homepage
homelife
roadtrips
teaching
kunming
updates

This is where I live

Yes, these are the things I see every day as I step out into the world. At some point I will be adding much more to the collection, as there are a lot more interesting things around here than you see in this spread. However, I wanted to show you at least a little of what my world looks like.

This is my street, Yieryi Dajie (December 1st Street). The honking starts at 7:30 sharp every morning. The lanes you see on the outside of the grassy medians are the bicycle lanes, although you get a number of scooters using those lanes as well. We are looking East, toward the computer district. 100 stores, all selling the same stuff. How do they do it???
This is the main gate to Yunnan Normal University, down the block and across the street from my place. I do not, however, work on this campus. It is across the street from my house, so of course I have to take a bus twenty minutes to the NEW campus! Woo hoo!
This is the entrance to my compound. That entry cut into the gate is about 5 feet high. One of these days... POW!
This is my courtyard. It's actually pretty nice to have a little place that's off the street. Most apartment blocks have courtyards, some of which are very pleasant. I will take some pictures of the courtyard where the foreign teachers at Yunnan University live, it's pretty cool. And quiet, which this is not particularly, being so near the street.
This is the sidewalk to my stairwell, on the other side of the storage buildings from the above photo. There are three little chickens down at my end!
This is where I am sitting right now working on this website. See my nice tile floors? Those are going to get pretty chilly in the winter, and they are not particularly homey. I am thinking about getting a couple of rugs, for my eyes as well as for my tootsies. My place is not quite as spartan feeling as it appears from this photo. Ok, yes it is. But it's spartan in an OK sort of way, although vast improvements are possible.
Hokay, sleeping quarters. Not much else to say, except beds in China are hard as rocks. Really.
No squatting at home! I can actually just close the door without banging my knees. :-)
The Multi-Purpose Room, where I watch my movies, dry my laundry and store my schoolwork. Also was the home of the refrigerator when I moved in. The refrigerator has since been relocated to the office.
Stove? Oven? BA-HAHAHA-HAHAHA!! No such creatures exist! What for?? All you need to cook the best food in the world is a burnin' ring of fire and a wok. Oh, and a hi-test range hood. Oh yeah, better stock up on degreaser, the stuff gets everywhere.

Well, but really, some brownies or a pizza sounds awfully good once in a while. Ah well.

Right next to the cooktop and the sink is the warshing machine and mop basin. All very convenient. PLUS! If I need to, I can turn around and brush my teeth and take a shower while making dinner and doing laundry (see below).
Oh, there it is, right there behind me. Whew. I felt a little dirty. Boy, I can do everything in this room but poop!
What was that!? The lunch bell? WOO-HOO! Off to the cafeteria for some yummy Yunnan grub. Here's my lunchbox. Ooh, shiny.
OK, what are we having today? Some kind meat I can identify as chicken, some kind of stringy vegetable which I can't identify at all, except that it's a vegetable, and my favorite -- peanuts! MmmmmM!! I am, like, a peanut fiend. Oh, all on a generous serving of rice, of course! Dig in!
I tell ya, what's better after a good meal than a good smoke? And smokes abound here. Yunnan is famous for (among other things) its tobacco. Here's a sample of the fine makes I've tried. They go from about 2 RMB per pack ($0.25) to 10 RMB ($1.25). I've taken to the Bao Shi (the blue pack), a good smoke at 2.50 RMB. Unfortunately, at 30 cents a pack and with all the time I spend at home, I am smoking way too much. Kaff kaff!
Ruirui taught me how to prepare a traditional Chinese tea (called Gongfu Cha). It's a bit complicated and at the end you get only a thimbleful of tea (as pictured). But the point is not to make a bunch of tea -- it's all about the process. Sorry for the out-of-focus picture. My camera was new and I hate the flash, but I didn't know how to get a good picture in low light yet.
OK, here's a clearer shot, and it shows the whole tea set, as well as the various teas (including that black disk to the left). Not as good of Ruirui, tho.