The calm, quiet, peacefulness of our empty campus has disintegrated with the coming of the weekend.
          The upper classman began trickling in on Saturday, streaming through the gates on Sunday and dragging their stored belongings back to dormitories on Monday.

Upper classmen drag their stored belongings back to the dormitories, with a little help from friends.

It’s hard work, lugging your things across campus.

Some students arriving by bus had their luggage from home picked up by campus trucks at the station and delivered to their dorms.

It’s still a struggle to haul all that to the rooms, especially if you’re on the 5th floor.

        In this horrible heat and wicked sunshine, the girls’ have brought out their umbrellas for personal shade, speckling our walkways with soft pastels trimmed in lacey material.

           How women in Asia love their pretty umbrellas!

A Schedule Appears!
         Finally, a set schedule has appeared with the return of staff to our administration buildings this week. Teachers’ meetings will be held Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Everyone must be in attendance for welcomes from the leaders, lectures on new teaching regulations and reminders of duties to students and institution. The Peace Corp volunteers will arrive on Thursday early evening, giving me time to meet them before I leave on Saturday for Chengdu.
           During that Saturday departure for me will be the arrival of incoming freshmen all weekend and then throughout the week. Upper classmen will begin their classes on Monday but freshmen come a week later to take up military training for 2 weeks before they officially begin their coursework. I’ve written numerous blogs about this so take a look at past September entries if you want to review what that entails.
         Even at Sichuan University, where I’ll be studying Chinese, freshmen have military training. Fortunately for me, that doesn’t include foreigners such as myself who enter a Chinese school for study.

Goldfish News: Being One-upped

         Today, I find my clever, slippery intention of creating a campus mystery has been thoroughly and utterly crushed.
          I’ve been one-upped by the school workers, or rather 20-upped.
          A few hours ago, upon my arrival to the rocky fountain to check on my little swimming buddies, I was met by quite a sight: a very noticeable clump of large goldfish, making themselves quite at home in what used to be my secret plan.
           No secret now that the school has one-upped me by stocking the water with a generous 20 carp (yes, I counted them) of considerable size. Puts my one inch, tiny, 16-centers to shame. Those biggies were at least a dollar a fin, maybe even a buck-fifty.
My miniscule lot are so miniscule you can hardly make them out in the water. Most likely, everyone will think my additions are the offspring of all those Moby Dicks seen brazenly cruising about.
So much for my mischievous fish prank.
           Guess the campus mystery will have to be how so many big fish had so many babies in a matter of a day. Not the mystery I’d hoped for but I’ll take what I can get.
          Until next entry, here’s wishing you Ping An (peace) for your day.