HOW IS CHINA DIFFERENT?

Well, the stairwells in modest-to-good apartment buildings are "unfinished" concrete, cleaned about every other month by the women we see on the streets, sweeping in green uniforms, scarved heads and white masks covering their mouths.

Trash is left in the center of the courtyard behind the building. Recycling? What? Vegetables have been decaying since autumn after appearing in window sills all over the city.

When you get into a taxi, if the driver turns on the meter, you hear a familiar .wav sound. What's that sound? It took a few weeks to get but it's Windows 2000 or XP login or logoff. But it's familiar. Occasionally we get a message and greeting when the meter goes on, but we're still illiterate so we don't know what it says.

I hear private homes have bathtubs but our apartment doesn't. I miss my baths, terribly. Almost more than some people. Definitely more than many.

THE F*cking cold before the government turns on the heat Nov. 15th -- yes, October 1st was not just National Day -- The weather turned, as if on cue, from summer to fall. We spent the next 6 weeks living with a space heater in the bedroom. I remember that there was no where warm, not at work, not at home. And when will they decide it's Spring? The weather isn't too bad for a gal from SoCal. If it is cold, it's usually sunny.

OH, THE STREET MARKETS! THE FOOD SURPRISES AND INTERESTING FOLKS!

NEXT BLOG WILL BE PHOTOGRAPHIC. IT'S LATE.