The rumors are true, apparently – the solvent supply for the chemistry lab will be cut off at the beginning of July, leaving us unable to perform column chromatography, and thus, reactions, so we will have to perform other procedures such as spectroscopy. I’m not really sure what my lab will be doing specifically, but I’ll also be faced with difficulty as the fourth floor of the chemistry building is going to be renovated, so people on the fourth floor (my lab) will not be able to work there.
Last Saturday I attended a lunch with the other students from Professor Zhao’s lab to celebrate a birthday. The lunch was at a Korean BBQ restaurant about a block from the Wanliu apartment and lasted for about 4 hours. It was really nice to hang out with my lab members outside of the lab and talk with undergraduates my age. The food was fresh….really fresh – the crabs were still live, and we didn’t realize that when we opened the covered plate, so a crab came running out. As the girls scattered away, others tried to use chopsticks to catch it, but it eluded capture as it scampered off the grill until someone picked it up by hand and put it into the soup.
After hearing Xu talk about getting a good breakfast on campus in the morning, I decided this week to wake up a little earlier and catch the earlier shuttle to join him – best decision ever! Maybe it’s just because I miss having a good breakfast (it’s hard to heat food without a microwave or pot) but “bao zi,” which are steamed buns with pork, and a bowl of “huen dun,” which is essentially dumpling soup, with a cup of warm, fresh soy milk is definitely enough to wake me up.
At work, most undergraduates have returned to their labs after their final exams, so all the labs have gotten noticeably more crowded. I am also working with an undergraduate in my lab, Xiu Yuan, who has helped me perform reactions and understand more about my lab’s work. This week, editors from the American Chemical Society were visiting to get feedback from professors and graduate students. They also gave lectures on the journal publication and selection process, which was interesting for me to hear about. On Thursday I saw “Kung Fu Panda” with members of my lab, Donna’s lab, and Kelly, Xu, and Zhaleh, which was a lot of fun, and on Saturday I went into work since there was a reaction that I really wanted to perform.
On Sunday, we were planning to go to the zoo, but when we saw rain in the forecast for the whole day, we decided to postpone the trip. After a few episodes of Desperate Housewives, however, we were ready to get out of Wanliu, so Donna, Zhaleh, Kelly, Zack, and I hopped on the first bus that we saw hoping to get off somewhere exciting and took it out to someplace along “Datong” road. We still haven’t quite figured out which direction we’d gone in, but it was probably near the edge of the city since people noticeably kept staring and the area seemed less urban. We stopped in for a snack at a small bakery, then took a different random bus and got off at a park where we played on exercise equipment and walked around taking pictures. Random traveling was definitely a great way to see the city beyond our comfort areas, and maybe on a less smoggy day we will do it again and see more of Beijing.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
The Start of Work
So finally I have started research in Dr. Dahui Zhao’s lab, the actual purpose for this trip. I am working with graduate student Qifan Yan in Dr. Zhao’s smaller lab in the old chemistry building. With the Olympics permeating most aspects of Beijing, chemistry is no different – the old building is being repainted to match with the new chemistry building, and most of the labs on the fourth floor where mine is located are empty as they are remodeled. I plan to work Monday-Friday, 9-5, staying later or coming in earlier as the experiments deem necessary. We have joint lab meetings with Dr. Pei and Dr. Ma’s lab groups Tuesdays at noon and Friday evenings. They’re normally in Chinese, but one of the presentations on Friday was given in English, allowing us to understand.
During the first week of research, I worked on learning my way around the lab, and the techniques in organic chemistry experiments that create better products. I had initially been scared of working in a chemistry lab, since my background has been in biology research, but observing my grad student doing the work then repeating it has made the task easier. Since I’m working in an organic lab, many of the procedures and syntheses I’ve performed are reminiscent of those that I’ve done in my organic chemistry lab class. I synthesized pretty pink crystals!
During this season in Beijing, carrying around an umbrella is a must, as I found out when Donna and I got caught at the cafeteria needing to get back to the chemistry building for the lab meeting as rain relentlessly poured down. After waiting for the rain to lighten for a good 45 minutes, we decided to make a run for it. Without a good drainage system, parts of the road were flooded, and there were huge puddles everywhere. Since there was construction of the new international student housing building next to the chemistry building, the road leading to the chemistry building was flooded with opaque brown water, and as I was running there, a group of security guards were yelling something in Chinese to me. Since I didn’t understand what they were saying and was trying to get out of the rain as fast as I could, I just kept running, and managed to step straight into a knee-deep ditch….which was probably why they were yelling. In trying to get out, I just stepped further into that ditch, and by the time I got out I was already wet and stopped caring about trying to stay dry. Looking at that ditch on my way out a few hours later after the rain had lightened, I realized the full hazard of the large unmarked ditch that I wouldn’t have missed in the daylight, and though now I can joke about the stupidity of falling into it, I will probably walk slower next time I’m caught in the rain.
