This is no Chattanooga Choo Choo or whatever the hell that thing is that goes up that mountain in that state above Georgia but these are real trains that people still use despite their fair to poor condition and lack of speed. We paid about 400 RMB for the ride to Xian which is an overnight run of about 14 hours. No stops and it really took this long. My friend Eve on the other hand took the plane and it was about an hour and a half. Thing is the ride was kind of fun and we really got a good look at who our classmates are being together for that long. The drinking crowd has been established and in Beijing they go to a bar they found that nobody else goes to called R&B. They go for the sole reason that the Tequila shots are 5 RMB. Getting drunk is rad, as long as it is with Americans is the attitude. I guess.
Mike and I got in a car with Alex and one of the Chinese students who was insistent that she be in her correct seat then there was bitching from the other car bc a fellow student and her partner couldn't be in the loud car. Whatever we switch and end up with Michael and Gary. They are from Houston and Creighton respectively and are fairly solid guys. Inter sting to talk though still nerdy like everyone else on the trip. Note: I do not exclude myself from this group label. We have a good ol time and although we didn't plan ahead as far as alcohol was concerned as some of our fellow students did, we did have plenty of cookies and pastry. Pretty much had that for dinner bought one beer and talked all night. Gary has a phrase book called 'Making out in Chinese' that we tried to put to use to pick up some chicks but to no avail. Clay then borrowed it to talk to some Frenchies in the dining car and became an international ambassador as he later put it. Fred had what was to be a funny repeatable one liner: Frenchie, Frenchie, Impossible. Or something, ha. Bing Wang herded us around like we were his children or grandchildren and didn't want us to get lost. Mary Wong hung out in the dining car being hit on by her students. And I endured it all in the first cabin soft sleeper. I could have saved a few hundred had i just got a chair but i didn't know that until i got there. Bummer.
At one point a service guy on the train comes by chasing a girl rubbing his exposed nipple. At this point we have no idea what is going on and we later hear yells, and other noise from the adjacent rooms. Falling asleep to the gentle sway and white noise produced by the train is heavenly, if you are shorter than me that is. The beds are not what we would call made for tall people. Waking up at 6am is pretty sweet when they come on the intercom like they do on cruise boats only this is in Chinese and really just annoying. Quite a bummer but we were nearly there. Made it to the bus which seemed to be a mile away following the direction of Bing Wang and we meet Tom, which is his tourist name he tells us, who gives us a ride to the hotel and tells us a bit about the "town" of 6.5M people. Small by Chinese standards. Our room on the train has decided to ditch out of staying at the hotel and since i never had made a reservation this worked out swimmingly for me. I had support and since Michael knows Chinese we were going to head out to find a cheap hotel or hostel. Again Bing to the rescue and he wants us all to stay together so gets them to offer us cheaper rooms. First it is 230 which we turn down and then it is 100 or 50 each which we accept. Shared bathroom but who cares the room is nice with AC, phone, TV, good pillows, tea, and everything else we have come to expect. Find out the showers are only from 8-12 at night which sucks though and there are no big towels. Ya win most, and lose some i guess.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Bleh
Yes, I am talking about class, the reason that I have come to Asia this summer. Without it I wouldn't be here, yet with it i feel that i am not really here. Odd how that works. I am surrounded every day by Americans who not only have American views but in many ways they seem closed to anything else. Seems odd that they have chosen to fly half way around the world to eat pizza, drink Budweiser, and hang out with their classmates from NH when they could be doing exactly that for half the cost back home. Needless to say China is cheap for Americans to travel in. You can easily pay much less than a dollar for a meal if you want noodles or rice. On the other hand you can spend easily as much as you do in the States which seems to be what most people want; what else were they thinking when visiting Outback Steakhouse that had no steaks but charged the same for a burger?
At any rate they are my classmates and i love them one and all. They all have their unique quirks and make interesting, although often disagreeable, comments during lecture. Speaking of lecture we have had 4 professors thus far: Hennessey, Wang, Wong, and Orcutt. I believe that we have one more in the China Legal Systems class that will start when back in Beijing. For the time being here in Xian classes are great.
