Advertisement
Published: December 14th 2008
Edit Blog Post
The Office
Front gate with the words Shanghai Second Polytechnic University Thought you all needed to see what my work area was like.
The buildings around here look so grand. Imposing buildings, marble staircases, beautiful gardens and walkways, fish in large ponds, every leaf swept up, exteriors looking like a million yuan.
The gardens are tended to by a huge amount of people who are constantly digging and planting and shoveling and sweeping. The pansies in many garden beds have been all transplanted from somewhere, don’t quite know how they survive some of the frosts we have had, maybe Chinese pansies are anything but “pansies”. (Get it?)
The nice garden area is inside the Queensland college faculty, which is my work building. I have never seen anyone in it ever. Mind you most days are under 10C so maybe in the summer the students and teachers may sit around in there.
We have our own guards for our own faculty building as do all the others on campus. Men in uniform are everywhere.
Inside tells a different story. Even though this is all only 10 years old, the interior is really very old looking in a lot of the classrooms. Walls are crumbling, plaster is falling off
TheOffice
2360 Jin hai Road in many places, and electric wires dangle out of walls. Not too sure what or if there is a philosophy about any of this.
I share a staff room with the other 7 Qld. teachers, we share three computers, 1 printer, 1 scanner, 1 never working photocopier, and piles of papers and books and stuff left over form every other teacher that has ever taught here.
The cleaners come in and sweep but that’s about it. It’s really quite disgusting in places. So me being me took a wet rag and some elbow grease to my desk and the three shared computer desks, keyboards and monitors, at least those surfaces are sort of clean now.
At the front of the college on Jin Hai Rd are the steel gates and the boom gates that are tended to by at least 3 guards. They do not let any vehicle in unless it is authorized, only opening the boom gates if they are very sure. They have a hut that they retreat to in the very cold weather but they are there to welcome us in and out each day with a friendly Ni hao.
Guards at the
The Office
Guards who lower the raise the boom gate and make sure that all who enter are authorised front of many buildings are a very common sight. Apartments, supermarkets, shops, hotels, schools, they all have them. And usually more than one. There is a need to create jobs in a country with so many people.
Any shop is full of shop assistants, in every aisle, many at the counters, at the front to welcome and farewell you, and dressed up to promote products. You just cannot browse without someone leaping upon you to help.
Restaurants have so many staff they can often outnumber the clients. Unlike our hospitality industry where wait staff are run off their feet, here they almost have to fight over collecting a plate or bringing out some food. Almost one waitperson per table in some establishments seems to be the ratio.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.051s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0308s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb