The Campus: a virtual tour

Welcome to The Normal University

To the left is the front gate to the university and to the right are all the taxis and motorcycles who generally wait outside the gate waiting for any university student or waiguoren (foreigner) who may want to go to walmart.

To the left is at the entrance to the Normal University, with their big rock with red Chinese characters written on it...

Above is a pond with a small water fall located directly behind the giant rock with red chinese charcters written on it. This as well as the rock, I was informed, did not even exist on campus a few months ago...

To the right and below is a quiet pond which has two little huts situated on both sides which contain nice places to hangout/study. This is situated to the right of my apartment...

If you go half way up these steps and take a left it will take you straight to my apartment. To the right of the steps is the quiet pond and on the left are some apartment buildings. If you follow the steps all the way to the top it will take you to a garbage hut (as shown below to the right).The hut is somewhat similar to a dumpster in the US only trucks don't come to empty them but workers come and shovel the garbage out and take it away. It also is a farely well landscaped area as is most of campus.

To the left is the Hong Ta as it appears from the on campus perspective. The Hong Ta or Red Pagoda/Tower can be seen from just about anywhere in Yuxi and in a way is the symbol of pride in Yuxi. In fact Hong Ta is also one of the two most popular brands of cigaretts in China, of which comes from the tobacco factory here in Yuxi which is a major economic factor as well. Hong Ta has also become a common name used in many other arenas such as names of eatteries and miscelaeous shops.

Below is not just any Library but "THE" LIBRARY!

To the left is my new rot... I have not eatten here yet but I plan to sometime. It was quite interesting trying to buy a meal card, especially with my little to no Chinese and their having even less English. When I first walked into the office I wasn't sure if it was where I was to get a meal card or not so I looked around for some kind of clue that would let me know... Not finding anything I walked back out then back in and back out and back in and then waited in line not exactly sure of what I was waiting in line for. When I got to the front of the line I asked the lady behind the desk if she spoke English. She gave me a blank stare and I gave her a blank stare right back. After we starred at each other for a while we both started laughing and everybody in the office laughed. She finally pulled out 100 yuan and so taking the hint I took out my wallet and gave her 100 cuai still not positive it was going toward my meal card or if it might end up going to something that I had no need for. She then proceeded to fill out a form and asked me to sign and I signed in my chinese name that I had recieved when I had got my cell phone (大坭) or Da ni which in english translates to "Big Mud." Another name that they had tried to give me at the cell phone place had the same sounds but different characters and would be translated as "arriving at the buddhist nun."

Below to the left is my new dinning Hall before I pulled the fire alarm and the one to the right is afterwards...











Oh yea and I took these picture from the roof of the Cafeteria, I ended up here when I was looking for the office to purchase a meal card...

On the left is another pond that was just constructed a few months ago...

To the left is the soccer field and track and on the right is the waiban office or foreign affairs office...

Here is the front gate once again, just from the other side, hope you enjoyed the tour! There should be more updates very soon, I have found it best to do two posts a week... So untill next time, man zou (slowly leave)!

Welcome to my Crib: "Whoever said that you shoudn't pee in the shower obviously never lived in China"

I moved into my apartment Friday night August 17th, reason being that I am just telling you this now is that I haven't recieved internet access untill recently. The picture here is of my living room which overlooks a great view of a tree. I also have a couch, a coffee table, a desk, and chinese cable TV in here...

To the left is my Kitchen which if you follow the door in the picture will take you to the bathroom. On the left, the little white box is, my washing machine: you hook up one hose to a faucet in the shower and another hose drains the water into the shower then turn a few nobs add a little detergant and you have clean clothes! Then to the right is my dryer. Below is the other side of my kitchen where my water machine is, my counter as well as cleaning supplies and my stove which consists of two burners hooked up to a propane tank.

This is my 厕所 （ce suo）or bathroom. On the right is my shower and to the left is my shower floor with squatty potty. Who ever said, "You shouldn't pee in the shower" obviously never lived in China.



To the left is my Dinning room with table, chairs and fridge... And for now, no cock roaches...hopefully we can keep it that way! On the right is my bedroom...

I have been able to make a few additions to the room since these pictures were taken thanks to WALMART! I now have a rice cooker, food, Cha (tea), a coffee maker, and some other miscelaneous items...

To the left is my pantry stocked up with snacks, in the center is my updated kitchen, and on the right is my favorite Hong cha or red iced tea.


Finally, Here is my ride around Yu xi... By jumping on the back of one of these motocycles that conviently camp out right in front of the gate to the school I can get a ride to walmart for about 3 yuan, which is about 40 cents in USD.

The Journey Begins

This would be the last thing I saw in the states in the year 2007...

I was on this plane for 17 hours flying over Santa Clause's house all the way to Suvarnabhumi in Bangkok, Thailand. In Bangkok I had a 12 hour layover from 10pm to 10am... However, the huge and tremendously diverse airport hosted a very interesting night. Not exactly sure what I was going to do for 12 hours in an airport I began walking around to see what exactly Bangkok international had to offer. Several things caught my eye including some interesting temple like buildings, as well as a muslim prayer room and different art...

After wandering around for a few hours I ended up at the Economy lounge where I spent the majority of my time. There I met a man from Austria who had been stuck there at the airport for the past 4 days. I also met a women from Taiwan whom I spent most of the time talking with. She was able to teach me a few chinese phrases and some characters. She was on her way home to Taiwan from a Scouts meeting that was in England. Nearly the entire time she was saying scouts I thought she was saying "Scotts" that mis representation along with her Scotish dress with the kilt and knee highs left me somewhat confused for a while. However, I found she had gone to a Jamboriee in England and had been there for 30 days and was now returning home.

(On the left is my friend from Taiwan, On the right is the Economy Lounge Where I speng most of the time)

After the 12 hours I finally had only one more 2 hour flight and an hour drive by rented mini van before I reached the final destination.