College Move-In Day

It is apparently move-in day for the college that shares a campus with us. It's a good thing we haven't fully recovered from jet-leg yet because ever since about 6:30 this morning they have been blaring Chinese music and instructions on the loudest PA system ever invented.

We've been getting up around 5 the last few days. Even Monday we woke up pretty early, despite having travelled for about 30 hours straight. We did a few administrative things that morning, then went to see downtown and shop for some essentials with our translator, Ji Sir. He mostly just followed us around the grocery/general store and answered questions when we needed to know if they had something or what a certain item might be. At one point I glanced down an aisle while we were looking for a new bed sheet. It happened to be the mens underwear section, clearly identifiable by the half-nude male models on every package. As I turned around he informed me very matter-of-factly (as if I couldn't tell) that "these two racks are for underpants."

We got back from town around 3 and decided a nap was in order. We set an alarm for 5 and were instantly unconscious on our dusty, lumpy mattress. I barely woke up at 5 to turn the alarm off and went back to sleep until 10 when my bladder required a quick trip to the bathroom before returning for another 4 hours of sleep. We both woke up at 2 and had a snack before going back to sleep until about 8. Ah, does it ever feel good to go to bed for the night at 3 in the afternoon.

Tuesday the only thing on our schedule was the technician coming to install internet. We waited around the apartment until lunch when we decided to venture out for some food. On our way out, the Japanese translator stopped us and called Ms. Tang, our boss, who knows some English. She instructed us to return to our room so we didn't miss the internet guy who ended up coming at like 4 and couldn't even get it to work and had to come back yesterday. So once again we ate Clif bars.

That afternoon I did end up getting invited to play soccer. I am not that great at soccer and don't really know what to do besides try to keep the other team away from our goal. I was kind of nervous since they all had spikes on and seemed intense about it. Before I realized that they weren't at all serious, I took it too seriously myself and slide tackled a guy on a clean break for our goal. It was a nice slide tackle if I do say so myself, but they all thought it was hilarious and clapped. One guy from the other team gave me a huge grin, a thumbs up sign, and a very approving "OK!" which seemed to be the only thing he knew how to say in English. It was only later that I realized nobody was serious enough to even run terribly hard, much less sacrifice their body.

I leave you with a map of our campus, courtesy Google. You can actually zoom in surprisingly close.

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