A quick programming note, there will be a lack of blog posts from March 31st to April 7th. I will be going on my adventure to Sanya China. I really feel like I'm going out on a limb here, so here are a few details of my trip.
Depart: Pudong Shanghai ~7pm Wednesday (+8 GMT)
Arrive: Late @ SYX
The home base for the trip is:
Sunny Sanya Family Inn
I will not have my computer so there will not be many easy ways to reach me, I will rarely check email via a friend's computer.
Depart: SYX Tuesday @ ~Noon
Arrive: Hongqiao Shanghai Mid Afternoon
Have a good weekend,
Jon
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Meet & Greet
Weather: 48F
Time: Mid-night
Tonight there was a meet and greet type of event. Another member sent out an email this morning talking about meeting up with some chinese students to grab dinner. There is a restaurant on campus that is called Times Cafe, they serve pretty decent pizza for the price. It costs 20RMB to get a 9inch pizza. The popular choices are "Smoked Chicken" "All Meat" and "Hawaii."
Meet & Greet
Walking in to the cafe I had been to many times already, a group of about nine Americans joined a party room full of chinese students. It was probably 30 chinese students total. I did not really know what was going on until I got there, but the students are in the same materials class as the purdue kids. I did not know anyone in the room since I am not in that class. I was excited to hear how good their English was for the most part, complete sentences. It was very fun to get to meet all of these students.
After talking to the cstudents for a bit I found out that all of them are also mechanical engineers. They pay more than double the regular students at the university to be in courses taught in english. There were many interesting conversations I was involved in for the evening. All of the cstudents wanted to talk to an American. In fact, my night was so busy talking to people I was never able to get to the table to make my own pizza. I really was looking forward to making my own pizza, but I did get to meet a lot of new friends. It was a unique experience from the rest of China adventure so far because all the cstudents really wanted to talk to an American. There was a point where a student went and grabbed four Coca-Cola's and offered it to me and the other guy I was standing with before offering it to the chinese girls standing right there. I offered it to the ladies first, then took a drink after it was forced on me by the young man.
The topics of the night ranged greatly. There was one conversation where I learned about the foreign exchange programs. Another conversation was based around how much money is spent to go to school in China vs USA and year over year spending to live and go to school. There was also discussions about Google and the censorship debate, which bloomed into a further discussion on government control of the media. A less serious topic of "Where do you see yourself in 20 years?"
Shanghai Jiao Tong University has an exchange program that started with the University of Michigan and has expanded to include Purdue University. Originally, U of M professors would come over to China and teach engineering courses in English. Now there are programs to start two years at SJTU and then finish at Purdue / U of M. Some of the cstudents at the event are actually going to be transferring to Purdue this fall. It was really good to make that connection! We talked about how there are large differences between the lifestyles and discussed some of their concerns. One student was concerned about guns, because he is always reading about shootings in America and he assumed that everyone is carrying a gun. I told him that it was nothing to be worried about and assured him he would be safe. He then challenged me with the question, "Do you think the guns create violence?" I told him he has nothing to worry about when he gets to Purdue.
There was also quite a bit of concern about pricing. They wanted to know how much it costs to live at Purdue and I told them is much more expensive. I detailed that a meal in the dining hall costs 56RMB at Purdue and that they can save money by going to the grocery store. It lead up to the question, "How much do you spend in a year?" We roughly approximated for living, tuition, food, and entertainment it can cost up to 25,000USD. When we added the costs of their living in Shanghai, their summation came up to 21,000RMB. The current conversion rate is 6.853 RMB for 1USD. Their tuition is about 5000RMB and for some students it is subsidized by the government. We briefly discussed scholarships and how being a minority can land you more money in the USA. When I told them that minorities can get more money for ethnicity, religion, or sex they said, "How is that fair?" I told them it is privately funded and so there are special interest groups for giving money.
The short of the censorship conversation came down to stating a few points. America has a different type of censorship - bias media. Anyone who takes all their news from one source, be it the government or a single news station, does not get to see the whole picture. In terms of the internet the cstudents said that Google was acting inappropriately and was just trying to draw attention to get a large search base and more name recognition. There was also discussion about freedom of speech on the internet in China and allowing the people to criticize the government and how this can cause trouble. The cstudent I was talking to pointed out that some people are not capable of handling the extreme emotions on the internet and this causes trouble because some people act on these single minded opinions. It was an interesting point.
Most fun, the cstudents had slightly different goals than some of the Americans in the group. The six students we were talking to four of them were wanting a life in China after getting a masters of ME in the US. Two of the students wanted to live abroad and go to Europe and the USA for a long time. Most of them aspired to be content and providing for their family. A few of them wanted to return to China to serve the country with their engineering knowledge. Some of them truly desire to be design engineers and some of them have a path of business as part of their extended education.
All in all, it was a very interesting evening getting to meet these students for the first time and having serious conversations with them. I am happy to have had this experience and I am looking forward to seeing some of these students again.
Delivery McDonald's
The conversations were so involved I did not get anything to eat for dinner except one can of Coke and a few french fries. This drove to me to order McDonald's for the first time over the phone. It took 30 minutes. I called into the central order hotline. They took my order in English and asked for my address and phone number. They then put the order into the nearest McDonald's location and had a man bring be a double cheese burger value meal + some chicken nuggets for 36RMB. 7RMB was the delivery fee and they bought it to my door. And of course, since it is China there is no tipping.
Email is Fast
I asked my roommate to send me an email while I was writing this blog post. He sent me the picture above. I was impressed that the email took less than five seconds to go from his laptop in China to the Purdue campus and then ended in my inbox. I like to think that five seconds is very quick considering that information traveled roughly 20,000 miles, but I laughed at myself for this thought. I am looking forward to the future. Some day, my children will read a hard copy of this blog and they will get a chuckle out of so much that I have written, and that is okay.
Biber
Time: Mid-night
Tonight there was a meet and greet type of event. Another member sent out an email this morning talking about meeting up with some chinese students to grab dinner. There is a restaurant on campus that is called Times Cafe, they serve pretty decent pizza for the price. It costs 20RMB to get a 9inch pizza. The popular choices are "Smoked Chicken" "All Meat" and "Hawaii."
 |
| From J Biber |
Meet & Greet
Walking in to the cafe I had been to many times already, a group of about nine Americans joined a party room full of chinese students. It was probably 30 chinese students total. I did not really know what was going on until I got there, but the students are in the same materials class as the purdue kids. I did not know anyone in the room since I am not in that class. I was excited to hear how good their English was for the most part, complete sentences. It was very fun to get to meet all of these students.
After talking to the cstudents for a bit I found out that all of them are also mechanical engineers. They pay more than double the regular students at the university to be in courses taught in english. There were many interesting conversations I was involved in for the evening. All of the cstudents wanted to talk to an American. In fact, my night was so busy talking to people I was never able to get to the table to make my own pizza. I really was looking forward to making my own pizza, but I did get to meet a lot of new friends. It was a unique experience from the rest of China adventure so far because all the cstudents really wanted to talk to an American. There was a point where a student went and grabbed four Coca-Cola's and offered it to me and the other guy I was standing with before offering it to the chinese girls standing right there. I offered it to the ladies first, then took a drink after it was forced on me by the young man.
The topics of the night ranged greatly. There was one conversation where I learned about the foreign exchange programs. Another conversation was based around how much money is spent to go to school in China vs USA and year over year spending to live and go to school. There was also discussions about Google and the censorship debate, which bloomed into a further discussion on government control of the media. A less serious topic of "Where do you see yourself in 20 years?"
Shanghai Jiao Tong University has an exchange program that started with the University of Michigan and has expanded to include Purdue University. Originally, U of M professors would come over to China and teach engineering courses in English. Now there are programs to start two years at SJTU and then finish at Purdue / U of M. Some of the cstudents at the event are actually going to be transferring to Purdue this fall. It was really good to make that connection! We talked about how there are large differences between the lifestyles and discussed some of their concerns. One student was concerned about guns, because he is always reading about shootings in America and he assumed that everyone is carrying a gun. I told him that it was nothing to be worried about and assured him he would be safe. He then challenged me with the question, "Do you think the guns create violence?" I told him he has nothing to worry about when he gets to Purdue.
There was also quite a bit of concern about pricing. They wanted to know how much it costs to live at Purdue and I told them is much more expensive. I detailed that a meal in the dining hall costs 56RMB at Purdue and that they can save money by going to the grocery store. It lead up to the question, "How much do you spend in a year?" We roughly approximated for living, tuition, food, and entertainment it can cost up to 25,000USD. When we added the costs of their living in Shanghai, their summation came up to 21,000RMB. The current conversion rate is 6.853 RMB for 1USD. Their tuition is about 5000RMB and for some students it is subsidized by the government. We briefly discussed scholarships and how being a minority can land you more money in the USA. When I told them that minorities can get more money for ethnicity, religion, or sex they said, "How is that fair?" I told them it is privately funded and so there are special interest groups for giving money.
The short of the censorship conversation came down to stating a few points. America has a different type of censorship - bias media. Anyone who takes all their news from one source, be it the government or a single news station, does not get to see the whole picture. In terms of the internet the cstudents said that Google was acting inappropriately and was just trying to draw attention to get a large search base and more name recognition. There was also discussion about freedom of speech on the internet in China and allowing the people to criticize the government and how this can cause trouble. The cstudent I was talking to pointed out that some people are not capable of handling the extreme emotions on the internet and this causes trouble because some people act on these single minded opinions. It was an interesting point.
Most fun, the cstudents had slightly different goals than some of the Americans in the group. The six students we were talking to four of them were wanting a life in China after getting a masters of ME in the US. Two of the students wanted to live abroad and go to Europe and the USA for a long time. Most of them aspired to be content and providing for their family. A few of them wanted to return to China to serve the country with their engineering knowledge. Some of them truly desire to be design engineers and some of them have a path of business as part of their extended education.
All in all, it was a very interesting evening getting to meet these students for the first time and having serious conversations with them. I am happy to have had this experience and I am looking forward to seeing some of these students again.
Delivery McDonald's
The conversations were so involved I did not get anything to eat for dinner except one can of Coke and a few french fries. This drove to me to order McDonald's for the first time over the phone. It took 30 minutes. I called into the central order hotline. They took my order in English and asked for my address and phone number. They then put the order into the nearest McDonald's location and had a man bring be a double cheese burger value meal + some chicken nuggets for 36RMB. 7RMB was the delivery fee and they bought it to my door. And of course, since it is China there is no tipping.
Email is Fast
I asked my roommate to send me an email while I was writing this blog post. He sent me the picture above. I was impressed that the email took less than five seconds to go from his laptop in China to the Purdue campus and then ended in my inbox. I like to think that five seconds is very quick considering that information traveled roughly 20,000 miles, but I laughed at myself for this thought. I am looking forward to the future. Some day, my children will read a hard copy of this blog and they will get a chuckle out of so much that I have written, and that is okay.
Biber
Friday, March 26, 2010
8k Race, Dinner, Burgers, Ping Pong
Weather: 50F and sunny
Time: 1:30pm
It has been more than a week since my last blog post. Living at Minhang is deceptive because it feels like I have nothing to write about. It feels that way until I make a list of observations, then I end up with a list of 10+ things to talk about and I feel silly for not writing more often. I am still enjoying making photos to use on the blog hopefully to add a bit more depth to my text.
Caption: This is an example of the grass / weed puller's work. They will move up and down the field by hand and leave piles where they've worked. Then this guy comes around and sweeps it up. Zoom in with the plus button or go full screen with double square button on the right. Hit escape to exit full screen. Clicking the leaf in the upper left will take you to the bigger picture at the photosynth website.
8k Race
Last Sunday a group of us went out to Pudong and ran in the Jinqiao 8k race. A few folks kept asking me if I was "going to be in the race." I did not know how to reply to this because I clearly was not going to "in the race" for the gold, but I was going to participate. I just told them I do not think of it as a race but more of a fun run. The group did very well overall with our best runner getting 64th overall. I did not do quite as well because I did not do very much training for the race. I ran it in 41m40s. I was not in the front of the pack but I was not bringing up the rear either. I am quite sure that is the longest I have continuously run ever. It was an interesting experience. I am not about to go sign up for a marathon, but maybe in the future I would consider this.
Dinner with ex patriot family
One of my friends on the trip knew a local family from when he was a kid. He had not seen them since they moved away at the age of seven and now fourteen years later invited him to dinner and asked him to bring a friend along. He was generous enough to invite me along. The whole thing was a great experience. I went into it not knowing anyone and left with a few new friends. The company and conversation was interesting and enlightening. The food was a fantastically prepared southern pork roast with mashed potatoes, veggies, and garlic bread. Desert was a strawberry cobbler and it was fantastic. It was nice to go back to America for a few hours in a Shanghai 25th floor apartment.
Carl's Jr.
Carl's Junior is located in People's Square in the heart of Shanghai. It is a fantastic burger shop that is a sibling of Hardee's. The burger I had was nothing short of America. I can't express how difficult it is to find a good piece of beef over here. I am looking forward to returning to some homemade burgers this summer with watermelon and chips. This visit to China really changes the level of appreciation for some many things back home.
The United States of Awesome
I really can't put all of my thoughts into words here. There is so much about China and living in another country that makes America so appealing. I can truthfully say that I miss many things about home. I made a list the other day talking to my girlfriend about the mid-west and why is it such a great place to live. America is great because of how it well it accommodate the people that live there. Food is cheap here, but it is not the quality found in the USA. I think the experience is so difficult to put into words, that I will just have to blindly encourage people to live abroad.
Ping pong with chinese student
I went out to play ping pong with a chinese student I have met since I arrived. He is a very nice guy. The way friendship works here is different than in the United States. The fundamental principle that helps form relationships is being in debt to someone else. When going out to do an activity for the first time, the activity is paid entirely by one person and they will not let you pay for any part of it. This creates a debt, but you are not suppose to pay off the debt immediately. The long term debt is a sense of trust and longevity of the relationship. So when we went to play ping pong, I could not even give him the money to rent the ping pong table and equipment.
Ping pong was pretty fun though. I had a friend with me and there were some other chinese students that this guy brought along. As I started to show my amazing american ping pong skills (volleying the ball) they showed their chinese prowess for the game. Just as I was starting to get the hang of it again, he went into over drive and spiked the ball at 120 mph. I just looked at him like, "Seriously? Do you know where I am from this game is for tennis players who can't hustle across the court?" I tried to take my game up a notch to compete, but it was nothing compared to their life long love for the game. Basically, I sucked at it. No one seemed to care that much, as it was just a friend game.