Even though we’ve all looked forward to being able to sleep in and have a few days off this weekend, there is a guilt to being in such an exciting city and not exploring it that we try to find things to do. On Saturday, I met up with a friend from home who is currently in Beijing and speaks Chinese. She took me shopping and then to get my hair cut. The salon was pretty nice, and pampered their customers well with free drinks, and I got the longest haircut I’ve ever had, about an hour and a half long as the stylist kept being really picky and making the smallest adjustments. He had his own assistant, and I was lucky that my friend was able to explain in Chinese the style I wanted, so I came out really happy…all for the affordable price of 28 rmb. On Sunday, I went with Donna, Nicole, and Allison to Xi Dan, a place where our language teacher Liu Nian had mentioned was filled with shopping opportunities. After a ridiculously long bus then subway ride, we were thoroughly impressed by the large mall and shopping center filled with boutiques in that area. Shopping was hard to do in the crowd of people at the shopping center, and though it was easier to window shop at the mall, the prices were high even by American standards. Taking the taxi back was much faster and allowed us to stare in awe at the city we were in.
During the first week of research, I worked on learning my way around the lab, and the techniques in organic chemistry experiments that create better products. I had initially been scared of working in a chemistry lab, since my background has been in biology research, but observing my grad student doing the work then repeating it has made the task easier. Since I’m working in an organic lab, many of the procedures and syntheses I’ve performed are reminiscent of those that I’ve done in my organic chemistry lab class. I synthesized pretty pink crystals!
During this season in Beijing, carrying around an umbrella is a must, as I found out when Donna and I got caught at the cafeteria needing to get back to the chemistry building for the lab meeting as rain relentlessly poured down. After waiting for the rain to lighten for a good 45 minutes, we decided to make a run for it. Without a good drainage system, parts of the road were flooded, and there were huge puddles everywhere. Since there was construction of the new international student housing building next to the chemistry building, the road leading to the chemistry building was flooded with opaque brown water, and as I was running there, a group of security guards were yelling something in Chinese to me. Since I didn’t understand what they were saying and was trying to get out of the rain as fast as I could, I just kept running, and managed to step straight into a knee-deep ditch….which was probably why they were yelling. In trying to get out, I just stepped further into that ditch, and by the time I got out I was already wet and stopped caring about trying to stay dry. Looking at that ditch on my way out a few hours later after the rain had lightened, I realized the full hazard of the large unmarked ditch that I wouldn’t have missed in the daylight, and though now I can joke about the stupidity of falling into it, I will probably walk slower next time I’m caught in the rain.
Even though we’ve all looked forward to being able to sleep in and have a few days off this weekend, there is a guilt to being in such an exciting city and not exploring it that we try to find things to do. On Saturday, I met up with a friend from home who is currently in Beijing and speaks Chinese. She took me shopping and then to get my hair cut. The salon was pretty nice, and pampered their customers well with free drinks, and I got the longest haircut I’ve ever had, about an hour and a half long as the stylist kept being really picky and making the smallest adjustments. He had his own assistant, and I was lucky that my friend was able to explain in Chinese the style I wanted, so I came out really happy…all for the affordable price of 28 rmb. On Sunday, I went with Donna, Nicole, and Allison to Xi Dan, a place where our language teacher Liu Nian had mentioned was filled with shopping opportunities. After a ridiculously long bus then subway ride, we were thoroughly impressed by the large mall and shopping center filled with boutiques in that area. Shopping was hard to do in the crowd of people at the shopping center, and though it was easier to window shop at the mall, the prices were high even by American standards. Taking the taxi back was much faster and allowed us to stare in awe at the city we were in.
Monday, June 9, 2008
The First 2 Weeks
These first two weeks in Beijing have been totally amazing – with barely any time to update this blog! Even though we have only been learning Chinese for two weeks, the lessons that we’ve had have been very useful and applicable to everyday life, making the learning of a new language easier. Though the language barrier definitely hinders communication, there is a joy of being able to eventually communicate a message, using limited vocabulary in conjunction with hand signals. The laundry lady still thinks I’m Cantonese and continues to speak to me in Mandarin, and write in Chinese characters. I’m really sad that the lessons are ending, and though I am excited about the research, I wish the language classes would last the duration of the trip so I could also learn to read. Most of the culture classes, usually given by Dr. Lee’s graduate students have been really interesting, my favorite being the one about rural to urban migration in China because it helped me get to know my surroundings better.
