After serving as a Resident Director for five years, I (Mallary) was particularly curious about the residence halls at our Chinese university. Three of my students invited me over to their room. It was fascinating! There are no Resident Assistants on the floors, but there is an "auntie" in charge of the building. Students live in the same room and with the same roommates all four years. Their roommates are determined by their major. Below you will see photos of Qufu's Dormitory #1. (In the professional field of Residence Life in America, it is taboo to say "dormitory" because the term does not represent the kind of warm atmosphere and educational environment we aim to provide.
In China, trust me, the term is very fitting).
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| Three of my Sophomore Oral students in their dorm room. They live six residents to a room--three bunk beds and only three desks. The floors are cement. There is no air-conditioning. But the walls are eclectically decorated, just like the U.S. |
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| Sinks are used for washing hands, brushing teeth, and washing hair. If students want to take a shower, they must go across campus and pay to shower. Most students shower 2-3 times a week in the summer, and once a week in the winter. |
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| The "toilets"--not very private and not very sanitary. |
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| Where the girls wash their laundry by hand (no quarters required) |
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| The exterior of the dormitory, and if you look closely, you will see the "dryers" |
um, the bathrooms would about do me over. And no K-LOVE? ;)
ReplyDeletefascinating!
SO interesting! Thanks for sharing. We need to Scype again soon. BTW, I responded to your book comment on my blog. I love you guys!!
ReplyDeleteCandace
I love visiting the students dormitories, especially going and surprising them because they are so excited and freaking out at the same time. Definitely not the warm, homey atmosphere, though, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteI'm sad that we haven't gotten the chance to talk, though it was for an excellent reason. :) I do want to be able to talk to you sometime! We can try to schedule a time. Esp if we could find a time that would be a tiny bit flexible, like a 1-2hr period when you would be around and I could give you a call when I'm not nursing or likewise occupied. And really, my schedule is much more round-the-clock right now, so there's probably a bigger variety of times that would overlap. I really do want to talk to you, and I have been dying to find out more about how things are going.
Hey Mal...this is very interesting to me. Thanks for posting these pictures. I bet the girls loved to show you around. So were we basically an "auntie" at SAU? :)
ReplyDelete