Paper update...

Okay...so I lied about this being the last post. I mentioned earlier that my group was submitting our paper to PNAS. Apparently, they decided to change plans and submit it to the Journal of the American Chemical Society instead. The peer review process just started and it will take a few months for that to happen. I'll try to post the paper here once it has been published.

The last post

So this will be the last blog post that I write. Before I close, I just would like to say that I've had an amazing summer doing research and seeing the sights. I enjoyed hanging out with other 11 members of our group plus all of the Chinese friends that we've met throughout the summer. My experiences here this summer will remain with me for the rest of my life.

If you're reading this blog now in late 2008/early 2009 and considering this program, just know that you can learn chemistry anywhere in the world but you can only experience Chinese culture in China. It's a dynamic place that is much different now than what it was 10 years ago and it will be much different in 2020 than it is today.

Please don't hesitate to send me questions about anything relating to the trip. I'll be more than happy to answer them and I'd love to talk more about my experiences if you are interested. Thanks to everyone for reading the blog!

Last Few Days/Back Home

Thursday: The gang went to the Capital Museum to see some of China's ancient artifacts. It was pretty cool but there wasn't a whole lot there. We went to Xidan afterward to shop at the clothing market and to buy food to take back to the states. We had our presentations that night...Skype kept dropping us so we couldn't really hear what was going on in Michigan. Everyone that presented did an excellent job.

Friday: Everyone else went tea shopping while Xu and I went to Fragrant Hills park. It's a really scenic park with great views of the city. We made 3 km climb to the top of the mountain and it was quite a climb. But the views of the city were worth the climb.

Saturday: I finished packing and went to Summer Palace that afternoon. The architecture of the buildings is really great but I think the place has too many souvenir shops. Most of the places require extra admission to see some of the more important places there, which I didn't have time to see. We all ate our last dinner together at a restaurant down from our apartment.

Sunday: We got a rude awakening at 0400 by the cleaning staff kicking us out of our rooms. We head for the airport where we underwent 3 separate security checks, including a pat down and physical inspection of our bags at the gate in addition to the normal security and immigration checks. We fly to Tokyo and say goodbye to Xu and Nicole. Customs in Detroit was easy; just tell them you don't have food and you won't get your bags opened. I got home around 2200 that night after 30 hrs of traveling.

So that's about the last of my blogging...I might post some closing remarks later in the week.

Olympic Village/Filet mignon

It seems that I've been hanging out with Alisa, Donna, Kelly, and Zach over the last several days seeing stuff around the city. Xu came back from visiting his relatives and joined our gang that headed out to the Olympic Village. One of the guys from Zach's lab also joined us. We were walking around National Stadium taking pictures when we saw these guys carrying stools and small bags walking in formation. We quickly learned that these guys were actually PLA soldiers...and there were several thousand of them walking around. They were all giving Kelly strange looks! We also got to get pretty close to the Water Cube as well.

Zach, Donna, and I went to Alameda for dinner. It's a restaurant over in the Sanlitum bar street area that serves "contemporary cuisine" (whatever that means). I had scallops with green beans for a starter and a filet mignon for my entree. The food was absolutely amazing! The sauces that accompanied each were delicious, the scallops were great, and the filet was tender (only 158 RMB for both). We also had dessert (another 38 RMB); I had an orange tiramisu that was nicely prepared, although it was a bit small for the price. Needless to say, we were quite happy after we finished our meal. I think that was one of the best meals I've had anywhere in the world.

Closing thoughts: For the record...

For the record, I'd like to say I've had a blast on this trip! I just spent 11 weeks together with one of the most amazing groups of people I have ever met. I have enjoyed spending time with everyone this summer. I'm going to wake up every morning back home and wonder where everyone is...and be in for a real shock when I convince myself I'm the only one there. It's going to be lonely being apart from everyone else. But we all have school to attend. I hope the 12 of us can meet again sometime.

While I didn't learn much Chinese this summer, I did learn a lot of chemistry and how research works in a real chemistry lab. I also learned a lot about the Chinese culture. Everything I learned will remain with me for the rest of my life. If you get a chance to do research there, do it!

