Saturday May 31, 2008
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Saturday May 31, 2008
Friday May 30, 2008
Harry Potter and The Attack of the Killer Mosquitoes
Ok, so I'm not Harry Potter - but the mosquitoes fit the plot for a Harry Potter book here. They are giant man eating bugs that will eat you alive. I knew something had to be up when our dorm rooms here came equiped with a jumbo spray bottle of raid and a smoke away type thing. The worst part of all is that the mosquitoes here are not even that bad yet apparently??? I was talking with some friends in the dinning hall earlier this week and they made the comment "When summer gets here in a few weeks the mosquitoes get really bad". Now, let me break that down for you
1. 'When summer gets here...' - As if it isn't already hot enough??? It's freakin 95 degrees!!!
2. '...in a few weeks...' - ok, so a few meaning maybe 2-3?? That means 7 weeks of China summer in hot weather with...
3. '...the mosquitoes get really bad' - Like seriously, Tabatha and I are being eaten alive - so um, yeah we have started implementing new methods for exterminating. For example, we cut off all of the lights in our rooms except for the bathroom and we leave the door cracked. We then wait and watch for the mosquitoes to go in towards the light - then we slam the door and KILL!!! (with our jumbo bottle of Raid of course). The other alternative is my new baby pink mosquito net canopy over my bed :)
Aside from the pests, I am enjoying myself here. I have finally started to figure out everything here. We had a rough first two weeks adjusting, even if our stomachs have still not fully adjusted yet - maybe they will by the time we leave? I have just gotten out of my 3rd cold shower of the week and my room is finally no longer 95 degrees since I turned on the air conditioner fan. (so it sounds bad, but I really am enjoying myself!)
Earlier in the week here at Jin Dong (Gold East) they switched what we were doing so we have been tracing more pipelines and taking different samples. It is kind of exciting at times, and boring at others but what time we are not hard at work during the day we are practicing our Chinese. Tab and I have learned a few small phrases and I think I am finally getting the hang of this 4 different tones thing. (If you are confused by the last sentence, the chinese language has 4 tones and you can say the same word, in 4 different ways and it means something completely different - I know, confusing right?).
About the most exciting thing that happened this week though was me getting my uniform. I look all uniform now? Tabatha is finally happy that I am not wearing normal clothes anymore because she didn't like being the only one of us that had to dress in the monkey outfit (Ok, so its not really a monkey outfit, but its so standard).
Anyways, I am about to head to sleep - so I think this will be a short entry - I think I should probably write more than once a week? Who knows, depends if I have the time!
Peace!
Posted by rwpridge ( May 30 2008, 09:19:19 AM GMT+08:00 ) Permalink Comments [2]
1. 'When summer gets here...' - As if it isn't already hot enough??? It's freakin 95 degrees!!!
2. '...in a few weeks...' - ok, so a few meaning maybe 2-3?? That means 7 weeks of China summer in hot weather with...
3. '...the mosquitoes get really bad' - Like seriously, Tabatha and I are being eaten alive - so um, yeah we have started implementing new methods for exterminating. For example, we cut off all of the lights in our rooms except for the bathroom and we leave the door cracked. We then wait and watch for the mosquitoes to go in towards the light - then we slam the door and KILL!!! (with our jumbo bottle of Raid of course). The other alternative is my new baby pink mosquito net canopy over my bed :)
Aside from the pests, I am enjoying myself here. I have finally started to figure out everything here. We had a rough first two weeks adjusting, even if our stomachs have still not fully adjusted yet - maybe they will by the time we leave? I have just gotten out of my 3rd cold shower of the week and my room is finally no longer 95 degrees since I turned on the air conditioner fan. (so it sounds bad, but I really am enjoying myself!)
Earlier in the week here at Jin Dong (Gold East) they switched what we were doing so we have been tracing more pipelines and taking different samples. It is kind of exciting at times, and boring at others but what time we are not hard at work during the day we are practicing our Chinese. Tab and I have learned a few small phrases and I think I am finally getting the hang of this 4 different tones thing. (If you are confused by the last sentence, the chinese language has 4 tones and you can say the same word, in 4 different ways and it means something completely different - I know, confusing right?).
