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
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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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