Random thoughts and Observations

Here are just some thoughts I have had while I'm here.

• The students at UST are really really fashionable, especially the girls. No t-shirts and jeans here. Shoes are big here, no flip flops unless you are just lounging around! Girls are always wearing nice shoes, flats, cute sneakers, boots. But almost outrageously, girls wear high heels all the time to class! Not just little heals, but sometimes full on 3-4 inch high stilettos. All the clicking is sometimes distracting!
  
• Boys, on the other hand, are a little more relaxed. However, backpacks, like flip flops, aren't really popular here. So the boys have resorted to using over the shoulder bags, cloth briefcase like things, duffel bags, and man purses, as we would call them in the US.
  
• I keep on thinking everybody has so many designer bags. But then I remember they are all fake. You can get any sort of copied bag you want at the street markets. So if most people have fake bags, and people know they are fake, what is the value in having a real bag, only for people to assume it is fake?
  
• There are people hired to do everything. For example, in all the eating places (on campus, in a mall, McDonalds) you never bus your own trays or throw away your garbage. Somebody is hired to just go around and pick up the trays and such. Extremely inefficient, I'd say. Another example, on campus we have security guards. I could see having people at the gates to the campus, but down near the residence halls far away from everything doesn't make much sense. Maybe it is to say they have security guards. The campus is quite isolated (even more so than Cornell as it is not in a town and is not really close to any main public transportation) and I don't really expect random people just show up. One of my favorite randomly hired person is the guy who cleans the escalator handrails. While I am glad they do clean those handrails, that is all I ever see this guy do. I suppose there are a lot of escalator handrails to clean here.... Well, I guess it is good that the government here (I assume it is the government) creates jobs for so many people.
• Walking here is chaos! I don't know whether it is the mixture of cultures or there is really just no organization to walking here. I figure that the side of the sidewalk you walk on would follow the side of the road you drive on. Here, people drive on the left (like england, opposite of the US). So I would think that would walk on the left as well. But no! Complete madness on the sidewalks. This follows with escalators too. Sometimes up is on the left, sometimes it is on the right. There is really no pattern!
• Speaking of the side of the road you drive on, in China, people drive on the right side of the road. So I wonder what happens at the boarder. Does it magically just switch? Plus, cars here have the drivers side on the left too...so do you need a whole new car when you go to the Mainland? I read you need new license plates....
• And finally, I'm only here for about 2 more months! wow. Midterms are a'happenin, spring break is about 3 weeks, and before I know it it will be finals! I need to explore some more soon!