Science & Technology and Urban Planning Museums
Last week I spent a morning at the Urban Planning museum. I can summarize this trip by saying, "They are not moving toward the future, they are sprinting toward the future." The plans they have for this city in the next 10 years seem unaccomplishable in the United States. To a small extent, this is obviously true because we don't have the work force that can do this. I think the United States really needs to reconsider the high speed rail system.
Science & Technology was kind of cool. It felt like it was geared more for children than a twenty something year old engineer, probably because it was for the most part. There were some attractions there that were more for late teens than elementary school children. I saw manufacturing robots with some AI playing games with some of the people I was with. I had an archery competition with a robot (I lost). I saw some robots dance, it was terrible. It was cool enough I would go back, but only visit some of the exhibits again.
Chinese haircut
I went to a barber shop here on campus. I went in and asked the question, "Duōshǎo qián" while making a scissor motion in my hair to ask how much it costs for a haircut. She said 8RMB, $1.17 a good price. There were quite a few differences here than an American haircut. First off, I was watching her the entire time because rather than facing away from the mirror I was positioned directly towards it. She did most of the haircut with a comb and scissors.
I was pretty satisfied with the haircut as she was putting on the finishing touches so when she took the cloth off of me I got up and got my wallet out. She pointed over toward the sink and I thought, "Alright, thats cool." She washed my hair in the lay down chair, soap and rinse. She then dried it back at her cutting chair with a hair dryer and towel. Then she got her scissors back out and cleaned it up once more to make sure she didn't miss any spots.
I was impressed by the quality and the time she spent working with me for nearly 25 minutes. I was not expecting this for 1.17usd. It is not EXACTLY what I wanted, but my reference pictures aren't the best. She did very good work and it was surprising how much value there was for the money I spent.
Food (update)
-Vitamins
In January I started out not really ready for the chinese food. It was difficult to adjust to eating in the dining hall and I was often found off campus eating some higher quality chinese food with a bit more selection or some american food occasionally. It took some adjusting to get to that point, one of the student on the trip ended up in the hospital because he was not eating enough food. He was malnourished and was in the hospital for nearly four days.
Moving to the new campus, we no longer have all these great dining hall alternatives. I have had been adjusting to learn what can be eaten easily in the dining halls here. I have found that for almost the same amount I'd be spending in the slop line I can get some meals prepared for me, on demand, so it is actually warm. It has taken a bit of chinese language to learn how to order something I will like. I also enjoy these on-demand meals because they are typically boneless. The down side is that it is usually noodles or rice with some veggies and meat. My meat consumption throughout the day is less than 5 oz.
I decided that along with some supplementation of items from the store like crackers, snacks, and other things I should likely be taking vitamins. I bought a bottle of 60 and have been taking one per day for the last week. I am hoping it will help improve the last two months in China.
Apparently, one of the students on the trip saw a rat in the dining hall today. That is super reassuring for eating food there.
Time Wasters
-N64 Emulation
-How I Met Your Mother
We have found that there is much less to do on this campus, so against my better judgement I bought a USB game controller. We have been playing Mario Kart 64 as a group of 4 players recently. It is a great way to pass some of the nights. The controller was only about 3usd. We have been having fun, but I do not think it really is progressive in terms of experiencing China. I am still trying to get out and experience it for all it is worth and this seems counter productive.
Occasionally our late evening are filled with a couple episodes of "how i met your mother." I was quite a big fan back in the States and I have enjoyed watching it again from the pilot with a group of folks. We just finished season two last night. The positive is that it beats what some of the other students spend their evenings doing, just consuming lots of carbs. Granted, a bottle of carbs here is about .50usd for 600mL so it is not too expensive just plain unhealthy.
Expo 2010
The World Expo 2010 in Shanghai will be starting May 1st. In the States it'd be called the "World's Fair." This will be the first one the US has participated in for a couple years. It is some political game that we are showing up to show the strength of the US-China relations. It will be a cool place to go and visit. I am not sure that it will be super informative, but I will let you know when I go to it.
Man Law / Bro Code Failures
China does not have the masculinity complex that America has. There seems to be a mutual agreement between all chinese men that riding on a bike or moped broke back style is legit. I do not mind it, but it is an obvious difference with the American culture.
Men are also often seen carrying purses for the women; at least here in Shanghai.
Urinal rules are often broken as well. It is not surprising to see two urinals being used side by side with others still being available. I do not really think it is a big deal at all, just a difference. My guess conclusion to this point is the smaller amount of personal space. Growing up with so little space around seems to have shrunk all the "personal bubbles." Since I have arrived, I know I am more comfortable than expected with folks being in my bubble. I just have learned to shrink it a bit. Just another reason I really enjoy the USA, personal space is awesome.
Upcoming Travels
-Sanya
-Guilin
Next week, I'll be traveling south. I will be visiting an island city of Sanya off the southern coast of China, but will remain within China's boarders. There is a nice beach down there with some fairly cheap hostels to live in for a few days. There is a small group of us adventurers that want to see the island and get some time in the ocean and on the beach. I do not really know what to expect, so I am not going to set my bar too high.
Next month, I will be going to Guilin in a southern region of China. I believe this will be a fun trip of hiking and biking. I think we may also take a short river cruise. I will experience the chinese sleeper car on the train during that trip.
Just before Guilin, I will spend a weekend traveling back and forth to northern Shanghai to the international raceway to watch the first Formula 1 race of my life. I am looking forward to the race and I am expecting rain. It is the rainy season so I am told to expect rain everyday of April.
Please share your comments and email me! Thanks for reading. My blog posts have slowed down substantially since the move to Minhang. I am trying to keep it up to date for the benefit of the readers and for my own personal record of what has happened since I arrived in China!
I will be coming back from China on May 17th and I will likely be very tired from the time change. I look forward to seeing everyone when I get home before I move to Cincinnati for the summer!
Biber
Time: 1:30pm
It has been more than a week since my last blog post. Living at Minhang is deceptive because it feels like I have nothing to write about. It feels that way until I make a list of observations, then I end up with a list of 10+ things to talk about and I feel silly for not writing more often. I am still enjoying making photos to use on the blog hopefully to add a bit more depth to my text.
Caption: This is an example of the grass / weed puller's work. They will move up and down the field by hand and leave piles where they've worked. Then this guy comes around and sweeps it up. Zoom in with the plus button or go full screen with double square button on the right. Hit escape to exit full screen. Clicking the leaf in the upper left will take you to the bigger picture at the photosynth website.
8k Race
Last Sunday a group of us went out to Pudong and ran in the Jinqiao 8k race. A few folks kept asking me if I was "going to be in the race." I did not know how to reply to this because I clearly was not going to "in the race" for the gold, but I was going to participate. I just told them I do not think of it as a race but more of a fun run. The group did very well overall with our best runner getting 64th overall. I did not do quite as well because I did not do very much training for the race. I ran it in 41m40s. I was not in the front of the pack but I was not bringing up the rear either. I am quite sure that is the longest I have continuously run ever. It was an interesting experience. I am not about to go sign up for a marathon, but maybe in the future I would consider this.
Dinner with ex patriot family
One of my friends on the trip knew a local family from when he was a kid. He had not seen them since they moved away at the age of seven and now fourteen years later invited him to dinner and asked him to bring a friend along. He was generous enough to invite me along. The whole thing was a great experience. I went into it not knowing anyone and left with a few new friends. The company and conversation was interesting and enlightening. The food was a fantastically prepared southern pork roast with mashed potatoes, veggies, and garlic bread. Desert was a strawberry cobbler and it was fantastic. It was nice to go back to America for a few hours in a Shanghai 25th floor apartment.
