Happy 1 Month Anniversary!

It's official. We've been in China for one month today. To celebrate... Happy Teachers Day! It's a country-wide holiday. I guess it's kinda like Mother's Day or Father's Day. The students bring teachers presents and people all tell you Happy Teacher's Day. Unfortunately, I don't have students yet, but my office workers were nice and shared some candy and cake with me from their students.

In honor of the one month tradition. I've been keeping little one-liners of things I've noticed or found interesting over the past month. So I hope you enjoy.

-It's illegal to spit in Beijing. (They stopped it for the Olympics.)
-A smile is the same in every language.
-There is a 13th floor but no 14th floor.
-A man standing next to a woman is the universal sign for bathroom.
-Even names are collective rather than individual - last name/family name first.
-The same gene that causes blue eyes also causes you to be bad with chopsticks - 4 of out of the 5 of us have blue eyes, the one is Chinese-American, but we do just fine.
-Recess can be canceled in Beijing due to too high air pollution. Today it's just
at the "unhealthy" level. Upgraded from yesterday.
-Boil the water before you drink it, even the local have to.
-Honking the horn is not rude or because you did anything wrong, it's
sent as an "I'm here. Just to let you know I'm coming through."
-He has a habit of working outside of me, of doling work without
my help, permission, or ideas.
-Chinese toilet paper is not as perforated as the U.S., and it's more elastic.
-Coming to China as a westerner, is intentionally putting yourself in a
fish tank to be looked at over and over again.
-In my first attempt to hail a taxi, the driver waved at me... I think
I'm doing something wrong.
-Tried shrimp flavored Pringles too for the first time... I know why
there not big in the U.S.
-"Only 3 types of people can make up words: writers, English teachers,
and George W Bush."
-Only in China can you say, "Here eat this." "What is it?" "I don't know
just try it." "Alright."
-The Great Wall probably isn't able to be seen from space since it's
about as wide as a road at most.
-The Great Wall it's slanted so that rain would run off the flat spots.
-I fell asleep on the way back from the Great Wall and woke up to most
of the bus singing "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. It was magical.
Best alarm clock ever.
- The song "Times" by Tenth Ave North is just in time.
-Thank you for the sunshine even when we can't see it,
Thank you for your love even when we can't feel it,
Thank you for the truth even when we don't know it.
-To cross the street, you just walk across whenever and don't get hit. You just time it to walk and not get hit.
-I went to the Wu Mart to get some groceries and bought a 12 pack of
water, Chips Ahoy, and a small jar of peanut butter and the most
expensive thing was the peanut butter, almost 3 yuan more than any
other, and still it was about $2 USD.
-Only in Beijing do you not want to drink the rain as it falls.
-Rainbows don't have the same connotations as the states.
-In foreign lands, it's hard not to seek to understand more than it is
to seek Him.
-60-70% of communication here is reading between the lines.
-Tomato crackers taste like tomato soup.
-Shrimp Pringles & Blueberry Pringles - Popular choices.
-Saw first ATM on 2.5 weeks after getting here.
-In plenty, generosity is great: in scarcity, generosity is divine.
-Had western food tonight - FREE WATER, we got FREE WATER with a meal! It was amazing and it wasn't hot water. WE GOT ICE too!
-Sitting in the lobby of the hotel, waiting on my team, I see a McDonald's motorcycle delivery driver pull up and walk in with McDonald's helmet, jacket, fanny
pack, and food warmer on back, if only I had my camera...
-Lace up your shoes, were hitting the ground running.
-There's always room for more in China - Elevator, subway, tables. There's room
for one and 3 get on.
-Pizza Hut is like a 5-star restraint here in Changchun.
-The date on the side of food is when it was packaged, not when it
expires. So don't throw it out if it's past the date... Like some of
my team.
-Su and su are very close. One means 4 and one means dying... 4 is an
unlucky number.
-I need to work in annunciation, expand, expand, expend.
-China- claustrophobics need not apply.

Thank you all for reading through this, but even more for continuing to support and lift us up. Happy 1 Month Anniversary!