Well, it’s official, we’re vacationing in New Zealand in late January/early February. Bought the tickets on Tuesday. Yay! We’re going to spend the first couple days of Chinese New Year in China, then off to a summery oasis. The only bad part about it is that Smudgie has to stay at a kennel and the kennels here are just pet stores that have a couple of cages in the back that your pet can stay in. They’ll let him out a couple of times per day but for the most part Smudgie will have to sit in his cage scared and lonely and probably angry because there’ll be other dogs barking in the vicinity. I feel so bad for him. The kennel we wanted to bring him to (which looked nicer) said they’d be closed during Chinese New Year, which is bogus! Anyways, the plan is to spend 6 days in and around Auckland and then head out to Great Barrier Island to take in some nature for a day and a half. We’re excited!
This past week I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing, on TWO different occasions, small children peeing and pooping on the sidewalk. There’s something really hilarious about the way a bundled up toddler looks while squatting. They’re wearing like five layers of clothing, but their butts are
hanging out of their open crotch pants. Also, I don’t understand how this aids in potty training. Sure, it teaches them how to squat, but it doesn’t teach them self control… Must find out: at what age is it not ok to relieve one’s self on the sidewalk?
Adam brought up a good point the other day. As disciplined as the Chinese are when it comes to work, it seems like in everyday life, they just do whatever they want, whenever they want. Kids can poop and pee wherever (I even saw a small puddle of pee inside the Carrefour once). Men spit all the time, sometimes indoors. If there are traffic rules, nobody follows them. Skipping in line is common. And Adam’s favorite: clogging up the aisle at the grocery store and not caring that you are in everyone’s way! That one is a staple.
Yesterday we went out to dinner with Mr. Tong and a bunch of his friends. Mr. Tong owns 1/3 of the plant and he has a lot of what they call “guanxi” (basically he’s very connected). At dinner with us was the chief of the Huainan police, the head of the Huainan hospital, the president and vice president in charge of taxes, the Superintendent of the Huainan middle schools, two of Mr. Tong’s classmates/good friends, and several other government officials. All of them toasted us individually and said if we need anything, we can come to them. Wow… that’s pretty sweet. And it turns out the Superintendent lady also has a pomeranian and we told her about our kennel problem and she said she thinks that JasonPet (the one that’s closed during Chinese New Year) is the best one. But she said she will try to find us one better than the one we’re looking at. We’ll see if that actually happens.
Here’s a picture of Smudgie playing with the toy his Aunt Amber gave him for Christmas:
This picture was taken just minutes after I gave it to him, but Smudgie has now chewed off both the eyeballs, two of the legs, and the tag.
This past week I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing, on TWO different occasions, small children peeing and pooping on the sidewalk. There’s something really hilarious about the way a bundled up toddler looks while squatting. They’re wearing like five layers of clothing, but their butts are
hanging out of their open crotch pants. Also, I don’t understand how this aids in potty training. Sure, it teaches them how to squat, but it doesn’t teach them self control… Must find out: at what age is it not ok to relieve one’s self on the sidewalk?
Adam brought up a good point the other day. As disciplined as the Chinese are when it comes to work, it seems like in everyday life, they just do whatever they want, whenever they want. Kids can poop and pee wherever (I even saw a small puddle of pee inside the Carrefour once). Men spit all the time, sometimes indoors. If there are traffic rules, nobody follows them. Skipping in line is common. And Adam’s favorite: clogging up the aisle at the grocery store and not caring that you are in everyone’s way! That one is a staple.
Yesterday we went out to dinner with Mr. Tong and a bunch of his friends. Mr. Tong owns 1/3 of the plant and he has a lot of what they call “guanxi” (basically he’s very connected). At dinner with us was the chief of the Huainan police, the head of the Huainan hospital, the president and vice president in charge of taxes, the Superintendent of the Huainan middle schools, two of Mr. Tong’s classmates/good friends, and several other government officials. All of them toasted us individually and said if we need anything, we can come to them. Wow… that’s pretty sweet. And it turns out the Superintendent lady also has a pomeranian and we told her about our kennel problem and she said she thinks that JasonPet (the one that’s closed during Chinese New Year) is the best one. But she said she will try to find us one better than the one we’re looking at. We’ll see if that actually happens.
Here’s a picture of Smudgie playing with the toy his Aunt Amber gave him for Christmas:
This picture was taken just minutes after I gave it to him, but Smudgie has now chewed off both the eyeballs, two of the legs, and the tag.
And here's a goofy face!
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