More surprises

The student dormitories here are cold in winter and hot in summer. They are pretty spartan rooms with room for three double bunks (6 people to a dorm) and desk space for all. Always pretty tight squeeze, but overall adequate. The students often complain to us - which is a waste of time I guess. There is certainly nothing we can do about it. Just act as sounding board, that's all.

At present it is very cold. When I was looking at electric blankets for me in the supermarket I found some cute little "hot water bags." They were small - flower shaped with 5 "flower petals" with pretty fabric cover, which I am sure was rubber lined. I took little notice of them in the store - concentrating my "research" on the electric blankets. In the end I didn't have to buy one - I had one loaned to me.

The weather is cold - in fact we have had about three nights when it was down to 1 degree. In the past couple of days I noticed the girls with these little hot water bags, and last night I saw a number of students with them at a party.

One girls stated that hers was cold, and we offered to get hot water for it. Then she showed us how it operates. It is operated by electricity. In the centre of the "petals" is a plastic spot for the power to be plugged in. So all they need to do to heat it up - and quickly too - is to plug into a power point.

Not surprisingly these little things can be used in the classroom and it takes a short time to plug them in and heat them up again.

So this is the way the students can keep warm in the cold classroom, and in their dormitory.

The water is hot!

There are some things that we regard as normal, but our Chinese friends experience strange things in our apartments. On Saturday I had a student with me, and she came to my apartment.

She asked for a towel so that she could wash her hands. I produced one of my hand towels and she went into the bathroom. I might add that the foreign teachers here have a "western style" toilet - we can sit to do what we have to do. Chinese people squat to "go" - and a western toilet is foreign to them.

The student appeared with a question. "Di, why is the water hot?"

You see - here in this city it is unusual for hot water to come from taps. The students and other workers around the city that I have seen get hot water from a central supply somewhere in large thermos type flasks. In their dormitories they would pour hot water into their wash bowls.

Here we do live in luxury in comparison to their lives. We have hot and cold running water - in the bathroom and kitchen, and unlike the college dorms, we have reverse cycle air conditioning.

My student friend learned a few things on Saturday. I wonder what she thinks of the way we live?