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
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