Bare Bottoms

A few observations from daily life...

It is winter here. As such, people are wrapped up - gloves, winter coats, boats, and other cold weather attire. Babies in snowsuits that weigh as much as they do. With there bare bottoms, not always, but often enough, visible through the slit bottom pants (all three pants, and the snowsuit). I honestly do not comprehend how if it is cold enough to bundle up your child so that s/he looks like the Abominable Snowman, it is not cold enough to put on a diaper (cloth or disposable) or maybe snap pants and no diaper, just something that will protect their nether regions. Maybe I just have a pampered Western tush, but the though of it hanging out, uncovered, subject to wind and freezing temperatures...

Chinese New Year is fast approaching. As many of my colleagues are braving the crowds and holiday prices and traveling around Asia during this time, I am still trying to figure out what to do. I do not like crowds, or overpriced tickets, hotels, etc, and therefore try to avoid travel during peak season. However, I have been here for over a year, and not visited anywhere else in southeast Asia. And so as I watch the line for the train tickets grow insanely long, I wonder if there is anywhere that perhaps wont be too full, or too expensive, (or too COLD) that I can go and visit for the week. So far, I've come up empty handed.

The semester is drawing to a close. That means that this school year is almost half finished, and I need to start making some concrete plans about next year. Should I stay or should I go?

I had something else to write about, but now I cant remember. Oh well, next post...