Homesick?
Now to answer Tyler's second question: do I miss home?
In a word, no. There are, of course, things that I miss, but on the whole, I've set up a very comfortable life here. I have my several locations: the dorm (Sterling and Christina's room), the coffee shop, the gym (进步), the massage place (大办), all basically within a stone's throw from campus.
The gym I joined here is fabulous, far better than Williams' facilities. The Williams gym is old and dirty. 进步健身中心 (jinbu, as we call it) is new (<2 years), shiny, and very well-equipped. I don't use a whole lot of equipment, but the treadmills always work and there's almost always a free one, in contradistinction to the few worthless treadmills at Williams. They also have a pool on the top floor. I've started mostly swimming for exercise since my knee started bothering me, old man that I am. At WIlliams, recreational swimmers have three scheduled time slots, 7-9 am, 12-2 pm, and 7-9 pm. This is incredibly inconvenient. Last semester, I asked the Streeters to move Wednesday rehearsal later so I could reliably hit the Wednesday evening swim session. I already arrange my life around getting to the gym... the last thing I want is additional restrictions. 进步's pool is always open.
China's fixed exchange rate and America's per capita income makes every American significantly richer in China than at home. For instance, my newest bad habit, twice weekly massages. Taipan (not the restaurant in Westport) has a location right across the street from the southern gate of campus. It's the most high-class spa I've ever been to, which may not say too much, but in any case it's definitely nice. Hour-long full body? RMB138 ($17.25). 90-minute foot? The same. I'm certain my program is their best customer. Everybody goes on Friday after the weekly exam, and the indulgent (that's me) also go whenever our solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short lives become too much to bear. Usually sometime between noon Sunday and midnight Tuesday. I'm actually considering going after I finish this post, because damn this was hard. I can get an hour full body in Williamtown for $50, so once a week for a semester... $600? Isn't that what I'll make at my job over that time? Yes it is.
I had my first pang of readytoleave at 4 am Wednesday morning. I was really tired and really behind on work, and I was overcome by GET ME OUT OF HERE. I had nobody to commiserate with and the room I was in had no air conditioning. I also do want to see my friends. Especially Matt, who was in Australia last semester and whose message saying "Hey I just got home, what's up?" I received literally as I was taking off from O'Hare. I started to return the call, but before he picked up we were too far off the ground.
But then again... the food in China is so good.
In a word, no. There are, of course, things that I miss, but on the whole, I've set up a very comfortable life here. I have my several locations: the dorm (Sterling and Christina's room), the coffee shop, the gym (进步), the massage place (大办), all basically within a stone's throw from campus.
The gym I joined here is fabulous, far better than Williams' facilities. The Williams gym is old and dirty. 进步健身中心 (jinbu, as we call it) is new (<2 years), shiny, and very well-equipped. I don't use a whole lot of equipment, but the treadmills always work and there's almost always a free one, in contradistinction to the few worthless treadmills at Williams. They also have a pool on the top floor. I've started mostly swimming for exercise since my knee started bothering me, old man that I am. At WIlliams, recreational swimmers have three scheduled time slots, 7-9 am, 12-2 pm, and 7-9 pm. This is incredibly inconvenient. Last semester, I asked the Streeters to move Wednesday rehearsal later so I could reliably hit the Wednesday evening swim session. I already arrange my life around getting to the gym... the last thing I want is additional restrictions. 进步's pool is always open.
China's fixed exchange rate and America's per capita income makes every American significantly richer in China than at home. For instance, my newest bad habit, twice weekly massages. Taipan (not the restaurant in Westport) has a location right across the street from the southern gate of campus. It's the most high-class spa I've ever been to, which may not say too much, but in any case it's definitely nice. Hour-long full body? RMB138 ($17.25). 90-minute foot? The same. I'm certain my program is their best customer. Everybody goes on Friday after the weekly exam, and the indulgent (that's me) also go whenever our solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short lives become too much to bear. Usually sometime between noon Sunday and midnight Tuesday. I'm actually considering going after I finish this post, because damn this was hard. I can get an hour full body in Williamtown for $50, so once a week for a semester... $600? Isn't that what I'll make at my job over that time? Yes it is.
I had my first pang of readytoleave at 4 am Wednesday morning. I was really tired and really behind on work, and I was overcome by GET ME OUT OF HERE. I had nobody to commiserate with and the room I was in had no air conditioning. I also do want to see my friends. Especially Matt, who was in Australia last semester and whose message saying "Hey I just got home, what's up?" I received literally as I was taking off from O'Hare. I started to return the call, but before he picked up we were too far off the ground.
But then again... the food in China is so good.
posted by duke at 18:34
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