So this is probably the last blog post I'll write. Thanks to the readers that have been following my blog this summer!

Art district/Old Summer Palace/A "Fowl" Farewell

Zhaleh left us on Sunday to head back to the states...we miss her already! Xu has been visiting his relatives for the last several days.
Zach, Alisa, and I went to the 798 art district near the airport with some folks from Zach's lab. There were all these small galleries that we saw with different kinds of modern art in them. Right after our delicious lunch, Zach and I went to use the W.C. (as Zach would call it). When I stepped up to the urinal, it started to overflow greatly, causing my leg to get just a bit wet and triggering a dash from the loo. (I tell this story because Zach found this so funny and dared me to post this on the blog. So this post is for you, Zach.)

Monday: We had our last group lunch at the Japanese restaurant today. Then we walked around the ruins of the Old Summer Palace. The flowers there are pretty nice and I got a scroll that barely fits in my large suitcase. Other than that, there isn't a whole lot to see there. My lab group took me out to Quanjude Peking Duck restaurant for my "farewell" dinner. The duck was absolutely fantastic! Quack, quack!

One more week...

So I went in on Friday and found out we aren't going on our trip to 内蒙古...what a shame! So I'll be hanging out for the next week. I went out to dinner at Lush with everyone Saturday at Wudaokou. I think I will go to an art show with Zach and some folks from his lab Sunday morning. Not sure what the rest of the week holds. I plan on going back to 天安门 and taking some more pictures of 毛泽东. I don't plan on going back to 北京大学 this week since it is a pain in the ass to access it. I probably should also go to 颐和园 since not doing so would be doing a disservice to myself. Next Sunday I will fly to 東京 (this might be hard to figure out) before flying back to the U.S.
So where am I going this week? I'd like to see if anyone can figure out where I plan to go.

Before I forget, I'd like to thank Tom's mom for reading my blog. She told me that she was finding out more info about Tom from my blog than she was from Tom's own blog. Interesting...

The beginning of the end

So we're down to the last 10 days of the trip. While I've immensly enjoyed my time in the city, I can't wait to get back to the states and eat all the foods I can't eat here. I'm not sure how the last 10 days will play out exactly. Our lab is still planning a trip to Inner Mongolia sometime (don't know when yet). The guys in my lab asked me if I was bringing my "girlfriend" along on the trip (I don't have one right now). So I just might have to bring someone with me on this trip...we'll see what happens. I think Tom plans on bringing Nicole along.

I haven't done much in lab this week. Our group has been taking it easy and complaining because it is terribly hot in the labs. Tomorrow will be my last day in lab and it makes me sad that my time there is coming to an end. I've learned a lot from the guys in the lab but I won't miss the closet/oven we call "the lab". But my 7 weeks here is the equivalent of working about 10-12 weeks in an American lab (I've worked close to +/- 480 hrs). I need a vacation!

I also finally got the ID card situation resolved. The JI folks had to make a new card with another stamp on it. I'm not sure why it wasn't done correctly the first time. I've spent a lot of time this week getting it fixed, but the staff there was good in helping us out.

Things are getting strange...

So I went into lab on Sunday thinking we were ending experiments that day. Turns out we have another week of work. But during the seminar, I find out that we might travel to Inner Mongolia for a few days. Peking University also decided to start closing off the campus to foreigners without proper ID. So the folks at the JI got ID cards for us to get on campus. So I tried to get in the east gate to eat dinner and the guards wouldn't let me in. Zach and his grad student came by a few minutes later and helped me get in. I might have to quit work if I can't get into campus to eat lunch/dinner. Things are getting strange in a hurry.

