So, these are my final days….I will not know until next week at the earliest if all of my long hours and sleep deprivation paid off, but even if none of the 12 isolates that we eventually sent off for sequencing comes back successful…what I learned here will be a valued asset for the rest of my life. Not only the lab experience but also the cultural and emotional ones as well. Just moments ago Hua looked up (and I do mean looked up…I am a good foot taller than her) and said to me “Okay, we are done!” Music to [View Full Entry]

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As soon as my head hit the pillow Sunday night after returning from my marathon weekend in Hong Kong, it was time to start my second week in the Pan lab. My primers had come in so I knew that this meant “time to work” since Dr. Pan had mentioned on more than one occasion “how easy it will be to sequence 100 isolates!!” Little did I know that I was about to walk into a giant hazing event that would continue to the present…hazing Pan lab style. Monday started like all the other days with me waking up, talking to [View Full Entry]

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Ming and I went to Hong Kong this weekend and can I just say this right off the bat….Hong Kong is NOT China! Technically, it is….but given that it is actually a part of the same place I have been for the past 16 days, Hong Kong is like the free spirited, creative, rebellious, out-spoken, red-headed step child that the rest of the family tries to ignore. I had access to Facebook (which I am surprised to say I miss very much) and I was able to download some TV shows and even one movie to take back to Guangzhou with [View Full Entry]

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I stayed up late Thursday night putting all of the finishing touches on my PPT (remember…when reading it you have to say it really fast with emphasis on the first P) only to show up on Friday and realize that I my talk was not until 3:30 that afternoon and that I would have that entire morning to work on it. That is always the way it goes though…right. I also finished editing the paper that Dr. Pan had given me and “Load the Ark Noah…the FLOOD has arrived!!!” Not more than 20 minutes after giving Dr. Pan the edited manuscript [View Full Entry]

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Quickly, can I say a GIANT thank you for everyone's support. Your comments make my day!!! I refresh my window multiple time waiting for more comments. Reading about how much people love my blog and how they look for it everyday really makes me feel special. I also want to say a special thank you to Mrs. Blocker's 5th hour who have been following me...I loved your comments the other day and if you will have me, I would love to come visit when I return. Tuesday was my first full day in the lab. I was met in the lobby [View Full Entry]

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MONDAY: Day 1 of 10 Today I woke up hoping to have a new bright outlook on my time here in Guangzhou…maybe in the morning light the mold would not look so black or there is suddenly an English TV station available or maybe Ming’s research building will have moved right next door to mine or maybe I will have grown a liking for Chinese food or maybe I will have developed a fascination with taking a shower over the toilet with the full size mirror looking back at me or maybe everyone in China will have learned English and be [View Full Entry]

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It was bitter sweet leaving everyone today at the airport. It is not like I will not see them again, I plan to see this group of people again on many occasions!!! But, it was the end of a very special and magical experience that we all shared and that was a little sad. Not to mention that I am green with envy that the teachers get to tour Beijing before they go back…I want to see the great wall so very badly…guess I will just have to come back one day, hopefully with my husband that time. :) So, the [View Full Entry]

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Since I did not blogg a few nights ago, I have been one day behind in my blogging, so tonight I am going to put 2 days into one to catch up before heading out to Nanjing and starting my next adventure in Guangzhou. So after our lessons on Wednesday, we were asked to give our lessons again to the college students at the Jiangsu Institute of Education and of course, we all said yes. I struggled with this a little since I was not happy with the inquiry part of my lesson and they wanted me to teach it to [View Full Entry]

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Today was supposed to be a light day of a little sightseeing in Wuxi then back to Nanjing. It turned out to be a little different than that. Instead of doing much sightseeing we visited another school in a city south east of Wuxi called Suzhou then we were taken to an ancient house once lived in by a very wealthy and important family. It was nice, but the translation from the tour guide was a little lacking so we eventually just started wondering around on our own. Soon after leaving we headed back to Nanjing which turned out to be [View Full Entry]

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Let me start off by apolgizing for not blogging yesterday. To make a long story short..it was out last night in Wuxi and our hosts took it as a personal and cultural insult if you did not get completly hammered with them. I would not call myself hammered, but I did not have to take Advil PM to sleep if you know what I mean. A few of the group members were favorites of Dr. Hua and had to be helped to the bus and to bed :). Therefore, I was not up for blogging last night. I know that you [View Full Entry]

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