Bing Wang is the head IP Law professor at Tsinghua University which is a premier university in China and where we are studying. Pierce Law has had an arrangement with them and a summer IP institute here for 10 years or so. Cool? Yes, they are also partnered with Harvard, Stanford, and Boston University to name a few. Mainly an engineering and electronics school their law program is coming up although nobody yet says it's the best China has. Luckily, law is a new thing over here, especially IP law, so it is ok and there is time for improvement. He is an esteemed professor and filed the first patent application in the country on behalf of the university back in 1995. This is when they first introduced patents. As you can see they are slightly behind and although now their law is fairly robust the enforcement of the law is what lacks. Prof Wang has a tendency to read word for word from his ppt slides and smile about it all when in reality it does get a bit tiring. He teaches China IP and this is the only 2 credit course so we have 20 sessions with him while only having 10 of each of the others.
Hennessey has been coming to China for about 22 years he says and knows Mandarin pretty well. Enough to speak to the Chinese students in the middle of class with a phrase for something that he is lecturing on. He loves doing this and always has a big smile on his face afterward. His class is world IP and about all of the international treaties and conventions that may or may not apply to China as well as the US and all other countries. It's ok but now over. Coolest day was talking about geographical indicators and how the Greeks have just won a war over the Danish for exclusive rights to the name Feta cheese. This along with most types of liquor, including Bourbon, are geographical indicators and have many many rules and it is one of the main things that the US and EC fight about.
Mary Wong is our Singaporean professor who has practiced everywhere, worked for the government, influenced conventions, been on panels, and is really really into copyrights. Cool class and she is full of energy talking about Google Books, Grokster, James Joyce's estate, the creative commons, Danger Mouse's Grey Album, etc etc. Very cool class since it is so up to date and quite interesting to hear the views of my classmates on the subject. There are about 10-15 Chinese students from Tsinghua Law that come to class every day and they never speak during class but have some interesting ideas when spoken to outside of class. None of them are going to be IP lawyers which is interesting and also interesting that if you want to be a judge you do that early in your career, before becoming an attorney, and make the decisions without hearing arguments. Odd, but Mary is cool and fun to talk to.
John Orcutt is a former investment banker from Boston. He's a cool guy and certainly opinionated in just about everything. Luckily his opinions are researched and well articulated as to assume agreement from the class. He teaches foreign direct investment in China and talks about companies from around the world coming here to set up shop. Less than i would have thought are doing it and about 75% of the money is coming from Hong Kong. It's basically an economics course and whether it's worth it to protect your investments here, whether to set up R&D here, effects of piracy, and the governments position on the whole thing - tending away from the "public" companies. Good guy and a lot of the Pierce kids think he's the best or one of the best at their school. So far 3 American profs and one Chinese. Mary Wong is pretty much American although never passing the bar in America she seems to know quite a bit. Classes are in dungeon like rooms in both cities but at least in Xian they are in the hotel so for those who don't like to get up in the morning they can wait as long as possible before having to go. Dope.
At any rate they are my classmates and i love them one and all. They all have their unique quirks and make interesting, although often disagreeable, comments during lecture. Speaking of lecture we have had 4 professors thus far: Hennessey, Wang, Wong, and Orcutt. I believe that we have one more in the China Legal Systems class that will start when back in Beijing. For the time being here in Xian classes are great.
Bing Wang is the head IP Law professor at Tsinghua University which is a premier university in China and where we are studying. Pierce Law has had an arrangement with them and a summer IP institute here for 10 years or so. Cool? Yes, they are also partnered with Harvard, Stanford, and Boston University to name a few. Mainly an engineering and electronics school their law program is coming up although nobody yet says it's the best China has. Luckily, law is a new thing over here, especially IP law, so it is ok and there is time for improvement. He is an esteemed professor and filed the first patent application in the country on behalf of the university back in 1995. This is when they first introduced patents. As you can see they are slightly behind and although now their law is fairly robust the enforcement of the law is what lacks. Prof Wang has a tendency to read word for word from his ppt slides and smile about it all when in reality it does get a bit tiring. He teaches China IP and this is the only 2 credit course so we have 20 sessions with him while only having 10 of each of the others.
Hennessey has been coming to China for about 22 years he says and knows Mandarin pretty well. Enough to speak to the Chinese students in the middle of class with a phrase for something that he is lecturing on. He loves doing this and always has a big smile on his face afterward. His class is world IP and about all of the international treaties and conventions that may or may not apply to China as well as the US and all other countries. It's ok but now over. Coolest day was talking about geographical indicators and how the Greeks have just won a war over the Danish for exclusive rights to the name Feta cheese. This along with most types of liquor, including Bourbon, are geographical indicators and have many many rules and it is one of the main things that the US and EC fight about.
