morning exercises,stolen purses, forgotten broom closets

morning exercises
Originally uploaded by sbucha004.

this photo is of morning excercises at a primary school my friend susan teaches at. (i've stolen all these pictures from her website, i'm still trying to figure out this techno crap) anyway, they do this at every school every morning, including the primary school i live next to.... the one that plays "jingle bells" as their bell to change classes everyday, all year long, even on saturday and sundays. have i mentioned that?
now, for the sad news, i didn't mention this when i wrote before about the wedding, but my purse was stolen at the wedding! right from the very chair i was sitting in. it was the end of the evening and everyone was leaving. i turned around to take a photo and reached back to grab my purse and it was gone!!!!! luckily, i had my camera and my keys in my coat pocket. the purse was very small, more like a little pouch, but i had 200 rmb in it and my chapstick... i can't decide which one i miss more???
never fear living in china will always provide comic relief and the more i think about this, the funnier it is. patti and i live on the top floor of our building. if you are facing our front door, there is a wee staircase to the left and at the top is a wee room that is(was) quite disgusting, but was a good place for storing our brooms and mop and bucket. (our school gave us about 10 brooms, so they really needed a room of their own). anyway, one day i start cleaning and get everything ready to be swept and mopped. i of course need the broom and mop/bucket, so i walk out the front door, up the tiny staircase and notice there is a padlock on the door, which wasn't there before and there are only two apartments on each floor and i know the family across the hall doesn't use the room. anyway, i'm mad cause i'm all ready to clean, but i pull on the lock and it comes open... i open the door, look inside and find.............................................................. the room had been cleaned out and someone is living in there!?!?! what the hell? the room was so tidy and there was a cot, a small table with a lamp and house shoes next to the bed. AND they gotten rid of our broom collection only to be using the one they kept and the mop and bucket which was full of water. i couldn't believe it!
so, since this is china and nothing is private, i decide to use MY mop and broom and such. i take the broom, sweep the apartment and go back up to get the mop. well, when i scoot it towards me to pick it up, i accidentally slosh the water everywhere and spills all over the floor.... eeekkk. oh well, they shouldn't have comadeered my broom closet! so i kind of mop up the excess water, but think if i leave some maybe they'll get the hint.... well they haven't and actally i've never seen or heard anyone up there, so i'm not sure they still live there. i haven't been up since, but my apartment is nasty so i'm thinking of making a trip this weekend... i'll let everyone know how it turns out.
i told my contact teacher and he started cracking up.... "someone is living there?" that is the foreign teahcers room, not someone's house"... not sure what he's gonna do about it. i don't want them to be kicked out of their closet house, i just want a clean apartment.