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

Summary of February Trips

Today's Weather: 65F sunny, currently 54F

Local Time: 1020pm

Last week, was Chinese New Year on Sunday followed by traveling Monday - Sunday.

Monday - Wednesday was Suzhou and Hangzhou

Chinese New Year

It is unlikely to find a comparable fireworks display in the United States.  Fireworks are used to scare away bad luck and other odd things. There are no professional fireworks displays, so each family buys their own fireworks and sets them off.  Also business do the same practice for similar reasons.  To make a long story short, the fireworks don't go as high in the air, it seems.  Thankfully, the hotel we are staying in was shooting off fireworks.  It was very loud and I enjoyed it very much.  I watched from the 5th floor open window, the fireworks were exploding about 9 floors in the air.  Pictures of fireworks seem pointless, but I guess I have a few videos.  The air started fairly clear that evening though after midnight, there was a fog across the city from firework smoke.  Very impressive.

Suzhou (Sue-Joe)

Suzhou was an interesting place to visit.  We traveled as a group with a tour guide from Monday to Wednesday with a set agenda.  We saw a temple, a silk factory, and a garden.  The weather was quite bad, upper 40s and misty/fog.  We had some adventuring around the hotel area that night, but nothing ground shaking.  Visited a TGI Friday's.  I didn't like the mozzarella slabs because they were breaded in something rice based.  ):

Hangzhou (Ha-ng-joe)

Hangzhou was also a good place to visit.  It is a richer vacation area.  There is a very large lake there that is rather pretty but the weather didn't improve much.  We visited a cave.  Then we had lunch and visited the large lake that afternoon.  The weather was mid 40s, foggy, and windy.  The cave was kind of an upsetting experience for me.  I have been to caves in the United States, so when it showed up on the agenda I was excited to learn something about Chinese geology.  It is obvious that it was not that kind of experience.  It was a very Chinese tourist attraction.  They did not have english speaking guides so our hired tour guide translated what they had said.  Before, the tour started, we were offered an extended tour with a boat ride in the cave for not much money.  Many of us opted for this upgrade because it was a "45" minute boat ride.  After entering the cave, we learned that this was not something the DNR would be running.  Neon lights lite cave walls, over a wet stone path.  There was also nothing protecting the geology from the tourists.  The cave had lots of "Hey, that looks like a dragon."  It never once talked about the minerals or how long the cave had been there.  They had actually really screwed things up in that way.  In the caves I had been in before, the guides said touching a forming stalagmite can ruin the formation for many many years.  There was nothing stopping the tourist from touching these.  In fact, there were a few ground formations that actually had cement poured around it and they were in the middle of the path.  It was surprising.  I actually started laughing when I heard a few of the things they "found" in the rocks, dragons, elephants, etc.

We walked up 200 stairs, to look at something and then five minutes later walked back down the stairs.  As we exited the stairs a lady was handing incense out, people were taking it without asking questions.  I avoided this lady, because it did not seem right.  Well, as it turns out we had stumbled on a buddhist temple inside this cave.  People lite the incense and put it in the holder.  Once it goes in the holder, you are expected to donate.  Psh. Lame.  Some people did, some didn't.

Now we have arrived at the end of the first tour and the boat tour is about to start.  I see them bailing water out of the boats, GREAT.  We load up these wooden vessels with 9-12 Americans and they were built for 12 Chinese people.  The edge of the boat was no more than an inch out of the water, leaning the wrong way added some water in the boat.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) the boat ride was not 45 minutes, but rather 4 to 5 minutes and less than a football field long.  They actually used dynamite to make this pond.  The drill holes were visible on the rock face - absolutely wrong. 

Other things that were just wrong were:

- The cages animals for tourists to look at.

- The dead trees with hot glued on decorations.

- The fake dinosaur fossil.

- The train used to exit.  Which - at one point you had to duck in the train as to not hit your head while exiting the cave with low clearance.

I wrote a lot right there, and I am sorry.  I think that caves should be maintained and studied, not faked up for money.

We visited a large lake that afternoon and took a longer boat tour, it was windy and cold.  That evening we went out for a few drinks at a bar recommended by a Silicon Valley expat who owns the local subway sandwich shop.  We also visited a tea field, where they attempted to sell expensive tea to our group - and some people bought it.

We returned to Shanghai on Wednesday night, very tired.  Six of us turned around on Thursday and went to Beijing.

Beijing in Short 

I visited many sites in Beijing.  It was a very good trip.  I have many pictures from the trip and the weather was pretty good for the most part.  There were a couple of sunny days.  I saw; The Great Wall, The Summer Palace, The Temple of Heaven, the Drum Tower, Forbidden City, Tiananmen square, Olympic Bird's Nest, Ming Tombs, Chinese Tradition Medicine Clinic, and a Jade Craving Factory.  We made the most of our short visit.  One day we had a tour guide and that was the best way to get to the Great Wall for sure.  I initially did not think the Great Wall was going to be worth seeing, but it is fairly impressive actually.  It was an enjoyable trip.  I learned a lot more about China in Beijing because it is not nearly as westernized as Shanghai.

Minhang

This weekend our group is moving from downtown Shanghai about 40 minutes out of town.  It will still be densely populated but we will be relocating to the Mechanical Engineering campus.  I hope that the move goes well and will being much better internet connections to all of us.

