The updates have been less frequent because I am feeling like life here is almost normal. I am trying to look at things differently because I know that everything is different here but, I do not want to bore you with the mundane (wow, I am calling things in China mundane, I am acclimating myself to this country) and uninteresting.
I now find it mundane to see a mother holding her child over the gutter and allowing it to shit or piss. It is now mundane to see women walking down the street in bed clothing. It is now mundane to see two guys intertwined as they walk down the street. I now find it mundane to see a full city bus driving down the wrong side of the road. I now find it mundane to see people spitting bones on the restaurant table while they eat. I now find it mundane to not have water for several days in a row. I now find it mundane to see restaurant cleaning the dishes on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant. I now find it mundane to see grown men step 20’ away and urinate whole waiting for the bus. I now find it mundane to hear and watch a good lucking woman hork up a luggie and spit on the bus floor. I find a lot here mundane.
This winter has been the coldest in 50 years. There are coal and food shortages. Thanks to the New York Times website, I know that 24 people died when a bus plunged 40 meters (130 feet) off the side of a mountain. The Chinese government predicts 600,000 people will be stuck at the train station by Monday of next week, 170,000 in Shanghai and the expressway and airport out of Nan Chang been closed since Saturday the 26th of January. I think I am stuck here until next week. Oh yeah, we have not had water in our building for three days, well most, my water was turned off today. The water lines have frozen and hot water does not defrost them. I am going to the health club to workout and have a hot shower tomorrow.
Life here is interesting. Because of a falling out with one of my travel companions to Shanghai, I did not go to Guangzhou. I told this guy that when I first met him, something about him scared me. I could not put it to words. However, age grants something you. And, when he exploded at me over the phone, I figured it out. The problem is that I started not liking the guy two weeks before the trip to Shanghai. My desire to make money made me put it aside. I am glad he thinks I am passive/aggressive and would not be good with children because, I have had several job opportunities that would not have arisen if I had left town. And, all my friends know I am not passive/aggressive, I am always aggressive.
I took many pictures of the campus today. I woke up to at least three inches of snow. When I went outside I found many frozen tree limbs and a frozen pond (they call it a lake). The pictures that follow are of my campus.
I have inexpensive accommodations in Hangzhou next week. If I can get there, I will be in what the Chinese call a very pretty city. Some pictures of that later.
Thanks for reading.
Terry.