Mary Wong is our Singaporean professor who has practiced everywhere, worked for the government, influenced conventions, been on panels, and is really really into copyrights. Cool class and she is full of energy talking about Google Books, Grokster, James Joyce's estate, the creative commons, Danger Mouse's Grey Album, etc etc. Very cool class since it is so up to date and quite interesting to hear the views of my classmates on the subject. There are about 10-15 Chinese students from Tsinghua Law that come to class every day and they never speak during class but have some interesting ideas when spoken to outside of class. None of them are going to be IP lawyers which is interesting and also interesting that if you want to be a judge you do that early in your career, before becoming an attorney, and make the decisions without hearing arguments. Odd, but Mary is cool and fun to talk to.
John Orcutt is a former investment banker from Boston. He's a cool guy and certainly opinionated in just about everything. Luckily his opinions are researched and well articulated as to assume agreement from the class. He teaches foreign direct investment in China and talks about companies from around the world coming here to set up shop. Less than i would have thought are doing it and about 75% of the money is coming from Hong Kong. It's basically an economics course and whether it's worth it to protect your investments here, whether to set up R&D here, effects of piracy, and the governments position on the whole thing - tending away from the "public" companies. Good guy and a lot of the Pierce kids think he's the best or one of the best at their school. So far 3 American profs and one Chinese. Mary Wong is pretty much American although never passing the bar in America she seems to know quite a bit. Classes are in dungeon like rooms in both cities but at least in Xian they are in the hotel so for those who don't like to get up in the morning they can wait as long as possible before having to go. Dope.
Beijing Highlights Thus Far
Trivia - Tuesday headed out with some kids to trivia which was a blast even though we sucked as usual. The duck taped hamsters team name has now officially made it around the world. All who are privy will be honored. Saw the embassy on the way down as well as the downtown which isn't so impressive since there are 30-40 story buildings everywhere. Had a burger for the first time in a month and a half i suppose and was of course disappointed. Don't try to bring your foods to the new land.
Summer Palace - This place is pretty special. I think it was the palace of many dynasties once the capital was moved from Xian. It was all destroyed by Anglo-French forces in the late 1800s but they are working their asses off to make it as nice as it was then in time for the Olympics. Everything is getting a fresh coat of paint to make up for all the years without. Really takes away from the history of the place if you ask me but believe it or not the Party did not. Hung out with Mike and Alex a chick from NY that goes to school in W Mass. She doesn't go to Pierce either so we recruited her for hanging out with the "cool kids." The palace is on a beautiful lake drifting into the foothills of some sort of mountain. Typical tourist place but beautiful.
Sunlitun Clothing Market - Smaller (they say) version of the silk market but with slightly more respectful vendors and a few more tailors. Some of those in my cohort headed out to get suits made on Tuesday but of course I, being an outcast, was not invited. Headed over with them this second time though when they were getting their suits fitted to try and pick a few out for myself. This place is way rad and you can get anything you want: jewelry, paintings, luggage, shoes, shirts, etc and all brand name. Or so they say. Picked out some cloth for the suits i wanted and of course it is all the finest cashmere or wool blend and after doing so picked out some cloth for some shirts. In the end got 4 suits and 11 shirts for a little under $500. Seems odd to be spending money i don't have but having hand tailored suits and shirts for the price of one off the rack back home was an opportunity not to be missed. Took Haruna, Mike, and Alex back for the fitting before leaving for Xian and we all quite agreed that they were nice. Time will tell.
Great Wall - Saturday the whole lot of us headed up to the Wall at the Simatai section which is about 3 hours out of Beijing. Got to say the thing is as amazing as you would ever imagine. Not being wimps Mike, Alex, Denise and friend, and I decided to walk it. The others simply rode a cable car up. Seems like such a waste to be at one of the wonders of the world and be afraid to take advantage of being there. Tons of pics and tons of people but the most annoying are the ladies who "farm and make souvenirs" and then end up walking with you and try to sell post cards. Everyone has got to get theirs but annoying nonetheless. Trip down consisted of sore knees, almost falling on my face one hundred times, and a zip line over the lake to the bottom. Was pretty BA but not so fast (to quote Haruna). Was really quite a peaceful ride but funny to see Castor, a Venezuelan practicing attorney in our classes, do it because he was kind of freaked out. Yes, it certainly is Great.