Peking Man trip

So six of us (Alisa, Donna, Kelly, Zach, Zhaleh, and myself) decided to make the excursion to Zhoukoudian last Sunday to see the Peking Man site. It took 3 buses and 2.5 h to get there. It's out in the countryside 50 km southwest of Beijing. The H. erectus bones were found in the 1920's and are dated at about 500k years old. We got to go into the caves to see where these guys lived and saw the museum where they keep artifacts. We almost missed lunch but the chef cooked us a fresh cabbage and tomato dish with some sort of sauce. That was absolutely amazing! I want the recipe for that. We were there about 3 hours.
Once we got back to Beijing, Zach and I walked into this random restaurant off the street. The menu was completely in Chinese. We tried to ask for egg fried rice and the lady pointed to some part of the menu. So we took a gamble and ordered two dishes. Zach said the look on my face was priceless as I found out we ordered cold dishes. One was a sardine dish and the other might have been chicken. It was edible but not great...we were lucky not to get sick. What a culinary adventure!

I'm an author on a paper...how about you?

So today was pretty uneventful. I set up another hydroylsis reaction and I'll use HOTf and TFA as my acids of choice this time. I was getting ready to go home and my grad student gave me the latest copy of his manuscript...and it's got my name on it! I wasn't expecting that! I guess I have contributed a lot to the work on the hydrolysis part of the paper and I've done some of the editing. We hope to submit this paper soon to PNAS and hope it gets published in the fall.

Out on the lake...

Today was a great day! Six of us went out to Houhai ("Back Lake" in English) and rented a paddle boat. The weather was perfect even if a bit hot. We had blue skies (I got the pics to prove it). We got frozen yogurt afterward and then I split off from the group to meet Xu at the art store they went to last weekend. The taxi driver was a dumbass. I wanted to get dropped off at Hepingmen subway station and got dropped off just south of Tianamen Square instead. So I headed west through an alley (people actually live here) and found the Liulichang cultural street after a bit of walking. Xu helped me buy some scrolls and I got a painting of the Great Wall. I spent a total of 850 RMB on that stuff...and I might just go back next weekend.

Things Fall Apart...

No, I'm not refering to the famous African novel by Chinua Achebe; instead I refer to the things that have fallen apart in the last several days. A round-bottom flask exploded onto my hand this morning when trying to attach the tube that facilitates the removal of trace solvent. I broke a 300-mL Erlenmeyer flask this afternoon when it slipped out of my hand (the top was already broken...we use a lot of slightly damaged glassware in the lab). Then the doors on one of the cabinets fell off (but they had been ready to fall off since I got here in June). And the plastic buckle on the waist strap of my knock-off backpack broke, but I think I made a good repair using epoxy...we'll see how that goes. I won't try to break anything else...I promise!

Dear readers...

So my colleagues have told me that people other than Dr. Coppola, my family, and people affiliated with my school are reading this blog. I'd like to take time to thank Zach's family and Alisa's family for reading the blog (along with everyone else that reads this blog). My goal is to keep these posts entertaining while providing an accurate portrait of life in Beijing.

If there's ever a topic that you want me to blog about, just leave a comment here or email it to me and I'll try to write something about it.

A day off...

So I have worked about 65 hrs this week (from Sun to Fri). Lets just say I'm a bit exhausted after working all these hours. I'm always doing stuff, which is always a good thing. I'm generally purifying cmpds and even set up some rxns this week (they both failed...more on that later). My colleagues working with other professors work less (as low as 35 hrs). But some work on Saturdays, which I don't, but I also work Sun. evenings. My grad student wants me to come in on Sunday morning and work another regular work day...I think I will sleep in and play soccer instead. I haven't done a damn thing all day today and my knees are thanking me for not abusing them further...

So for the hour counters at home, I have worked about 260-280 hrs in 4 weeks (incl time spent on working on presentations for Sunday evening seminars), or the equivalent of 6.5- 7 American work weeks. I think I will have put in about 420 hrs in 6 weeks when I finish around July 20th. But I've learned a lot. Dr. Coppola said I could set my own schedule...but I don't want to anger anyone in the group. Gotta go...time to work on my presentation for tomorrow!

