First Impressions

Dongying, situated in the mid-northern part of the Shandong Province, is home to roughly two or so million citizens. The Shandong Province itself is one of China's larger provinces clocking in at about 90 million people. Dongying is one of the essential vertebrae that comprise the backbone of China's economy; it is home to China's second largest oil field, The Shengli Oil Field. Under the banner of fending for itself and national interests, China focused their attention towards the northeast to refine their own crude oil to supply the oil demand of China's booming economy. As China continues to embrace their automobiles and proliferation of apartment and office buildings, China's need for more oil has become a custom concern for the government to not only protect its own oil supplies but to look to the middle east for oil reserves to sustain China's development into a potential international player. The government's current push to secure foreign oil fields have pushed them into a zero-sum contest for energy with particularly the United States, and other invested industrial superpowers. With China becoming more and more insular through the protection of domestic oil production, the future implications for China, and the international community's will likely unravel itself in a precarious manner as each nation continues their quest for energy. See http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/07/11/050711ta_talk_surowiecki for an interesting take on China and the quest for oil.

On another note, the city of Dongying itself has made quite a lasting impression on me so far. The main campus of China Petroleum University, because its large size, acts as a community for its students and citizens; it's not only a institution of higher learning for the students but also provides a place of dwelling for families, as well as teachers and professors. The campus takes on roughly 15,000 undergraduate students with a sizable amount of the student population studying to become engineers. Hence, the importance of engineers to further develop China's petrol research is not only imperative, but also necessary.

I live at the International Exchange Center (really its a hotel) with my fellow foreign English teachers, and various other international teachers who have come to teach here at CUP. My place of dwelling is quite nice, in fact a great deal nicer than I thought it was going to be. As shown in the pictures, the hotel is equipped with luxurious western amenities: a common room with television and cable, large full size bed, free internet, a refrigerator, air conditioning, a balcony, and the like. Take a gander at the pictures to get a better idea of my living space.

The aims and goals I have set out for myself from most important to least important are: Teaching English efficiently, studying and practicing English, traveling, and reading. With such amenities and resources available/supplied, it should make achieving three out of the four goals not only possible, but very realistic. That's all for now!

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