Forbidden Palace/Tienanmen/Silk Market - This was our Sunday adventure and it turned out to be a pretty exciting day with Mike and Haruna. Cool beans. Started off at forbidden city and tried to get the student discounts but without the china student passport looking thing it wasn't happening. Mike's in line and getting pushed out of the way by some lady so i kind of nudge her off and she goes nuts. Luckily i don't understand Mandarin so it didn't mean too much to me. That's the most irritating thing though: the fact that the people here just don't understand or care about order or queuing or anything along those lines. Silly. Once inside we wandered around looking at old thrones and more traditional buildings. Nothing too amazing until we found an air conditioned museum with nice art but the highlight was the temperature. Got dragged into an art studio by a student from Mongolia and she was nice and explained to us all the differences in the art and what it all meant but in the end another tourist trap selling stuff that you can find anywhere for 3 times the price. Luckily she said she would give us a special friend discount which is always encouraging.
Tienanmen Square was quite what i expected - a vast concrete square with some Chinese flags. Wandering out of the Forbidden City we had no idea if we were headed the right way so we kept walking and all of a sudden popped out under a picture of Mao. Found the big flags, government buildings, and his tomb. Walked around a bit, learned its the biggest city center square in the world and found a cab to the silk market. Wanted to come back for the flag lowering but didn't make it because we were bargaining too hard.
Silk Market was also quite a place but since being at the other clothing market i was slightly prepared even though i didn't do much bargaining there. Worst part was the cab ride over which should have been 10 yuan but he charged us 30 for what seemed like no reason. None of us knew enough Chinese to know what the hell was going on but to show him i meant business i wrote down his license and tag numbers. I don't think he cared and have since realized that none of the pictures in the cabs match the drivers. Pictures of women with men driving and pictures of fat guys with skinny ones driving. Quite a system. Anyway, made it after grudgingly (throwing) paying him. Entered and started what was to become 3-4 hours of intensity. We all had goals of what we needed and then all decided to buy much more. Ended up with an Omega watch, True Religion jeans, 10 pairs of CK boxers, 18 Zegna, Boss, Burberry, and Hermes, Sony headphones, and a battery charger all for about $100. Not too bad i don't think. Interesting we are studying IP and the enforcement of trademark infringement. Hmm. Oh well it's all part of the experience. Haruna caught on quickly after first being blown away by how much they were asking. Typically they ask a ton and you counter with about 10% of what they say and end up at about 20% of the initial. This has been my experience and once learned H took the philosophy and ran getting much better than i and getting 2 earring for the price bargained for 1 and a Japan jersey for less than $4. Mike broke a sales lady's heart by offering her too low of a price so i had to tell her she broke mine by asking that price. Hitting up the ATM is always bad when shopping but it was needed and even though no CCCP shirt was bought we still know it is there. Oh yes we will be back and with a vengeance.
Ho Hai - I guess that's how it's spelled, not really sure. What i do know is that i ate shrimp with their shells and legs on. We luckily took the time to take the heads off. Interesting thing is is that they aren't at all bad. Just adds a little crunch and a little extra flavor. Ate at a fairly nice restaurant in this uber hip little part of Beijing set on a pond with paddle boats and floating candles. Found out after dinner that they have these outdoor dance floors everywhere and anyone who can do the hustle or the 2-step or any dance that i don't know is encouraged to take advantage. Pretty nice so Alex and Channing did. I think it got them a little too in the mood for dancing because after walking past 50 cool bars with free foosball, big screen tvs, and pitchers of beer we somehow decided to go to some salsa club off Wangfujen. Don't really know how to spell anything so if i am wrong please just tell me and i will soon correct it. Made it to the place after an impressive sculpture display down this trendy (Bally, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc) street. However, during the day they serve anything you want on a stick including the likes of scorpion and beetle. Made it to Havana Lights and expected a few people there but found nobody and no cheap drinks. Had a crappy margarita and others had equally crappy mojitos. Danced a little with Channing leading the way and teaching us all a little bit. Unfortunately I did not take it seriously enough and remember nothing. Whoever my future girlfriend is is probably already disappointed.
World Cup - It comes on at 10p, 12, and 3a here so have seen some decent games. Lovin it going to the bars or outside spaces to watch it. Seems the Chinese love it, perhaps more than Americans. Have taken to watching the first and most of the second before retiring and having my door knocked at 5am. Cool stuff. Sucks about the US not winning a game. That's what happens in the Group of Death i suppose.