Wal-Mart adventures/getting caught in the rain

So I left lab yesterday at 17:30, the earliest I had left lab in several weeks. I proceeded to catch the bus to try to catch subway Line 10 to head to Walmart (located at Zhichunlu station on line 10/13). Apparently line 10 isn't open yet (supposed to open 6/30, may be open later this month). It started raining as I was walking down Zhichun Lu (also happened the last time I tried to go). I caught a taxi and got there as it started pouring. The selection of clothes is a bit less than those in the states (but still adequate; selections of other things similar to U.S.). I bought a couple pairs of shorts for 80 RMB. The street was flooded when I tried to go home. I botched my first try at getting a taxi as my umbrella wouldn't close. The next one I got was interesting as I showed the driver my address and it took a bit of hand gestures to tell him that's where I wanted to go. But I got home...albeit soaking wet :)

An interesting turn...

So the hydrolysis that my grad student said should have worked actually failed miserably. So now we're on a real detective hunt to find the right conditions to obtain our desired product. We are adjusting both temperature and the molarity of the acid to see if either give us our desired product in a good yield. So it will be interesting to see what I find.

In other news...my professor pulled the plug on my planned move to Shenzhen for safety reasons. It makes sense since I wouldn't be able to reach the folks running our program too easily. I would pretty much have to rely on the embassies in Guangzhou/Hong Kong to save me if something bad happened. So I'll just stay in Beijing and work until the 20th or so. Then we may travel around somewhere if we can go somewhere cheaply enough, like Shanghai.

Catching the bus...

So I've noticed that there are several rules for catching the bus to get to/from the Chemistry building. If the bus has a orange LED display on it, it's 355. If it's red, yellow, and green and also does not have a number on it, then it's 365. And if it's at night...the bus that doesn't stop at the bus stop is the bus you want to get home, regardless of which line it is. And when your stop comes...you better be ready to get off. If it's in the mornings, prepare to squeeze very tightly together. Good luck finding a seat!

Coming Soon: Live from Shenzhen/HK?

So Prof. Shi asked both Tom and I if we wanted to move with the group to Shenzhen in a couple weeks. That sounded interesting...but there's a few wrinkles involved. Shenzhen is across the river from Hong Kong, so I would be quite inclined to go visit my relatives there. I also don't know any Cantonese, so I wouldn't know how to ask for stuff (they don't speak Mandarin there). Then I would need the plane ticket changed to fly back to the U.S. from Hong Kong OR get a new visa to return to Beijing and fly home that way. I'm awaiting the opinion of Dr. Coppola before I make any decisions...but Tom and I are interested in going. Stay tuned to this breaking story...

7/3 UPDATE: Prof. Shi decided not to take us after all because of safety concerns, which is probably a good idea. So we'll be hanging out in Beijing until we return home.

White wine and karaoke

So I didn't do too much today at the lab. We lost our football game to Professor Wang's group in a PK shootout after scoring 2 goals at the end of regulation to tie the game. I went to the weekly seminar this afternoon. One student's talk didn't contain much chemistry and the other had good chemistry but not the best English. Prof. Shi took the group to dinner tonight to celebrate the pending marriage of one of the grad students. We had some Chinese white wine, which is really spicy and very strong (52% by vol. or 104 proof). Let's just say I'm still feeling the effects of it several hrs afterward. So each one of us made individual toasts to the groom-to-be and downed a shot of wine. Then we had another round of toasts (and another shot of wine) toward the end of dinner. Then we went to a karaoke place afterward and most of the group can sing pretty well. I tried to sing the Beatles "Can't Buy Me Love" (their 5th of 27 #1's). The karaoke machine threw off my timing and I didn't do a great job of singing it, but I still got a round of applause afterwards.

Halfway...