Carl's Jr.
Carl's Junior is located in People's Square in the heart of Shanghai. It is a fantastic burger shop that is a sibling of Hardee's. The burger I had was nothing short of America. I can't express how difficult it is to find a good piece of beef over here. I am looking forward to returning to some homemade burgers this summer with watermelon and chips. This visit to China really changes the level of appreciation for some many things back home.
The United States of Awesome
I really can't put all of my thoughts into words here. There is so much about China and living in another country that makes America so appealing. I can truthfully say that I miss many things about home. I made a list the other day talking to my girlfriend about the mid-west and why is it such a great place to live. America is great because of how it well it accommodate the people that live there. Food is cheap here, but it is not the quality found in the USA. I think the experience is so difficult to put into words, that I will just have to blindly encourage people to live abroad.
Ping pong with chinese student
I went out to play ping pong with a chinese student I have met since I arrived. He is a very nice guy. The way friendship works here is different than in the United States. The fundamental principle that helps form relationships is being in debt to someone else. When going out to do an activity for the first time, the activity is paid entirely by one person and they will not let you pay for any part of it. This creates a debt, but you are not suppose to pay off the debt immediately. The long term debt is a sense of trust and longevity of the relationship. So when we went to play ping pong, I could not even give him the money to rent the ping pong table and equipment.
Ping pong was pretty fun though. I had a friend with me and there were some other chinese students that this guy brought along. As I started to show my amazing american ping pong skills (volleying the ball) they showed their chinese prowess for the game. Just as I was starting to get the hang of it again, he went into over drive and spiked the ball at 120 mph. I just looked at him like, "Seriously? Do you know where I am from this game is for tennis players who can't hustle across the court?" I tried to take my game up a notch to compete, but it was nothing compared to their life long love for the game. Basically, I sucked at it. No one seemed to care that much, as it was just a friend game.
Science & Technology and Urban Planning Museums
Last week I spent a morning at the Urban Planning museum. I can summarize this trip by saying, "They are not moving toward the future, they are sprinting toward the future." The plans they have for this city in the next 10 years seem unaccomplishable in the United States. To a small extent, this is obviously true because we don't have the work force that can do this. I think the United States really needs to reconsider the high speed rail system.
Science & Technology was kind of cool. It felt like it was geared more for children than a twenty something year old engineer, probably because it was for the most part. There were some attractions there that were more for late teens than elementary school children. I saw manufacturing robots with some AI playing games with some of the people I was with. I had an archery competition with a robot (I lost). I saw some robots dance, it was terrible. It was cool enough I would go back, but only visit some of the exhibits again.
Chinese haircut
I went to a barber shop here on campus. I went in and asked the question, "Duōshǎo qián" while making a scissor motion in my hair to ask how much it costs for a haircut. She said 8RMB, $1.17 a good price. There were quite a few differences here than an American haircut. First off, I was watching her the entire time because rather than facing away from the mirror I was positioned directly towards it. She did most of the haircut with a comb and scissors.
I was pretty satisfied with the haircut as she was putting on the finishing touches so when she took the cloth off of me I got up and got my wallet out. She pointed over toward the sink and I thought, "Alright, thats cool." She washed my hair in the lay down chair, soap and rinse. She then dried it back at her cutting chair with a hair dryer and towel. Then she got her scissors back out and cleaned it up once more to make sure she didn't miss any spots.
I was impressed by the quality and the time she spent working with me for nearly 25 minutes. I was not expecting this for 1.17usd. It is not EXACTLY what I wanted, but my reference pictures aren't the best. She did very good work and it was surprising how much value there was for the money I spent.
Food (update)
-Vitamins
In January I started out not really ready for the chinese food. It was difficult to adjust to eating in the dining hall and I was often found off campus eating some higher quality chinese food with a bit more selection or some american food occasionally. It took some adjusting to get to that point, one of the student on the trip ended up in the hospital because he was not eating enough food. He was malnourished and was in the hospital for nearly four days.
Moving to the new campus, we no longer have all these great dining hall alternatives. I have had been adjusting to learn what can be eaten easily in the dining halls here. I have found that for almost the same amount I'd be spending in the slop line I can get some meals prepared for me, on demand, so it is actually warm. It has taken a bit of chinese language to learn how to order something I will like. I also enjoy these on-demand meals because they are typically boneless. The down side is that it is usually noodles or rice with some veggies and meat. My meat consumption throughout the day is less than 5 oz.
I decided that along with some supplementation of items from the store like crackers, snacks, and other things I should likely be taking vitamins. I bought a bottle of 60 and have been taking one per day for the last week. I am hoping it will help improve the last two months in China.
Apparently, one of the students on the trip saw a rat in the dining hall today. That is super reassuring for eating food there.
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| From J Biber |
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| From J Biber |
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| From J Biber |
Time Wasters
-N64 Emulation
-How I Met Your Mother
We have found that there is much less to do on this campus, so against my better judgement I bought a USB game controller. We have been playing Mario Kart 64 as a group of 4 players recently. It is a great way to pass some of the nights. The controller was only about 3usd. We have been having fun, but I do not think it really is progressive in terms of experiencing China. I am still trying to get out and experience it for all it is worth and this seems counter productive.
Occasionally our late evening are filled with a couple episodes of "how i met your mother." I was quite a big fan back in the States and I have enjoyed watching it again from the pilot with a group of folks. We just finished season two last night. The positive is that it beats what some of the other students spend their evenings doing, just consuming lots of carbs. Granted, a bottle of carbs here is about .50usd for 600mL so it is not too expensive just plain unhealthy.
Expo 2010
The World Expo 2010 in Shanghai will be starting May 1st. In the States it'd be called the "World's Fair." This will be the first one the US has participated in for a couple years. It is some political game that we are showing up to show the strength of the US-China relations. It will be a cool place to go and visit. I am not sure that it will be super informative, but I will let you know when I go to it.
Man Law / Bro Code Failures
China does not have the masculinity complex that America has. There seems to be a mutual agreement between all chinese men that riding on a bike or moped broke back style is legit. I do not mind it, but it is an obvious difference with the American culture.
Men are also often seen carrying purses for the women; at least here in Shanghai.
Urinal rules are often broken as well. It is not surprising to see two urinals being used side by side with others still being available. I do not really think it is a big deal at all, just a difference. My guess conclusion to this point is the smaller amount of personal space. Growing up with so little space around seems to have shrunk all the "personal bubbles." Since I have arrived, I know I am more comfortable than expected with folks being in my bubble. I just have learned to shrink it a bit. Just another reason I really enjoy the USA, personal space is awesome.
Upcoming Travels
-Sanya
-Guilin
Next week, I'll be traveling south. I will be visiting an island city of Sanya off the southern coast of China, but will remain within China's boarders. There is a nice beach down there with some fairly cheap hostels to live in for a few days. There is a small group of us adventurers that want to see the island and get some time in the ocean and on the beach. I do not really know what to expect, so I am not going to set my bar too high.
Next month, I will be going to Guilin in a southern region of China. I believe this will be a fun trip of hiking and biking. I think we may also take a short river cruise. I will experience the chinese sleeper car on the train during that trip.
Just before Guilin, I will spend a weekend traveling back and forth to northern Shanghai to the international raceway to watch the first Formula 1 race of my life. I am looking forward to the race and I am expecting rain. It is the rainy season so I am told to expect rain everyday of April.