He Jia - This is our hotel with the cute housekeepers, cold AC, bathrooms with a window to watch TV, free toothbrushes and combs, a hand shower, and free breakfast all for less than half of that damn Xi Jao. About the breakfast, it's not delicious after about 2 days. It consists of about 5 different pickled veggies, fresh tomatoes, rice and eggs, 3 kinds of bread - chewy rolls, tortilla like, and chewy cornbread, and 3 kinds of soup - hot soy milk, rice soup, and grits soup. My typical brekky ends up being one of the veggies, some tomatoes, a tortilla slice, and some warm milk. Gets old but its food i guess. One count where Xi Jao wins. Bought some Cheerios though so those are kickin, even with the warm milk.
Summer Palace - This place is pretty special. I think it was the palace of many dynasties once the capital was moved from Xian. It was all destroyed by Anglo-French forces in the late 1800s but they are working their asses off to make it as nice as it was then in time for the Olympics. Everything is getting a fresh coat of paint to make up for all the years without. Really takes away from the history of the place if you ask me but believe it or not the Party did not. Hung out with Mike and Alex a chick from NY that goes to school in W Mass. She doesn't go to Pierce either so we recruited her for hanging out with the "cool kids." The palace is on a beautiful lake drifting into the foothills of some sort of mountain. Typical tourist place but beautiful.
Sunlitun Clothing Market - Smaller (they say) version of the silk market but with slightly more respectful vendors and a few more tailors. Some of those in my cohort headed out to get suits made on Tuesday but of course I, being an outcast, was not invited. Headed over with them this second time though when they were getting their suits fitted to try and pick a few out for myself. This place is way rad and you can get anything you want: jewelry, paintings, luggage, shoes, shirts, etc and all brand name. Or so they say. Picked out some cloth for the suits i wanted and of course it is all the finest cashmere or wool blend and after doing so picked out some cloth for some shirts. In the end got 4 suits and 11 shirts for a little under $500. Seems odd to be spending money i don't have but having hand tailored suits and shirts for the price of one off the rack back home was an opportunity not to be missed. Took Haruna, Mike, and Alex back for the fitting before leaving for Xian and we all quite agreed that they were nice. Time will tell.
Great Wall - Saturday the whole lot of us headed up to the Wall at the Simatai section which is about 3 hours out of Beijing. Got to say the thing is as amazing as you would ever imagine. Not being wimps Mike, Alex, Denise and friend, and I decided to walk it. The others simply rode a cable car up. Seems like such a waste to be at one of the wonders of the world and be afraid to take advantage of being there. Tons of pics and tons of people but the most annoying are the ladies who "farm and make souvenirs" and then end up walking with you and try to sell post cards. Everyone has got to get theirs but annoying nonetheless. Trip down consisted of sore knees, almost falling on my face one hundred times, and a zip line over the lake to the bottom. Was pretty BA but not so fast (to quote Haruna). Was really quite a peaceful ride but funny to see Castor, a Venezuelan practicing attorney in our classes, do it because he was kind of freaked out. Yes, it certainly is Great.
Forbidden Palace/Tienanmen/Silk Market - This was our Sunday adventure and it turned out to be a pretty exciting day with Mike and Haruna. Cool beans. Started off at forbidden city and tried to get the student discounts but without the china student passport looking thing it wasn't happening. Mike's in line and getting pushed out of the way by some lady so i kind of nudge her off and she goes nuts. Luckily i don't understand Mandarin so it didn't mean too much to me. That's the most irritating thing though: the fact that the people here just don't understand or care about order or queuing or anything along those lines. Silly. Once inside we wandered around looking at old thrones and more traditional buildings. Nothing too amazing until we found an air conditioned museum with nice art but the highlight was the temperature. Got dragged into an art studio by a student from Mongolia and she was nice and explained to us all the differences in the art and what it all meant but in the end another tourist trap selling stuff that you can find anywhere for 3 times the price. Luckily she said she would give us a special friend discount which is always encouraging.
Tienanmen Square was quite what i expected - a vast concrete square with some Chinese flags. Wandering out of the Forbidden City we had no idea if we were headed the right way so we kept walking and all of a sudden popped out under a picture of Mao. Found the big flags, government buildings, and his tomb. Walked around a bit, learned its the biggest city center square in the world and found a cab to the silk market. Wanted to come back for the flag lowering but didn't make it because we were bargaining too hard.
