Random thoughts

1. People call me by a lot of names: Sasa (cousin and brother), MT, Melly, other random stuff that Summer makes up...haha, but I rarely ever get Mel. It's just not a pretty name. Only one person calls me Mel, and it's a guy. When I came to HK, three guys, at different times, asked me if they can call me Mel. Is it really that much longer to say three syllables? Either guys have simple minds, or they're lazy...maybe those two are related.

2. China uses squatter toilets. The Chinese seem to think it's cleaner this way because their butts don't have to come in contact with a toilet seat that countless bare butts have touched. This is logical in theory, but when you have your first Chinese toilet experience, you will see that this is not the case. Most of the toilets don't have covers in the front and the basin is really shallow, so urine tends to splash out onto the tile in front of the toilet.

Most Chinese toilets have low water pressure, so you're not supposed to dispose your toilet paper in the toilet. There is an uncovered wastebasket for that. Imagine the smell...

Chinese toilets present another problem. If you had diarrhea, do you squat over the toilet for that entire time? How awkward and uncomfortable...as if you weren't already in a state of pain.

So Chinese toilets are far from clean. I have never been so glad to be back in Hong Kong where we use Western-style toilets. If you're curious, Google "Chinese toilets." I'm too lazy to post a picture.