Tidbits about my experience and observations in China

1. I can hear the little music ditties that serve as bells for the high school across the street from my apartment, throughout the day, every day (the earliest one is at 6 am and the latest is at 9:30 pm).
2. I can look down from the window at the school for the deaf and mute behind my building and see the kids using Chinese sign language.
3. The street sweeper plays “Happy Birthday to You” as it goes down the street.
4. Students at my school are assigned to sweep outside, and mop inside the school. The duty rotates. Instead of using mop buckets, they sprinkle some water on the floor with watering cans. On Friday afternoons they clean the windows of their classrooms and use little brushes on the doors.
5. Fashion is very flexible and open. Almost anything goes, including wearing the same outfit every day.
6. Only boiled water is served at restaurants. You're lucky if you can get lukewarm water, and it's impossible to get it chilled.
7. Grown men pick their noses in public.
8. Spitting in public is common.
9. Many toddlers have slits in their pants so that they can easily relieve themselves outside. Older kids (even up to ten years old) sometimes just pull down their pants on the side of the road.
10. Frameless lenses are a fad.
11. Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga are extremely popular here. So is Adele.
12. Written English is very popular on T-shirts, business signs, and products like thermoses. Often it's riddled with errors, or doesn't make sense. Hip looking Chinese young adults with hair died red proudly wear shirts that read things like, “Boy grow man up”.
13. If you ask an English student, from age 5 to age 18, “How are you?”, they will always parrot the same reply, “Fine, thanks. And you?”.
14. It's essential to have a pair of bathroom slippers and a pair of regular slippers in your home. The Chinese never wear shoes inside.
15. Dessert is rarely served, but when it is, it's eaten before the meal.
16. Drinking a lot makes you a hero in the eyes of many Chinese.
17. Many men smoke, but I did not see a single woman with a cigarette until last week.
18. Smoking is ubiquitous. Men smoke in restaurants, in supermarkets, in the doorways of hospitals, and inside offices of public schools.
19. Several weeks ago there seemed to be a new rule at my school. Students returning to school on bicycles after the “siesta” got off their bikes just before going through the gate. Then after passing it, they immediately got back on their bikes. The rule makes no sense to me.
20. It's okay to eat with your hands and spit bones on the table.
21. You must say, “I'm full” at least three times to your host at dinner before he starts to believe you.
22. Almost everyone takes a nap in the afternoon after they eat lunch. If someone calls me after one o'clock the first thing they say is, “Are you sleeping?”
23. On the two days of the “gaokao”, China's national college entrance exam, June 6^th -8^th, there is a law that prohibits all construction work in order not to disturb the test takers.