Not so hazy skies

For the last few days, we have had beautiful weather here in Changzhou. Much of spring was filled with drizzle and even if it wasn't raining it would be pretty hazy and muggy, because of all the post rain moisture. But it has warmed up now so that I am wearing shorts and a t-shirt most days. My students continue to wear pants and long sleeves, and even jackets. From what I can tell, this is mostly due to a great fear of the sun among the girls, as pale skin is prized in China. So, the other afternoon, I had some free time, so I went around campus to try and take some pictures of the places I go by every day. The campus here can look pretty dreary in the winter, as many of the buildings are gray or ivory (which with some pollution becomes gray), and the pollution and overcast winter skies add to the grayness. There isn't too much architectural diversity on campus, most of the buildings are very utilitarian looking. This makes sense, when considering that when trying to establish and build hundreds of universities within a decade, to educated tens of millions of students, the Chinese government wasn't spending time on architectural innovation. In the sunny skies of the last few days, though, I have realized that our campus really has a good amount of gardens and trees. The grounds crew, using an odd combination of modern power tools and some almost ancient looking tools, does a good job of upkeep around campus.

Outside of my apartment and the classrooms, I spend the most time on shang ye jie (商业 街), or market street, as we call it in English. It has about everything I need. There are four restaurants, although I seldom stray away from my three favorites. It has two copy/printing/technology stores, some snack shops, two barber shops, a small supermarket on the corner, and another store which is essentially the housewares and office section of Wal-Mart or Target compressed into a store the size of a living room. This store always seems to amaze me at what it has in stock. Early in the year, Xingxing told me that in her whole college career they never didn't have what she needed, and predicted the same for me. I was able to prove her theory wrong a few times, but I guess it was because I wanted some special 'foreign' things. It's also a great place to sit at night, eat some ice cream or fruit and watch all the students bustling back from the library, going to get hot water for their canteens (a ubiquitous site on campus), or getting some snacks or doing some light shopping.

I also tried to take some pictures of some of the prettier parts of campus. They all are essentially 'lover's lane' as a result of the strict dormitory policies banning the opposite sex from entering. Thus, couples are forced to chat, hug, and kiss on park benches around campus, if they don't want to make the trip downtown (to a little less public locale). Because of this, something I have noticed is that couples are really good at ignoring all that around them. I noticed this (once again) as I was walking around a pretty secluded corner by a pond, and the couple on the park bench barely seemed to notice me. My bike wasn't parked more than a foot from them, and I think the guy only looked up once. Then again tonight, as I came back to my apartment, near by the bushes outside my porch, a couple was kind of hugging/kissing/clandestinely making out and didn't even blink an eye or pause as I rode by and locked up my bike. I don't think I caught any bench sitting couples in my pictures, but it's possible.
Following are descriptions of the pictures.
Top left, the new library under construction. Top right, market street. Second left, boys' dormitory. Second right, the main teaching building, where most of my classes are located. Third left, the largest pond on campus with a pagoda. Third right, the courtyard inside the arts building. Fourth left, a view of the main teaching building from across the pond and garden. Bottom right, the side/back view of the new library under construction. Bottom left, the bridge over the pond and some apartment buildings in the distance.