Silk Market was also quite a place but since being at the other clothing market i was slightly prepared even though i didn't do much bargaining there. Worst part was the cab ride over which should have been 10 yuan but he charged us 30 for what seemed like no reason. None of us knew enough Chinese to know what the hell was going on but to show him i meant business i wrote down his license and tag numbers. I don't think he cared and have since realized that none of the pictures in the cabs match the drivers. Pictures of women with men driving and pictures of fat guys with skinny ones driving. Quite a system. Anyway, made it after grudgingly (throwing) paying him. Entered and started what was to become 3-4 hours of intensity. We all had goals of what we needed and then all decided to buy much more. Ended up with an Omega watch, True Religion jeans, 10 pairs of CK boxers, 18 Zegna, Boss, Burberry, and Hermes, Sony headphones, and a battery charger all for about $100. Not too bad i don't think. Interesting we are studying IP and the enforcement of trademark infringement. Hmm. Oh well it's all part of the experience. Haruna caught on quickly after first being blown away by how much they were asking. Typically they ask a ton and you counter with about 10% of what they say and end up at about 20% of the initial. This has been my experience and once learned H took the philosophy and ran getting much better than i and getting 2 earring for the price bargained for 1 and a Japan jersey for less than $4. Mike broke a sales lady's heart by offering her too low of a price so i had to tell her she broke mine by asking that price. Hitting up the ATM is always bad when shopping but it was needed and even though no CCCP shirt was bought we still know it is there. Oh yes we will be back and with a vengeance.
Ho Hai - I guess that's how it's spelled, not really sure. What i do know is that i ate shrimp with their shells and legs on. We luckily took the time to take the heads off. Interesting thing is is that they aren't at all bad. Just adds a little crunch and a little extra flavor. Ate at a fairly nice restaurant in this uber hip little part of Beijing set on a pond with paddle boats and floating candles. Found out after dinner that they have these outdoor dance floors everywhere and anyone who can do the hustle or the 2-step or any dance that i don't know is encouraged to take advantage. Pretty nice so Alex and Channing did. I think it got them a little too in the mood for dancing because after walking past 50 cool bars with free foosball, big screen tvs, and pitchers of beer we somehow decided to go to some salsa club off Wangfujen. Don't really know how to spell anything so if i am wrong please just tell me and i will soon correct it. Made it to the place after an impressive sculpture display down this trendy (Bally, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc) street. However, during the day they serve anything you want on a stick including the likes of scorpion and beetle. Made it to Havana Lights and expected a few people there but found nobody and no cheap drinks. Had a crappy margarita and others had equally crappy mojitos. Danced a little with Channing leading the way and teaching us all a little bit. Unfortunately I did not take it seriously enough and remember nothing. Whoever my future girlfriend is is probably already disappointed.
World Cup - It comes on at 10p, 12, and 3a here so have seen some decent games. Lovin it going to the bars or outside spaces to watch it. Seems the Chinese love it, perhaps more than Americans. Have taken to watching the first and most of the second before retiring and having my door knocked at 5am. Cool stuff. Sucks about the US not winning a game. That's what happens in the Group of Death i suppose.
He Jia - This is our hotel with the cute housekeepers, cold AC, bathrooms with a window to watch TV, free toothbrushes and combs, a hand shower, and free breakfast all for less than half of that damn Xi Jao. About the breakfast, it's not delicious after about 2 days. It consists of about 5 different pickled veggies, fresh tomatoes, rice and eggs, 3 kinds of bread - chewy rolls, tortilla like, and chewy cornbread, and 3 kinds of soup - hot soy milk, rice soup, and grits soup. My typical brekky ends up being one of the veggies, some tomatoes, a tortilla slice, and some warm milk. Gets old but its food i guess. One count where Xi Jao wins. Bought some Cheerios though so those are kickin, even with the warm milk.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
First night (on the town)
Well after a bit of entertainment from Prof Bill Hennessey with his Chinese speaking (to the Chinese students in the class) and neverminds and long talk of TRIPS, WTO, and WIPO we were in for a bigger treat with Prof Bing Wang. He is a prof from Tsinghua University which is the host institution for our class. Seems that this may be a long class since he reads off his ppt slides for an hour at a time. Good English lesson for him i suppose. So our class schedule is basically 3 classes a day from 9-1 then off the rest of the day. This is perfect for me seeing as how it is very close to how i schedule my classes back in tha ATL.
During the class breaks made some friends and since i wasn't currently checked in anywhere, had to leave the Xi Jiao bc it cost an arm and a leg compared to Thailand and how much money i have left to spend. It was 336 a night and Mike (my new friend who is a Georgia state student who i hadn't met) told me about the place he was staying that his Indonesian friend hooked him up with. Called the He Jia this place was a little more my scene with absolutely no English, unless you got lucky in the lobby and there was a translator about, dirty carpets, and half the price. Of course it ended up being booked for the night so Mike offered for me to stay with him since he had a double. Was quite a room, essentially the same as the other bar a safe, mini fridge, and stand in shower. Threw my stuff down and hung out for a bit.
