Well the Christmas season is in full throttle and the holiday has made it's way to China. My friends that have been here for a few years tell me that they've seen it more this year than ever before. It appears that the local businesses have seen the opportunity that exists to milk the holiday for a little money and they are taking advantage of it. Santas, trees, and Santa hats started appearing around town starting before Thanksgiving week.
Being over 8,000 miles from home this year will certainly provide a new experience, and I'm excited about it. With less than a week left in country I'm looking forward to spending the day with some of the great friends I have made during my time over here. I will also be celebrating this Christmas closer to where it all started than ever before. The season has also presented an incredible amount of opportunites to share about the orgin of the celebration.
This creepy statue has been standing in our grocery store the last few weeks. It appears that they don't have an Asian Santa Claus yet.
This post is a little disjointed and should probably be split into multiple posts again, but oh well. I have a few more interesting signs to share.
I love this sign for multiple reason 1) because wildlife is definitely food with fruit, vegatables, and animals, and 2) because this sign was placed infront of a bush...Have they really had many occurances where people have stopped to snack on their bushes?
This sign was in front of one of the panda exibit, so it really doesn't need any explaining. I just like the language usage and want one for my apartment.
This picture is of a height chart that was posted on a mirror at a clothing store nearby. I love that it only goes up to 164 cm (for those of you that haven't been using the metric system lately, that's right about 5'5", I'm 193 cm).
I couldn't help but stare at his guy for a while...(luckily staring over here is completely socially acceptable) he stood in front of the TV taking pictures for about five or ten minutes. What was on the TV? Panda Bears. That would not been so unusual if there weren't dozens of live Pandas just outside the door...
Some of the baby Pandas being caried around like children
A Red Panda, which looked more like a fox than a Panda
I will finish with my new favorite sign. 1 Yuan ice cream cones at Ikea (that's about 15 cents USD and they were typical size). Unfortunately, I didn't discover these till my last week.
I will be leaving China next Thursday and spend a few days in Taiwain before heading Stateside.
