The End of an Era

Last night, I shaved off my beard. Here are a couple shots of it in all of its multi-colored glory:

Front Shot

Side Shot

I shaved the beard off in pieces. I left it in a fu man chu for a little while. I also left a moustache for awhile, but those pictures are too dirty to post online.

Fear the fu man chu

It's kind of weird how different I look with the beard, the fu man chu, moustache, and then clean-shaven. I'd say that I look about 5 years younger without a beard. It's nice to be able to feel my face, but I do miss stroking the beard while I'm in class...

Speaking of being in class, today our teacher was explaining how to use the word "responsibility" in Chinese. Her example sentences involved a man's responsibility and a woman's responsibility in a relationship and they accurately portray Chinese views on gender roles. She said that it is the man's responsibility to make money (not terribly PC, but still pretty acceptable) and the woman's responsibility is to "look pretty". At this comment, a couple of Western jaws dropped, but I was surprised by how little effect the comment had on our class... I rarely write about little tidbits like this, but they keep life here interesting.

- Jon