A glimpse of life

Every week day at around 5:15, our driver drives us home in the van with tinted windows from new campus to old campus. At the front gate you see the guards chatting amiably with students on bicycles or people with babies in their arms. Our driver honks his horn to signal his arrival. He continues to drive onto campus. Straight ahead there are numerous red banners with white characters on them. I can't tell what they say, but they command your attention. Then on the right as we head to our apartment is the track/playground/versatile sports field. People run around the track. Couples sit closely together in the corner under some trees. Hundreds of students in military uniforms march in the center. On the left side, there are countless enthusiastic students encircling the small basketball courts and they're cheering their hearts out. A few students wobble around on rollerblades. A moment later we arrive at the door of our building. Little babies run around and mothers pull them out of the way from our oncoming vehicle. So this is what home looks like for me now.

This morning I taught one class. I had to walk to another building like usual. I was coming down the stairs on the first floor, when I felt rather panicky about how many students are on the campus. Students were pouring down the stairs and out of the classrooms. The hallway in front of me was total gridlock. I've never seen it like that before. Nobody was moving. The hall traffic was at a standstill. I managed to squeeze alongside the wall and took another way around. For a second I thought I'd be crushed between hundreds of Chinese boys with fuzzy hair.

The rest of the day I taught and wrote lesson plans. After class when we were waiting for our driver, I walked toward the lake on campus. There was a lot going on. From a short distance I watched two of my classes fan dancing. They are preparing for sports week. It was so fun to watch both girls and guys dancing with big red hand fans. I tried not to be a distraction standing there watching. It took about a minute for them to spot me, though, and they all waved and seemed pleased I was there watching them. Those students are really starting to grow on me. Next to them, on the concrete, there was a huge game of tug-of-war. It looked very lively and painful.

Then I walked back to outside our office building, where I sat with a few of my teammates and other teachers. We did an experiment. Jodi, my Chinese-American teammate, sat on one side of a bench and I sat on another. We just sat there. Jodi put my sunglasses on. We wanted to see who drew more stares: Me, the white foreigner, or the Chinese girl in sunglasses. (Sunglasses aren't common in China). It was a tie for a while and then everyone decided Jodi won! It was so funny.

Well, it has just turned dark outside very quickly. I'm going to dash downstairs and try to run around the track before they close it or the military officers kick me out. Zai jian!