My weekend adventures. .

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I’m sorry but the entry for the past two days is going to be very brief. I have a cold and my energy level is very low.

April 10, 2010 (Saturday)

The dust storms are gone and the day was bright, sunny, and warm. Danbo and I went to Beijing University to meet a professor there who does research in biodegradable polymers. We got a tour of some of the grounds of Beijing University. It was lovely. The flowers were blooming on the trees. There is a small lake with many trails and little bridges. I enjoyed both the tour and visiting with Professor Du. Afterwards we went into work for a little while to check on some reactions and then I came straight back to the hotel and crashed for the night.

April 11, 2010 (Sunday)

Today I was supposed to walk 14 miles. But I woke up feeling even worse (congestion and weak) than I did yesterday. It was also raining. I determined that I would probably only end up getting sicker if I walked for 3 ½ hours in the cold rain. I’m just going to have to try to squeeze in a long walk after work when I’m feeling better later this week. I’ve been sleeping as much as possible. Some of the people from lab had arranged a karaoke outing in Beijing. I didn’t want to let them down since they’d already booked everything and were so excited about it. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, karaoke here is much different than in the US. I took pictures of our private karaoke suite. The attendants brought us snacks and we had tea and juices as well. I was offered some beer, but since alcohol suppresses the immune system, I though it would be prudent to forgo the beer. I got some picture of our group. . .it was very small. . .Danbo, me, Michael, Amy, and Lavinia. Everyone sang really well (except me. . .I’m losing my voice a little from being sick), and we all had a delightful time. I sang a couple really old Madonna songs, an Elvis song, and a John Denver song. The selection for English songs was a little limited. Everyone else sang both in Chinese and English. All in all it was a lot of fun and a wonderful new experience for me. Finally I started to feel really light headed so we wrapped things up for the evening. I’m going to bed early tonight and I hope I wake up feeling much better tomorrow. Take care, everyone!

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Photos

Little Bridge and Koi Pond
This bridge and pond are inside the main entrance to campus and people come there to feed the Koi.

Building on BU Campus
This is a part of the campus. . .there are many lovely traditional style buildings.

Water Tower
This water tower is on the Beijing University Campus

Cervantes
This statue of the author Cervantes was presented to Beijing University by Spain.

Wendy and Lavinia
This is the karaoke suite.

Danbo picking songs
This picture shows the terminal where song selections can be made and the large screen TV where the words for each song are deplayed.

Amy and Michael
Michael is a really good singer! He sang a bunch of classic Chinese ballads.