It's been 39 days since I left home and 39 more days until I get back there. I feel insulated from all the stuff that's going on back in the U.S. right now and I'm glad not to be there right now. I have spent most of my week in the lab running columns and monitoring reactions. I don't know how much I will actually get to do between now and the time the lab shuts down around July 15 due to the Olympics (The chemical embargo starts next week also?). So I might have some time to travel around. But I fear I may not have enough stuff to put on a poster (but that's not anyone's fault). I'm doing everything that Charlie is asking of me and I enjoy what I do.
In other news, most of the other folks are planning on heading to Qingdao this weekend to go to the beach. I can't go since I can't get back in time Sunday for my group meeting. I played soccer on Sunday and scored a few goals. I earned the nickname "Hat Trick" (thanks to Xu). I'll play again on Friday against another organic group. I'm pretty excited about that.

The Americans go...ice skating?

Yeah...we actually went ice skating this evening! This was my first time skating. It's just not cold enough to go ice skating in the winters in Virginia. We went skating in the basement of the world's second largest mall (it makes the Mall of America in Mpls look tiny!). I ended up spending my time hanging out near the rail as I tried to figure out how to skate without falling on my ass (which I was successful in avoiding). I think the key is staying low, keeping your arms out, and pushing forward on the ice (which I can't do all at the same time!). But I'll get better someday. I think we may go again in a couple weeks. The price wasn't too bad (50 RMB/$7.30 US). I thought it was pretty fun but I need to get better before I can really enjoy it.

More work

So I attended my group meeting on Sunday night. Everyone has to give presentations on their work and present a summary of an article published in a major journal that is relevant to the group. I'll be doing that this Sunday as well. That sounds fun. This week I am helping Charlie (my grad student) purify his compounds to help him finish his paper. I learned how to isolate the desired product on a TLC plate and scrape off the top layer of the TLC plate. I also learned how to setup column chromatography. Once I remember how to set up the column, I will be in good shape as the rest of it is figuring out where the desired product is by TLC, then using the rotary evaporator to remove the solvent. I also am helping Charlie revise his paper so he can try to publish it in PNAS later this summer. I've been eating lunch with my fellow Americans and eating dinner with Charlie each day.

A word about the labs...

The professors back at Emory & Henry might want to take note of this posting regarding the labs. The labs remind me of the labs in the old Gibson (pre M-S days). They are small (maybe 6' x 12') and its not so easy to find stuff. One hood exists in each lab, and many reactions are occurring at the same time in the hood. The ventilation isn't the best (partly because Beijing is so hot and that there's construction going on outside) but they do their best considering the situation. I wonder what chemicals I am inhaling?
As for safety, I am one of the few that wears safety glasses (ones I brought from home). Not everyone wears closed-toe shoes. They wouldn't pass American safety standards (but we aren't in America, are we?). But the labs are safe if everyone follows the general safety rules.

Hanging out in the lab...

I just happened to start working with my grad student right as he was finishing up a project and trying to submit a journal article. So he's been working all week on that. So I'm cleaning glassware and trying to read this huge book about palladium reactions. But next week should be more interesting once the professor gives a new project.
I failed miserably at trying to go to Wal-Mart on Friday afternoon. I got caught in a torrential downpour while wearing my tennis shoes and thus waterlogged them. It's been 24 hrs and they are not quite dry yet. I might go there tomorrow before my lab meeting at 6 pm. Saturday has been pretty boring. I don't think most of us have done anything substantial (except for those who went to work today).

Work!

I've survived the first 3 days in the lab. I followed several grad students in the lab this week watching them conduct different experiments. I haven't been able to figure what exactly is going on from these experiments but the professor is supposed to give us a briefing next week. My mornings don't seem very interesting right now but they will get better. I have enjoyed spending my evenings running samples through the GC. My workdays are approximately 0830 to 2000 depending on traffic and when I decide to take lunch and dinner breaks. We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

More photos

I've posted more photos of things I've done since June 1. This includes eating Peking duck, seeing the Peking Opera, and my trip to Xi'an.
View my pictures here.

Note: most of these pictures are dark because of local restrictions on the use of flash photography at several locations.

Liquid or gel?

I'll be using Chinese toothpaste for the rest of this trip after my toothpaste was seized by the cops at the airport. The sign clearly said "no liquids" but mentioned nothing about gels. But toothpaste doesn't flow like a liquid and adheres like a solid.

