All posts tagged: feature

Saturday Feature: Spring Storms

Published by Sula H.

They call autumn the season of storms in other places. Spring is supposed to be the nice, sunny season. And that is true here for the most part as well. But spring in these parts of China also means, lots of storms, too. As the seasons are changing and the temperatures shift back and forth between cold and warm – the result is lots of wind. We had one such a storm just the other day. All night long the winds swept through our building, playing havoc with the unoccupied upper floor of our house, slamming doors over and over again. There can be windy days like this until March, but the good news is, we still get some really beautiful weather in spring, too!

Saturday Feature: Tree Planting Day

Published by Sula H.

Spring has arrived. And every year in early spring the Chinese people (at least in this area) celebrate a special event: Tree Planting Day. Special ceremonies take place, and regularly, the foreign faculty of our university is invited to participate in the activities. Our university has its own tree planting day, which took place yesterday. I joined some of my students who participated – each equipped with their wash bowl (for watering), and was surprised at the number of students who had showed up for the occasion. Hundreds of them crowded the place, eager to contribute their “good deed of the year,” making me wonder how – with all those people – they’d still be able to plant the trees. I was more amazed to see how smooth things unfolded as groups of students gathered around to plant their trees. Fortunately, there was a whole forest of trees waiting to be planted, so there was plenty of opportunities to do some digging. And now, our campus has a new forest in the backyard!

Saturday Feature: Dust Bunnies

Published by Sula H.

Spring is around the corner, and for many people in Germany that means it’s the time for the big spring-cleaning. I, on the other hand, gave up a long time ago, trying to compete against the dust bunnies that always seem to be so much faster than my ability to keep up with them – or should I say, get rid of them? It’s true. Where in Germany it takes two weeks for the dust to seriously collect on the furniture’s surfaces, here, all it takes is two days. I kid you not! It gets especially bad in the winter, and I was told that is because of all the coal being burned and the weather being so extremely dry. But even in the summer it can be just as frustrating. Especially for “balcony owners” such as me! One time, I cleaned up a glass table in the morning to sit outside and enjoy some morning sun. I left that table out all day, and when I went to take it in at night – …

Saturday Feature: Notebooks

Published by Sula H.

School has started again, and since the faculty didn’t get a new calendar from the school (as in the last years), I decided, I need to have a calendar, so I can keep track of my appointments and projects. Now, everyone who lives in China knows that going to any stationary store (or even supermarket for that matter), you can get notebooks of all shapes and sizes, and in any fashion you could imagine. However, the ones I would call “cute” probably make up the vast majority of them. Hence, last Monday, I went into the stationary store across the street, fully intent on wanting to get myself a new calendar/notebook. But alas! The choices! Flipping through the various calendar/journal type notebooks, I quickly came to realize however, that the calendar type notebooks are quite different from what I had expected, and whether they are that useful is a judgment everyone will have to make on their own. Certain things I did realize though: Notebooks usually come with many pictures, doodles, graphics, etc. Some of …

Saturday Feature: Oh, the Woes of the Internet

Published by Sula H.

This is the weekend that most of my colleagues have been eagerly anticipating: the return of the students, since classes are going to start on Monday. For those of us who’ve been enjoying a somewhat decent internet access over the last two months, however, the return of the students also means the regressing of our internet connections, even to a point of where it’s nearly impossible to use the net. And though I myself am glad about the resuming of classes and normal life, I do miss the advantages of being able to quickly access a website when needed, and move about the world wide web more speedily. Well, I’d better get used to the fact that for another four months or so, using the internet is going to be a constant source of misery! Poor desk of mine, who always has to suffer at my hands, for all the beating it gets, because I can’t just throw my computer out of the window when I’m all too annoyed again!

Saturday Feature: (No) Bed of Roses

Published by Sula H.

Have I ever told you about beds in China? Well, they’re not what people from the West are used to, this much I can say. They are not actually bad – as Chinese people are really used to them, and some of them wouldn’t even be able to sleep well in our western beds – it’s just that they are really different. And I wish, I could say I have gotten used to them, after living here for so long. But I haven’t, really! To say it plainly: beds in China are hard. There are those beds here that have no mattress or padding at all. (Now, don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying this critically, since having no mattress in summer really can help with the heat.) So, there are lots of people here who actually prefer having the simple wooden frame for a bed. And then there are those beds that have a mattress. Funny thing is: even with the mattress these beds are almost as hard as without. Basically, the mattresses …

Saturday Feature: Countdown to the Festival

Published by Sula H.

The countdown to Spring Festival has started. In less than a week the nation will welcome the Chinese New Year, and for that, lots of preparations have to be made. Chinese families make extra efforts to give their homes an extra thorough cleaning – to clean out all the “bad luck” from this past year. Stores and supermarkets are crowded with people buying presents and ingredients for the elaborate New Year’s meals – Spring Festival is very much about eating! Public transportation is bursting with travelers – more than any other time in the year – as most everyone is trying to return to their respective hometowns in order to spend the holidays with their families. Usually, traveling around Spring Festival is a nightmare – prices are much higher than usual, and trains and busses so full, that more often than not you won’t be able to get on a vehicle at all. Here around school, we can tell that the new year is around the corner, because in recent days it has become even …

Saturday Feature: Blue Blanket

Published by Sula H.

Some of you might remember when – a couple of months ago – I told you about the heating system here in China and how it works. Well, I mentioned that there is no individual heating and that the radiators generally are turned on by around Nov. 15 – no matter how warm or cold it is at the time. What I didn’t say back then is that we have no influence in determining how warm or cool the radiators run, which many times causes quite a dilemma: when it’s too warm, a lot of my colleagues turn on their air conditioners to cool down the room (opening the windows unfortunately would result in a dust invasion!). So then they have heaters and the A/C running at the same time, which honestly I find quite wasteful. The other problem (the one I’ve had to face all winter so far) is that when it’s really cold outside, the warmth of the radiators might not be warm enough to keep you comfortable. So, in recent weeks I’ve …

Saturday Feature: Hot-Water Bag

Published by Sula H.

It’s been cold around here. So, for the last couple of weeks I’ve made this little fellow my rather sought after companion: my hot-water bag. Got it for Christmas a couple of years ago and I’d say this has been one of my rather useful Christmas presents since coming to China. And it’s very practical, too. It comes with a simple power cord that I just plug in and within a few minutes this pink little bag is all warm and makes me fuzzy – a perfect little guy to give my company when I go to bed. And since my radiator doesn’t always work, it’s even helped outside of my bed to keep my feet warm. In the winter, I couldn’t imagine living without this little guy! Hope y’all are staying nice and warm!