Please share your comments and email me! Thanks for reading. My blog posts have slowed down substantially since the move to Minhang. I am trying to keep it up to date for the benefit of the readers and for my own personal record of what has happened since I arrived in China!
I will be coming back from China on May 17th and I will likely be very tired from the time change. I look forward to seeing everyone when I get home before I move to Cincinnati for the summer!
Biber
Friday, March 19, 2010
Some pictures / photosynths
Here are some photosynths and panaormas.
View from Dorm Room
Statue on Campus
Model of China Expo Site 2010, from the Urban Planning Museum (18-Mar-2010)
I really dig photosynth. I've been having some good luck with it, sometimes it's difficult to navigate though! It is software in development!
Biber
View from Dorm Room
Statue on Campus
Model of China Expo Site 2010, from the Urban Planning Museum (18-Mar-2010)
I really dig photosynth. I've been having some good luck with it, sometimes it's difficult to navigate though! It is software in development!
Biber
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Expo Construction
Here are some photos from Shanghai Expo sites during construction. I will touch more on this in a later blog post.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/03/shanghai_prepares_for_expo_201.html
Information on construction worker's wages (as posted in one of the comments at the article)
http://tinyurl.com/yc2n4er
ps - 8 RMB / hr is 1.17usd.
Biber
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/03/shanghai_prepares_for_expo_201.html
Information on construction worker's wages (as posted in one of the comments at the article)
http://tinyurl.com/yc2n4er
ps - 8 RMB / hr is 1.17usd.
Biber
Minhang Dorm Room
Here is a fun little test. The synth is a program that stiches together photos into a 3d environment. I didn't do a very good job of my picture taking, but thats alright - still kind of interesting!
Biber
Biber
Long Ten Days
Weather: 7C clear
Time: 1131pm
As the title suggests, it has been awhile since I have made the time to post on the blog. I have been filling my time with things that are important to me and important to the people around me. Thank you for keeping in touch with me and my blog during the past ten days. Some days are harder than others! I am missing everyone back a home, special thanks to those very few I talk to on a nearly daily basis.
Keeping Busy Lately
-New Location
-Class Length
Now that we are at this new campus and school is in full swing, things are going alright. It was a difficult start because of some of the transitions from the previous campus and timing of exams. Now I have completed the first exam in my distance Purdue class it feels a bit more organized. There is plenty of school work to actually keep our "off days" full of work. Any student who has been through thermodynamics know that a single problem traditionally take more than an hour to solve. We are assigned eight to twelve problems per week.
This is on top of the unusually long engineering courses. China just works differently. Three continuous hours of any subject leaves the brain a little numb, but when it is a technical course things go downhill quickly! I am glad that I am not enrolled in multiple on campus courses, because it would be a real challenge to keep to my work as well as I am currently doing. We have been getting the homework out of the way as quickly as possible trying to push through it all in one day so that it leaves other days open to go adventuring. This is the goal, and with weather permitting, we try and get out as often as we can.
Summer 2010
I will be returning to my summer internship again this year. I have contacted many of my friends from previous summers and I believe this has more potential than ever before to be quite excellent.
Time Change
Now that DST has sprung, the time difference is +12 hours from Eastern Standard Time. I have not completely decided yet, but I think the DST has hurt my communication to the West. It makes figuring out what time is it a bit easier.
8K Race
As part of the Shanghai Expo 2010, there is a race this Sunday. A few of the other students wanted to go run and when they came asking, I initially said, "Probably not." However after a couple of quick seconds of thought, it seems like a good thing to try. I have not done it before and why not try it here. It was a fairly cheap registration fee, 13.50usd.
Grass Pullers
-Cost of Labor
-Food Prep
On campus, we never see lawn mowers going around. They have very well kept grass that grows rather slowly. It is odd to see the laborers out in the field pulling grass by hand to the proper length. They go up and down the lawn creating long piles of "clippings." One of the labor hands will then grab a trusty bamboo stick with some dead brush on the end and sweep it up.
Needless to say, cost of labor is very cheap in China. In many cases, like the one above, it is cheaper in the long run to use labor workers than to buy a lawn mower. The cheapness takes into account these labor workers not having a job to do, machine maintenance, and some other details.
Eating in the dining halls can be a nice experience, often times food is served cold - including meats. However, for not much more (less than 0.30usd) you can have someone make you a meal to order. The meal comes out hot and within minutes. Labor is cheap, so there are people working everywhere - often times in what seems like unneeded jobs.
It is said that this could actually slow the technical progression of China. Rather than engineers thinking of ways to become more efficient, they are encouraged to solve other problems. When a machine can do a job better than the current system - people lose jobs.
Ready to Come Home Yet?
A friend asked me this question this week. As much as I miss home, I am trying to capitalize on this opportunity as best as I can. I think coming home in two more months is rather appropriate. I will enjoy being home, but until I am - I am just enjoying this experience. I think it would be ashame if I spent everyday just sitting around waiting for the end of the adventure. I want to go out there and squeeze every drop of fun out of this place.
Travel
I hope to be doing some travel in the next month to really get a chance to see some more of China. Some things that are on the radar - a mountain hike, a beach adventure, some more traditional Chinese locations. I am still looking for that "Wow!" experience.
Thanks,
Biber
Saturday, March 6, 2010
First Week at Minhang
Weather: 4C
Time: 550pm
Rain
I do not believe I have ever lived in such a rainy place. We moved to the new campus on the 27th of Feb and it's currently 1 week later. It has rained everyday since we moved. It has been very heavy at times and occasionally there has been lightening and thunder. It is surprising to see the weather be so poor. I would have thought the weather would blow out towards the ocean. It seems to be coming from the south east most of the time - which would indicate warm weather. The warmth is usually in the upper 40s to mid 50s. The rain does a good job of making it feel very cold. It has been disappointing to be so waterlogged. We are all making it through and it is not expecting to let up until mid week. We have asked out teachers about the weather and they said that April to May is the rainy season. They said, it is pretty common that it will rain everyday of those two months. They seem to be indicating light rain, but it is not always easy to translate weather related words as they are all very relative to the region.
The weather will improve next week.
Laundry
On Friday, I spent my day in downtown Shanghai. We got up and got to the bus station by 9am, unfortunately our guess was wrong. The bus comes at 8am and 10am. This bus is operated by the university to take students and faculty between the two locations. It costs less than a 1usd to take the hour bus ride. Only a couple of the students can read Chinese - and they were not going on this trip with my friends and me. We got to town and took our laundry to the laundry lady at the other campus. She will wash, dry, and fold your clothes for you. We haven't found anyone like this on our own campus, so it has been determined that going back to the other campus is probably worth it. She does it all for less than 3usd, so I consider it to be a good deal.
Suits
The main reason I was wanting to return to downtown was to pick-up my suits from the tailor. I think they turned out very well. The business suit looks really good - black. The arguably more casual suit is also quite nice - grey. I have never had the honor of having something tailored, but this is quite a nice feeling to have clothes that truly fit perfectly. I think we are all getting a little tailor crazy, one of the girls has some jeans tailor made, a dress, suits, shirts, ... etc. There are plenty of good things happening at the tailor market. There are also knock-off Polo brand shirts. They are very tempting because, it is difficult to get a low grade polo in the states for less than 10usd, and here the knock-off is only 4.50usd. I hope to take some pictures soon and maybe publish them on here. I am not quite a fashion model so I do not know if I will publish the photos on the internet or not. Let me know if you're interested in seeing them.
