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
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