Headed out for dinner a bit later and since the US was playing that night (1st Czech loss damn it (the games are on at 9, 12, and 3am here)) planned to watch that somewhere. Mike had been in town about 5 days and his Indo pals had shown him some spots so we hit one up later to be famously dubbed "Mom's" by yours truly. Went in and since this place is famous for its dumplings, according to Mike, that's what we had along with some fried rice or something. Got 2 plates of dumplings thinking we were big boys but not a chance at finishing them with the beer too. During dinner at the table next to us a Japanese girl, 2 Peruvian girls, and a French lad showed up and we started talking to them. They were headed to watch the games too since Japan was playing first and invited us to go along since we didn't know too much about the city. Headed out to the also later famously "Man on se moon" with them for an interesting night. Had multiple beers and tequila shots after betting Haruna that Japan would lose. Got late and we were the only ones left but we were cheering hard for good ol America. Unluckily for us everyone was cheering against us and since they didn't look Czech i couldn't really figure out exactly why. Well maybe i do know why but we cheered loud and were quite obnoxious anyway. At the end of that barn burner we decided that since it was only about 2 am we might as well go sing karaoke till 5am which we proceeded to do. Rocked out to favorites like "living on a prayer", the "Nelly, i love you" song, "Pour some sugar on me", and many other favs from britney, journey, etc as well as some Japanese standards performed by Haruna.
When we left it was light out and we realized that this was to be only the 2nd day of class. Got back to the room Haruna showered and we all fell asleep immediately. Woke up a couple hours later for the delicious breakfast that is provided consisting of no western food and all pickled vegetables, rice and eggs, a couple breads: one tortilla like and one cornbread like, and 3 types of soup: hot soy milk, one that's like grits, and one rice soup. Not bad today but just you wait. Wow, should be an interesting trip.
During the class breaks made some friends and since i wasn't currently checked in anywhere, had to leave the Xi Jiao bc it cost an arm and a leg compared to Thailand and how much money i have left to spend. It was 336 a night and Mike (my new friend who is a Georgia state student who i hadn't met) told me about the place he was staying that his Indonesian friend hooked him up with. Called the He Jia this place was a little more my scene with absolutely no English, unless you got lucky in the lobby and there was a translator about, dirty carpets, and half the price. Of course it ended up being booked for the night so Mike offered for me to stay with him since he had a double. Was quite a room, essentially the same as the other bar a safe, mini fridge, and stand in shower. Threw my stuff down and hung out for a bit.
Headed out for dinner a bit later and since the US was playing that night (1st Czech loss damn it (the games are on at 9, 12, and 3am here)) planned to watch that somewhere. Mike had been in town about 5 days and his Indo pals had shown him some spots so we hit one up later to be famously dubbed "Mom's" by yours truly. Went in and since this place is famous for its dumplings, according to Mike, that's what we had along with some fried rice or something. Got 2 plates of dumplings thinking we were big boys but not a chance at finishing them with the beer too. During dinner at the table next to us a Japanese girl, 2 Peruvian girls, and a French lad showed up and we started talking to them. They were headed to watch the games too since Japan was playing first and invited us to go along since we didn't know too much about the city. Headed out to the also later famously "Man on se moon" with them for an interesting night. Had multiple beers and tequila shots after betting Haruna that Japan would lose. Got late and we were the only ones left but we were cheering hard for good ol America. Unluckily for us everyone was cheering against us and since they didn't look Czech i couldn't really figure out exactly why. Well maybe i do know why but we cheered loud and were quite obnoxious anyway. At the end of that barn burner we decided that since it was only about 2 am we might as well go sing karaoke till 5am which we proceeded to do. Rocked out to favorites like "living on a prayer", the "Nelly, i love you" song, "Pour some sugar on me", and many other favs from britney, journey, etc as well as some Japanese standards performed by Haruna.
When we left it was light out and we realized that this was to be only the 2nd day of class. Got back to the room Haruna showered and we all fell asleep immediately. Woke up a couple hours later for the delicious breakfast that is provided consisting of no western food and all pickled vegetables, rice and eggs, a couple breads: one tortilla like and one cornbread like, and 3 types of soup: hot soy milk, one that's like grits, and one rice soup. Not bad today but just you wait. Wow, should be an interesting trip.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Arrival
Getting into Shanghai after 3 hours of bad sleep and food that i could not recognize, either form or taste, i realize that i really am in a country where they don't all speak English. Even a little.
