52 Card Pickup

I've been doing a lot of walking around Harbin of late, as the weather has gotten above 35 degrees and I want to explore the city. In my travels I've noticed lots and lots of playing cards scattered around the streets. Curious as to the reason behind this phenomenon, I asked one of my Chinese TAs what the deal was. Turns out younger kids, as a game, try to build entire decks from cards they find lying in the street or in the gutter. Adults will throw portions of decks out of their apartment or car windows everynow and then to keep the game going.

This seems absolutely retarded to me. And I know retarded.

Also, on a different note, I've recently been bought a lot of ice cream by some of my female college students. This would usually be awesome, but let me remind you that it is rather cold here still, and they usually bring it to me as I stand outside after class waiting for my driver to pick me up, and its kinda hard to enjoy banana ice cream at 10 AM when its 35 degrees outside. But hey, free ice cream!