Glorious Living

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I arrived to Kunming on Wednesday, August 26. It was a steamy day in Shanghai where Chris and I had to drag my suitcases from the teacher’s apartment building to the North Gate, which was about a kilometer hike. I was hoping that would be the worst of it, but I was wrong. My flight to Kunming was uneventful. I had booked my flight through ctrip, a Chinese flight booking website. I flew Shanghai Airlines. Unfortunately, because I stayed in Shanghai more than 24 hours between my international flight and my domestic flight, I did have to pay 475 RMB in excess baggage fees, but that was actually less than I really owed because I asked for a discount…in China—always ask for a discount. Since the costs of my flights were very reasonable, I wasn’t complaining. On board, they bring around warm towels to wipe your face and hands and generally refresh yourself before they serve a hot meal.

So, having finished my book that I started in September of last year! (Sorry Tranny-you won’t be getting that book back for awhile), eating a meal and handling the travel day well so far, I arrived to 24C (75F) degree temperatures and blue skies with puffy clouds at 3:30 in the afternoon. I had to get to my university by 6:00 pm when the office who would assign me my dorm room closed. Plenty of time, right? I quickly collected my baggage, loaded it onto a free push cart and glided outside to grab a taxi. But oddly, there was a line of over a hundred people in the taxi line, but no taxis. One taxi would come about every 5 minutes. I stood in line for a few minutes fending off sketchy scammer people asking me where I was going, until I realized that it was going to take over an hour, at least, if I waited in this line and I feared the university’s office would close before I could reach them. So, I found a pay phone and called. My contact at the university advised me to walk out on to the street to get a taxi. I hesitated with all my baggage, but saw no other choice, so I abandoned my free cart and began to drag my baggage through the parking lot to the street. However, this plan began to fall apart when none of the taxis would pick me up because the police around the airport would ticket them, if they did. So, I continued on down the streets away from the airport, but the way the streets were laid out prevented taxis from being able to reach me. I had no choice but to continue on and on and on. The 75 degree temps began to feel like 100, the beautiful clear skies were only letting the sun beat down on me and my arms were giving out, when I eventually came across a big road. Still…none would pick me up. So, I continued down another side street, but about half way down, I couldn’t do it anymore and just stopped. My arms were shaking and I was soaked with sweat. Finally, a full hour and a half after getting my baggage off of the carousel, a taxi pulled over to collect me. But with a small crowd gathering to watch the spectacle, he started arguing that he couldn’t take me because my bags wouldn’t fit in his car. I was not going to let him get away without me in that car. I quickly jumped into action to maneuver the bags into the car and show him, that he was mistaken and they could easily fit. Of course he was mumbling in Chinese, so I am just guessing that was what he was saying. So, I’m all set in the car and we are off. It is about 5:15 now. We speed around the corner and about 2 km into the ride hit dead stopped traffic and thunder is rumbling in darkening clouds above the city. UGH! Now I resign myself to the idea that I’m not making it to the school in time and have to find somewhere else to stay.

Luckily, that is not the case though. I was able to get the taxi driver to let me use his cell phone, call the school and get them to stay a bit late to help me. We finally arrived and they let the taxi drive onto the campus, we found my contact and she took me to my new home.

As we entered the South gate of the school, it was like driving under a waterfall and coming out refreshed on the other side. The campus’ main entrance dates back to the founding of the university in early part of the 1900s. There is a grand set of stairs leading up a steep hill to an enormous building constructed with European style architecture. The stairs are surrounded by a lush forest of trees and flowers, with the occasional stagnant fountain to rest near on the long climb up. In 2006, I visited this campus when my friend (boyfriend at the time), Adam, and I took a week long trip to Yunnan. Back then, we climbed these stairs and wandered around the campus that I am now living on. It is an interesting feeling to return and be familiar with this place that I only visited once many years ago for only a few minutes.

The rest of the campus is fairly Chinese in design, but punctuated with areas of green and Russian-style buildings modeled after a university in Kiev spread randomly about. There are also many structures that linger dating from the Ming Dynasty, such as a building where the imperial exams were administered and some Chinese archways and rock gardens.

