Goodbye Chengdu: May 21

Date: Wednesday, May 21
Time: 8:14 AM Chengdu
Location: My bed, Room 410, a SWUFE dormitory

It was about 2:30 when Dr. Chandler and Professor Shuai came back to announce they'd managed to get us tickets out of Chengdu to Shanghai for Wednesday night. There were no details yet, but Shanghai had agreed to let us come and do a program. Professor Shuai led us all off-campus to eat in a pretty tasty Korean restaurant.

Some people wanted to shop afterward and he called in a female professor to take the shoppers shopping. Six of us opted to go back to Professor Shuai's office to send emails instead. The connection was a ltitle iffy, but he had three computers we could use. I emailed my mom and Mike and finally braved checking my grades. On a whim I went back to check my I-mail again and Mike at replied. It was amazing timing that we both happened to be on and even more strange that the Great Firewall of China hadn't blocked his MySpace Blog page from me. I grinned for most of the rest of the night. I was so glad to get to read and catch up on what was going on with him.

Dr. Chandler met up with us in Professor Shuai's office. The books that had been ordered for us were too easy. Shanghai was going to be too expensive and it didn't look like they'd understood what we wanted. Things werent' exactly looking up.

We had a welcome/farewell banquet at the building that serves visiting scholars and academics. Waittresses piled the lazy susan high with all sorts of dishes, and though we initially eyed them dubiously, the food was fantastic. my table the six non-shoppers (minus one who didn't feel well), Dr. Chandler, Professor Shuai, the Director of Foreign Students, and the Director's 10 year old son, who was adorable. Our Chinese was just about good enough to communicate with a 4th grader. Wow--we need to start those classes. A plate with beef and a second one with a bacon, chicken, french fry, green things concoction totally warmed us to the food. It was amazing.

After dinner, the Director took us to his office and let us all call home and let everyone know we were all right. The students and teachers were all sleeping on the lawn again for safety. A few people in the group wanted to join them, but most of us were pefectly comfortable wtih the idea of staying in the dormitory and were looking forward to sleeping on real beds. We were told we got an approval to stay inside, but to have our shoes and small bag with our passports ready at a moment's notice. Dr. Chandler took the sick girl from earlier (102 fever) and one of the guys with an eye that didn't look too good to the campus doctor. There was a massive thermos of boiled water--safe for drinking, shaving, teethbrushing, etc--on each of our desks. It was still boiling hot. We had bowls (not sure if they were for washing clothes or our faces) and I shaved my legs with the hot water and a had a long, slow foot bath. I even mixed cooler water in with it because it was too hot at first. We were relaxing in our pj's when we got word that they had found somewhere for us to sleep and we needed to go in 15 minutes.

Figuring we were joining the others in tents and tarps on the grass, I threw my jeans on, grabbed my backpack and blankets, slathered on bugspray, and headed out. There was a van waiting, and it drove us to another building on campus. There were some folding chairs and pingpong tables psuhed up against the walls. The wooden floor was open for us to lay out our blankets and sleep on. A table had canisters of hot water and cups for tea, and a door at the back led to the restroom. It was the best of both worlds--we weren't up in our rooms on the 4th floor, but we weren't out on the grass either. Personally I was more afraid of being bitten by bugs than a quake bringing the building down. To assure us that he felt wherever we were going to be was safe, Professor Shuai was staying too. When we were going to be in the dorm, he opened up another room and was going to stay there, same floor. When we moved to the this building he said he'd be there too, right in the next room if we needed anything.

Our slumber party in the building was pretty good. Play some sort of card game called Phase 10. We got up the next morning, showered, went to breakfast, and anticipated just putzing around until lunch, maybe hitting the corner store from yesterday morning for more ice cream. Unfortunately however, they wanted to keep us occupied and we're in Jinli now--we took cabs and are here with one of the female professors.

Not much is open and we found a tea store selling specialty teas and tea sets. They gave us a full demonstration and tasting. I swallowed the jasmine tea they gave me and tried to keep my empty cup from attracting notice as they continued doing refills with different types. As some people started wandering away to inspect the wares (others continued tasting), I discreetly left my cup on the table and looked around a bit.

I had more sense than to want to stay there. My allergies had been acting up since we stepped out of the cab and this was the first day I didn't have an allergy pill on me. I walked a couple of stores down and turned back to the tea shop to wait on the front step with a couple of other people. We'd very clearly been babysat our entire time at the university and I figured wandering away now would be a bad idea. They brought us more tea. Being rode of hospitality and gifts is very bad in China. I took the tea and drank it. Finally it looked like we were leaving. I stood up, and I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I think my hand spasmed. It might have been me being clumsy, but I don't think so. My hand was around the little cup, and then it wasn't. I remember noticing the hand thing over Christmas--medication related? No idea, but the result was smashed China all over the pavement.

Because they'd given me the glass and it wasn't me shopping and knocking it over, they didn't take any money for it and told me not to worry. I felt 2 inches tall and very alone on the walk to lunch at the Sichuan Firepot.

The Firepot was an upscale restaurant where there was a spicy broth, and a chicken broth cooking on the table in front of you and vegetables and meatas were brought to the table and we added them to the pots. The liver I ate was really good, the beef was a bit fatty though. I couldn't handle much spice, but I was proud of myself for trying some of it.

So after 36 hours on a train to get there, we spent a total of about 36 hours in Chengdu. Professor Shuai and his colleagues did everything to feel welcome, and treated us to amazing meals whlie we were there. Okay, cafeteria breakfast is cafeteria breakfast anywhere. It's a no-win. They refunded every penny we'd given them and paid for everything while we were in Chengdu.

For a couple of reasons, SWUFE is the first university I'd look at probably if I were going to study in China again. Everyone I met--studetns and teachers--was not only polite, but friendly. They accomadated us in every way. I"m sure I could eventually deal with the whole cold showers only thing. The hot foot bath I gave myself felt fantastic. Sichuan University houses 40,000 students alone--SWUFE has about 10,000. Smaller, but cozier and more one on one I think.

And life in Chengdu is much cheaper than Beijing or Shanghai. A cab in Chengdu is 1.4 Yuan per KM--Beijing it's 2 Yuan. I never paid less than 5 Yuan for a soda or 3 Yuan for water in Beijing--Chengdu 2.8 and 1. The city is quieter, the streets less hectic. In Beijing the honking never stops, but here I rarely heard it during my brief stay.

I'm at the airport now, waiting for my flight to Shanghai with Dr. Chandler. There wasn't space to get us all on the same flight. Ours was supposed to leave an hour and a half after theirs, but it looks like we've been delayed half an hour.

Of course we have, right?

Anyway, it's taken all day to write this, a few minutes here and there, but now it's all caught up. When next I write, I should be in Shanghai for a 2 week intensive program.

Erin

Location: Chengdu Airport, 1st Class Lounge
Time: 5:45 PM Chengdu
Date: Wednesday, May 21