles in. I will continue to enjoy it as long as it lasts. Sorry for all of you suffering through cooler temps back home. Sometimes it's all about location, location, location.
WARNING! Proceed with caution! The second story deals with diapers or should I say the lack there of here. Babies and young children usually don't wear diapers. They run around with slits in their pants as if someone forgot to sew up the crotch area of the pants. I've seen a lot of butts. Some may think it helps with air conditioning in the summertime. But, truth is they don't have potty training here. Parents will hold their kids in front of them near the ground spreading their legs and squating so the kids can do their business. What happens when they are on a public bus you may think? Well this is what happened yesterday. A lady and young son were sitting right next to me on a full bus. I had just got on and this fussy boy gave me a look like, "Hey man, I gotta go!" His mother tried taking him to the front of the bus to take care of his business, right next to the entrance, but he was gun shy. Thankfully, they got off at the next stop to let him answer nature's call. Everyday something small like this will surprise me. Just when I thought I had seen it all, things like this remind me - only in China.
