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Published: December 2nd 2008
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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 be back at 2:00 pm. First, of course was lunch though: porcupine, ants and either cicadas (I think) or locusts (perhaps…I’m not sure about my insects so much—I’m just going off the characteristics). At 2:00 we met back up to go over their presentation for me to discuss their research activities and how our projects can be combined—very interesting. The professor is great and his
ShanDong Province Pool
Here's where the elite athlets of ShanDong province train. They live near in dorms near the pool and go to school here as well. The silver medalists from this year's Olympics (100 fly) trains here (lane 2). students are as well, so I really think we’ll be able to put a bi-country project together (scary). After the meeting, it is off to the pool (I didn’t even suggest it) for a research project and testing. Swimmers are swimmer, regardless of the country. I saw so many bad habits: breathing off the walls, poor streamlines, grabbing the lane ropes, pulling with the incorrect arm off the turn—you can guarantee if those were my swimmers they would be doing a lot of pushups (my way of ridding poor habits—swimmers learn after a while: it’s the little things that separate the good from the great, and the great do them EVERY day).
I’m hoping to get a full tour of the campus sometime soon, but we’re going to leave and go to Qingdao (pronounced Ching-da, which is on the beach; it just keeps getting better! We’ll spend a few days hiking the mountains, seeing the 1000 Buddhas then rest ocean-side (too cold to get in 😞 though). After Qingdoa, we’re off to another Olympic training site to study discus. One of the graduate students works for the track and field team, so I’ll be helping them. It’ll be interesting—I
Smog over the city
Jinan is a little more smoggy that most Chinese cities. The Sports Institute will be moving in the spring, in part to get out of the pollution. I miss my neti pot! really don’t know a whole lot about discus, and I know even less about the biomechanics of it. This whole trip really has just been quite the learning experience for me! The only bad part of leaving to do the trip to Qingdoa and the discus is that Jon (the man behind the part of vision of our trip (our PI to the academics)) was set to visit me Thursday and Friday.
I’m not sure if he’ll be able to visit me, but I think he’s eager to hear all of our stories about our research experience. There are three of us left, all in separate cities, so he’s really checking to make sure things are well, and the money’s well spent ! I would say yes to both for me! I’ve learned quite a bit that I can take back to the US to use and the experience has been great! I have about 10 days left in the country, and I’m kind of torn about staying and leaving. I think it’s such a neat place to be and see—all the history and culture! However, there is, especially in Jinan a lot of pollution! Everyone in Jiangsu (our first province) kept saying it was the cleanest and safest, which we thought was kind of funny because it really wasn’t that clean. Now, being in Jinan I do appreciate blue skies and clean air Jiangsu and the US. The professor I’m working with said he wanted his students to see the US or Canada to see what a clean environment is like. Hopefully, in time, his students will be able to make it over to the US to see our country. They are very curious, and when I showed them pictures of UTEP, they thought it was a cute campus too! A couple are interested in coming to the States to study, so perhaps they will be joining a campus near you—wish them well!
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