Gym
Now that we have relocated to the new campus location, we are all very interested in filling our time at what is the local co-rec. I asked some of the graduate students who are suppose to be helping us to point out a few locations on the map. Last week I went to check it out and I think it is a pretty rough model for what China is like.
The Facility
The gym is located in one of the classroom buildings. It has many machines and a rack of barbells up to about twenty pounds. There is no place to work much on legs, no sleds, squats, or anything really leg intensive. There are three treadmills. The gym is carpeted. In the middle of the gym there are twelve chairs back to back facing the equipment. There are two changing rooms, with lockers that can be rented for free with a student ID.
Oddities
1. They gym costs 2 yuan / hour. There is a maximum of 25 people in the gym at one time. If you exceed your time, you must pay again to get your ID back. The only way to pay is to go to the front desk of the building (not the gym) and buy a small yellow ticket. If there are people waiting to use the gym, you will be asked to leave.
2. If you are a man, you can not use the treadmills.
3. If you are a woman, you may use the weights. I asked the attendent this question, because it seemed obvious. I said, "So if the men can't use the treadmills, can the women use the weights." She replied, "They usually don't." I said, "But can they?" --"I guess they could." What an odd expectation.
4. All users of the gym must wear a plastic shoe cover. It looks like a green bag, maybe something that would be worn into a clean-room or into surgery. All members, except for women on treadmills, must wear these at all times.
5. The twelve chairs are used for taking a break between the sets. A man was actually sitting in the chair between his sets. Most surprisingly there was actually a magazine rack sitting next to the chairs. The man looked very ridiculous wear green booties, workout clothes, lifting gloves, reading a magazine, reclined in the middle of the gym - and paying 2 yuan to do so.
6. I consider myself luck for this one, while I was talking to the front desk at the gym a college girl came in and wanted to run on the treadmill. She was wearing shoes that were like All-Stars, some leggings, a plaid school-girl type skirt, a formal sweater, with a few shirts under it. She was Chinese if you did not catch on to that yet. I have been told they do not sweat, but I really don't believe that.
7. Potentially the best one, the gym is only open from four pm to ten pm. The reason for this is the same reason the gym is not open during finals week at the university. The school is helping the students manager their time by not opening the gym until after study hours. Which are loosely defined as seven am to five pm. This philosophy is completely different than in the US where the individual is responsible for their own time management. At Purdue the gym opens at five am and stays open til eleven for midnight most of the time, I believe.
Sherpa
This campus is located far away from a lot of stuff. It is comparable to going to Purdue, a large university is a place without much to do. I would say that our old campus would have been like going to school in downtown Chicago or New York, so it is very different to not have as much to do. There are also a lot fewer Chinese food alternatives. In the city there is a delivery service called Sherpa's. They are delivery people that will take your order online or over the phone in English - then call participating restaurants and place your order. Then a delivery man (not woman) will go and get your food and bring it to you for a small fee, depending on the distance. We have Sherpa'd some tacos in the past. The business was very successful so both McDonald's and KFC have their own delivery service. We have grown to enjoy the cheapness of McD's and we were sad when there was not one within walking distance. We spotted a McD's delivery man on campus the other day and last night one of the students ordered up a value meal. The delivery fee was only 1$, which is a small price to pay to get a small taste of American food. The milkshakes are amazing.
Class
This week marked the end of the courses for the first half of the program. I'm glad to be done with nine credit hours this early in the semester. I can now really focus on the last few credits. I have an exam this week in my Purdue distance learning course. I really need to focus in on that exam because it is the only class where I am actually getting a GPA grade. Aside from that Purdue course, I have only one other course. We were informed this week that the other course I am enrolled in will not have Chinese students because the syllabus will follow the Purdue course in a condensed fashion. It will essentially be the exact same course as it would be taught at Purdue, same book, same homework, same everything. The obvious difference is that it will be taught by a local professor from SJTU. There will also be another course happening, however I have already completed this course. That third course will have Chinese students in with the Purdue students. I will rely more heavily on my friends to meet Chinese students because of this. I also think I will manage to meet some on my own because of my open personality. I am not disappointed with my class schedule though, I have class for four hours on Monday afternoon and two hours on Wednesday morning. Other than that scheduled course, I work my Purdue distance course on my own time.
Milk
Fun fact, other than the two milkshakes I have had at McDonald's - I have not had milk in China. They are, as a people, lactose intolerant. Much of their society, as I have mentioned, uses "Milk product" which is not milk. I was talked into getting a carton this morning from a slightly chilled beverage case. It was decent.
Large Super Store
Today, I spent a few hours strolling through what is roughly the same as a Wal-Mart back home. I went with a few things in mind and I found most of them. The showers are not particularly desirable so some of the other students bought foam puzzle pieces often used to coat a child's playroom. I like this idea, but I will let them test it before I jump on that train. I was able to pick-up a clean, new, plastic, soap holder for the shower. This was exciting because the existing soap holder is disgustingly old and even made the soap feel dirty. I also was able to buy a couple of hangers for my suits so they do not get destroyed hanging in my closest on a wire hanger. The item I was unable to find was popcorn. We have a microwave down the hall and I think popcorn would be nice to have around. A lot of popcorn is sold on the street but it is mostly kettle corn, which is okay - but not what I really was looking for.
World Expo
Today marks 57 days until the World Expo. There is quite a bit of decorating that has been done for this. I believe I have seen quite a bit of construction and painting that would not have been done without the expo coming to town. I have not recently been towards the expo site since the day we landed at the airport. I look forward to making it over that way in the coming weeks to see how construction is going. The World Expo is being taken very seriously. It is being prepared for much like the Olympics in Beijing. China seems to feel this is their chance to show off their most economically advanced and most western city.
These are my thoughts and observations,
Biber
Time: 550pm
Rain
I do not believe I have ever lived in such a rainy place. We moved to the new campus on the 27th of Feb and it's currently 1 week later. It has rained everyday since we moved. It has been very heavy at times and occasionally there has been lightening and thunder. It is surprising to see the weather be so poor. I would have thought the weather would blow out towards the ocean. It seems to be coming from the south east most of the time - which would indicate warm weather. The warmth is usually in the upper 40s to mid 50s. The rain does a good job of making it feel very cold. It has been disappointing to be so waterlogged. We are all making it through and it is not expecting to let up until mid week. We have asked out teachers about the weather and they said that April to May is the rainy season. They said, it is pretty common that it will rain everyday of those two months. They seem to be indicating light rain, but it is not always easy to translate weather related words as they are all very relative to the region.
The weather will improve next week.
Laundry
On Friday, I spent my day in downtown Shanghai. We got up and got to the bus station by 9am, unfortunately our guess was wrong. The bus comes at 8am and 10am. This bus is operated by the university to take students and faculty between the two locations. It costs less than a 1usd to take the hour bus ride. Only a couple of the students can read Chinese - and they were not going on this trip with my friends and me. We got to town and took our laundry to the laundry lady at the other campus. She will wash, dry, and fold your clothes for you. We haven't found anyone like this on our own campus, so it has been determined that going back to the other campus is probably worth it. She does it all for less than 3usd, so I consider it to be a good deal.
