Since I came to Nanjing. I live in Jinling High School, on the campus. Most of the teachers and students live in dormitories on the campus. There is a wall around the campus and guards at the gate. The guards have no weapons though.
The school itself is really nice, far better than the high school I went to in America. Every room has a projector and a computer connected to it (when I mean projector, I don't mean the crap overhead projectors in America, I mean the computerized ones you find in big corperate conference rooms). Most schools in China are not this well equipped (I'm told), but this is a very prestigious school. There are several very nice gardens on campus as well as 2 ponds, complete with fish. Yes, FYI it IS a public school. The other teachers thought that all the schools in america are like this, but they were very surprised when I told them that this was unheard of in public schools in america.
I have lots and lots of students. They do seem to like western food
more than I ever did (I love the local food). There are a couple of McDonald's and KFC's in the city, but I never go to them. Most of my students like me, but they also hate Bush. That's fine with me because I hate him too.
In the city there are lots and lots of construction. I mean
. I've never seen so many big construction projects before (then again Portland IS a lot smaller than Nanjing). I live in the inner city, and there are at least 6 big construction cranes in this area. There are, of course, more in other parts of the city. It's like they are practically redeveloping the entire downtown area. Then they are also adding onto the city too.
I do get lots of stares when I go into the streets, not only because I'm a white foreigner (so I stand out real easy) but also becuase many of them have never seen anyone as tall as me. I almost never go into the city alone because it is very easy for me to get lost. Last week 2 of my students offered to show me around the city a little bit. We spent the entire day at the Confucious Temple (during the old dynasties the students would take their imperial examinations there). There are many more historic places to see here. The city is very large, and also very old. It was the capital of the country for many of the imperial dynasties, so it is no surprise that it's name translates literally to "southern capital".
I would take pictures, but the batteries for my camera are low, and the only adapter I could buy from the company (no, it did not come with one when I got it, it was a gift) was a 110/120 Volt one which is worthless here because the electrical system appearently uses the European 220 Volt system. Good thing the AC adapter on my laptop is rated to handle it. I am not sure if my CD Burner will work, I haven't risked plugging it into the wall. I'm more afraid of it catching fire just ruining it. I'll try it sooner or later. I might just go head and buy a new digital camera. Appearently some of the higher end cell phones here do have digital cameras built into them. My girlfriend's camera is like that, which brings me to another point......
I do have a girlfriend now.
Any questions?
