Week 3! (in lab..)

Dear Blog,

This blogging once a week plan is failing slightly moreso than I had originally anticipated.. In any case, let me update you on the past two weeks:

So last, last Monday we began working in the labs. Things started out pretty slowly for me. Professor Liu and I decided that I would use the first two weeks to spend a day with each grad student so they could introduce me to their projects and I could get a general understanding of what was going on in the lab. Afterward, I would choose who I wanted to work with.

I spent Monday-Wednesday of the first week reading papers. On Thrusday and Friday and the following week, I worked with a different grad student each day. While it was neat to be able to see what each student did and spend time with everyone, I think it would have been better to have tried to fit everything into one week instead of taking two. Maybe working with one grad in the morning and another in the afternoon and reading papers in the evening would have been better. Getting out early everyday was nice, but I'm concerned about having enough time to finish a project now. Additionally, the chem building may get shut down in the middle of July for the Olympics. So that would only give me a month to work.. We will have to see how things turn out, though.

Life outside of the lab is going well. I've mostly been working out and resting a lot. And shopping. There's a ton of stuff to do/see/buy in Beijing and it's pretty easy to get around once you learn how to take a cab and use the bus and subway systems. We've been going to a couple different clubs on the weekends. Overall, they've all been really nice, but pretty expensive. It's been fun, though.

I think this weekend we may be taking a train out to the east coast to go the beach. We need to look into the details though (aka getting tickets and hotel rooms). And if not, maybe the zoo or some musuems. It could possibly depend on the weather. Even though Beijing is apparently just supposed to be hot and humid all summer long, I've found that the weather is sort of violently unpredictable. We've probably had rain and storms every week since we've been here. We've had days where it's been so dry and dusty and windy, you wanted to wear your lab goggles out into the streets. And of course we've had the very hot and humid (but apparently the hottest is yet to come)..

Today is the first day of our third week in lab. I've chosen a grad student to work with, Sun Jiying, who is incredibly nice and friendly and speaks English very well. I've just been helping her out with her experiments today, so we will have to see if I ever end up with a project of my own.

That is all for now..

And so it begins

Dear Blog,
Okay, so they’re no longer giving us prompts nor setting aside reserved blogging time and it’s currently 2.5 weeks into the trip and I’m only now making my second entry (I can sense that this is going to be a continual challenge). .
In any case. I will present the first two weeks of our trip to you as they were presented to me (sort of):
Friday May 24th, noon: Depart UM campus, drive to Detroit Airport, take out cash to exchange once we arrive in Beijing, call friends, relatives, etc. to wish farewell, change voicemail to inform callers that I will not be returning their calls for the next two months. Fly to Beijing.
Saturday May 25th, 11 pm: Arrive at Wan Liu apartments in Beijing, China. Scarf down the food and bottles water from our gift bags . Pass out immediately.
Sunday May 26th, 5 am: Rise and shine! (we all love jet lag). Unpack and organize room, mill around for the next 7 hours.. Noon: Touring begins! Lunch + Forbidden City (aka 3 hours outside in 90 degree heat) + dinner + can we please go home and die in our beds yet + Tian'an Men Square + 8:30 pm return. 8:31: Sleep.
Monday May 27th – Friday May 30th, in summation (obviously): Morning language classes with Nian (aka the daily butchering of the Chinese language) + group lunches + afternoon culture lessons (lectures on Chinese society and history; which were all really interesting, save a few..) + some afternoon adventure followed by group dinners mostly. This is similar to the following week’s schedule as well. We mostly just spent the time trying to learn some survival Chinese, getting some basic background information on Chinese culture, learning how to travel around (aka take the bus, subway, and taxi), and getting to know the area around the campus and our apartment. We went on some outings as well: pearl market, clothing market, acrobatics show, Peking duck restaurant, Peking opera, Karaoke, etc.
Saturday May 31st 8 am: Ok jet lag has worn off. Let me see if I can roll myself out of bed. 9 am: Touring begins. Lama Temple + Confucian temple + lunch + Hua Hai Lake tour + drum tower + tea house dinner + variety show performance. 10 pm: drop off at Wan Liu. 10:01 pm: Sleep.
Sunday June 1st (aka the best day ever) 7 am: Rise and shine, happy new month! 8 am: Pick up and drive to the first section of the Great Wall. 11 am: Arrive. First of all, let me say that the weather is wonderful (maybe low 70’s, breezy, a bit cloudy- aka NOT stiflingly hot). The countryside is covered in luscious greenery (which I’ve heard is not always the case..). We take cable cars up part of the mountain (aka “Nicole!!! WE’RE A BUG!!!” (refer to the picture section for details) and after a short walk, there it is. I’m not going to get all sentimental and mushy, but it was honestly one of the coolest experiences of my life. I walked along it, spellbound, for a bit, not being able to put my camera down. We eventually leave our unofficial tour guides and head off to lunch and to the next section of the wall (which required a rather more strenuous hike to reach but was fun and beautiful just the same). 7 pm? Drop-off at Wan Liu.
Monday June 2nd – Friday June 6th, in summation (again): See above.
The following weekend, part of the group went to Xi’an. I opted not to go because I wanted to save my money and have a weekend to rest. The others went because they’ll probably never get the chance to go again. In any case, let us continue:
Saturday June 7th, 10:30 am: Rise and shine after a full 12 hours of sleep (I’m not exaggerating). 11:30: Pick up and hot pot lunch (aka the most delicious invention ever) + happy birthday to Kelly and the biggest pieces of cake on earth + subsequent destruction of the singing lotus. 2 pm: Summer Palace. It was cool to see although architecturally rather similar to the Forbidden City (for obvious reasons), which made touring it a bit redundant (it was also very hot and I had forgotten my camera), but still a good experience. Drop-off afterward in time for dinner and our own devices.
Sunday June 8th, 10:30 am: Rise shine after a full 10 hours of sleep (ok, we’re getting better) for 11:30 pick-up. Dumpling lunch!!! (aka how many dumplings can Tom and Xu eat before regurgitation becomes inevitable? Answer: 70 between the two of them. Please refer to the picture section). 2 pm: short tour of the Temple of Heaven and shopping at the Pearl Market (again- girls’ choice) + time for dinner and the joyous reunion with the other half of the group (you wouldn’t believe two days apart could ever seem that long until you’ve spent every minute of every day together for the previous three weeks).
And then Monday is the big first day in the lab! BUT. I believe this is enough information for the moment. Until next time.. Um.. Wait patiently?
Peace, love and Chinese stunted dogs.