Our student helpers

Once in the Xi'an airport, we were met by two smiling Northwest Polytech male students assigned by the university to meet us. One held a sign "David and Linda Terry", the other "Ron and Diane Kimball" so they were easy to spot in the sea of Chinese faces. The school sent two vehicles and adult drivers for transport and we were on our way. Our student helpers had taken English in school for several years so we can communicate and they have been our right hand since we've arrived. The next day they spent ten hours with us, taking us grocery shopping, banking, Chinese cell phone purchasing, faculty I.D. photo taking, and probably most important, translating food descriptions from the menus when we ate lunch and dinner. Towards the end of the day, we passed their dorm and Dave and Ron asked if they could go inside. The dorm was so run-down and old with a long narrow, dimly-lit hallway accessing a bathroom which is shared by far-too many. Four old metal bunks supporting thin mats are in each room. There's no carpet or drapes. The rooms are stifling hot with no fans or air conditioning and bars on the windows.. Our student-helper had a mosquito net over his bunk. The students pay $85/semester for their dorm room.