A walk to work

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Walking the few minutes to work can often be quite an experience. As a “foreigner” you are often stared at, usually quite blatantly, as most people have never seen a foreigner before and I suppose we do look a bit different! (well, Sabine does) Even though I walk a short distance, usually at the same time each day, it still ceases to amaze me how they stare. I see the same people every day sitting outside their shops and they see me, but still they stare as if they are surprised to see me. I even buy my lunch from them, so you could say that they know me!
Quite often I have to maneuver around the ever-increasing number of obstacles that block my path. When Chinese people park their bikes, they do it so that their bikes are perpendicular to the shop front. Cars are often on the pavement too which explains why there are so many cracked paving tiles. (These, incidentally splash up at you when it has been raining and make your shoes quite wet and muddy). Washing lines are often also a bit of a hazard. Shop assistants seem to take their washing to work with them. After doing the family washing in a bowl on the shop steps, they then hang a line from the shop front to the nearest telegraph pole - perfect for drying your washing. As a pedestrian, you just need to be aware of wet clothes dripping on to you and duck to the appropriate level. A lot of the shops don’t seem to have toilets. I often see a little girl having a poo by what I have now come to name “The Poo Tree”. Despite her two years, she knows which tree to go to, that she isn’t to go too close to the road, that she has to put down a piece of newspaper before doing the deed and that she has to fold it in a particular way once she ahs finished to put in the bin so as not to spill it. Amazing, I wasn’t that co-ordinated at her age! This week when I was walking to work that I saw the little girl do this again. At the same time, what looked like a very old man, was pulling a cart stacked full of paper and cardboard on the wrong side of road. Two sights I wouldn’t ordinarily see in Europe and yet when I looked around, guess who everybody was staring at!

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Comments

[anonymous]

Happened to see your blog. Very interesting. I appreciate your effort to improve the local education quality.