Outsider Looking In (2)

In between my terribly difficult classes, I managed to start working at City Hall this morning. I went in at 8 a.m.; 95% of everyone didn't come in until 9:30 or 10. Bloomington is very... relaxed.

The department I'll be working in is on the 2nd floor of the City Hall, which puts all other government buildings to shame. This place is beautiful. On the outside it looks like a restored warehouse (which it is), but the inside is spacious and artsy, with old walls, huge windows, and a lot of light. Overall, it's made a very good impression on me. Plus I have my own little cubicle! I'm official.



In other news, I'm slowly, slowly adjusting. Thank you for your continued thoughts! It's been a real struggle to reorient myself to America and school, etc. Hopefully I wasn't too critical in my last blog--those were just my thoughts. But I do realize that I'll become quite bitter if I focus too much on the negative stuff. America's another culture, just like China, and I'm here to be a light!

Here's another observation about another strange aspect of American culture:

2.) Public Libraries

In China, there's no such thing as a public library (at least where I lived). The only library I ever went into was the university library. It was a giant blue shell of concrete. It wasn't heated or air-conditioned; just like all the other public buildings.

Inside the library was like being in a cave or a tomb, with it's high ceilings and concrete floors. It was always rather clammy and surreal. There were way more shelves than actual books. The library people (I don't think I would call them "librarians" would stamp people's books as they returned them, and then they literally chucked the books onto a pile. Apparently someone would later return them to their shelves. The books probably had a very short life-span.

I also didn't see any computers, and some hearty students would sit on wooden chairs to study. As an avid reader, it was all rather depressing to me in China, as far as libraries go. Plus, there isn't such a reading culture like in America. People don't usually read books for fun in China.

In comparison, I waltzed into the country library here in Bloomington in extreme anticipation. The building itself is actually similar to the Chinese library. On the outside it is also a big concrete structure, albeit a little sturdier than its Chinese counterpart.

Inside, a blast of air-conditioning immediately hits you, and my feet hit the nice carpeting. Cheerful librarians are scattered across the cheerfully-painted rooms, helping somebody or carefully re-shelving books.

And the books! There are so many (in English!), and I practically want to cry from joy. You can check out car loads of wonderful, interesting books at a time--all for free! I'll never have time these days to read much for pleasure, but it still makes me feel better.

So while I practically danced along the book shelves, everyone else and their mother sat surfing the Internet at the dozens of computer stations, with their eyes all glazed over. A scant few people were actually reading books. A tragedy.

Happy reading!