Chimp escapee cleans toilet

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*Man takes live grenade home thinking it was a plant pot
*Three little pigs burn down the house
*Ukranian drunk escapes dolphin gang
*Study: Aliens need more time to find us
*Man thinks whale was sorry for hitting his boat
*UK moon mission planned

The above are just some of the news headlines in the English speaking publications in China. Also, I am glad to report that according to the City Office of Civilization Affairs (I have no idea what their job is) people are improving their spitting habits... Let's see... They put "officers" in 7 key points in the city and the reports indicate that the number of people spitting in 30 minutes has gone down from 146 to 42 in the last month. KUDOS to the officers!!

Of course, part of the problem is still the taxi drivers and their spitting through the windows of their cars so one official made a suggestion (printed in the first page of the Shanghai Daily). He believes that each taxi driver should be given a paper or plastic bag where he/she can spit when necessary.... A couple of people expressed their suprise for that measure, suggesting that it would be too expensive unless the taxi driver shares the bag with the passenger OR maybe it would just be better to train the taxi drivers to spit into open manholes...

Any ways, spit bags will be given away next month...

I AM NOT KIDDING, THIS STORY HAS MAKE THE NEWSPAPER FOR 3 CONSECUTIVE DAYS.

So you see, things are as usual. I don't go to crowded markets anymore because of Shanti but believe me, the newspaper is enough for weird stories.

For Shanti and me, life is good in Shanghai, we go for walks a lot, we even managed to go on a picnic 2 days ago when the weather was nice (not to cold). Shanti was so excited to eat in a park while looking at the lake and of course, the people around us could not believe that we were doing that... We had at least 2 people standing directly in front of us all the time talking about how bad it was for me to take Shanti outside.

I am used to my "new" life as a mom and even though I still miss going out for Martinis with my friends on Thursdays, I can say that being a mother is wonderful experience, it is really a miracle to see Shanti and realize that she actually came from inside me. She is just so curious, happy and ready to play all the time... I wonder what happened to all of us... We were once like her and some how in the way to adulthood something or someone (or both) screwed us up.

What happened to us? Why is that we are now almost always ready to take a nap, get bored easily and enjoy being drunk even though we know that we are missing the most exciting thing! The world around us!

With my daughter I have rediscovered the little great things around us and I am grateful for that.

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