A Nanchang Saturday

Today is Saturday and it's almost over. The days just fly by. This morning at 10 a.m. a few of us hopped on a bus to go to a bigger supermarket down a ways on the road. I was pretty excited because I knew that this time we could get in and get out. We knew the way and there wouldn't be any obstacles. However, we got the buses mixed up and got on the wrong one. Couldn't you see that coming? Every day there is a little mini adventure and I have come to expect it and even anticipate it now.

We ended up on this random street that was like a Home Depot road. All these tiny shops were filled with countertops and toilets. Men stood out on the half sidewalk/half dirt path sawing away at things. We walked around them and around the dozen or so chickens that were sharing the same walkway with us. We ended up walking for 45 minutes to get to the supermarket. It was a Saturday morning, so it was pretty packed of course. I ended up with some raisins and crackers and even peanut butter!

It then took us a while to get back to campus because all the buses were so crowded and wouldn't even stop at the station. We stood at the station for a while as thick plumes of smoke from tons of firecrackers almost choked us. A wedding was just dismissed or whatever right next to the bus stop. Two guys carried out wheel-size firecracker boxes and commenced to explode about 6 of them. We got back to school at 12:30 p.m.-- 2 1/2 hours after we had started out.

This afternoon was uneventful as we worked on syllabi (sp?) for class and lesson plans. Then a few of us and several very animated, endearing Chinese students set out to find dinner. Nanchang has frequent power outages we have heard, but I didn't experience one until today. At dinnertime the power was out so we headed out the back gate in search of food. It was very dusky and I could just see people sitting in the little shops with candles. They weren't cooking food. So we went out on the main road in search of food, but as far as the eye could see, all the power was out.

My stomach was hurting a lot from who knows what at this point, so I turned around. I bought a big slice of watermelon from a vendor and just sat outside my apartment building in the dark spitting out millions of watermelon seeds. In the dark I looked just like a Chinese person.

Our power just came back on so now I'm cooking some noodles. Most of the rest of campus is still without power. The Chinese pop music and announcements that usually blare across campus on loudspeakers are also quiet. It is now totally dark and students are still playing basketball on the dozen or so courts beneath my window. They sure are dedicated! They play from sun up until past sun down, rain or shine, light or no light.

Last night we went to a place in downtown Nanchang called Bro's Pizza. It was one of the nicest places I've ever been to. I felt like I was stepping into a swanky New York City establishment as all the sounds and smells of the outdoors receded. The pizza was really good. It is pretty expensive for China ($4 for each of us) and it felt sort of like an escape, so maybe it will be a place to go for special occasions and not very frequently. Most of the restaurants around campus cost about 20 cents to a dollar, so that's where we eat most often. Those are some of the best places to interact with ordinary Chinese people.

Could you please lift up my health? Thankfully I've been so healthy and fine up until today. This morning I woke up with an extremely congested head, perpetually runny nose, and a constant stomach ache. It's not really bad, but enough that you feel rather crummy and unsociable. Thanks!