Suits
The main reason I was wanting to return to downtown was to pick-up my suits from the tailor. I think they turned out very well. The business suit looks really good - black. The arguably more casual suit is also quite nice - grey. I have never had the honor of having something tailored, but this is quite a nice feeling to have clothes that truly fit perfectly. I think we are all getting a little tailor crazy, one of the girls has some jeans tailor made, a dress, suits, shirts, ... etc. There are plenty of good things happening at the tailor market. There are also knock-off Polo brand shirts. They are very tempting because, it is difficult to get a low grade polo in the states for less than 10usd, and here the knock-off is only 4.50usd. I hope to take some pictures soon and maybe publish them on here. I am not quite a fashion model so I do not know if I will publish the photos on the internet or not. Let me know if you're interested in seeing them.
Gym
Now that we have relocated to the new campus location, we are all very interested in filling our time at what is the local co-rec. I asked some of the graduate students who are suppose to be helping us to point out a few locations on the map. Last week I went to check it out and I think it is a pretty rough model for what China is like.
The Facility
The gym is located in one of the classroom buildings. It has many machines and a rack of barbells up to about twenty pounds. There is no place to work much on legs, no sleds, squats, or anything really leg intensive. There are three treadmills. The gym is carpeted. In the middle of the gym there are twelve chairs back to back facing the equipment. There are two changing rooms, with lockers that can be rented for free with a student ID.
Oddities
1. They gym costs 2 yuan / hour. There is a maximum of 25 people in the gym at one time. If you exceed your time, you must pay again to get your ID back. The only way to pay is to go to the front desk of the building (not the gym) and buy a small yellow ticket. If there are people waiting to use the gym, you will be asked to leave.
2. If you are a man, you can not use the treadmills.
3. If you are a woman, you may use the weights. I asked the attendent this question, because it seemed obvious. I said, "So if the men can't use the treadmills, can the women use the weights." She replied, "They usually don't." I said, "But can they?" --"I guess they could." What an odd expectation.
4. All users of the gym must wear a plastic shoe cover. It looks like a green bag, maybe something that would be worn into a clean-room or into surgery. All members, except for women on treadmills, must wear these at all times.
5. The twelve chairs are used for taking a break between the sets. A man was actually sitting in the chair between his sets. Most surprisingly there was actually a magazine rack sitting next to the chairs. The man looked very ridiculous wear green booties, workout clothes, lifting gloves, reading a magazine, reclined in the middle of the gym - and paying 2 yuan to do so.
6. I consider myself luck for this one, while I was talking to the front desk at the gym a college girl came in and wanted to run on the treadmill. She was wearing shoes that were like All-Stars, some leggings, a plaid school-girl type skirt, a formal sweater, with a few shirts under it. She was Chinese if you did not catch on to that yet. I have been told they do not sweat, but I really don't believe that.
7. Potentially the best one, the gym is only open from four pm to ten pm. The reason for this is the same reason the gym is not open during finals week at the university. The school is helping the students manager their time by not opening the gym until after study hours. Which are loosely defined as seven am to five pm. This philosophy is completely different than in the US where the individual is responsible for their own time management. At Purdue the gym opens at five am and stays open til eleven for midnight most of the time, I believe.
Sherpa
This campus is located far away from a lot of stuff. It is comparable to going to Purdue, a large university is a place without much to do. I would say that our old campus would have been like going to school in downtown Chicago or New York, so it is very different to not have as much to do. There are also a lot fewer Chinese food alternatives. In the city there is a delivery service called Sherpa's. They are delivery people that will take your order online or over the phone in English - then call participating restaurants and place your order. Then a delivery man (not woman) will go and get your food and bring it to you for a small fee, depending on the distance. We have Sherpa'd some tacos in the past. The business was very successful so both McDonald's and KFC have their own delivery service. We have grown to enjoy the cheapness of McD's and we were sad when there was not one within walking distance. We spotted a McD's delivery man on campus the other day and last night one of the students ordered up a value meal. The delivery fee was only 1$, which is a small price to pay to get a small taste of American food. The milkshakes are amazing.
Class
This week marked the end of the courses for the first half of the program. I'm glad to be done with nine credit hours this early in the semester. I can now really focus on the last few credits. I have an exam this week in my Purdue distance learning course. I really need to focus in on that exam because it is the only class where I am actually getting a GPA grade. Aside from that Purdue course, I have only one other course. We were informed this week that the other course I am enrolled in will not have Chinese students because the syllabus will follow the Purdue course in a condensed fashion. It will essentially be the exact same course as it would be taught at Purdue, same book, same homework, same everything. The obvious difference is that it will be taught by a local professor from SJTU. There will also be another course happening, however I have already completed this course. That third course will have Chinese students in with the Purdue students. I will rely more heavily on my friends to meet Chinese students because of this. I also think I will manage to meet some on my own because of my open personality. I am not disappointed with my class schedule though, I have class for four hours on Monday afternoon and two hours on Wednesday morning. Other than that scheduled course, I work my Purdue distance course on my own time.
Milk
Fun fact, other than the two milkshakes I have had at McDonald's - I have not had milk in China. They are, as a people, lactose intolerant. Much of their society, as I have mentioned, uses "Milk product" which is not milk. I was talked into getting a carton this morning from a slightly chilled beverage case. It was decent.
Large Super Store
Today, I spent a few hours strolling through what is roughly the same as a Wal-Mart back home. I went with a few things in mind and I found most of them. The showers are not particularly desirable so some of the other students bought foam puzzle pieces often used to coat a child's playroom. I like this idea, but I will let them test it before I jump on that train. I was able to pick-up a clean, new, plastic, soap holder for the shower. This was exciting because the existing soap holder is disgustingly old and even made the soap feel dirty. I also was able to buy a couple of hangers for my suits so they do not get destroyed hanging in my closest on a wire hanger. The item I was unable to find was popcorn. We have a microwave down the hall and I think popcorn would be nice to have around. A lot of popcorn is sold on the street but it is mostly kettle corn, which is okay - but not what I really was looking for.
World Expo
Today marks 57 days until the World Expo. There is quite a bit of decorating that has been done for this. I believe I have seen quite a bit of construction and painting that would not have been done without the expo coming to town. I have not recently been towards the expo site since the day we landed at the airport. I look forward to making it over that way in the coming weeks to see how construction is going. The World Expo is being taken very seriously. It is being prepared for much like the Olympics in Beijing. China seems to feel this is their chance to show off their most economically advanced and most western city.
These are my thoughts and observations,
Biber
Monday, March 1, 2010
Moving to Minhang
Weather: 10C with fog and rain the next few days
Local Time: 235pm Monday 1st March
Hello all! It has been a long time coming, but finally I am getting to writing another post. There have been a few things that have been going on lately.
Courses at Xuijiahui
Last week was our last week of courses at the downtown, Xuijiahui region, campus. There were only some classes on top of that so it was a pretty good week. We finish courses on Thursday with a load of homework assigned over the weekend. We had Friday off to do whatever we wanted. Many of us chose to go out on Thursday night, I went out for a bit -- but I did not want to waste Friday in bed, so I came back a bit earlier than everyone else. A lot of people focused on buying things that we did not think we would have access to at the new campus. Some people bought food, toys, and clothing or shoes. I went for some suits. :D
Suits
A few guys all went suit shopping. I was going with the intention of getting two suits, because the track record for the shop that we were going to was excellent among the group. I wanted to keep my intentions / negotiation tactics widely open and attempt to get a lower price using a strategy of buying multiple suits. Unfortunately, my hand was shown by one of the other men I went to the shop with while he was attempting to get a lower price. Either way, I tried to get some damage control done, but it boiled down to me eventually showing my hand of buying two suits. We were able to secure suits for just about 100usd and tailored button up shirts for 13.50usd. I do not feel ripped off. Each suit is a nice three piece suit, with two buttons. One suit is black with fine pin-stripes and one slit in the back, the other is grey with textured pin-stripes with two slits on the back of the coat. I hope they are great. I think I am suppose to pick them up this weekend.
