Snippets from the last week or so…

Walking on campus the other day I noticed an elderly man sauntering towards me on the icy road. He had a big grin on his face visible even from far away. As he approached I noticed he was wearing a very stylish black leather ball cap (very popular among the elder males). Not only was the hat stylish it bore the brand “Homy” in big silver metal letters.

There are a few things are a bit hard to understand here. I will pick one for now. Polished marble floors. Many of the buildings on campus and in the city have shiny polished marble floors. They are even washed every night so they are bright and shiny for the next day. I think it is fine that companies want to up their image with fancy rocks. Unfortunately if you add a little water, snow, ice, or slush to a polished marble floor they become slick as ice, which is the exact state of the floors here for the duration of winter. It is quite amusing, although not terribly convenient. Indoor ice rinks are fun, but I suppose they are dangerous for the feeble and the hordes of high heel leather boot clad females. The situation might be improved with something of a welcome mat or runner separating the snow of the outside and the polished marble of the inside. But alas no such thing is common here and instead the inadvertent ice rinks prosper.

So there are no snow plows here…largely because it doesn’t snow that much. But there are also no sand trucks, and they have stopped using salt on the roads. So that means what falls generally stays. Also on the shady sides of buildings and mysteriously covering certain roads and intersections are inches of jumbled ice. Not smooth, rather hilly and rutted, but super slick. On campus the first year students are tasked with chipping away the foot packed snow from sidewalks and roads with flat shovels. It’s a big job…but there are at least several thousand freshmen to do it.

Went to the police/visa office yesterday to arrange a new visa. It was quite the place. Nothing like the Polson town hall where I originally got my passport. This place was bustling. Long snaking lines without much sense to them, people sitting and standing all over the place, several clerks working, several work stations empty, and the same thing repeated on all five floors. Keep in mind this is just Ha'erbin. I can't imagine what things in a Big city would be like. Surprisingly enough most people where there to get visa's to Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. There were very few foreigners, and very few Chinese applicants for new passports. Two hours later I walked out down a hundred dollars and on my way to a new visa. Aside from the long lines I remember the foot tall letters on the wall behind the clerks "Rigorously Enforce the Law Warmly Serve the People"
"严格执法 热情服务“