Today was a day of dusty air. Not very humid; everything was shadowed with gray. Everywhere the air smelled stale, dusty. On my way to church from the bus, I saw a woman standing in front of her black Porsche. She had the hood up and a large brown feather duster in her hand. She was carefully listening to the motor and examining all the belts and connections and dusting off the engine block. I couldn’t help but think that her car was cleaner than the air we were breathing at the time.
I mentioned this scene to Mr. J and he said, "Okay, and…?" I said, "It’s unusual to see someone dusting their car engine." He said, "It would be, but we are in China, the most unusual things are normal behavior here. Why would I be surprised to see someone dusting the engine of their car in China?"