Pics, Reproduction and DDT

I'm back home for a week. I'll be leaving this Sunday for a trip to another province with friends for a week or so. A few things I want to share:

1. I went to get my new cell phone the day I returned. The sales lady was very nice and we had the usual spiel you have here: I'm American, I'm a teacher, I've been here a year, I go home next year, etc. etc. But then she asked me if I had any kids. I told her no, and she asked if I would have kids when I returned to America. It struck me I don't really know how to talk about my reproductive decisions in Chinese. I didn't expect to be asked. But then I thought about it, and it makes sense it's totally acceptable to ask a stranger when they're having kids. The fact someone might not want kids isn't part of the local culture, so there's no reason not to ask. Anyway, it was one of those moments that really illuminates the differences between Chinese and Western culture and concepts of privacy.

2. I was worried I'd come home to a giant spider nest in my apartment, but instead I found a giant dead spider on the floor next to the wall where I'd found the last one. Near as I can figure out, the leftover residue from my previous Chinese Raid attack killed the new spider. Yikes, maybe I shouldn't be breathing this stuff. I'm pretty sure it has DDT or something in it, it kills bugs in about 20 seconds. And evidently works for weeks on end. If I DO ever have kids, mine will be the ones with the tails and gills.

3. Two pics: the solar eclipse, and some playground equipment I came across. I guess this is what playground equipment looks like when there is no chance of suing someone if you get hurt. I'll post some more pictures of random things tomorrow.