About the most exciting thing that happened this week though was me getting my uniform. I look all uniform now? Tabatha is finally happy that I am not wearing normal clothes anymore because she didn't like being the only one of us that had to dress in the monkey outfit (Ok, so its not really a monkey outfit, but its so standard).
Anyways, I am about to head to sleep - so I think this will be a short entry - I think I should probably write more than once a week? Who knows, depends if I have the time!
Peace!
Posted by rwpridge ( May 30 2008, 09:19:19 AM GMT+08:00 ) Permalink Comments [2]
Sunday May 25, 2008
First Week, Ganbei, and Zhenjiang
Ni hao!
I am now sitting in my room listening to "Let it be" from the movie Across the Universe. Of course, many of you that are reading know it is a famous Beattles song, but I particularly like this one from the movie. The words kind of help me to survive China in a way. There are so many great things but at the same time it has been very difficult adjusting. For those that are reading Tabatha's blog, her entry 'Americans' kind of explains why.
This first week has been very dynamic as far as what we have been doing. It has been slightly frustrating, confusing, busy, stressful, and painstaking here at the mill. It is very structured which is not me at all. However, at the same time it has been very interesting to see the cultural differences as compared to the States. I sometimes can't believe the things I see - the state of living here - how cheap or how expensive some things are. It really shocks me some of the things I am seeing here and sometimes I wonder what I could do to help? Maybe I will find a way before I leave!
To start though, for the most part - the first few days here at jin dong (Gold East) they didn't really have us doing a lot. It was almost as if they did not trust us. For example: We were supposed to be taking samples from all over the mill, collecting flow data, doing Ash tests, and other things of the like. It was not very fun for the first two days though because someone else took the samples, we took them to the lab, and a chinese lab technician guy ran our tests. Finally Tab, being the inpatient one of our duo almost snapped on the little chinese guy that isn't much bigger than she is (the chinese are very small people!) and basically told him that we could do the tests and that we were fine. He didn't really ask too many questions after that and I think he thought it best he stay out of Tab's way. I just kind of stood behind her and looked intimidating :-[ grrr!
After those first days of talking with Mr. Wang about us being slightly dissatisfied with our projects and such things got better and he gave us something that will be impossible for us to do but at the same time rather cool! We are supposed to trace out the entire mill and make a giant flow sheet. Honestly it is more busy work it seems but it is also very exciting because this is one of the newest paper machines in the world and because of it, all of the technology and equiptment has a capacity that I have never seen before. One of the three machines here produces 4 times the amount of paper the mill I worked at last summer produced (and they had two machines!)
On a different note, Tab and I have finally gotten the hang of catching the buses. It took as all week and we now have private escorts to take us to and from the buses. They must really thing Mei Guo's (Americans) are stupid because our boss meets us every day at 4 and gets of the bus with us and he hops off at his office. I can't help it though - the drivers are crazy, and the bus schedule is even crazier. Tab was so made the other day I think she almost was crying because we got on the wrong bus and almost ended up in Zhenjiang an hour away but luckly, me being awesome with directions got off the bus. Ok - not really, a chinese guy that gave us a tour earlier in the week was like 'What are you doing on this bus???' That clue given, we got off and walked the 10 mins back to our dorms!
We also have finally figured out about the nightlife here - well at jin dong it doesn't really exist. They have a gym with 3 badmitton courts and a few ping pong tables. We watched them play badmitton one night and it was pretty crazy - it is sooo serious. They will never let Tab and I play with them in a serious game, granted I am kind of afraid to - they smack the crap out of the little birdie thing. I have honestly never seen people more exhausted after any sport (far less badmitton). Its pretty crazy. When I got bored of watching all of the workers playing I decided to try my hand a ping pong - I am pretty good here in the states but its like the chinese national sport so I got my butt handed to me on a platter. It was bad - he beat me like 21-3. Most of the chinese people there said he wasn't even that good (lol). Made me feel even better about my Ping Pong abilities!
