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.