Daily life: March 2012

Nearly 2,000 images moved across the wires last month under the category “daily life.” Many of those slice-of-life images came from the 1,400 newspapers in the United States that make up the Associated Press, as well as AP staff photographers, but also from Getty Images, Reuters, and AFP. Some of the images are surprising, some dramatic, and others just an interesting view of something quite ordinary. They may not be photographs that fit into any particular news category or event, but we'd hate not to share them with you, so we're adding an occasional feature on The Big Picture blog: daily life captured around the globe. Here is the first installment.


Nepalese children play pingpong outside a closed store in Bhaktapur on the outskirts of Katmandu, Nepal on March 16. (Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press)


Zoltan Kohari, known as the Slovak Batman, patrols around his home in the town of Dunajska Streda, some 34 miles (55 km) south of Bratislava on March 9. Kohari (26) lives alone in an abandoned building without water, heat or electricity. For local residents he became known as the hero in a Batman's costume. While he has not fought crime yet, he does believe in justice and wants to help the police. In the mean time, Kohari, who is poor, does what he can to help the residents to make their daily life easier. In return, some of these residents give him food. (Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters)


Afghan men play with horses on Naderkhan hill overlooking Kabul, Afghanistan on March 26. (Ahmad Jamshid/Associated Press)


Carolyn and Jeffrey Bern with their 'Chinese lantern' they released during Earth Hour from Hampstead Institute's Downtown Farm in Montgomery, Ala. March 31. Earth Hour takes place worldwide at 8.30 p.m. local time and is a global call to turn off lights for 60 minutes in a bid to highlight the global climate change. (Lloyd Gallman/Montgomery Advertiser via Associated Press)


Opal Cosby lifts her legs as she rides through puddles on Ironwood Drive in Hartselle, Ala., following a rainy afternoon on March 22. The setting sun lit the puddles with a red light at the end of the day. (Gary Cosby Jr./The Decatur Daily via Associated Press)


A visitor looks at jellyfish displayed at an aquarium in Shanghai, China on March 21. (Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press)


A small dog takes in the scenery from the back of a Harley Davidson in Dubuque, Iowa on March 17. (Jeremy Portje/Telegraph Herald via Associated Press)


A duckling climbs a curb near Ellis Lake in Marysville, Calif. on March 26. (David Bitton/Appeal-Democrat via Associated Press)


An Ultra Orthodox Jewish man walks past a woman sitting outside her house in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood on March 6. (Oded Balilty/Associated Press)


A Nepalese girl skips rope in Katmandu, Nepal on March 18. (Niranjan Shrestha/Associated Press)


Pakistanis watch Riaz Akbar (47) riding his motorcycle around a circular vertical track in a park in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on March 30. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press)


With cheers from supporting family members and friends, Lauren Wigginton (10) of Yorktown reacts to her new look after getting a buzz cut during St. Baldrick event at the Westin Virginia Beach Town Center Hotel in Virginia Beach, Va. on March 17. (Hyunsoo Leo Kim/Virginian-Pilot via Associated Press)


An old man drags sacks of cotton to be used for quilts to earn his living in Peshawar, Pakistan on March 16. (Mohammad Sajjad/Associated Press)


A girl takes a peek at the runway from backstage while lighting effects are tested before a fashion show in Beijing, China on March 28. (Alexander F. Yuan/Associated Press)


Jay Morrow stretches before participating in the Professional Rough Stock bull riding event at the Taylor County Coliseum in Abilene Texas on March 10. (Eric J. Shelton/The Abilene Reporter-News via Associated Press)


A competitor misses a dismount at Taye Brown Regional Park Sports Complex on March 24 in Jacksonville, Fla., during this year's MuckRuckus event. (Bruce Lipsky/Florida Times-Union via Associated Press)


Pakistani children enjoy swings in the slums of Karachi, Pakistan on March 14. (Fareed Khan/Associated Press)


A farmer works at a paddy field in the Sekinchan outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on March 28. (Lai Seng Sin/Associated Press)


Second-grade students in Joleen Smith's class watch a tour through the universe in the ExploraDome at Jefferson Elementary School in Winona, Minn. on March 6. The portable planetarium gave students a chance to view Mars, constellations and the Milky Way galaxy. (Andrew Link/Winona Daily News via Associated Press)


Myanmar youths play ball near Yangon river in Yangon, Myanmar on March 27. (Associated Press)


Bowling Green State University Army ROTC Cadet David Hoy crosses a one-rope bridge on March 23 during a training exercise near Cygnet, Ohio. The ROTC cadets spent two days on a local farm learning basic military tactics. (J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune via Associated Press)


An Afghan refugee girl skips with a rope while she and other children play in an alley of a slum area on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan on March 28. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press)


Illiana Porteur is covered in fresh snow during a snowball fight in Coquille, Ore., on March 13. (Benjamin Brayfield/The World via Associated Press)


Sixteen-month-old Liam Fox walks amongst fallen petals from a flowering tree at Rittenhouse Square on March 23 in Philadelphia. (Matt Rourke/Associated Press)


Principal James Hale kisses a pig during an assembly at Forge Road Elementary School in Palmyra, Penn., on March 30. Hale challenged the students to read 3,000 books during the month in March for Read Across America, and if they met this challenge he would kiss a pig. Holding the pig is Michael Knauer. (Ashley Walter/Lebanon Daily News via Associated Press)


University of Memphis students Mason Lin (left) and Christina Dang battle it out in a sumo competition on March 30 during the school's inaugural Asian American Awareness Week sponsored by the Asian American Association in Memphis. This is the first year for the U of M Asian American Association on campus and the group has seen its numbers grow from 15 members last semester to over 80 this semester and hopes the event will help bring in more new members and also shine a light on the discrimination of Asian Americans including the recent racial slurs towards NBA player Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal via Associated Press)


An elderly gentleman stretches his legs after jogging in a park in central Belgrade, Serbia on March 13. (Marko Drobnjakovic/Associated Press)


A young girl poses as the Jack of Spades while shoppers make their way past her on a busy shopping street in Singapore on March 14. (Wong Maye-E/Associated Press)


Chris Ball has his teeth whitened during the Women Today Expo on March 16 in Knoxville, Tenn. The whitening is done by "blue dental light" according to an representative of the Xtreme Teeth Whitening company. (Michael Patrick/Knoxville News Sentinel via Associated Press)


Guest psalmist Paul Porter worships during service at Greater Community Temple in Memphis, Tenn., on March 18. The church is celebrating its 40th anniversary. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal via Associated Press)


Street performers play in Santiago a day after Pope Benedict XVI held a historic mass in the city on March 27 in Santiago de Cuba. Fourteen years after Pope John Paul II visited Cuba, Pope Benedict is making his first trip to the communist country. Benedict, who arrived from Mexico, conducted a mass in the city of Santiago de Cuba first followed by a mass in Havana before leaving on the 28th. Tensions are high in Cuba between dissidents and the government as activists hope the international exposure of the Papal visit will result in renewed attention to their struggle for greater freedoms. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)