December 13, 2013

I saw my first ass crack in Taiwan last night.  It was at the local coffee joint where an employee was bending way over the pastry display counter drawing little X-mas symbols onto the glass case.  Seeing an ass crack was not something on my "things to do" radar and I only realized that I hadn't seen one to date as this one was staring me in the face.  Seeing them in the States is arguably a daily occurrence...whether they be unintentional or not.  Working downtown in Seattle provided lots of opportunities to run into them, from the homeless guys at the bus stop on 3rd Ave or the dumb ass kids wearing their pants down to their thighs (are they still doing that?), to any floor at Nordstrom with the low cut pant wearing hotties and their desire to show off their expensive thong underpants.  So seeing this ass crack made me wonder why I hadn't seen one here.  After many hours in deep thought, I am attributing it to a combination that the ladies here dress more modestly, and the fact that they just don't have protruding asses that cause the cracks to surface.  This is simply a theory at this point, but will be making an empirical study about the phenomenon going forward.

Another cultural trait that I've noticed recently is the ability for the Chinese to nap anywhere.  I have long marveled at Betty's ability to doze off almost instantly and anywhere, but always thought that she had a mild case of narcolepsy.  In the car ride home, she was telling me how at work, a lot of the employees will simply put their heads on their desks and nap their lunch hours away.  I see people sleeping while sitting in benches in the park all the time.  And yesterday, my Chinese teacher independently volunteered the information about how it is very common for all Chinese to take any opportunity to nap, and that most of them can do it anywhere.  She told us to take a pass through the Ikea some day and look at how many people are in their snoozing away.  I like a good nap as much as the next guy, and have trained my internal clock to be in and out of one in an hour flat, but my body still needs to be horizontal or at least in a heavily reclined posture, and there needs to be some bit of privacy and quiet to get it done, so I am very envious of this ability.  As part of my cultural studies, will have to see if this is a trait that is inherent or can be learned.

We are going to the local branch of Hooters this weekend to celebrate a friend of ours birthday.  He's a Seattle guy that's been here a few years and that's where he likes to go to celebrate.  He calls it Mosquito Bites.  As he invited us to join them, I couldn't help but to paraphrase Matthew McConahey , from his finest role ever in Dazed and Confused.  "I keep getting older, but the Hooters stay the same".   Will bring my camera and share next week.