Another aspect of nightlife deals more with the business side of things. We were supposed to go out with about 4 guys to a BBQ restaraunt (or at least what they call BBQ) for dinner Friday night. When we were waiting for our car one of my bosses Mr. Chu, a very pronounced man, invited us to dinner with him to join his party instead - I get this feeling when I am around him that he is very likable and well respected. Naturally, the rest of our party decided to join considering he would be covering the bill and it was a much nicer place to eat. When we arrived I felt like I had just made a huge mistake. I read earlier that day in my chinse Travel-Wise book that Kirk gave me -- "When out to dinner or attending company parties or business dinners - especially if men are in the majority - the Chinese consume large quantities of beer and alcohol". I knew I was in trouble quickly because as the foreigner everyone wanted to toast to me and ganbei or bottoms up. My boss actually came up and had the table I was sitting at (about 10 people) all toast to me in a row (one by one). Considering the fact that I don't care for alcohol that much that often and far less beer, I drank much more than I wanted to and hope I do not have to do that again the rest of the time I am here. Especially considering the part that complicates it where I have to work on Saturday's after they go out - not fun - but oh well - I guess its a part of the culture here and you should experience it at least once? What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger!
Today Tab and I took the company bus with Steve into Zhenjiang (pronounced Gin-Johng). It was so exciting. We walked around for a while and Steve was just showing us around so that we would know where to go next time we came into the city. I am glad he has been coming with us. Tab and I both spent too much money today though! We shopped around a little in a big mall type store and then we took these 3-wheel bicycle taxis up the road to these underground market type places. Tab and Steve took one and I took another one. My driver kept saying - Mei Guo tai da which translates "American too big". I don't think he knew I understood yi dian dian "a little" chinese. When we left I told him goodbye from the big american and he got this stunned look on his face because I knew what he was saying. The Chinese can be so funny sometimes - granted I am the largest person any of them have ever seen before more than likely.
Once we got out of the taxi's we went into a department store first. There was one that had a "Fresh Market" and let me tell you - it was fresh - I mean, as in not dead yet. Tab and I first noticed when one of the Fish almost jumped out of its tank. It was a big sucker too! We took pictures of these tanks and people around them - it was obvious we were foreigners as we were taking pictures inside a grocery store but we wanted to have this to show people b/c it was CRAZY! I then looked to the left and there were these giant frogs about the size of a grapefruit. They kind of freaked Tab out a little and then we saw the turtles! One was trying to make its escape, real ugly one - he didn't make it out of his tank, but he did make it into a different tank where the turtles where half the price. One lucky customer will be having high class turtle tonight for half the price!
After we got done with this amazing adventure - we walked around a little bit and then Steve took us into this back alley and into a movie shop. We have made a few friends over here Vivian and Olga who are Taiwanese and Russian respectively. They are about 27 years old or so and we have been hanging out with them. They told us to ask steve to take us to this movie shop we went to - Anyways, Tab and I each got close to 40 DVD's each for about 265 yuan which is about 38 bucks. It was crazy!!! We think we got a steal of a deal :) They quality isn't like amazing but it isn't bad either. Vivian let us borrow some of here movies so we had been watching them before we bought all of these. I think Tab and I will miss Vivian and Olga as they are going to Germany on a business trip for a few weeks! Hopefully they will get back soon and we will have some people to talk to again as they speak decent English. They are also very patient in helping us learn chinese! :-D
Anyways, I think Tab and I are about to watch a movie. I need to make sure she is ok though - she just got back from the hospital which I hear consists of a rusty stool and some cotton swabs. She kind of cut the end of her finger off at dinner with a fruit pealer! I think she will be ok though - I don't believe she had to get stiches!
Until next time - Zai Jian
Posted by rwpridge ( May 25 2008, 07:12:34 AM GMT+08:00 ) Permalink Comments [2]
Ni hao!
I am now sitting in my room listening to "Let it be" from the movie Across the Universe. Of course, many of you that are reading know it is a famous Beattles song, but I particularly like this one from the movie. The words kind of help me to survive China in a way. There are so many great things but at the same time it has been very difficult adjusting. For those that are reading Tabatha's blog, her entry 'Americans' kind of explains why.
This first week has been very dynamic as far as what we have been doing. It has been slightly frustrating, confusing, busy, stressful, and painstaking here at the mill. It is very structured which is not me at all. However, at the same time it has been very interesting to see the cultural differences as compared to the States. I sometimes can't believe the things I see - the state of living here - how cheap or how expensive some things are. It really shocks me some of the things I am seeing here and sometimes I wonder what I could do to help? Maybe I will find a way before I leave!
