So we all know I have arrived but where did I arrive to and all that jazz?

Harbin Institute of Technology (or something that I only know how to say not spell out in Chinese) is a very large university with two campuses in Harbin. I live on the main campus with many buildings, cafeterias, and the continual sound of many more buildings being constructed. Moving forward and building seem to be two very important themes in China and they are evident hourly. (they are building right outside my apartment window at ALL hours – night does not deter this structure from springing up under some industrial sun that never sleeps). Yet, it is still a very nice campus. Lots of tall wispy willows, bushes and flowers decorate the streets. I live in a tall dormitory of 16 floors on the very top floor with four other English teachers and two Japanese teachers. The 15^th floor is the home of a few more foreign language teachers including four more English teachers (from US and Britain) and the three Russian teachers. The rest of the dorm is full of all the foreign students; from first years studying Chinese (mostly Russian and South Korean) to masters level from Iraq to Zimbabwe studying biotechnology or computer science…etc.

My apartment is a three room and bathroom affair of very tall ceilings. The whole place is freshly painted white and there are two large windows in both the living room and bedroom. It is truly a very nice apartment the only problem is the lack of smaller items. The kitchen included a microwave, a hot water heater and a refrigerator but there were no dishes, nothing to cook with or on, no rags, no drinking water. Supposedly, the apartment is supposed to include a hot plate for cooking and indeed, there is a hot plate. Does it work? No. Sigh. The bedroom has a lovely cabinet to hang clothes but no hangers. The bathroom is equipped with a nice tub and broken toilet seat but no shower curtain. Yes, it is one thing to have a space with a chair and a bed; it is another thing entirely to inhabit a home.

So, my friend Yoko and I (also facing the same dilemmas) have been slowly gathering pieces. We continually wonder, what things are important enough to buy even though I might only use them for one year? Thankfully, she is very happy to share things with me like a rice cooker…etc. Of course, as far as food, it is very easy and inexpensive to eat. The university cafeterias (of which there are three on this campus) are large and the food tastes fairly good (the teachers have a separate eating place). When I say inexpensive I mean that it is cheaper to eat there than to cook for yourself. A meal at the nice cafeteria in the cushy buffet place for teachers is about 8Yuan or $1US dollar. A normal meal might be 3Yuan or about 45US cents (roughly). Around and within the campus are also a plethora of restaurants, from western coffee shops (crazy!) to Korean and of course tons of Chinese. Paying more than 20yuan for a meal would be very pricey indeed (a little over $2US). The food has been wonderful and I will speak more about various restaurants in a later post or so (something to look forward to!).

Yes, this is my home now. I have two plates, chopsticks and some spoons. I found a lovely yellow bowl (see a later post about the market) and we figured out how to have drinking water delivered. Slowly, little by little, it will feel like home. The few books and pictures are on the shelves and I even have a few little plants on the windowsill given to me by the gracious Japanese prof, Miho. Hurrah! Harbin!