Move to Minhang
On Saturday morning we were scheduled to be leaving the faculty club at 9am. Our group size is 31 students. When the bus arrived it was a 35 passenger bus. This bus did not have the capacity to hold 5 months worth of american's luggage. We actually had this very same problem the day we arrive at the airport. It was a surprise that this mistake could happen twice. We went though a few different packing methods before the graduate student from SJTU called in a small box truck. It took a but longer than we were hoping and while I think we had a working idea.. fill the bus with students and pack the isle with baggage, we did not do that for whatever reason. The small truck came and we filled the mini-uhaul type truck. It would have been great if it did not reek of fish, but I guess that is what you get when you live in China.
Facilities at Minhang
Minhang is a fairly large campus. I am told there are over 20,000 students on this campus and the thing to remember is primarily an engineering campus. I think it is roughly the size of Purdue's footprint, including all the housing that Purdue has. It is located in the city/area/town of Minhang. This seems to be a smaller city and near the campus at least is "China" nice. There was a birthday on Saturday night for someone turning 21, and we went out to find a bar. The first one we went to did their full selection of beer, had no rum, and had no brandy. The next bar we went too also was low on their beer supplies.
We are located in the international dorm. The majority of our group is located on the fifth floor and there are a few men who are from other countries, Sweden I know is one of those other countries. The room over looks a soccer field and running track facing north. The room has two desks, two large closest, two book shelves, two beds (end to end), and two night stands. There is a mini fridge, a heater, and a television. The bathroom has a western style toilet, and a small box for showering. There is a wall hung water heater that provides the hot water for the shower only. The sink is cold. It would appear the Chinese are not aware of booster pumps and therefore the water pressure is awful. As one of my fellow students describes it, "It is worse than getting pissed on." I did not ask the obvious follow up of his comparison to see how is experience level would know this. The other large difference is the piping systems are not built for toilet paper, which means you throw it away in the trash can instead of in the toilet. It is not the American way, but it is how many people do it, I guess.
Internet
I am happy to report the internet situation is much better. I figure we were sharing one or two connections at our last home. Here in the dorm each computer has its own ip address and network connection. It has really improved speeds and ability to load some pages that are not blocked. We now can reliable check our Purdue webmail, something that took 20+ minutes before. There are now reliable methods for getting around the firewall which is why for the first time I am posting from the actual blog website. It is an improvement.
Afghanistan
I wanted to make a special note here on the blog visited by many of my friends and family that a good friend of my is fighting for his country in Afghanistan. Ryan Dienhart is a long time friend of mine and many of my closest friends as well. He is currently part of the large offensive that is underway in that combat area. I just want people to know he is over there and he is always in my thoughts. Please remember that our country is at war right now and it is not being covered by the news. Please keep all the members of the military in your thoughts. Living in China can reinforce why America is so damn great, we have our military and government to thank for that.
No country is perfect. No government is always right. No military must lose lives.
These are my thoughts,
Biber
Local Time: 235pm Monday 1st March
Hello all! It has been a long time coming, but finally I am getting to writing another post. There have been a few things that have been going on lately.
Courses at Xuijiahui
Last week was our last week of courses at the downtown, Xuijiahui region, campus. There were only some classes on top of that so it was a pretty good week. We finish courses on Thursday with a load of homework assigned over the weekend. We had Friday off to do whatever we wanted. Many of us chose to go out on Thursday night, I went out for a bit -- but I did not want to waste Friday in bed, so I came back a bit earlier than everyone else. A lot of people focused on buying things that we did not think we would have access to at the new campus. Some people bought food, toys, and clothing or shoes. I went for some suits. :D
Suits
A few guys all went suit shopping. I was going with the intention of getting two suits, because the track record for the shop that we were going to was excellent among the group. I wanted to keep my intentions / negotiation tactics widely open and attempt to get a lower price using a strategy of buying multiple suits. Unfortunately, my hand was shown by one of the other men I went to the shop with while he was attempting to get a lower price. Either way, I tried to get some damage control done, but it boiled down to me eventually showing my hand of buying two suits. We were able to secure suits for just about 100usd and tailored button up shirts for 13.50usd. I do not feel ripped off. Each suit is a nice three piece suit, with two buttons. One suit is black with fine pin-stripes and one slit in the back, the other is grey with textured pin-stripes with two slits on the back of the coat. I hope they are great. I think I am suppose to pick them up this weekend.
Move to Minhang
On Saturday morning we were scheduled to be leaving the faculty club at 9am. Our group size is 31 students. When the bus arrived it was a 35 passenger bus. This bus did not have the capacity to hold 5 months worth of american's luggage. We actually had this very same problem the day we arrive at the airport. It was a surprise that this mistake could happen twice. We went though a few different packing methods before the graduate student from SJTU called in a small box truck. It took a but longer than we were hoping and while I think we had a working idea.. fill the bus with students and pack the isle with baggage, we did not do that for whatever reason. The small truck came and we filled the mini-uhaul type truck. It would have been great if it did not reek of fish, but I guess that is what you get when you live in China.
Facilities at Minhang
Minhang is a fairly large campus. I am told there are over 20,000 students on this campus and the thing to remember is primarily an engineering campus. I think it is roughly the size of Purdue's footprint, including all the housing that Purdue has. It is located in the city/area/town of Minhang. This seems to be a smaller city and near the campus at least is "China" nice. There was a birthday on Saturday night for someone turning 21, and we went out to find a bar. The first one we went to did their full selection of beer, had no rum, and had no brandy. The next bar we went too also was low on their beer supplies.
We are located in the international dorm. The majority of our group is located on the fifth floor and there are a few men who are from other countries, Sweden I know is one of those other countries. The room over looks a soccer field and running track facing north. The room has two desks, two large closest, two book shelves, two beds (end to end), and two night stands. There is a mini fridge, a heater, and a television. The bathroom has a western style toilet, and a small box for showering. There is a wall hung water heater that provides the hot water for the shower only. The sink is cold. It would appear the Chinese are not aware of booster pumps and therefore the water pressure is awful. As one of my fellow students describes it, "It is worse than getting pissed on." I did not ask the obvious follow up of his comparison to see how is experience level would know this. The other large difference is the piping systems are not built for toilet paper, which means you throw it away in the trash can instead of in the toilet. It is not the American way, but it is how many people do it, I guess.
Internet
I am happy to report the internet situation is much better. I figure we were sharing one or two connections at our last home. Here in the dorm each computer has its own ip address and network connection. It has really improved speeds and ability to load some pages that are not blocked. We now can reliable check our Purdue webmail, something that took 20+ minutes before. There are now reliable methods for getting around the firewall which is why for the first time I am posting from the actual blog website. It is an improvement.
Afghanistan
I wanted to make a special note here on the blog visited by many of my friends and family that a good friend of my is fighting for his country in Afghanistan. Ryan Dienhart is a long time friend of mine and many of my closest friends as well. He is currently part of the large offensive that is underway in that combat area. I just want people to know he is over there and he is always in my thoughts. Please remember that our country is at war right now and it is not being covered by the news. Please keep all the members of the military in your thoughts. Living in China can reinforce why America is so damn great, we have our military and government to thank for that.
No country is perfect. No government is always right. No military must lose lives.
These are my thoughts,
Biber
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