Scandalous

It's official. Spring has arrived in Jinan. Flowers are budding, and the trees on campus look like they're floating in clouds of pale green. The heat was officially turned off on the 15th, and I don't even mind. The basketball courts are once again filled with students until 10:30 at night, and girls all carry around their badminton rackets since it's finally nice enough to play again. The past few days have been sunny and temperatures have been hovering around 80.

But all is not well in paradise. The environment is right, but something is missing. Something important.

Spring clothing.

Apparently, the Chinese believe that temperatures lower than 90 degrees demand sweatshirts, winter boots, and heavy pants. At least, that's what they're wearing around campus these days.

Needless to say, I find this completely unacceptable.

Because I refuse to wear winter clothing on a perfect spring day, I have been quite literally turning heads on campus. Is it my stunning beauty? Do I have food on my face? No. It's because I wore (dun dun DUN) a skirt! Short sleeves! Shoes that aren't sneakers! This apparently makes me a radical. Teachers in my office cautioned me against catching cold. (Um, it's 80 degrees.) My friends gushed over how beautiful I looked. (Apparently my winter clothing is hideous). Several boys did comical, yet sincere, double takes as I walked by.

Of course, all of this unwanted attention makes me rather uncomfortable, but I refuse to sacrifice my values and comfort to conform to ridiculous clothing standards. I'm not wearing anything scandalous. Just seasonally appropriate. An informal poll suggests that spring clothing does not come out on campus until May 1.

There is no way I'm waiting that long.