To start though, for the most part - the first few days here at jin dong (Gold East) they didn't really have us doing a lot. It was almost as if they did not trust us. For example: We were supposed to be taking samples from all over the mill, collecting flow data, doing Ash tests, and other things of the like. It was not very fun for the first two days though because someone else took the samples, we took them to the lab, and a chinese lab technician guy ran our tests. Finally Tab, being the inpatient one of our duo almost snapped on the little chinese guy that isn't much bigger than she is (the chinese are very small people!) and basically told him that we could do the tests and that we were fine. He didn't really ask too many questions after that and I think he thought it best he stay out of Tab's way. I just kind of stood behind her and looked intimidating :-[ grrr!
After those first days of talking with Mr. Wang about us being slightly dissatisfied with our projects and such things got better and he gave us something that will be impossible for us to do but at the same time rather cool! We are supposed to trace out the entire mill and make a giant flow sheet. Honestly it is more busy work it seems but it is also very exciting because this is one of the newest paper machines in the world and because of it, all of the technology and equiptment has a capacity that I have never seen before. One of the three machines here produces 4 times the amount of paper the mill I worked at last summer produced (and they had two machines!)
On a different note, Tab and I have finally gotten the hang of catching the buses. It took as all week and we now have private escorts to take us to and from the buses. They must really thing Mei Guo's (Americans) are stupid because our boss meets us every day at 4 and gets of the bus with us and he hops off at his office. I can't help it though - the drivers are crazy, and the bus schedule is even crazier. Tab was so made the other day I think she almost was crying because we got on the wrong bus and almost ended up in Zhenjiang an hour away but luckly, me being awesome with directions got off the bus. Ok - not really, a chinese guy that gave us a tour earlier in the week was like 'What are you doing on this bus???' That clue given, we got off and walked the 10 mins back to our dorms!
We also have finally figured out about the nightlife here - well at jin dong it doesn't really exist. They have a gym with 3 badmitton courts and a few ping pong tables. We watched them play badmitton one night and it was pretty crazy - it is sooo serious. They will never let Tab and I play with them in a serious game, granted I am kind of afraid to - they smack the crap out of the little birdie thing. I have honestly never seen people more exhausted after any sport (far less badmitton). Its pretty crazy. When I got bored of watching all of the workers playing I decided to try my hand a ping pong - I am pretty good here in the states but its like the chinese national sport so I got my butt handed to me on a platter. It was bad - he beat me like 21-3. Most of the chinese people there said he wasn't even that good (lol). Made me feel even better about my Ping Pong abilities!
Another aspect of nightlife deals more with the business side of things. We were supposed to go out with about 4 guys to a BBQ restaraunt (or at least what they call BBQ) for dinner Friday night. When we were waiting for our car one of my bosses Mr. Chu, a very pronounced man, invited us to dinner with him to join his party instead - I get this feeling when I am around him that he is very likable and well respected. Naturally, the rest of our party decided to join considering he would be covering the bill and it was a much nicer place to eat. When we arrived I felt like I had just made a huge mistake. I read earlier that day in my chinse Travel-Wise book that Kirk gave me -- "When out to dinner or attending company parties or business dinners - especially if men are in the majority - the Chinese consume large quantities of beer and alcohol". I knew I was in trouble quickly because as the foreigner everyone wanted to toast to me and ganbei or bottoms up. My boss actually came up and had the table I was sitting at (about 10 people) all toast to me in a row (one by one). Considering the fact that I don't care for alcohol that much that often and far less beer, I drank much more than I wanted to and hope I do not have to do that again the rest of the time I am here. Especially considering the part that complicates it where I have to work on Saturday's after they go out - not fun - but oh well - I guess its a part of the culture here and you should experience it at least once? What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger!
Today Tab and I took the company bus with Steve into Zhenjiang (pronounced Gin-Johng). It was so exciting. We walked around for a while and Steve was just showing us around so that we would know where to go next time we came into the city. I am glad he has been coming with us. Tab and I both spent too much money today though! We shopped around a little in a big mall type store and then we took these 3-wheel bicycle taxis up the road to these underground market type places. Tab and Steve took one and I took another one. My driver kept saying - Mei Guo tai da which translates "American too big". I don't think he knew I understood yi dian dian "a little" chinese. When we left I told him goodbye from the big american and he got this stunned look on his face because I knew what he was saying. The Chinese can be so funny sometimes - granted I am the largest person any of them have ever seen before more than likely.