Thanks for reading,

Biber

Great Wall in pictures

The trips went well last week. I am rather busy at this point with catching up with a few things. I will continue blog writing later this week.

Jon

Traveling

I will be away from Monday the 15th to Sunday the 21st.

Monday - Wednesday

Hangzhou and Suzhou

Thurs - Sunday

Beijing

Have a good week. I'll take some pictures and hopefully get some good stories!

JBiber

Month in Review and Chinese New Years

Temp: 3C - Partly Cloudy

Time: 3pm Sat

This post is a few updates with some thoughts on the first month in China.

Go Karts

Last night (Friday night) there was a small group of us interested in going out to the local indoor go kart business.  If you have ever been to Indianapolis' Fast Times, this is roughly the same thing.  The track had best times in the low 40sec area and it was 550m long.  The best carts were going in the upper 20s on average.  I say the best carts, because unlike Indy's track, the karts here are not all identical.  In fact, the karts are from a variety of manufacturers but apparently all use a Honda 4stroke 160cc engine.  This lead to many karts not being tuned properly and therefore a few "fast karts" emerged.  We bought three sessions at 8 minutes per session for about 22usd.  In Indy, the same amount of time (8 minutes x 3) would cost 60usd ($20 x 3).

The way the operation is run is a bit different.  First, the more obvious and interesting variation - the place serves alcohol.  There is a large bar that has viewing windows from above to watch the racers from while drinking.  The more risky drinkers will then go downstairs and drive - mostly because it is China and why not.  No one from out group was about to do this, but at the same time.. who knows what the future may hold.

The other large deviation from the policies of indy's kart track is there are ... no rules what so ever.  Aside from the obvious - don't get out of the kart, don't drive against the flow of traffic.. there is nothing that said no bumping like in Indy.  Clearly if you are allow to bump, you are allow to slam the crap out of each other and spin people out.  So that is what happened.  I have never been to a karting business that allowed this, but no one mentioned it once it started, so it escalated.  While the primary objective was to get the best lap times, the secondary objective is to screw over the other people on the track so that you can get the best lap time.  Needless to say, it was an experience.  The lighting was very poor so the video I shot was very dark.

Chinese New Year

February 14th is the Chinese New Year.  Today, Saturday, is New Years Eve.  We will be going out as a group to a fancy restaurant on Purdue's tab.  I am excited for just about one reason.  China is the world's manufacturer of fireworks.  I am told that there is no match for the fireworks that will be seen tonight through tomorrow.  If the expectations have been appropriately set, this will be the closest thing I will ever come to the sounds of a war zone.  I am also told there will not be too much partying going on because it is a very family oriented holiday.  It ties in with the very superstitious Chinese folk.  There is a large emphasis on luck around these parts.  For example, to have many fours a phone number is very unlucky because it sounds like death.  Sixes are good fortune and are associated with good business.  Eights are the luckiest number.  It is a very real thought process for the Chinese people.  The holiday for students is celebrated a week before and a week after.  This is the equivalent of Christmas around these parts or winter break.

ME 497K

This week has been a holiday for many students and teachers so we only had one class, the Purdue professor taught course.  This was the final week for this course because the professor will be returning to the US this week.  Each day we had five hour sessions.  Mon - Wed we worked on our final project then Thurs / Fri we presented.  Most all of the students are glad to have that class out of the way.

Valentine's Day

It may be of interest to some people to know that V-day is celebrated here.  The same superficial crap that is promoted in the US is carried along on this side of the ocean as well.  This year, I am told, is not as big of a deal because there is a bigger holiday falling on the same day.  Since the Chinese operate on the lunar calendar on a social level and the international calendar on the business level, many holidays appear twice.  One of our teachers said it is not a big deal that V-day is on the same day as CNY because there is another V-day later in the year.  Another note, the lunar calendar is not as long as the international calendar (<360 days).  Every few years, the Chinese calendar repeats a month.  Occasionally, there are two Mays in the same year, back to back.

One Month In...

-Expats

We are consistently told that talking to ex patriots is a waste of time in China because it is not part of the China experience.  I say the longer an expat has been around, the more useful information they can share.  We routinely have found very good information from the expats in China.  It has been part of the China experience just talking to these people and finding out great places to go visit. 

-Culture

The culture is very different from home.  As I mentioned above, there is a much stronger emphasis on luck.  There are other odd parts of Chinese culture that still continue to confuse me.  It has been an interesting experience to see how different it is in this way.  It has been a learning experience from the beginning.

-Frustrations

Many of the frustrations come from a gap in communication or understanding in general.  Chinese people never appear frustrated because they have been taught from a very young age to not show emotion.  That is a large cultural difference from back home.

Coming to China is not regrettable.  The only things I'd like to change are my knowledge of Chinese so that I could really get deeper into the culture and understand the world around me better.  That being said, it is difficult to be away from home and I miss a lot of friends and family.  I like hearing from all of you and know whats going on while I'm away.  Please keep in touch.  Though only a month has gone by, it is already starting to feel like I am running out of time to see everything there is to see in China.

JBiber

Happy Chinese Lunar New Years Eve (Saturday)

Happy Chinese New Year  (on Sunday)

Happy Valentines Day (on Sunday)

Good Luck America at the Olympics!!