Back in the Orient

I'm back in China. It hasn't really changed much over the past two months (aside from blocking more websites). Of course I'm at a new school, which means I have new people and places to acquaint myself with AND it means the locals aren't used to me and will stare for the next few weeks. Other than that Changzhou (henceforth called the Cz) isn't that much different from the Jx. Just another relatively unremarkable prefecture-level city. But there is a pretty tall Pagoda in this one. And an H&M.

One interesting feature of my new apartment is that it overlooks (being on the 14th floor) a vast sprawling landscape of apartment blocks and the skeletons of future apartment blocks. Oh, and a Honda dealership. So basically I get a front-row seat to China's impossibly rapid development. In fact, my side of Changzhou is littered with the ruins of half-demolished buildings soon to be replaced by concrete monoliths of progress.

For a low-tier school, Jiangsu Teacher University of Tech. is itself quite impressive. The buildings are quintessentially Chinese--futuristic, but with every angle conformed to the harmony of socialist feng shui. The new library they're building is quite daunting--more like a modernist palace for party higher-ups than a place for reading books (even if said books are are about Marxist-Leninism).

I have already been accosted several times by students and teachers eager to practice English. One of these days I'm going to be cruel and respond in German (then again, my beloved Fremdsprache just so happens to be the second most-popular foreign language at this school) The competitiveness amongst the English majors here is staggering; Yesterday, a very nice junior named Jason was giving me a tour of the campus, when suddenly a senior with naturally better English butted in trying to steal my attention. I felt bad for Jason, and did my best to stear the conversation back to him. Another instance: Today someone at McDonald's (yeah, I ate there, what of it?) sat down at my table, asking me my preference between Amway and Herbalife--apparently he aspires to work for a direct-sales company and needs career advice. Being far from the strangest question I have ever been asked, I simply broke out the ever-handy "Wo bu zhidao." It did not stop there. Later he texted me about three more--Avon, Nuskin, and Mary Kay.

I told him I preferred Mary Kay--I have connections.

Leb Wohl