That's China

There seem to be a growing number of things for which the only explanation is, "That's China." I was on the bus this weekend going to the mall to do some shopping when I heard what I thought was the sound of some one coughing. I looked over to see who it was only to discover that it was an old woman not coughing but throwing up into a bag she brought with her. The amazing thing is that she wasn't throwing up a little, she kept at it on and off for a minute or two before I got off, and she didn't seem to be very bothered by it either. She wasn't exactly falling on the floor or clutching her stomach she was just sitting there quietly throwing up into a bag. I got off that bus as fast as I possibly could since I don't know what she had, but I didn't want it. I really have no interest in dying of a disease that is so rare or unusual that they have to name it after me. Why was an old woman throwing up on the bus? Why did no one else on the bus seem to care? Why? That's China.

I've been making plans for what to do with the six weeks I get off for winter break here. I think I'm going to go up to Harbin in the north with Ken and Dave first. Harbin is unbelievably cold but it has skying and some sort of ice festival. We wanted to try and get plane tickets but the school can't seem to tell us what are schedule will be for the last two weeks. Unannounced to us they seem to want to give just the westerners off for Christmas, which would just screw with my schedule, then the whole school gets off a few days for New Years. This means that for two weeks in a row the same classes will have to be moved. When they will be set for is not something the school seems to want to tell me. Why are they so slow in planning and disseminating information? That's China. We finally decided it would be cheaper to take the train there and back from Harbin, but despite the fact that the train system is clearly run by a computer, you can't buy tickets more then 11 days in advanced and can't buy tickets at all unless your in the location you want to leave from, which means there are no round trip train tickets. Why? That's China.