Musical Leaders - not China related at all

So, the North American leaders - Bush, Harper and Calderon (from left to right, picture from The Globe and Mail) met in Quebec. At left, we can see them walking. Well, Bush and Harper are walking and Calderon is hurrying to catch up. But it seems something is amiss. Can you spot what's wrong with this picture?


If you guessed musical suit jackets, you'd be right. As you can see, Mr. Bush is wearing black/navy pants and a grey jacket that appears a little short. Mr. Harper is wearing tan pants and a black/navy suit jacket that is about three inches too tight and also too short. Finally Senor Calderon is wearing grey pants and a large tan jacket that he is swimming in. I'm assuming that this was intentional since these men have people whose job it is to make sure that tan grey and black/navy are never combined. Ever.

Thinking myself very clever at having noticed this, I went straight to blogging. Then, mid-blog, thinking myself perhaps less clever and fearing reprisal from all the people who do not comment on my blog for having pointed out something obvious, I googled it.

Here's what I came up with: nothing.

I'm amazed that the three leaders would do something so obnoxious without trying to take some credit for it. Some sign of solidarity? Practical joke? Spontaneous colour blindness? General stupidity?

Ideas anyone?

recently...

This will likely be my last update before heading home on the 29th. So some more info. I will be in Wuxi until around the 26th then I will head to Shanghai for a few days of touristing and shopping and then head home on the 29th. My phone will be operative until the flight attendants tell me to turn it off in English, French, Mandarin and Cantonese. I will be taking flight AC38 from Shanghai to Vancouver, stopping for hopefully only a three hour layover, assuming it's not six like last time. Cross your somethings. Then I have flight AC100 from Vancouver to Toronto landing around 11:30 pm on the 29th. This flight seems to be notoriously late. Fortunately, there is a Tim's in every terminal.

Ok, next, for those who somehow manage to read by blog in China, I will be having a party on Saturday before I leave, so message me or email me for info. For those not in China, if you have not already done so, make my life easy and email me specific details of what gifts you would like to receive from China.

Now, for the sun stuff. Today I was in Da Niang, a dumpling restaurant, and as usual the staff were sitting around doing nothing discussing what country I was from and my usual order and the various deficiencies in my spoken Chinese and diet, etc., as they usually do. However, as they were all staring at them and I was seated facing them, I looked up and caught their eyes and then smiled amusedly. Normally, the Chinese have no shame, but this time, the girls covered their faces, turned red and then giggling, fell to the floor behind the counter hiding in embarrassment at having been caught openly talking about someone in the same language they use to communicate with them. Ironic, isn't it? They proceeded to peek over the counter every few seconds until I stopped looking at them, just to be safe. What, oh what, can be learned from this experience, I wonder?

Speaking of experiences, because the past few monsoon-like rain storms have flooded the road outside my school, they have decided to dig the road up (again) to try to improve the drainage, 'cause no one likes it when the sewers back up onto the road. While doing this, they managed to rupture the water main, flooding the road again...

Finally, does anyone know the Chinese word for Guelph?

Oh, and that picture at the top of the page is the latest horrific Chinese 'accident'. There's also the flooded mine that trapped over a hundred people last week. The picture is from The Globe and Mail. The plane exploded at the airport in Naha, Okinawa, Japan. China Airlines has a bit of a reputation for this kind of thing.

mmmm... bridges....

This is the bridge that Jack's cousin's wife's out-of-work brother's illiterate son built... out of crackers and toothpicks. Unsurprisingly, it collapsed, killing 36 (so far, according to The Globe and Mail, where the picture comes from). Because they decided to build the bridge over a bunch of houses, there are many more people who may have been killed. At present they are still digging and/or blasting people out. There were some 100 or so workers on the bridge when it collapsed. The bridge was in Fenghuang, Hunan. The lament? If only we had used steel and concrete! Apparently, the traditional stone design was much more aesthetically pleasing (ie cheaper). As soon as they can figure out who is actually responsible for the project and/or who is the least connected person the project's failure can be blamed on, they will be "severely dealt with", according to Premier Wen Jiabao. By that, I assume he means swiftly executed.

But until then, they are going to spray the area with antiseptic chemicals as well as dump them in the water to prevent spreading of disease from unrecovered rotting bodies, as many villagers use the water for washing and laundry. Dumping chemicals into the water = good idea, why? I wonder how many people are going to die from the polluted water?

**note** the above is my opinion, please see the link above at the Globe and Mail for the opinion free story.

coming home....

Just thought I'd post a brief message for those who want to know. I will be leaving China on August 29, 2007 in the afternoon (CST) and returning in Canada around 11 pm same day (EST). My plan is to catch a couple of days in Shanghai before I head home. My last day working here in next Wednesday the 22nd. That leaves me six more work days. Once I arrive in Canada, I will likely sleep for two or three days, see some people, then head on a pre-school trip. Right now, I'm going to either Ottawa or Cuba. Probably Ottawa though. Then it's back to school for my (hopefully) final year...

People who are awesome...

Despite the many things that complicate my life in China, I thought I would commend the people who were awesome this week:

1. the girl in McDonalds who saw people cut in front of me in line, recognized me, put in my special order for me and had it ready by the time I reached the front of the mass gaggle
2. the cute guy in Starbucks who gives us free samples of everything, chats with us and lets us stay past closing even though he kicks everyone else out
3. the cleaning ladies, who despite making about 50 dollars a month working full time, are nice, bring us little gifts and are willing to come back to the school after close to set us free when the receptionists LOCK US IN
4. the dumpling girl who smiles at me and always makes sure I get a clean table
5. the girl in the rice restaurant who always remembers that I don't eat meat
   

Clearly, most of the people I encounter on a daily basis are part of the food service industry.