My scholarship includes shared accommodations in the graduate student dormitory on campus. Only scholarship students can live on campus. Other foreign students must find their own accommodations in apartments or hotels. My accommodations consist of a concrete box of a room with two beds (a bit larger than a single, but not quite a double), two desks and two wardrobes. The outer side of the room has some windows and double doors that lead outside to a small balcony where we can hang our clothes to dry. There is no air con or heating. Luckily, the weather is comfortable right now and only gets warm in the afternoon for a few hours and at night is quite cool. There is a men’s shower room, a women’s shower room, a women’s toilet room and a room with a line of water spouts above a raised waist-high kind of trough (sink room?) at the end of the hall on our floor. The showers are actually not bad. The water is hot and there is good water pressure. Also, I was very happy that the toilets are western style. Whew…but we do have to carry our own paper with us and throw it in a basket rather than in the toilet, which is typical in China, just a little awkward to carry it down the hall each time you have to go.

So, while the dorm room is far from great, it is livable and since I had very low expectations of it, it is somewhat better than I expected and is very similar to when I lived in a dorm in college (though not as comfortable). My roommate is named Chiara. She is Italian and has been studying Chinese for 4 years. It has been great to have her here to help navigate getting settled, share meals with and generally get to know the city together. And bonus, even though she speaks English, I get to refresh my Italian skills and Chinese skills! Haha. (I studied abroad in Italy for a semester in college)

We have already arranged our room nicely to allow for some privacy, but comfortable for both of us. It is so basic though; there is not a whole lot you can do with it. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find floor lamps here. Only desk lamps, so the lighting could be improved, but it is okay.

The worst part of the last week has been the EXTREMELY LOUD RACKET that is constant and unnerving! The video that is attached to this post is just an example of some of the noise, not even the worst of it. The dormitory is under some sort of improvement where they emptied the entire 7-story-approximately-40-rooms-per-floor building of all its furniture and then began to fill it up again with new, unassembled, furniture. Chiara and I, being some of the few people to arrive first last week, have lived through this process, otherwise known as aural hell. Since the dorm is essentially a series of concrete cubby holes, there is no sound absorption material to cushion the noise. Of course, there are no elevators, so all of this work is being done on the backs of workers who carry the furniture up and down the main stairs, which happen to share a wall with our room. And they don’t do this quietly. No, in order to communicate with each other, they must shout as loud as they can over each other as they go up and down, up and down, up and down. And they don’t stop at night. We think they go in shifts and continue throughout the night, perhaps stopping for a couple hours between around 2-5 am. Also, we are on the second floor, on the back side of the building, which is also where they dump all the old furniture. Then they go through all the old furniture and rip it apart with their hands and hammers and by throwing it violently on the ground to break it up into smaller pieces. Meanwhile other workers are assembling the new furniture with hammers and what sounds like the largest stapler in the world (but I really have no idea what it actually is that I’m hearing). Plus, they must drop every screw, door knob and tool on the ground at least 3 times. Then there are the other students, who have all returned in the last two days. They also do not know how to talk to each other without shouting and insist that the only way to walk up and down stairs is to stomp. But I digress…

Luckily, we anticipate that this aural hell should be ending in the next few days as they finish their work in this building and some other sort of assault on our senses will commence to take its place.

For now, this is my living situation, in all its glory. I’ll talk more about the area where I live and the city in another post…

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Photos

Ni hao new home
First look at our dorm room.

Dorm
View from balcony looking in.

Dorm after re-arranging
We moved stuff around for a little more privacy and made it easier to get to our desks for studying.

Dorm again
My bed.

The view
This is the view from the balcony outward.

Comments

[Megan]

Great to read your first post from China!
Hi Jen, really enjoyed reading about your first week in China. It's cool getting to see pics and video too. Gotta go - Maya is ready for me to give her some attention :o) Can't wait to read more of your adventures....LOVE YOU!!!! Megs

[F*xedo]

Jen-Laoshi, You should invest in some ear plugs. I consider it essential for traveling. They don't take up any space and they're inexpensive and will go a long way to reduce the severity of each noise. They've allowed me to sleep on in my stateroom on the aircraft carrier despite living directly beneath where the jets go to full power for takeoff! 88!

[jenlaoshi]

Ah earplugs. They must export them all, because I haven't seen them here. Of course, they must be here...but luckily despite the noise, I've been able to sleep fine. :-)