Daily life: April 2012

The universality of our lives is never so evident as when we feature a collection of "slice of life" photographs from around the world on The Big Picture. If you don't immediately read the caption under the image, you might imagine the sunlit walk in the park or the child joyfully swinging in a number of places. Common experience is what brings us together as people. So, from St. Petersburg, Russia to Salem, Oregon, tour the world in images of everyday existence.-- Paula Nelson (38 photos total)

Pakistani boys, who make a living by collecting materials and selling them to a recycling factory, shower in a pool of water created by a broken water pipe on a roadside, after their daily work on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, April 17, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press)

People play Chinese chess at a park in Shanghai, China, April 17, 2012. (Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press) #

North Korean soldiers eat ice cream outside a flower festival in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 17, 2012. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press) #

A man carries a portrait of the late Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong at a flea market in Beijing, April 16, 2012. (Alexander F. Yuan/Associated Press) #

A Pakistani browses mosquito nets on display for sale at a roadside stall in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, April 16, 2012. (Anjum Naveed/Associated Press) #

A newly-wed couple waits for a photo session on a street in Shanghai, China, April 16, 2012. (Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press) #

Brainerd High School students board a school bus, April 16, 2012, in Brainerd, Minn., after central Minnesota was blanketed with snow overnight. (Steve Kohls/Brainerd Dispatch) #

An Indian man closes the door to his home in an alleyway near the Kali Temple in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, April 14, 2012. (Kevin Frayer/Associated Press) #

Trash collectors collect refuse on a mound of rubbish at the landfill near Novi Sad, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Belgrade, Serbia, April 14, 2012. (Darko Vojinovic/Associated Press) #

People walk at sunset in a park in St.Petersburg, Russia, April 12, 2012. (Dmitry Lovetsky/Associated Press) #

An Indian vendor carries snacks for sale as others gather at the seashore in Mumbai, India, April 17, 2012. (Rajanish Kakade/Associated Press) #

An Indian Hindu devotee swings on a rope next to a Lord Shiva Temple during the Charak ritual in the Hoogly district, near the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, April 14, 2012. The ritual is to show devotion to Lord Shiva at the end of the Bengali calendar year. (Kevin Frayer/Associated Press) #

A woman rests next to an antique music player on display for sale at Panjiayuan flea market in Beijing, China, April 14, 2012. (Vincent Thian/Associated Press) #

Tourists stand around the sculpture 'Mother with her Dead Son' by artist Kaethe Kollwitz at the Neue Wache (New Guard House) in Berlin, April 12, 2012. The Neue Wache is the central memorial of Germany for the victims of war and tyranny. (Markus Schreiber/Associated Press) #

Eric Jensen instructs students in his rowing class on Lake Ewauna in Klamath Falls, Ore. (Andrew Mariman/The Herald and News) #

Men working on top of a 135-foot tall water tower in Salina, Kan., are silhouetted, April 13, 2012, against clouds passing to the east of Salina. (Tom Dorsey/The Salina Journal) #

A Pakistani girl waits by the window where rice is distributed, during a donated food distribution at the Beri Iman, a shrine of famous Sufi Saint Beri Imam, in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 13, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

A North Korean woman cleans slaughtered ducks on a processing line at the Dudan duck factory which employs 1000 workers and produces 7000 tons of duck products a year in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 12, 2012. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press) #

Cartoon characters decorate the outside of the Dudan duck factory in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 12, 2012. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press) #

A North Korean man walks on the grounds of the Dudan duck factory in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 12, 2012. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press) #

Olivia Bellin, 4, of Salem, Ore., bounces on a ride during an annual trip with her mother to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm near Woodburn, Ore.,April 10, 2012. The farm is open through April and features over 40 acres of flowers, rides, food and festivities. (Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian) #

A worker perched on the roof of the Esplanade Theatre carries out the routine cleaning, April 11, 2012 in Singapore. (Wong Maye-E/Associated Press) #

Dave Riccio works on replacing a sign near a large sculpture of New York City construction workers taking a lunch break, at the Garden Place Hotel in Williamsville, N.Y., April 10, 2012. (David Duprey/Associated Press) #

A tourist plays with a model of a giant shark in front of a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, April 17, 2012. (Sakchai Lalit/Associated Press) #

Leo Huynh, 4, waits for the train to leave for the fields at Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm near Woodburn, Ore., April 10, 2012. (Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian) #

North Korean youths enjoy a water slide at the pool facility of the Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 11, 2012. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press) #

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish boys enjoy the beach during a Jewish Passover holiday in Tel Aviv, Israel, April. 10, 2012. Passover commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. (Oded Balilty/Associated Press) #

A boy writes on a notebook onside his house at a slum area in Mumbai, India, April 10, 2012. (Rafiq Maqbool/Associated Press) #

A technician prepares a specimen at an animal specimen factory in Fuzhou, in southeastern China's Fujian province, April 10, 2012.(Associated Press) #

A North Korean resident sits near a playground slide in the form of an elephant in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 10, 2012. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press) #

North Korean residents ride on a public bus in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 9, 2012. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press) #

North Korean children, wearing uniforms, prepare to board a public bus in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 10, 2012. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press) #

A Pakistani boy swims in a water reservoir to cool off as the temperature rises, near a slum area on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, April 10, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

A Pakistani boy walks back to his home across a dry stream on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, April 9, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press) #

A Pakistani girl whispers in her friend's ear while attending their daily madrassa, or Islamic school, set up in a local mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, April 11, 2012. (Muhammed Muheisen/Asscoiated Press) #

Kortney Price and Steve Tsang rest in their car at The Orleans during the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend in Las Vegas, April 7, 2012. Thousands of people attended the event. (John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal) #

Jen Baker, a trombone player with the musical group "Asphalt Orchestra", warms-up among the cars parked in the Water Street parking garage in New London, Conn., before the group marched to the Parade Plaza to take part in the "Big Picture" group photo session hosted by New London Main Street and sponsored by Connecticut College, April 5, 2012. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day) #

A visitor views a light sculpture by artist Dan Flavin, part of the art exhibition "Wish You Were Here: The Buffalo Avant-garde in the 1970s" at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y., April 4, 2012. (David Duprey/Associated Press) #

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