Once we got out of the taxi's we went into a department store first. There was one that had a "Fresh Market" and let me tell you - it was fresh - I mean, as in not dead yet. Tab and I first noticed when one of the Fish almost jumped out of its tank. It was a big sucker too! We took pictures of these tanks and people around them - it was obvious we were foreigners as we were taking pictures inside a grocery store but we wanted to have this to show people b/c it was CRAZY! I then looked to the left and there were these giant frogs about the size of a grapefruit. They kind of freaked Tab out a little and then we saw the turtles! One was trying to make its escape, real ugly one - he didn't make it out of his tank, but he did make it into a different tank where the turtles where half the price. One lucky customer will be having high class turtle tonight for half the price!
After we got done with this amazing adventure - we walked around a little bit and then Steve took us into this back alley and into a movie shop. We have made a few friends over here Vivian and Olga who are Taiwanese and Russian respectively. They are about 27 years old or so and we have been hanging out with them. They told us to ask steve to take us to this movie shop we went to - Anyways, Tab and I each got close to 40 DVD's each for about 265 yuan which is about 38 bucks. It was crazy!!! We think we got a steal of a deal :) They quality isn't like amazing but it isn't bad either. Vivian let us borrow some of here movies so we had been watching them before we bought all of these. I think Tab and I will miss Vivian and Olga as they are going to Germany on a business trip for a few weeks! Hopefully they will get back soon and we will have some people to talk to again as they speak decent English. They are also very patient in helping us learn chinese! :-D
Anyways, I think Tab and I are about to watch a movie. I need to make sure she is ok though - she just got back from the hospital which I hear consists of a rusty stool and some cotton swabs. She kind of cut the end of her finger off at dinner with a fruit pealer! I think she will be ok though - I don't believe she had to get stiches!
Until next time - Zai Jian
Posted by rwpridge ( May 25 2008, 07:12:34 AM GMT+08:00 ) Permalink Comments [2]
Tuesday May 20, 2008
First Day - Tumen Bar - Dagong
Zoa an!
The past two days have really been a blur. It is presently 6:30 in the morning here and it is the first time I have felt like blogging in the past few days. There has been so much going on and so many things to do in a very short period of time. It is so scheduled but after 8 at night everything closes - it seems that we have to go into town for anything to do after about 8pm.
Our first day was rather boring because we were sitting around a lot but at the same time it was interesting. We met a younger chinese guy who had just graduated a few years ago from college. His American name was Ben. He gave us presentations on Gold East for about 3 hours. They were very informative and I am not sure I have ever seen a presentation that detailed. I feel more knowledgeable about the process here than I have ever before at a mill. We also talked a good bit and just shared our culture with each other. He also told us how to say a few useful phrases in chinese (Chin Dong - Gold East).
After the presentations we went to lunch of which I did not eat very much. We had a big breakfast so neither Tab nor I were extremely hungry (granted, the food choices were not helping to make us hungry). I am not sure if it was the cold chicken leg or the intestines that did the trick? I'll typically try just about anything once but after seeing the look on Tabs face when she tried the chicken I decided that was enough for me!
We then left very quickly from lunch - we get about 40 minutes to get on the bus from the mill, get to lunch, eat, and get back on the bus. It is very systematic which slightly bothers me but maybe I will get used to it. We got on the bus and were then taken to the main office building where they took us up into the stacks. We were told we would not be wearing uniforms but I believe the chinese changed their mind. Let me tell you, Tab looks great in a blue shirt and pants work jumpsuitish thing! They are having to custom make mine as the only shirt they had that comes close to fiting me in the body is about a foot to short and looks like a belly shirt on me. Maybe I should take it and claim i'm the next buddah....people might be rubbing my belly? Anyways, they told me it would be about 10 days so we'll see how it turns out.
We then saw the paper machines and toured around. It was very difficult because the men leading us around speak very poor yingwen (English). The machines are amazing and have about 4 times the production capacity of anything I have seen in the states. It was so cool to see a paper machine that had an average running speed of 2000 meters/min. That is a crazy amount of paper!!! After our tour we sat around for a while and tried to learn chinese from a phrase book we had. At exactly 5:05 everyone filed out and went to the bus stop to head home for the day.