So was I wrong for trying to take toothpaste in my carry-on bag?

What I've learned

Ten things I've learned (and things you might want to learn as well):
1. Chinese is hard as hell to learn. The same word can have 4 different tones, and therefore 4 different meanings.
2. Chinese food here is so much different (and better) than the crap they call "Chinese food" back in the U.S.
3. Be prepared to eat a car emissions sandwich every day (although the government has done a good job of keeping the air clean-you can see the mountains on good days!)
4. People on bicycles will run over pedestrians. Same thing applies to taxis and buses. I've had some close calls.
5. Hold on for dear life on the bus. You're in there with about 75 of your closest friends at rush hour.
6. Get used to hanging your laundry out to dry after it gets washed.
7. White people get terrible prices at shops catered to westerners.
8. The labs aren't always ventilated or air conditioned. So be prepared to smell like benzene all summer.
9. Wal-Mart Supercenters in China aren't 24 hours. I found out the hard way.
10. My face turns red after consuming a small amt. of alcohol. So I won't be drinking the rest of this trip.

Xi'an: Sunday

Got a good American breakfast at the hotel this morning. We went off to see a mosque (Muslims actually live in Xi'an). We then went down the Muslim street where people sell their wares. I don't recommend going there. A storekeeper pushed Allison after she touched the pieces on an already opened mahjong set. Daniel prevented the situation from escalating. We then went to a factory that makes silk rugs. We then went on a wild goose chase to find (are you ready?) the Wild Goose Pagoda. The pagoda suffered earthquake damage and leans to one side. After seeing a water show in the public square, we headed back to Beijing.

Our tour guide, Daniel, was excellent! He was very knowledgeable about the city and is a very personable guy. Get him as your tour guide if you go to Xi'an.

Xi'an: Saturday

Saturday: The morning starts at 0500. I threw some stuff in my backpack and we headed off to the airport. We had trouble going through security. We reached Xi'an at 0900 and met Daniel, our tour guide. We went to the factory where replica terra cotta soldiers are made. Then we went to see the terra cotta warriors themselves. They were simply amazing! Apparently the pits themselves are still booby-trapped. The farmer that found the pits was there signing autographs as well. We then went to the Huaqing hot springs and walked around the Xi'an city wall. I bought some jade directly from the state. We then went to a theatre where they served several rounds of dumplings and put on performance on the Tang dynasty for us! The other groups sitting at our table just happened to be from Michigan also. We're off to the hotel to get some sleep...

Peking Opera

Friday was the start to a great weekend. We had our final language lesson that morning and we had an interesting cultural lesson. We learned the basics of Chinese calligraphy and traditional paper cutting. We then went to the Liulichang antiques street. Our guide was able to bargain down for some hand-painted fans and pictures. I bought a few of those. We went to eat Peking duck just down the street from there. It was absolutely delicious! We also went to see the Peking Opera and that was pretty cool. I got some photos and videos of that. Now we're off to Xi'an tomorrow morning!

Wild Wednesday/Thursday

So Wednesday was wild. We packed up our stuff and moved to the building next door. We are the only ones living in the building now and security isn't great. Apparently PKU charged everyone (but me) for "ruining the towels" and other offenses. If only they had told us what the rules were. But we have American toilets (yay!) and a micro-kitchen that's smaller than the bathroom. We saw the Chinese acrobats that night. It was pretty exciting.

Thursday was uneventful. It was more language and culture classes. I went on an adventure that evening to this gigantic shopping mall (one of the largest in the world). I couldn't afford anything there except a few t-shirts at the grocery store in the basement.

We will be eating Peking duck and seeing the Peking Opera Friday then flying to Xi'an to see the terracotta soldiers.

More adventures...

Monday: We got the morning off to recover from our grueling trek to the Great Wall. We had our usual language lesson and then went to Ya Xiu clothing market. It's a typical American tourist trap where they jack up the prices for counterfeit items. The group split up into different factions and the group I went with ate at a restaurant chosen at random. It turned out to be very good. We went back and tried to laundry.

