Long time no post...

Instead of barreling into a list of excuses for my recent lapse in posts (such as lack of working internet, frequent travel, and generally feelings of overwhelmed-ness), I will just get right to it. Well... maybe not right to it...

The main reason for feeling so overwhelmed the past few weeks was due to the fact that this year two major Chinese holidays, 中秋节 Mid-Autumn Festival and 国庆节, fell within the same three-week period. This meant that a week after returning home from a whirlwind trip to Beijing I set off for a fantastic but grueling nine day exploration of small Huizhou villages in Jiangxi and Anhui then climbed Huangshan (Yellow Mountain). I will write a separate travel related post with pictures in the next week or so…

Instead, I will finally heed my mother’s pleas for photographs of the Nongda campus, my home sweet home... Though it may be a tad boring I've included some simple pictures of Nongda in all its glory. Starting with my house....

That's right, here at Shanxi Agricultural University us seven foreigners are "foreign experts," 外国专家. We are expertly foreign. Much time, training, and effort has gone into being this foreign, we are very good at it. Therefore we are not just your average laowai 老外，we have earned the title: foreign expert. One of the most consistently amusing aspects of living in Taigu have been the reactions my sheer presence has incited in the casual passerby. Including but not limited to... "oooo waijiao!" (oooo foreign teacher!), the ever popular "laowai," the somewhat creepy, "WOW SO BEAUTIFUL!" and the hilarious sound that James imitates so well, "waaahhhh!" Perhaps my favorite though was a girl who waited for me to pass before she howled to her friend, "haaaaaooo piaaaaaoooo liaaannnnnng!" (soooooo beeeeeeeeaaaautiful), there was something about how she whined it that really made me laugh so hard.

This is the house I share with my co-fellow Ray, as well as Boots and Mumu (木木) pictured below, our two delightfully irritating kitties. Along with a number of appliances and household items they were provided by the foreign affairs office（外事处) to keep the enormous rat population at bay. Unfortunately, there is some debate as which is actually more irritating, the cats or the rats. As most everyone knows I am a total cat person, I love cats. But when you return from class to discover that your cat has left muddy footprints all over your clean white pillow cases, eaten your breakfast of Taigu bing (太谷饼）which you stupidly left out on your desk, and is still screaming at you for food and attention... well... hm, I suppose the cats are still better.

Boots at his sleepiest...

Mumu at her whitest...

The lovely greenery right outside my house. I'm sure after the next few months of bitter cold and snow I will barely recognize this picture... All of the seven foreigners' houses are all in the same general grassy wooded area all within a one to two minute walk from each other. Once dark the only way to get around our houses is by flashlight or if by chance you've developed excellent echolocation skills.

Another view from outside my house. I believe the house pictured is an office for some kind of party official (party meaning CCP, not the infamous Taigu dance party, more on that later...).

Here is the main building that the fellows and I all teach in. Dan and I share a classroom and Ray and James share a classroom. Though as I've mentioned to the other fellows, I have never seen Dan in my classroom, leading me to believe that we exist in two parallel realities that only collide once we've left the building...

The main gate of Shanxi Agricultural University.

Perhaps the most important place of all... beiyuanr (北院) or North Yard. An incredibly lively albeit grungy area at the north-most edge of campus packed to the gills with food vendors, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and so much 好吃的 (delicious things!) that I've eaten there almost every day and still barely scratched the surface. I took this photo during nap time so this is as empty as it gets. During meal times it quite difficult to make any forward moving progress, and heavy elbow use is required.

This picture perhaps begins to convey the sense of manic chaos that is beiyuanr. This narrow street is not only jam packed with heavy foot traffic but also bicycles, motorbikes, and even cars, much to the dismay of anyone on foot trying to get anywhere. Additionally, when it rains the entire dusty street turns to mud and deep pools of naaaasty dingy water. There seems to be no drainage system whatsoever, which actually doesn't seem to deter most people, instead they hop from well-placed brick to well-placed brick. And being the observant foreigners we are... we follow suit.

Lastly, here is one of my favorite moments from my past two months in Taigu. After class one day I plunked myself down in front of a beautiful fountain to enjoyed the stream of gun toting college freshmen trickle by. College freshmen have mandatory military training for the first month of college, hence the camo and rifles. However, not to my surprise but much to my glee, they immediately responded to me, shouting hello, waving, making peace signs (perfect in combination with the rifles...) and generally acting excited to see a foreign expert taking photos of them all decked out and ready for battle.