Day 143: "Oh, by the way....": Handing in Grades at SISU

Today, Thursday, it took me pretty much the entire day to submit grades. Why, you may ask? Well, I'm definitely at a disadvantage not knowing the language (at least, not being able to read it). I can't use their online system. But it's more than just that, as I'll explain.

First I went to the Hongkou campus to hand in grades to Carol. No problems with the taxi. However, when I get there, Carol didn't have the calendar ready that I requested, and then she told me that I needed to hand in all the students' papers. There seems to be this overarching theme in China that goes like this: "Oh, by the way, you were supposed to do.......[fill in the blank]."  I keep wanting to react by saying, "Well, why not tell me sooner?"  Also, she quickly informed me that I was supposed to work with the School secretary to enter grades (???).  This was news to me; however, one quick phone call and I was relieved of that duty (something was said--didn't know what it was--but I have less work to do, so that suits me fine).  On the whole, it did all come out in the wash, she printed out my grade sheet, and I signed it. Then she even gave me some snacks for the road, which came in handy later.

Next I had another weird incident. I'm waiting for the bus at 11:30 and this little mini-van pulls up, and people start getting in. I had to ask, "Does this go to Songjiang?"  One woman replied, "Yes." So I got in. However, others were lining up to get on this "bus" that seated six people, maximum. So therefore we all had to get out and get into another vehicle, which still wasn't as big as a regular bus, but it did fit everyone. And we were off.  On the bus ride there, I read Wally Lamb's I'll Take You There. Yet, on the bus, after sending Katherina a WeChat about my estimated ETA, she informs me that she's not going to be there.  Again, another, "Oh, by the way...." moment--this is something that would have been nice to know. At this point, I'm on a bus to Songjiang, and she's on a bus to Hongkou. Granted, she told that that she didn't know that she was going to get "called to Hongkou" in the afternoon. But I still felt frustrated.

So I dropped the grades off in the Honors office. Her female colleague couldn't speak English and didn't seem to understand what I wanted, but her male colleague could and told me he'd get the grades to Katherina. And I left. I then went in search of food, walking to what I thought was the cafeteria, which normally has three floors of food. And all of them were closed--the campus was dead today. Therefore, I decided to go back to my office and just wait: I hung out, watched video on my phone, read, talked to Kerry, and basically just waited. Then at 3:00 pm another small bus took us home: it arrived at Hongkou at 3:52 pm (very fast).

Speaking of buses, I had to wait about 13 minutes for a 745 today, which is much longer than usual. There were a whole bunch of 547s and 762s at Chifeng station today--I don't know why. But the 745 eventually did show up. Today, I was wise and didn't give up my seat to an old lady. So I got off at my stop, and then walked home. Kerry made his fabulous apple chicken for dinner, and we had a salad to supplement. Ended the evening with packing for the trip!

Here are some pics I took in and around the SISU Campus today:

A beautiful nature shot on the Songjiang campus.

Here's where I catch the bus at Songjiang.

Walking to the 745 after getting off the bus from Songjiang to Hongkou.

Walking home after getting off the 745.  Normally there are a ton of busses on the right.