Three Sheets to the Wind

One of the chores our ayi does regularly (and sometimes us) is to do the washing.  Luckily, we have a washing machine, but it only uses cold water, and we have no dryer.  In AZ a dryer isn't needed as much, but here it is a much more humid environment so things take a LONG time to dry. 

Our dryer, instead, is a pair of steel cables, one mounted on the north, and one on the south sides of our apartment.  It's always interesting to come home from school and see our unmentionables flying in the breeze six floors up!

Today, Sue put the sheets and the mattress pad outside, and didn't remember to clip them to the cable with clothespins, so they flew away, and landed on the roof four stories below us.  Thankfully, our ayi came to the rescue and talked to the building maintenance people and was able to retrieve them!

Here's Jack, lesson well learned, clipping the sheets to the cable.  He's a little scared of heights, so this was a scary job for him!

This amazing 87 year old man came up and spoke perfect English to Peter and Jack.  He had lived in Shanghai during the concession era and had worked as a young man with lots of foreigners.  Since we have been watching Chinese history programs for part of our homeschooling, we realize how much he has seen China change during his lifetime! 

He invited us to an "English Corner" on Sundays near the lake.  Maybe we'll get a chance to go soon!


One of the pastimes of the young university teachers is to smoke the hookah.  Tobacco is pumped through water, and smoked through these contraptions.  Many bars offer smoking through these things, but it's STILL smoking so we only LOOK at the these interesting looking devices.

There is still a lot of news about the earthquake.  About 20,000 people have died, and the body count will probably continue to rise.  CNN reported that more than 3.5 million homes have been destroyed.  Much of the country's rail system has been diverted to transport thousands of soldiers to help clean up.  Several of my students are from that area but thankfully their families survived.