Room 406

Internet in Kunming is slower than snail's pace, and with a VPN it is making it very hard to upload photos. I am sorry to everyone for not having many photos today, but I will be trying to figure a way to upload pictures more quickly.

This is a picture of my home for the next two months. The bed in frame is my roommate's. The room is fairly small, but not uncomfortably small. There are no fans and no AC, but so far the weather has been pretty cool with a good breeze. The altitude of Kunming is roughly 6500 feet above sea level so the air is cool and dry. The room comes with a TV and a maid service. Technically the international student dorm is the university's hotel, but just because I said I have cleaning service please do not think I am living comfortably. Living accommodations are nice but far from comfortable. The beds are so hard I enjoy lying on the carpet more. The bathrooms are horrid (pictures to come), mainly the bath tub. Bath tubs are a new concept in China and they do not really know how to install them. In fact, I don't even consider my bath tub installed. The tub is a very thin fiber glass mold and it does not sit flush with the floor. The edges of the tub sit in place in a barrier built up from the ground. The problem is that the barriers were built too high meaning that the bottom of the floor doesn't touch the floor of the bathroom. I essentially have a suspended bathtub made from very thin fiber glass. There is already a crack in the top of the tub where it rests on the tiled insert. When I move, I see the crack widen and I hear the tub creek. The only thing that really sucks is that bathtub. I can live with everything else.

This is the corridor leading to my room. The first door on the left is mine.

This is the view from the right side of the corridor. Most of Kunming looks like this. Kunming is a very exciting place. Today I went exploring with some new friends and I realized that Kunming is going to be a great place to live for the summer. The weather is nice and there is very little pollution. I sign the language pledge in 2 days so right now I am savoring the last moments of speaking English.