Words are often lost in translation!!

My room of 14m² contains the following

A luggage rack a.k.a. a wardrobe

A key card a.k.a. tag for room keys showing the room number

The bedside is a.k.a bed head.

The bed body is also the wooden frame on which the mattress rests.

My room also holds a colour TV, a hot water radiator, a desk, a book case,  a chair, and a hanging space (for jackets etc) and two storage cupboards.  One of these gives access to the crawl space between my room and the kitchen.  The bathroom has a shower pipe but no shower rose, an American style toilet and a hand basin.

A coating of bleach removed the darkness between the tiles.  The main sewer line passes through one corner of the room and sometimes emits unusual noises.  Hot water (relative) is available in the morning, at lunch time, and of an evening.  Spontaneous showers or washing is thus curtailed.  We are luckier than our native born students in that we have 100C water available until 8:00PM.  They have none.  The washing machines require a Phd to operate.  Luckily the staff will do your washing for a small fee.  To solve the hot water problem the Chinese students have developed a unique system.  They purchase one or more large vacuum containers (large 4L Thermos types) they fill them from the hot taps situated around the campus.  They then line the steps and sidewalk near the taps with a colourfull array of hot water containers that they take back to their dormitories.Update It seems they get an allocation of water that is debited against their student card.  Once the allocation is used up, they then need to pay for the hot water.

My light weight aluminium and titanium camping gear will not work in the kitchen.  The cook tops are all magnetic resonance hotplates, hence the steel pot mentioned elsewhere.  The main meal for me is in the middle of the day.  I am able to get a bowl of soup, crumbed chicken, and steamed vegetables for about Y12 (AUD$2.22) at the student canteen.  There are 4 levels of the cafeteria.  They start at the lower ground floor and end on the 4^th floor.  The prices rise as one moves up a level.  The majority of students eat on level 1(which is the ground floor).  Each floor has selection of at least 10 to 15 different selections.  There is a halal section on the 3^rd floor.  The 4^th floor is the preserve of professors etc. with comparable prices I have been told.

The campus also maintains a small supermarket as well as a corner shop style room in the International Students Complex.  The cafeteria and the supermarket operate from the student ID card.  You load it up with cash and a sytem of readers debit the card by RF signal.

I missed two lectures today (first day of lectures).  The curriculum statement gave times as 1-2.  In reality this meant periods 1 and 2.  This was spelled out in Chinese on page 5 of the handout I was given.  Thus I had to get an official pass from the International Co-ordinator to explain my absence.  I also have to get a pass to travel to a nearby campus for my international relation lecture.  This lecture also happens to coincide with one of my Chinese lectures.  My co students have been really great.  They knew which class I missed and provided me with homework.  The story quickly did the rounds that the old guy missed his lectures and why.  It has been a source of amusement to most.  Although some have been really concerned on my behalf and have offered to call me in time for lectures this is nice.

Homework beckons!!