Around Campus

Chinese word of the day: 大学 da xue (university).  I have enjoyed learning about campus life here at Qufu Normal University, which has around 20,000 students and several thousand staff.  The campus is walled off from the streets, and you can freely come and go through several gates.  It takes about 15 minutes to walk from one side of campus to the other.

Here are a few photos to help you get a feel for the campus:

This is the foreign language building that I teach in.

There aren't just students on campus; you can always see people of all ages, including grandmas with their toddlers, older men on the exercise equipment, and other folks just doing their jobs.  I wonder where this guy is going.

Bikes!

Students walking into one of the larger classroom buildings.  Note all the hot water thermoses by the door.  Students fill these so they have drinking water in their dorms, but they can't take them into the classrooms so they pile up outside.  (Not only do the dorms lack hot water, they apparently don't have showers either.  There is a building near my apartment that the students walk to when they want to take a shower.)

Orange tents everywhere on freshman move-in day.

Based on my observations, this photo captures the "three essentials" for freshman move-in: the big blue bag, the thermos, and the plastic basin.  Almost everyone had some combination of these three items.

They are painting a sign to commemorate October 1st, the 60th anniversary of this government.

China has these blue and yellow exercise playgrounds everywhere.  There is a large one by a track near our apartments. 

Good to know my work-out options include monkey bars!