Tuesday: More language and culture...I wasn't a big fan of the culture class. The presenter simply read off the Powerpoint slides. Tom and I met two of my lab mates for lunch. It was excellent (and expensive, 212 RMB). Dr. Coppola drug us to a U. Michigan alumni event that evening. They had great food and I even got my picture taken with Lloyd Carr (football coach from 1995-2007). He actually knew where my school was; he's from the Tri-Cities (where I live).

We'll be moving into another apartment next door tomorrow. I'm also booked on a weekend expedition to Xi'an to see the Terracotta soldiers.

Viewing pictures

I've posted pictures at for everyone to see at http://picasaweb.google.com/sleong06. I'm trying to edit my blog to put the pictures directly on here. I may need to make them larger...let me know what you think about them.

Note: these pictures are compressed and smaller than the real ones. I can send the originals upon request.

June 3 UPDATE: The pictures should now appear as a slideshow on the blog. Since I can't easily view my own blog, let me know if you can't see them. The link should work now if it hasn't worked before.

More sightseeing

I guess I'll start with Friday's events before we hit sightseeing. We tried to eat in the PKU cafeteria but apparently we can't do so since we haven't passed the national entrance exams (so therefore we aren't students officially). But we haven't failed the exam either, so I think we should be allowed to eat there, esp. if we can sleep in their residences and study in their labs. Otherwise Friday was uneventful.

Saturday: We went all over Beijing today. We visited the Yonghe (Lama) temple, an important Buddhist monastery and also visited the Temple of Confucius. That afternoon, we went to the Houhai area just to the north of the Forbidden City. This area has a beautiful lake and many bars. We took a guided bicycle tour around the area and climbed a drum tower and saw a performance there. We went to the Laoshe Tea House that evening for dinner. The food is excellent. There was a musical performance and a short skit about the history of tea house during dinner. We saw another performance at tea house afterward where they featured a bunch of various acts, including two men that can replicate different sounds (cars, trains, etc) quite well using only their voices. The performance was quite amazing!

Sunday: We assembled at 08:00 to make the journey out to the Great Wall. It's about a 3 hr trip out to see the wall at Jinshanling. We took a cable car up to the top and walked around the wall. Parts of the wall are hard to climb and there are old ladies there to help the foreigners walk around (but primarily sell souvenirs). I tried to get a t-shirt for 80 RMB but the lady jacked up the price to 100 RMB after Zhaleh (from Cornell) paid that price for the t-shirt (and she already had my cash). But I got a picture book for another 50 RMB, a good deal considering that most folks would have to pay 200 RMB for both.
We went to lunch at some hole in the wall in a nearby town and then continued on to the wall at Simatai. The cable car here only takes you up about halfway and the rest of the ascent is essentially straight up. It's a hell of a long way up to the top. My knees were killing me but the views are absolutely worth it.

Note to tourists: Don't use the public toilets at the Great Wall. They are the most dirty toilets I have ever seen anywhere in the world.

Thursday follies

Dear blog,
Thursday was a pretty eventful day. The rest of the gang had tons of laughs at the expense of Zach and myself after we messed up our dialogue during Chinese class. We went to hear more presentations from the professors that we will be working with this summer. Although I might seem biased, my professor definitely had a very funny presentation. I think Tom (my colleague from Rochester) and I will have fun in the lab this summer. We went to the pearl market after that and bought stuff for folks back in the U.S. I also bought a couple polo shirts and a backpack (possible fakes?). Tom, Xu, and I went back to our apartment while the rest decided to go to a nightclub. Apparently we can bargain on taxi fare. But I didn't know that and almost made an ass of myself. Off to language class again...

Week 1 adventures

Sorry for the lack of updates since last week. PKU wouldn't give us internet access until we were officially registered with the Beijing Public Security Bureau. So here's a summary of the last 5 days:

Fri/Sat: I didn't particularly care for the flight from Detroit. A flight attendant bitched at me for walking around the plane after using the lavatory. I think the seat belt sign was on 75% of the flight. My feet swelled pretty badly during the flight. I met a professor from E. Tenn. State (30 minutes from my house) taking a group to another university in Beijing. It was cool talking to him. Customs in Beijing is nonexistent.

