Travel Blog Posts
December 10th 2008
Most of the day was spent sight-seeing. We went to Confucius’ birthplace and his tomb. Grace and Song had said the driver is generally very talkative, but he had never actually talked to me. Today he did—a first! The other first of the day, I finally used a Chinese toilet—yikes! If you’ve not seen them, they are basically a hole in the ground (a trough). I’d show a picture, but that might be a little extreme. I was really, really nervous about using it. But, I did it, and it was, in actuality, not too bad! I’d do it again. It was also my last full day in Jinan. I will head to Beijing to do a little sight-seeing and see Jillian on Thursday night, which will leave me all day Friday and Saturday morning to ... read more
December 9th 2008
What a day, what a day. Yes, I do believe, the folks here in China do try to overbook our day! We started out the morning visiting a biomechanics class here at the Institute. It looked very similar to the classes we saw at Wuxi, just a lot of lecture. I didn’t hear a student speak once during the class. But it was interesting to watch the students. Some feverishly took notes (those in the front of the room), and as the number of rows increased from the instructor so did the level of note-taking. I would say distance from the instructor and note-taking ability is inversely related (sorry to those non-mathematicians). And, of course, the students in the back couldn’t hold their head up or keep their eyes open. It was great to see the ... read more
December 8th 2008
Ah, life back at the cubicle. After a rousing weekend, it was time to return the grind. Saturday we learned the easy way to Mahjong, and it actually isn’t too terribly hard (the easy way). It doesn’t have betting involved, but you do have to give money to the winner. I was down to about 4 coins after starting with 20, all of a sudden, I figured out how to play, and we finished with me having 40 coins! The excuse was Grace has no electricity, so it was getting hard to see—excuses, excuses! I’m going to have to play again before my time is through. After Mahjong came dinner and KTV (karaoke). Thankfully, the first 2 songs I choose didn’t have word (so sad!), so I sang one. Grace added in a few more English ... read more
December 5th 2008
Finally a free morning and night here in Jinan (City of the Springs)! Jon (the man with the money…the PI of the project funding this experience) came yesterday while I was out in the city, but we met up for breakfast. He came in yesterday, and apparently had time to read information about our hotel. It is funded by ShanDong’s Ministry of Prison Management, which explains all the police cars in the parking lot…I didn’t really know if seeing all of them was a good thing or a bad thing. I also learned that you can buy a China Police Jacket at the hotel’s gift shop! For lunch, we met up with our Chinese hosts and spent the day learning about the city (with the Chinese) and American University politics/practices (with Jon)! Just what I needed! ... read more
December 4th 2008
If there’s but one thing I’ve learned in China, it’s to stay flexible, and that is not just because I'm studying with a Tai Chi master. When folks put on your plate things you wouldn’t in a million years eat, just smile and eat. And, when plans change for the 3rd-5th time, just run with it. So, instead of going to another city and doing testing for discus (whatever this means), we toured around the city and headed home (Jinan—quite all right with me). It was freezing (literally 0 deg. C) and windy and cold, and you’d have thought I’d never lived in a place like WY. After breakfast we did what any good graduate student (and professor not too far removed from her graduate school days) would do—headed to the brewery! Tsingtao beer is a ... read more
December 3rd 2008
We were at the lab part of the day just working on a manuscript for another graduate student, but that stuff really isn’t the good stuff. It was everything else that is more fun. We left for Qingdoa today, which is the hometown of the professor I’m working with here in China. Qingdao is along the Pacific Ocean and is also where the sailing portion of the Olympics was held. There were Beijing Olympic flags and statutes everywhere. For lunch we met with the China National Games committee (more eating and toasting). For dinner we did more of the same (eating and toasting), but this time with director of the China National Games—way too much for me! All we do is eat (and toast), which gets tough. I always have poor Grace toast for me. I ... read more
December 2nd 2008
It’s day 2 at Jinan and the ShanDong Institute of Sport Sciences, and I had to give two presentations. Both were translated, which I felt bad for the students, but I think they kind of enjoyed. Translating it just makes it that much longer. For me, it feels like a tennis match. I talk and all eyes are on me, and when I finish, the eyes shift to the translator. And back and forth we go. In the previous talks I’ve given here and with others, it’s hard to make a joke and get folks to laugh. But, I was finally did it (kudos to me!), and in both talk too! Wa-hoo! Apparently, 1.5 hours of talking must have made me tired, and the hosts and professor said for me to go for a rest and ... read more
December 1st 2008
Today I went to the ShanDong National Sport Science Institute, which is where I will be working for the next two weeks. They call it an Institute because “It is very small. It has only 10,000 students.” Hmmm…again, my definition of small and big is not the same. All of these students are either study Sports Science (i.e. training to coach or do analysis of their Olympic athletes housed nearby) or are PE majors. I changed hotels in the afternoon, otherwise I would have went to see their Ping Pong center and weight room—it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Unfortunately no pictures today, but maybe tomorrow. I met the graduate students this morning, and we trudged on over to their office. When we arrived, the students said, “Here is your office.” It was really a cubicle, ... read more
November 30th 2008
I’m leaving Nanjing today to head to Jinan, which is kind of like stepping into a black hole. The group is separating. For the most part, we’ll all be in China, but we’ll all be in different parts. I’m in Jinan (ShanDong), Jill in Beijing, and Ming somewhere (I won’t even try to spell). At the Nanjing airport, I was in gate 30, the last gate, which also happened to be in the basement. When my flight was finally ready to board, I followed everyone else, just like I would do in the states, gave my ticket to the attendant, and started to walk to my “plane.” After awhile, we came to an escalator going down. At this point, I’m starting to get a little nervous, where the heck am I going? About halfway down the ... read more
November 29th 2008
Our last day in Nanjing together was spent shopping! I didn’t really buy anything, but it was an experience nonetheless. I was even able to bargain with people, which is fun and not fun. Fun because it’s always fun to see if people with lower their price, not fun because you realize that for many people this is their livelihood—all their money goes to living not to a big corporation (to pay some CEO!). The highlight was going to Pizza Hut—I had my first roasted octopus, which actually wasn’t too bad— I’d do it again. When ate with Dr. Hua and his family, which was a special treat for us, and then his daughter took us shopping some more. Actually, we were pretty Western that day; we went to Starbucks too! There was quite a bit ... read more
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