chinese nappies? + left handers

When you see little kids and babies you'll notice something very odd about the pants they wear. On the backside part they all have cut down the centre. Now, it's not that all kids wear tight pants that rip when they bend over, it's actually a design built into each pair.
You see, these pant slits are strategically posititioned right down the middle between the butt cheeks, and are juuuust big enough to allow a piece of poop to slip out. Girls can use this apperture for both types
of business, but i'm yet to check if the boys have another openning in the front of their pants for a 'no 1'. I haven't gotten close enough to a kid to check, and it was hard enough taking these pics without looking like some paedophile.

I suppose it's also useful since it can be quite hard to find a public toilet in xi'an. Along the streets and roads theres a series of lowered elevation squares, each with a tree or plant. suffice to say, it's not advisable to step down too often into these squares, as you never know what you might come upon. Or as this photo shows, never walk near fences either! I actually feel really sorry for these kids as i can only imagine how cold it must be with a gaping hole in your pants. I'm already cold enough as it is without holes in my pants.


For those who don't know, i'm actually left handed. I had no idea before, but actually nobody writes with their left hand in china. I've been told that all the kids are forced to use their right hand, so theres no left handers here as they aren't allowed to flourish/develop. Or maybe you still do have some ambidextrous ppl here, but surely if they never practice with their left hand they probably are only right handed. I'm guessing the mandate on using the right hand has something to do with writing chinese characterse properly. hah! now i've got an excuse for messy writing. or maybe they just thought ppl are abnormal if they use the left hand.

Anyway, whenever people see me write they're always at first horrified, then facinated. (actually i still think left handers look funny when they write!) Then they ALWAYS make the comment that they hear left handers are smart, to which i tell them i've heard left handers are considered artistic, but that i'm not much of an artist. this is ALWAYS the routine i go through everytime someone new sees me write. but for some reason i still haven't remember the chinese word for 'artistic'. weird.