It was also nice to be able to do sightseeing while here – the pictures posted online by Dr. Coppola and Spencer pretty much tell it all. This program has been totally amazing in making sure that we hit all the important cultural and tourist places in China, and more. We tried many foods, such as Peking Duck, Dim Sum, Dumplings, and hot pot. We also took tours of the Hutong in traditional 3-wheeled vehicles powered by a man on a bike, and rode a traditional wooden boat to get from the Summer Palace to the stone boat. Being the small world that it is, while we were at the Temple of Heaven on Sunday, I turned around and thought I recognized one of my friends from the University of Rochester. He was staring back at me and we looked at each other in disbelief and went, “Why are you here?” He was in Beijing for a few days for a conference, and we had just never exchanged plans before we left, so I was totally in awe that with so many people in the world and so many places in Beijing, I would end up running into someone I knew while I was abroad.
After that first night, when Donna and I managed to blow out the power in our room by attempting to use two adapters so that we could plug in our extension cord, settling in to life in Beijing has been pretty enjoyable. China seems laden with infinite varieties of outlet shapes; in our room alone, there are 4 different types, and just because the adapter may change the shape of a plug so that an American appliance can be plugged in, we learned that even that may not work due to voltage differences (which we already knew about it, but the extension cord we were trying to use was unlabeled). We then had our fiasco with not having hot water, where the fuse was apparently also broken, maybe or maybe not due to our attempts to get hot water, which prompted our move to another room. Now, we are in a third room, in the adjacent building, where luckily, we have a western-style bathroom and a nice induction stovetop, though noticeably a microwave is missing. Readily cooked food is so cheap and available though, that cooking may not actually be necessary.
For future participants of this program, the Bank of Beijing at the intersection next to the chemistry building is the best place, and the only place that I currently know, that can exchange U.S. currency in cash or traveler’s check to Chinese rmb. I think there’s no transaction fee for cash, but a $1.50 transaction fee for traveler’s check, but this has solely been from experience, since I wasn’t able to ask that in Chinese. With a passport and 20 minutes, they make the exchange relatively hassle-free, though possibly not as convenient as an ATM. I managed to walk into 3 of the 4 banks in the road along Wanliu Middle Road, being told to go to the Bank of China, and then once I got there, was told that that particular location of the Bank of China could not exchange U.S. currency.
I have really enjoyed my stay in Beijing so far, and there is a part of me that relishes in being mistaken for a local…until I open my mouth for multi-word conversations.
It was also nice to be able to do sightseeing while here – the pictures posted online by Dr. Coppola and Spencer pretty much tell it all. This program has been totally amazing in making sure that we hit all the important cultural and tourist places in China, and more. We tried many foods, such as Peking Duck, Dim Sum, Dumplings, and hot pot. We also took tours of the Hutong in traditional 3-wheeled vehicles powered by a man on a bike, and rode a traditional wooden boat to get from the Summer Palace to the stone boat. Being the small world that it is, while we were at the Temple of Heaven on Sunday, I turned around and thought I recognized one of my friends from the University of Rochester. He was staring back at me and we looked at each other in disbelief and went, “Why are you here?” He was in Beijing for a few days for a conference, and we had just never exchanged plans before we left, so I was totally in awe that with so many people in the world and so many places in Beijing, I would end up running into someone I knew while I was abroad.
After that first night, when Donna and I managed to blow out the power in our room by attempting to use two adapters so that we could plug in our extension cord, settling in to life in Beijing has been pretty enjoyable. China seems laden with infinite varieties of outlet shapes; in our room alone, there are 4 different types, and just because the adapter may change the shape of a plug so that an American appliance can be plugged in, we learned that even that may not work due to voltage differences (which we already knew about it, but the extension cord we were trying to use was unlabeled). We then had our fiasco with not having hot water, where the fuse was apparently also broken, maybe or maybe not due to our attempts to get hot water, which prompted our move to another room. Now, we are in a third room, in the adjacent building, where luckily, we have a western-style bathroom and a nice induction stovetop, though noticeably a microwave is missing. Readily cooked food is so cheap and available though, that cooking may not actually be necessary.
For future participants of this program, the Bank of Beijing at the intersection next to the chemistry building is the best place, and the only place that I currently know, that can exchange U.S. currency in cash or traveler’s check to Chinese rmb. I think there’s no transaction fee for cash, but a $1.50 transaction fee for traveler’s check, but this has solely been from experience, since I wasn’t able to ask that in Chinese. With a passport and 20 minutes, they make the exchange relatively hassle-free, though possibly not as convenient as an ATM. I managed to walk into 3 of the 4 banks in the road along Wanliu Middle Road, being told to go to the Bank of China, and then once I got there, was told that that particular location of the Bank of China could not exchange U.S. currency.
I have really enjoyed my stay in Beijing so far, and there is a part of me that relishes in being mistaken for a local…until I open my mouth for multi-word conversations.
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