Not having a ticket out of the country I thought i may encounter a bit of trouble but planned to play it cool knowing that i had all day until my flight to Beijing. Getting up to the foreign passport counter they take a quick look cross off my visa and stamp it. The girl behind the desk says something which sounds like all the other words that i have heard. I hate to have a closed mind but i have never been in a place where the language is not even close to anything i know. Ma for example means four different things here depending on the tone you say it. This drives me insane knowing that even if i sound out a word it doesn't make any sense and the people give me blank stares just because i don't have the rising tone.
To be fair Shanghai is like NYC and is very western and a lot of people do speak some English. I found that out trying to change my ticket to an earlier flight but also found out that some ideas just don't translate simply. Watching some world cup on the Emirates TV and a little Internet in the business center got me through till my 1pm departure time at which time we sat on the runway for 1.5 hours eating the same meal as the previous night. At this point i have given up on meeting my classmates and profs for the welcome dinner which was to be at 6. I got in around 630, got my bag, a 100 RMB cab, and finally a hotel room which was way overpriced (near 40 US). Thing is i didn't care since i hadn't slept in a bed in 3 days and hadn't had a shower to boot. Felt nice watching some English TV (channel 9, where the announcers aren't that great), laying down, and taking a shower.
Headed out on the town to explore after not finding any other law student looking people and found some Internet, 3 RMB dumplings, 5 RMB beer, and a big screen with world cup. Hung out eating my $1 meal and cheering for Netherlands i believe since that's which way the crowd was pointed. Good night and an early night to bed gave me a very restful feeling the next morning. Breakfast included with the room and i went at it since it was partially western. Found some classmates but headed off to class misinterpreting the directions and walking about 2 miles out of the way asking the whole way which way it was by pointing at my phrase book's characters for "law" and then "school". Needless to say this didn't help much and i was over 30 minutes late but just missed an intro portion and settled into my seat to get back to what i had only left a month before in Atlanta: American law school with American students. There are Chinese students from Tsinghua (the school the program is based out of) and they are great fun and a great help and very friendly in every way. Looks to be an interesting rest of the summer...
Not having a ticket out of the country I thought i may encounter a bit of trouble but planned to play it cool knowing that i had all day until my flight to Beijing. Getting up to the foreign passport counter they take a quick look cross off my visa and stamp it. The girl behind the desk says something which sounds like all the other words that i have heard. I hate to have a closed mind but i have never been in a place where the language is not even close to anything i know. Ma for example means four different things here depending on the tone you say it. This drives me insane knowing that even if i sound out a word it doesn't make any sense and the people give me blank stares just because i don't have the rising tone.
To be fair Shanghai is like NYC and is very western and a lot of people do speak some English. I found that out trying to change my ticket to an earlier flight but also found out that some ideas just don't translate simply. Watching some world cup on the Emirates TV and a little Internet in the business center got me through till my 1pm departure time at which time we sat on the runway for 1.5 hours eating the same meal as the previous night. At this point i have given up on meeting my classmates and profs for the welcome dinner which was to be at 6. I got in around 630, got my bag, a 100 RMB cab, and finally a hotel room which was way overpriced (near 40 US). Thing is i didn't care since i hadn't slept in a bed in 3 days and hadn't had a shower to boot. Felt nice watching some English TV (channel 9, where the announcers aren't that great), laying down, and taking a shower.
Headed out on the town to explore after not finding any other law student looking people and found some Internet, 3 RMB dumplings, 5 RMB beer, and a big screen with world cup. Hung out eating my $1 meal and cheering for Netherlands i believe since that's which way the crowd was pointed. Good night and an early night to bed gave me a very restful feeling the next morning. Breakfast included with the room and i went at it since it was partially western. Found some classmates but headed off to class misinterpreting the directions and walking about 2 miles out of the way asking the whole way which way it was by pointing at my phrase book's characters for "law" and then "school". Needless to say this didn't help much and i was over 30 minutes late but just missed an intro portion and settled into my seat to get back to what i had only left a month before in Atlanta: American law school with American students. There are Chinese students from Tsinghua (the school the program is based out of) and they are great fun and a great help and very friendly in every way. Looks to be an interesting rest of the summer...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
