Today we got to see the campus(es) which are great. This university is huge! 20,000 students altogether, & all undergrad I believe. The main campus is really pretty and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll do a lot of our teaching on this campus instead of commuting to the west campus too often. The west campus is out on the very edge of the city, and getting out there really kind of looks and feels like a city out of the wild west... it's crazy, man. Not just the construction that's all over China, but literally entire roads which are ripped to shreds. That campus is enormous and sort of in the middle of nowhere... particularly without the students there, it's the most open space I've seen since I got to China!
We also got to see Pierce's apt. today, but not mine... there's a sort of confusing mix-up right now, though I'm still hoping to see it sometime later this week. Mine's a few buildings over but supposedly exactly the same. It's really cozy: two bedrooms, a little living room and sunny glassed porch spot, dining spot and kitchen. And there's a desktop + printer in each of our places which is soooo great! Neither of us had brought computers with us, but since we teach at a technology university, we were a little afraid of not being able to keep up with our students! There are some dirt basketball and tennis courts right by us, a row of little restaurants and a market right in front of my place, and this cool mini-mountain right behind us. It's really just a very big hill, but it's owned by the university and is covered with little paths, tea-houses, and benches to relax on. The main campus is also in a section of the city with slightly cleaner air, which is nice. While I don't meet with the Dean until tomorrow, the word that I've gotten is that I'll be teaching mostly English majors, and largely literature and linguistics classes, which I'm psyched about!
So this afternoon our foreign affairs liaison took us downtown to have a little look around the city. We ended up climbing up to a Pagoda overlooking the Yellow River, which cuts right through Lanzhou by the way. On the way up we climbed many stairs, passed beautiful pavilions, stopped in at a buddhist temple, visited a carnival-mirror funhouse room, gawked at two kiddie amusement park rides, and were tempted by 3 different shoot-the-target prize booths. At the top we had tea and sat enjoying the breeze, the approximately blue skies, and the blissful lack of humidity. After we came down, our friendly WaiBan representative bought us a bunch of peaches and then started haggling with the boat men over taking us on a ride along the Yellow River. Neither of us were particularly set on said ride, particularly when they started gesturing at some rickety looking rafts as the price started to come down. Abruptly something was agreed upon however, and we were handed life vests and ushered towards the small speed-boat dock. ::whew!:: no wooden ladders lashed across piggy-looking inflated goat skins for us!
Except, there was.
The boat took us up river a mile or two and then left us on a little island where we hesitantly boarded a raft after the owner helpfully reinflated a few of the goat-skins by blowing into them... the raft barely fit the three of us and looked for all the world like a few sticks criss-crossing a bunch of pigs floating along feet up in the air. Pierce wants me to note at this point that he was just about pissing himself and quite certain we weren't going to make it back. I was a bit calmer because, afterall, I wouldn't really be on a good adventure unless something ridiculous involving boats & bodies of water was happening to me (ohhh shades of panama and nica).
Actually, it was a lovely float back down river with only a few hairy moments crossing other people's waves. The smog had been burned off hours earlier, and the light was beautiful and the temperature mmmm so comfortable.
After a long walk which included a stop by some ancient waterwheels that they originally used for irrigation out here (totally cool -- the history major in me was staring for a while), we made it to dinner at a "mutton place." As far as I can tell, sheep-meat is all this place really serves, and MAN is it some good mutton. We tore through some necks and some other body part which I declined to ask about, as well as some amazing baozi and a veggie dish. This was quite possibly my favorite dinner so far in China and 3 hours later I'm still stuffed.
okay, I've got to go check on my site mate who ran out of here an hour ago and hasn't been back (ohhh when you're running into first, and your butt's about to burst... diarrhea).
we'll be out of town the next two days, and then heading back to chengdu, so I'll be back online at the end of the week. miss y'all.
love, kristen
We also got to see Pierce's apt. today, but not mine... there's a sort of confusing mix-up right now, though I'm still hoping to see it sometime later this week. Mine's a few buildings over but supposedly exactly the same. It's really cozy: two bedrooms, a little living room and sunny glassed porch spot, dining spot and kitchen. And there's a desktop + printer in each of our places which is soooo great! Neither of us had brought computers with us, but since we teach at a technology university, we were a little afraid of not being able to keep up with our students! There are some dirt basketball and tennis courts right by us, a row of little restaurants and a market right in front of my place, and this cool mini-mountain right behind us. It's really just a very big hill, but it's owned by the university and is covered with little paths, tea-houses, and benches to relax on. The main campus is also in a section of the city with slightly cleaner air, which is nice. While I don't meet with the Dean until tomorrow, the word that I've gotten is that I'll be teaching mostly English majors, and largely literature and linguistics classes, which I'm psyched about!
So this afternoon our foreign affairs liaison took us downtown to have a little look around the city. We ended up climbing up to a Pagoda overlooking the Yellow River, which cuts right through Lanzhou by the way. On the way up we climbed many stairs, passed beautiful pavilions, stopped in at a buddhist temple, visited a carnival-mirror funhouse room, gawked at two kiddie amusement park rides, and were tempted by 3 different shoot-the-target prize booths. At the top we had tea and sat enjoying the breeze, the approximately blue skies, and the blissful lack of humidity. After we came down, our friendly WaiBan representative bought us a bunch of peaches and then started haggling with the boat men over taking us on a ride along the Yellow River. Neither of us were particularly set on said ride, particularly when they started gesturing at some rickety looking rafts as the price started to come down. Abruptly something was agreed upon however, and we were handed life vests and ushered towards the small speed-boat dock. ::whew!:: no wooden ladders lashed across piggy-looking inflated goat skins for us!
Except, there was.
The boat took us up river a mile or two and then left us on a little island where we hesitantly boarded a raft after the owner helpfully reinflated a few of the goat-skins by blowing into them... the raft barely fit the three of us and looked for all the world like a few sticks criss-crossing a bunch of pigs floating along feet up in the air. Pierce wants me to note at this point that he was just about pissing himself and quite certain we weren't going to make it back. I was a bit calmer because, afterall, I wouldn't really be on a good adventure unless something ridiculous involving boats & bodies of water was happening to me (ohhh shades of panama and nica).
Actually, it was a lovely float back down river with only a few hairy moments crossing other people's waves. The smog had been burned off hours earlier, and the light was beautiful and the temperature mmmm so comfortable.
After a long walk which included a stop by some ancient waterwheels that they originally used for irrigation out here (totally cool -- the history major in me was staring for a while), we made it to dinner at a "mutton place." As far as I can tell, sheep-meat is all this place really serves, and MAN is it some good mutton. We tore through some necks and some other body part which I declined to ask about, as well as some amazing baozi and a veggie dish. This was quite possibly my favorite dinner so far in China and 3 hours later I'm still stuffed.
okay, I've got to go check on my site mate who ran out of here an hour ago and hasn't been back (ohhh when you're running into first, and your butt's about to burst... diarrhea).
we'll be out of town the next two days, and then heading back to chengdu, so I'll be back online at the end of the week. miss y'all.
love, kristen
posted by Kristen at
Monday, August 14, 2006
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