There's a first time for everything...

I had a field trip out with my students about three weeks ago. Not a particularly glamorous one - we just went to the local market, then outside the university gate for a bit. We talked about observation, not taking things for granted, sensory vocabulary, and so on.

Quite appropriate, then, that on that day, I saw:

A) The first Porsche that I've ever seen in our neighborhood (though not the first in China by a long shot: more on that in another post); and...



B) A guy with a trained monkey, that he kept on the end of a leash and forced to do tricks for passersby, asking for a little change in return.



Now, mind you, I'm not condoning either practice. Indeed, quite the opposite. (Which is worse? I'll leave that for the comments...) However, it is quite interesting, and more than a bit strange, to be in a country where one can take these two pictures within 200 meters of each other on the same day...