Sun: We went to the Forbidden City that afternoon. It was 95 degrees (record high) and it was quite miserable. Our tour guide showed us all the important places and showed us how the emperors lived. There's quite a bit to look at in that place. We ate dinner and watched the military conduct the nightly lowering of the flag at Tienanmen Sq. That day was fun!

Mon: We had a Chinese lesson and a cultural lesson that afternoon. My Chinese is terrible. We met the students from PKU that are traveling to Michigan next month to study there after their semester ends in Beijing.

Tues: More Chinese and culture lessons. We met out professors for lunch that afternoon. Went to a pizza place that evening and had a screwdriver. I wasn't able to drink very much of it before my face turned red. My friends finished most of it for me. We also learned how to use the bus to get to/from campus to the apartments.

Wed: More Chinese and culture lessons. The professors presented their current research for us at lunch. We went to a shopping ctr. down the street from the chem building. We returned to campus for dinner. We had to wait 30 min for a bus to take us back to the apartment.

Pictures should be posted sometime soon. We will be going to Great Wall Sunday and visiting the terra cotta soldiers at Xi'an next weekend.

Tuesday update

Sorry for the lack of updates. We can't get internet access at the apartment until we complete registration with the Beijing Public Security Bureau. It should be resolved this evening. I will post another update once that is resolved...

Leaving on a jet plane...

The visas are supposed to be arriving from Chicago today (or so Dr. Coppola says). The plane leaves Detroit for Tokyo at 1530 Friday. We will arrive in Beijing at 2130 Saturday night if things go as planned. I got a middle seat toward the front of the plane.

I'm sitting in a U. Mich chem computer lab right now watching everyone else create their first blog posts. It's really funny to watch them in action. They are writing essay-length blog posts. I'm probably going to miss Ann Arbor. I enjoyed getting to meet everyone before traveling to China and the activities we did were pretty cool. I'm looking forward to meeting my research group and seeing the sights in Beijing. Research in a foreign university sounds pretty exciting. Once I learn some Chinese, I should be in pretty good shape.

Hanging out in Ann Arbor

We haven't done much the first two days in Ann Arbor. I really like the four other guys in the group. We did some sort of group activity yesterday afternoon. Some of the guys in our group played a few pickup basketball games with a bunch of random people...they were great (especially the guy wearing Crocs). We also got our first Chinese lesson this morning...only 9 more lessons to go!

We did a Chinese banquet for lunch today (Middle Kingdom, 322 S. Main St). We ate were spicy frog legs, Peking duck, spicy fish, and pig blood/intestines. All of this was quite delicious and quite expensive. I accidentally ate a spicy pepper and my mouth felt like it was on fire...but that's the adventure of eating!

The visas situation is unresolved for most people. I got a visa along with three of the girls in our group. We have until Friday morning to get this fixed.

Heading to Detroit

I'm on the flight to Detroit this afternoon at 4:10 pm and I still have to finish packing all my stuff. I'm excited to meet everyone this evening but hate leaving the comfort of my own bed. But life is supposed to be an adventure, isn't it?

In other news, the Chinese gov't announced a three-day mourning period for the victims of last week's earthquake. I don't know yet how this will affect our visas. Stay tuned...

First post

I'm spending my summer at Peking University in Beijing working on organic chemistry in the Shi group. My research is sponsored by U. Michigan, Peking U., and the NSF. This is my second trip to China and I can't wait to arrive next Saturday. I'll be flying to Michigan this Sunday to meet the other 12 students traveling with me.

There's a problem with our visas that might affect our trip...most visas issued by the government are only valid for 30 days, but I think this will be resolved later in the week. More on that issue later...

Feel free to leave comments on my blog.

NOTE: My goal is to post periodically, but the Chinese government may occasionally censor blog sites like this one. We'll see how this works out.