done quite a bit during my first week in Beijing, so I guess I’ll just
share some of the highlights and lowlights.
First of all, let’s talk about work, because that’s the reason I’ve
come to China in the first place. Here is a sample day in the life of
Ali at work last week.
8:30- Arrive in the office. (No one else is there).
8:30-9:00- Attempt to get on the internet/check email without success.
9:00- Someone else finally shows up.
9:30- Bathroom break.
9:45-11- Read scientific papers.
11:00- Bathroom break.
11:30- Lunch on campus.
12:45- Nap.
1:00- Bathroom break. (There are no windows or air conditioning in the
office and it’s disgustingly hot, so I drink lots and lots of water).
1:15-eternity- Read scientific papers.
5:30- Dinner on campus and return to the air conditioned paradise that
is our hotel.
So that pretty much sums up life at work. My grad student tells me
we’ll be starting work in the lab tomorrow. I’ll believe it when I
see it.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, we can talk about the fun
stuff. The Chinese were celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival this
weekend, so we had Monday off from work. In addition, my weekend
started early on Friday as I joined the other American student working
at Tsinghua and his lab group for an afternoon of Karaoke. I will
refer to this student as Nebromaha. We’ve given him this nickname
because he’s from Omaha and we like to give him a hard time. But he’s
also the one who drives me around everywhere on the bike, so I can’t
be too mean. Anyways, Nebromaha and I participated in what has got to
be one of the best aspects of Chinese culture: Karaoke!!! To warm up,
one of the Chinese students picked us some Michael Jackson (no
surprise there). Besides listening to our Professor sing his heart
out to what we decided was probably the Chinese equivalent to Justin
Beiber, the highlight of this experience was singing along to “Can you
feel the love tonight”. I know that when I hear this song all I can
think of is Simba, Nala, Timone, and Pumba. However, the Chinese
Karaoke video producer had obviously never seen The Lion King and
instead settled for the 80s bikini model at the beach. Oh, the irony.
The weekend took us to various parts of Beijing, as we are curious to
explore the city. Saturday we walked and walked and walked and
walked. (I am my father’s daughter when it comes to getting around a
city.) We discovered a great park not too far from our hotel,
complete with different sections for leisure, chess, fitness, and
discussions. But this park had far too many rules. I think the sign
had probably about 20 of those red international no symbols.
On Sunday I was invited to a Chinese cultural festival by one of the
students in my lab group. So, I dragged my friends along, having no
idea what we were getting into. After the two hour subway/bus ride we
arrived at a small park. Everyone taking part in the festival was
wearing traditional Chinese clothing. The traditional dress is being
forgotten as it was previously made illegal by You Know Who, so the
point of the event was to celebrate these traditions. This sounds
nice on paper, and it was something we wouldn’t have otherwise got the
chance to see while we were here. However, organization was greatly
lacking, and nothing really happened. This was an ideal example of
the hurry up and wait phenomenon. We all agreed that the highlight of
the event was definitely the traditional Chinese music.
By the time Monday rolled around, we were all very exhausted after the
last few busy days. There has got to be some sort of equation
relating work output, temperature, and exhaustion. It is hot! And
our bodies know it. So, we decided to take it easy in the morning,
and in the afternoon we hopped on the subway towards the other side of
the city to visit the Chinese National Art Museum. The traditional
art was absolutely gorgeous, but besides one exhibit with works from
the late 40s, all of the art was from the last few years. (You Know
Who at it again.) After this we hopped back on the subway (it’s dirt
cheap) towards another part of town to visit the markets, and by
markets I mean the you-are-a-tourist-how-else-
markets. Nebromaha was first to cave to the pressure but it was a
good test of the waters. We’re all ready to return to put our
bargaining skills to the test!
And now that the weekend is over, I’m back to work. But I’ve only
spent about an hour of the day so far doing work related things
because thankfully my grad student has not given me the gift of six
more scientific papers that really won’t help me understand my
research. So, I’d say it’s a good day!
Betty
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