Sorry mom, this post says pee (and poop)

Today’s field trip was another success. We went, not as I thought to some garden, but to the old Summer Palace, destroyed in 1860 by English and French forces. I have no idea why the English and French were in Beijing in 1860 and why they messed with the old Summer Palace, but they sure did leave behind some sweet ruins. The only thing that bugged me about the whole trip was everywhere I looked—and I mean everywhere—was something I wanted to jump over/across or climb on, but because of the kiddos looking up to me, I thought it best to set a good example.

Top two moments of the day: 1) There was this awesome, awesome maze in the middle of the park, that I guess is left behind from the old Summer Palace? Anyway it leads to this stone pagoda in its center, and though I didn’t explore the maze, watching these kids from another school run through it with their yellow hats was really cool. I would’ve done it except I ran out of time.

The second highlight of the day was 2) at one point, we’re going through this part of the ruins that used to be this water park thing… so it has all these sort of empty swimming pool-type things. And I’m thinking, “Man, these ledges were like made to pee off.” But again, I remember—set an example for the kiddos. Well, lo and behold, even without my example, the boys had the same idea I did. So I look over and five or six of my little buddies have their drawers dropped and are letting their stuff fly. Have I mentioned that it’s totally acceptable for kids in China to pee (and sometimes poop) in public? It takes some getting used to—especially when I look to my left and see some girls doing the exact same thing. Anyway, that was just one of those moments when I remember how similar and how truly small we people are (you get a lot of those in another country). When guys see a ledge, they wanna pee off it—any age, any culture.

That was also one of those moments when I remember to always wash my hands before doing anything after spending any amount of time with Kindergartners.