addendum

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Got in my first taxi tonight. It's not a car or a rickshaw, something in-between. So, in keeping with typical Chinese driving, the guy does a u-turn in the middle of traffic, drives in the wrong lane for a few seconds while a swarm of cars come toward us, and then gets in the right lane and took us to the Tangshan Train Station. Wish I had recorded some of that, but oh well - maybe next time. Roomie's gone for the weekend to Beijing, where he has a friend living there. Walking back from the train station I saw a car accident and wasn't surprised at all.

To their credit, the Chinese appear to be great drivers - I mean, to be able to drive without rules and not get into an accident every second is an accomplishment unto itself. Walking back, a woman driving with two kids stopped and I thought she just wanted me to talk to her kids, as some parents do (I thought it was weird she would stop driving just to do this, though). It became obvious she wanted to give me a ride! I didn't recognize the children, so maybe they recognized me as their teacher. I turned down her offer but it was a nice thought regardless. The hospitality I've been shown thus far is insane.

About Chinese prices and the idea that China is cheap...not exactly. Surprisingly, electronics (TVs, smartphones, DVD players, microwaves, laptops etc) are comparatively priced to what we get in America. Same deal with clothes I've seen in stores. The only thing cheap about China is the food, and even then it's not all the food. Rent is definitely cheap, as Andy told me it's usually between 800 and 1000 yuan. But smartphones cost what they do in America. Laptops cost the same, if not more! It's a real shock to me. How can the prices be so high when the average monthly income is so little?

The smog is pretty irritating; buildings in the distance are often enveloped in it. At night it's no different, the tall buildings just kind of fade out with the sky.

The HM was busy tonight so instead it was just dinner with her son, Andy. We were only supposed to tutor him once a week for two hours but he's been coming over nearly every day...he leaves for college in a week so it's no big deal to me, not to mention it's apparent the dude has some kind of admiration for me (no homo). I'll have to hook him up with a girl before he leaves, which shouldn't be a problem since caucasian=handsome in this part of China.

anyways

I HAVE BEEN TO GROCERY STORES AND SUPERMARKETS AND NONE OF THEM SELL PEANUT BUTTER WTF CHINA YOU'RE LIKE THE BIGGEST EXPORTER OF PEANUT BUTTER WHY DON'T YOU SELL IT I'M GOING TO FLIP SOME TABLES OVER

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