there are holes in that kid's pants!

If there is one thing I don't understand about this culture, it is their potty--training habits. When a child here is an infant, the parents put them in diapers because they are too young to know when they are about to use the restroom. However, once the infant becomes a toddler, they shed the super-absorbent trousers and replace them with something a bit more breezy. Kids are literally toddling around the city with cotton ass-less chap-like shorts. The slit (more like gaping hole) in the little shorts goes all the way around to the front, leaving all their junk exposed too. However, it isn't even the shorts or excess baby butts that I keep seeing that bug me. I am confused because these kids learn (with help from the ass-less chaps) that they can pee anywhere without getting uncomfortable. Walking to the subway station today we saw a mother holding her 2ish year old daughter under her arms and by her legs so her urine outlet would be exposed and she could piss on a nearby tree. What is this teaching kids? Also, once we got onto the subway platform a while later, we see a little boy literally popping a squat to urinate on the platform. Take that kid to a goddamn toilet!

Aside from the odd potty-training habits of the Chinese culture, today has been really fun. Some friends and I went to the Silk Market to buy some gifts for people back home. In order to keep the gifts a surprise, I will explain to you the process of bartering when I just wanted to buy a package of 10 postcards. "120 yuan" she tells me. I laugh, "Oh no no no, this is just paper. It is worth nothing compared to your other items." I wave around at fancy chopsticks and mah jong sets. "You want something else?" she asks. "No," I say. "Just these." I type in 8 yuan on the calculator. She looks at me astonished. "You ask too little," she says. "But I am a poor student," I plea. "OKOK," she responds. "For you. Just for you, I take 80 yuan..." Anyway, I think you get the gist of things. I talked her down to 12 yuan (a little less than $2). There is SO MUCH to buy there! I spent entirely too much money because everything was so cheap! I need to go back though and get some more things. You get tired fast there because everyone is yelling and haggling and trying to get you to buy their products. Completely a nut house. The sales people are so determined to sell you their things too. They will literally grab you and pull you back to their booth if you walk away. They will lower the price drastically then too. It was fun.