Getting to know Taigu August 21-23

The campus is beautiful. Especially because after the rain, the sky was blue, the temperature perfect and the air clear. There are plenty of trees and small parks for a tree hugger like me, and an unusual amount of grass for China (but still probably less grass than most American Universities require.)

There is no other foreigner but me here thus far, which makes things a little more lonely, and me a little more terrified that I have less than 10 days to prepare for a semester class of Masters students that I've never taught before. But it also forces me to walk around on my own and get up my confidence.

Apparently we were given a cook. Being the middle class American that I am, I was terrified of this at first. And then I met her. She immediately won me over with her big smile and sweet face (is there a common theme in what I like in people?). And then won me over even more because one evening she sat down at my table and started talking with me. It turns out that she is brand new, and has never cooked except for her own family before. She seems a little terrified of the prospect of pleasing all these foreigners, but pleasantly surprised that I am so easy to please.

SEEING THE CITY OF TAIGU
There is also a young man (a senior in college), who is the son of some of the people in charge of the university, that the Foreign Affairs people have assigned to show me around the campus and the area. Today we went into Taigu and I finally got to see this little city that I'm going to live in for two years.
It's definitely a small city, they say 40,000 people. (Based on some websites, the University has about 11,000 students, undergrad and graduate.) The tallest buildings are...well...there aren't really any tall buildings, unless you consider 7 stories tall.
We saw a pagoda in the center of town that is over 1000 years old, 7 stories tall. Really cool, except that there were pieces of the wooden stairs that appeared to be missing. I hoped the internal structure was not the original. We could see the mountains next to the city from the top of the structure and I'm super excited to figure out how to get to them and hike.
We also went to the drum tower, which is still intact, unlike the bell tower and the old wall, which have long been taken down to make room for development. There were plenty of old houses surrounding, which my new tour guide/friend, Jack, explained were a common thing for foreigners to come study. He explained that the houses were really well insulated; cool in the summer and warm in the winter. He said it was because they were made of soil. I didn't quite understand until we watched for a minute the men working on a roof on a nearby house. They were taking thick globs of mud and using it as mortar and then spreading a thin mortar-type mixture into it, and then putting the traditional half-cylinder tiles on top. I laughed and explained to Jack that they are re-learning how to build houses made of mud in the U.S. now--it's part of a movement to do better to the environment. Jack said he heard the U.S.'s environment was a lot better than China's. In a land that has very few trees left, my friend explained that wood cannot be used in building anymore. It used to be that traditional buildings were made with huge timbers and without nails. Now, nobody can make such buildings anymore--most buildings are brick in the countryside and concrete in the city.

ZHONGGUOREN OR WAIGUOREN
It's funny to see what people think of me as a foreigner here in Taigu, where the only foreigners seemt to be teachers at the University. But again, I appear not to be a good example of a standard foreigner. One woman, asked me as we came down from the drum tower if she and her friend were allowed to go up. She looked at me closer as I came down the stairs and laughed, "Ah, ta shi waiguoren!" (Oh, she's a foreigner!) Most people stared at me only after taking a second look. We got onto one bus and the busdriver took a closer look. He asked Jack, "Ta shi waiguoren ma?" Jack replied positively, and the busdriver smiled excitedly and gave me a thums up. I wasn't sure what for, but I smiled back. Later, I was looking for some fruit and a little lunch in the area between the teacher's section of the school and the main campus where all the little restaurants and stores were, a woman was much more blunt with me. As I walked into a dumpling place, she yelled to me from the next store over, "Ni shi zhongguoren haishi waiguoren?" (Are you Chinese, or a foreigner?) For a moment I thought I should just tell her I was Chinese for kicks, but then I realized my accent would probably give me away. "Waiguoren" I replied. I secretly hoped that wouldn't mean that the dumpling place would try and charge me more...
Night time is easier to walk around and not be taken for a foreigner or an odd-looking Chinese. I have dark enough and straight enough hair, and luckily for me, most of the women in Shanxi are taller and stouter than in places like Kunming where the people are really small and I always felt like a giant. I was still a slight bit taller and stouter than what was probably normal for a young woman, but in the dark, no body paid me any attention. It felt pretty nice.

I saw the stars out tonight too. Another good sign.