First Day of Class - doing it like the locals

It's 6:00am Tuesday Feb,. 22nd, 2011 and I am on my way to Donghua University, SongJiang Campus, located 25 miles from downtown Shanghai and our apartment.  Normally getting to work is not worthy of it's own post but I thought on this day, the first day of class, it was note worthy.   Normally I use our driver but due to out of town guests from the home office, Jason (our driver) was busy back and forth to the airport picking up and depositing said guests and had no time for the likes of me!  Normally I do not take pictures of such a boring enterprise such as getting to work, but I thought  you may want to see how the locals do it!

Here is the morning light at 6:00am as I come out from our apartment building and begin my journey to work! It's very foggy and cold.

 Seven minutes later I approach the subway entrance!

 I embark on the first of a series of escalators and stairs.  Ah, another soul making his way to work...or just getting home?

 Down we go!

 Number 2!

 Not another person in sight, this is so strange, I am not use to being in any public space in Shanghai alone! I guess they're all sleeping.  Smart cookies!

 One more escalator.

 And another, a total of 4 to get to the train.

 This lovely electronic sign tells you that in 3 minutes and 30 seconds the next train will arrive.  Below the 3:30 information the sign says that the subway begins to run at 5:59am and stops at 10:59pm.

 Waiting patiently for the train.

 Plenty of seats, a rare sight.

I'm off the first subway line, line 7, and walking toward line 9.  I love these really big arrows telling me which way to go.

 It's 6:26am, 26 minutes into my journey and still at least an hour until I arrive at the University doorstep.

 Double check this is the correct train, I have gone the wrong way at times and this morning is not the morning to do that!

The subway is beginning to fill up, now it's starting to look like Shanghai.

 Much to early for this fella!  I suppose he is tired from hauling all his stuff around.  I wonder what's in his bags?

 Are they staring at me because I am the only foreign devil aboard or because I am taking their picture?

This part of the subway ride I really like as it's 45 minutes of sitting in one spot and reading your favorite book.  I am working on The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest and I am happy to have some uninterrupted reading time.   And then we arrive!

 It's still foggy and cold and I am hoping soon the sun will come out and burn this all away.

 Yes, yet another escalator.

 The subway becomes an elevated outdoor train once it leaves downtown Shanghai. The next part of the journey is by bus.  So off to the bus depot I go looking for bus number 13.

 There she is!

 And it completely full of sniveling and sneezing people.  I pay my 1 yuan or the equivalent of 15cents and grab hold of a rail.

 The bus deposits me outside the gates of Donghua University and from here it's another 15 minute walk to the building where my class is held.

 A few other early birds.

 Sometimes I wish I had a bike on campus so I could scoot around and see the whole area.  I have walked quite a bit but it takes 25 minutes to get to the other side of campus so if you want to explore  you have to commit at least 2 hours to the adventure.  50 minutes for the walking and then a hour to poke around.  I have seen the dorms, the library, the two canteens, and various other buildings that house classrooms.  I try to explore about once a month.

 Looks like a few students have already arrived.

 Through the front door we go.

 Into the elevator.

Yup, I am only going to the second floor. Lazy son of a gun aren't I!

 Hmmm, where are all the kids?

 More bikes........strange parking space but at least they won't get wet when it rains.

 Nobody seems to be around.

 I took a seat in the Teachers Lounge.  They use to have the water cooler bolted to the wall but for some
reason now it's not.  I think they rearranged the furniture for better Feng Shuai and have not had a chance to bolt down the valuables.



What should have taken me 1 hour and 45 minutes took 1 hour and 34 minutes.  It's  7:34am and I have 45 minutes till class begins.  This should not be a hardship, waiting in the teachers lounge, as I can continue to read my book.  The problem here is that there is no heat in these buildings and there was no heat on the train so my feet are beginning to get cold

The cost total cost of this journey 7 Yuan, or $1.03.  I would not like to do this three times a week as most all of my colleagues do.  When I get to use the car, which is most of the time, it takes 45 minutes to get to the University.