Our campus has gotten busy again. Hardly a day goes by without any special activities going on at the main square of our campus. The other day ran into one. Couldn’t quite figure out what exactly it was about, but it had something to do with bottles. They’d set up lots of tables and students were sitting and painting bottles obviously enjoying the task. I think, I like our campus when it’s a little more quiet!
Every year the Freshman students have to spend their first month at university doing military training. That involves hours of exercising, usually in sun and heat (something that especially some girls dislike, because they like to keep their skin as untanned as possible). In any case, this year’s military training has been reduced to a minimum so far, since it’s been raining and pouring every single day for pretty much the last two weeks. Lucky for those girls, I’d say, though I haven’t figured out yet what they do when their training is cancelled due to bad weather …
Well, I while ago I promised you to post a picture of our new dining hall. It has taken me a little longer, but I finally managed to get a photo at our BBQ dinner last Monday. Fact is that our dining hall now is twice as large as it used to be, and it has undergone a real upgrade: cushioned chairs, sofas, and lots and lots of tables of varying sizes and shapes. The only thing some of us do miss are the big round tables where we used to sit and get involved in grand conversations. With the new setting, it’s more difficult to involve more than four people in one conversation. But then, you can’t just have everything, right? I’m sure, rather sooner than later we’ve forgotten all about those large round tables!
I just have to share this cute get-better-soon card I got from some of my colleagues last week, because I think it’s one of the best cards I’ve gotten in a long time! Don’t mind the parts I had to scratch out before posting it here (to protect some privacy, etc.); I just love how they tried so hard to add some German words, and you can see that you don’t have to go all fancy in order to do a little, but meaningful random act of kindness for someone! This card definitely did what it was meant to do last week: It really cheered me up!
Like most other traditional holidays in China, the Mid-Autumn Festival has a long history. It is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which in the Gregorian calendar usually is in September or early October. Various legends exist as to the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival, in most of which the moon plays some more or less important part. In modern day China, probably the most important aspect of the Mid-Autumn Festival is the eating of the so-called “mooncakes,” small round pastries decorated with ornaments on the outside and filled with various blends of fruits, nuts and/or beans inside. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a public holiday, which means schools and other public institutions are usually closed.
Do not withhold good when you have the power to do it. Ancient Proverb
Ok. Admitted. 9:13 am isn’t exactly seriously early in the morning. Not usually for me anyways. But I am, after all, still dealing with this bad cold that just won’t go away and makes me feel worn out all the time. So, 9:13 am to me is quite early these days. In fact, it’s early enough that I’m still asleep at that time on a Saturday morning. But it was exactly 9:13 am this morning, when the little beep of my cell phone went off, telling me I’d gotten a message. And you know – I might have even missed it, hadn’t it been for the message telling me that today is teacher’s day. Well, almost missed it, of course, because as the day is progressing, I am collecting those lovely notes my students are kind enough to flood my cell phone with. But, in case you missed it, now it’s my turn to wish all of you teachers out there a “Happy Teacher’s Day!”
School is starting back again, so this morning I took my camera out to record the crowds of students flocking into the teaching buildings. Back to school also means that from now on every morning, and whenever classes are over, our campus is getting crowded with students on their way to class, to their dorms, to another class, or just being out and about. And since the number of students increases every year, our campus gets busier and busier with each fall semester that passes. I’ll be in class myself later on today, therefore to everyone who is going back to school these days: My best wishes for the fall semester 2011!
Today marks the official beginning of the Fall Semester 2011. Students have returned from their summer break, and for everyone (except the Freshman students) classes begin this morning.
Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing I desire can compare to it. Ancient Proverb
