China giveth...

Things are usually pretty great for me here in China, but as I said in the last post, nothing can really be relied on here.

Last night a pair of other teachers and I went out for dinner with the aim of going to one of our favorite street vendors.  Unfortunately, they had completely packed up their tents and tables and disappeared.  Will they be back at some point?  Have they quit the food-service industry?  Did they find another location?  We may never know.

But that's sort of how it goes here.  Sometimes things go really well, and sometimes they don't, and there doesn't seem to be any explanation.  For instance, yesterday I actually did get to take a nice, long, warm shower.  Today, my hot water cut out mid-shower.  Is my hot water heater broken?  Is there some setting on it that's wrong?  Is there a certain amount of time (+24 hours?) that I need to wait between showers in order to have hot water?  Most importantly, this was not a problem when I got here- it only manifested in the last 5 days or so.  What happened?  Who knows?

At any rate, I started this post by saying things are going great, and they are.  I'm well-paid for what I do, my job is enjoyable, my coworkers are fun to be around, food and most necessities are exceedingly cheap for someone with my salary, my apartment is HUGE, and everything around me is just generally pretty amazing.

The thing is that I'm about to post some pictures of my bathroom, and it is a pretty dire place.  It makes me sad, and it should make you sad, but I don't want anyone to worry too much because most everything else is just fine.  The Chinese just don't quite seem to understand bathrooms, is all.

Maybe I'll just leave you all alone with this picture for a little bit.  Stories of joy and wonderment to follow!