Today has already started out in true Xining fashion…

   
1. This morning when I was getting ready to go to school, I looked out our front window onto the "lawn" area below.  I saw a women (probably in her 40s) exercising…with a hula hoop!  Round and round she kept that circular ring a-spinnin.  It was quite impressive.
    

   

2. On the way to class, I was informed by my classmate that the time of my first class had been changed from 8:30  to 10:40.  No one bothered to call and tell me that the class time had changed!  He thought I knew (and he’s not even Chinese…)
    

   

3. Since I had two free hours to kill, I decided to get my watch fixed.  I needed a new pin to hold the metal clasp for the band onto the face of the watch.  I got a new pin put in for 1 yuan.  Approximately, 12.5 cents US.  Where can you get your watch fixed for 12 and a half cents?  Xining; that’s where!  Beautiful.
    

   

4. Back at school I noticed a group of girls staring into the women’s restroom.  Since the door was open and I was very curious I peeked in to see what was going on.  It seemed as if someone had slugged a sink with a sledgehammer.  There was a mass of white ceramic on the floor and water was spraying everywhere like Old Faithful.  The puddle was quickly transforming into a pond when I left.