Shanghai wisdom from John. . .
Yesterday John was at work and his friend Eric (Chinese) was explaining how some parts of English are difficult to learn. For example, the difference between s***, bulls***, and holy s***!

John gave him some advice about appropriate uses: when you hurt yourself, when someone is lying, and when you're surprised. Later on Eric was excited to use "bulls***" appropriately with John when describing a recipe for fish that was just too hard to prepare.

I'm so glad he contributing to the appropriate acquisition of the English language. ..

So today he comes home and informs me that if the air conditioning in the building is not working appropriately, it is perfectly acceptable to remove your pants at the office! Apparently he walked by someone's desk today and the man's pants were draped over the back of his chair and he was working in his tighty-whities. The funny thing. . .we've been here long enough to not be that surprised. My first question was, "Did he still have his shoes on?" Underwear in public is pretty common--it's HOT!

And just so you know, today was the first day of the "hot and steamy" season. They've got to be kidding!

Obviously, we have no pictures to accompany this entry. Thank goodness!!!!!

Tomorrow we will visit with a group of Chinese college students practicing their English at a local business college. We met their Californian teachers on our weekend trip to Suzhou and they called John to have us come and speak so they can hear our "southern accents." (Like we have accents!!!!!!) They mentioned that their students have had a totally "Californian" viewpoint on the US, so we feel obligated to do our civic duty and tell them what it's really like back home!!!

More stories to follow from Sabrina's (my) adventures!