First day of school in China...

Class started 8 o’clock Monday morning, June 20th. This was not a problem because I had been awake since 4 am. Jet Lag. This day there were 13 Asian students in the classroom waiting for us. The numbers have fluctuated since then.

They are excited to have us there and eager to make us feel welcome. They will do anything they can to help. We have to be careful what we say around them in seriousness and in jest because they will find a way to make it happen. It is great when they speak up and participate in class because they always have a very intelligent and interesting point of view.

After class and a few other errands they took us to the cafeteria. The canteen, or cafeteria in english, makes the Cougar Eat seem pretty pitiful. There are three floors with a variety of Chinese food. Rice, noodles, beef, chicken, vegetables, seafood, chicken feet, etc. And it’s cheap. A nice size plate of chow mien or pot stickers costs about 50 cents USD. However, even with all the choices, ordering can be difficult and an adventure because it is, of course, in Chinese. Fortunately, there are some pictures and pointing works reasonably well.

I am happy to report my chopsticks skills have greatly improved and I can eat a whole meal with chop sticks. All because forks are not an option.


Xiamen University at night

Imported from www.sarahhintze.blogspot.com

Location:Nanhua Rd,Xiamen,China