Waiting for school

As I stated prior, school has not restarted. However, the students are all back. I am having the most contact with the students, who attended class, from class four. It turns out that they do not have an assigned foreign teacher. So, they have been visiting a lot. I am getting tutoring on my Chinese and they are getting tutoring on their English.

HZQ (He Zhi Qing) has informed me that there is a violin teacher near the campus. So, I expect to begin visiting him soon.

This coming weekend I had intended to go to a Coal Mine and Power plant; basically, to follow a lump of coal from the ground to the lines. However, the plans got interrupted because of a lack of available trains. I worked out a train schedule and went to purchase all of the tickets (there are three of us going, so that as a total of twelve tickets). When I got there I was told that all but the high-speed train from Xinyang to Zhengzhou were not available. It was then recommended that we go to Zhengzhou and try to get a train form there. Very simply, I was not going to play that game.

As you can see, we have a new toy. Zeneta has ridden it a little. The main reason I got it was for trips on campus. There is a bicycle rule that irritates me just about every day. I decided that instead of being angry about it all the time I would just do what the law is, partially, to encourage me to do and stop riding my bike on campus.

We got a small one. I was about to get a bigger scooter when I was at a shop that I was about to buy from; because, they both had the lowest price and an established service department. Then they did something that even the Chinese I had assisting me considered to be unethical. I then wandered off to the bicycle shop I often frequent. They had an older, smaller, model for a bit less.

The building next to us is being knocked down to make way for something. It is interesting to watch these people. There will be a guy standing on the top of a wall, five floors above the ground, knocking the bricks between his feet out with a sledge. The other picture I took is a nice detail picture of roof construction.

We still haven't done much cooking. I Think I did more cooking before Zeneta came back than has been done in my kitchen since she returned. One evening Gao Jing mentioned that she and her roommates were trying to figure out how to cook in their dorm room without getting caught (it is not permitted). I mentioned that they were welcome to use my kitchen; they just had to feed me as part of the deal.

And that's the news from Xinyang