In a home that's not my own

The first day I got into Wenzhou (exactly one week ago) my Chinese teacher Julie Luo and her husband helped me get settled into a relatively large apartment on the first floor of Building 12 in C District near the University's North Campus. It's not an uncomfortable room, but it has no phone and no computer. These amenities (which I made sure to include in my contract) are in a room directly above me, but another resident has made it impossible for me to move in at present.
(When I first arrived it was because he was still living there, now it's because he left the room so dirty).
And today I learned that another foreign teacher is staying in a hotel because they're supposed to live in the room I'm currently staying in. So we're all in a bit of a mess because of this last teacher, but it should be cleared up soon.


Besides the room situation I've also been spending some time hanging out with some of the upper-level students. Last night I went out walking with Jada (Zhou Ling) and a friend of hers and had a fruity-flavored beverage made with chunks of gelatin, and the day before I went downtown to a huge bookstore with an English major named "Joe" and a buddy of his named "Z". We ate some rice fried with egg and meat and individual plates of noodles in a small restaurant. The food was good stuff.
I've started compiling words for all sorts of food, and so far I know words for rice, noodles, broccoli, bok choy, watermelon and bean sprouts, and I know the general words beef, chicken and pork.
Still, it'll be a while before I'm competent enough to order in a restaurant.

Most of the students are getting into campus today and tomorrow, and all the teachers have to be here for the weekend, then classes start on Monday. But since I only have freshman students (who have the compulsory military 'training' before beginning classes) I won't be teaching until September 10th at the earliest.

Aside from the obvious cultural disparities, living in this place isn't that different from living at college back in America: long way away from family, surrounded by fellow students, trying to acclimate to a new environment, not knowing what to expect but preparing nonetheless... yep, it's a college all right.