After a bit of rest and relaxation, Tab and I called a meiguo ren (American) man named Kirk we met in the gym a few days ago. He offered to take us into town and show us the ropes of how to get around and such. We gladly took him up on this offer as we were going stir crazy within the confines of the mill. We waited in front of the guest house for him and a driver in a little rickty car drove up -- I thought my car was bad, this thing looked like it would fall apart at any second. Kirk spoke a few sentences in chinese to the driver and told him to take us to Tumen Bar which is a bbq restaurant (somewhat?). When we arrived it appeared to be a very run down shackish type place. There was a single table with no chairs and all of the meat cooking was done on a little grill out front that looked like it had been out of service for years. There were 3 beers on the table for Kirk, Tabatha, and myself before I was able to fully take in the place and a bunch of chairs seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. I was a bit shocked at this. The beers I was also shocked at. I have never been a fan of beer but it seems to be the drink of choice here in China. I think this comes as a byproduct of the water not being particularly safe to drink. After a while, some of the locals started coming up and sitting with us, having a drink, and it was very exciting just to hear stories of Dagong (the city where this restaurant was) and also of where these people came from and what the 'real' life was like here in China. Granted, before we were really able to talk to them, we had to go through somewhat of an initiation and take a shot of mijiu which is a rice liquor. It tasted awful and has to be the worst thing I have ever tasted. After this, the locals taught us how to play a card game which I don't quite know the name of, it sounded like bu keuh - it was very interesting and is like a mix of poker and rummy. Its very interesting! We played for a few hours and then returned to 'Chin Dong' (Gold East) and went to sleep.
I have so much more to talk about but as I have to be on the bus in a few minutes I better run! Until then Zai Jian!
Posted by rwpridge ( May 20 2008, 07:18:16 PM GMT+08:00 ) Permalink Comments [4]
The past two days have really been a blur. It is presently 6:30 in the morning here and it is the first time I have felt like blogging in the past few days. There has been so much going on and so many things to do in a very short period of time. It is so scheduled but after 8 at night everything closes - it seems that we have to go into town for anything to do after about 8pm.
Our first day was rather boring because we were sitting around a lot but at the same time it was interesting. We met a younger chinese guy who had just graduated a few years ago from college. His American name was Ben. He gave us presentations on Gold East for about 3 hours. They were very informative and I am not sure I have ever seen a presentation that detailed. I feel more knowledgeable about the process here than I have ever before at a mill. We also talked a good bit and just shared our culture with each other. He also told us how to say a few useful phrases in chinese (Chin Dong - Gold East).
After the presentations we went to lunch of which I did not eat very much. We had a big breakfast so neither Tab nor I were extremely hungry (granted, the food choices were not helping to make us hungry). I am not sure if it was the cold chicken leg or the intestines that did the trick? I'll typically try just about anything once but after seeing the look on Tabs face when she tried the chicken I decided that was enough for me!
We then left very quickly from lunch - we get about 40 minutes to get on the bus from the mill, get to lunch, eat, and get back on the bus. It is very systematic which slightly bothers me but maybe I will get used to it. We got on the bus and were then taken to the main office building where they took us up into the stacks. We were told we would not be wearing uniforms but I believe the chinese changed their mind. Let me tell you, Tab looks great in a blue shirt and pants work jumpsuitish thing! They are having to custom make mine as the only shirt they had that comes close to fiting me in the body is about a foot to short and looks like a belly shirt on me. Maybe I should take it and claim i'm the next buddah....people might be rubbing my belly? Anyways, they told me it would be about 10 days so we'll see how it turns out.
We then saw the paper machines and toured around. It was very difficult because the men leading us around speak very poor yingwen (English). The machines are amazing and have about 4 times the production capacity of anything I have seen in the states. It was so cool to see a paper machine that had an average running speed of 2000 meters/min. That is a crazy amount of paper!!! After our tour we sat around for a while and tried to learn chinese from a phrase book we had. At exactly 5:05 everyone filed out and went to the bus stop to head home for the day.
After a bit of rest and relaxation, Tab and I called a meiguo ren (American) man named Kirk we met in the gym a few days ago. He offered to take us into town and show us the ropes of how to get around and such. We gladly took him up on this offer as we were going stir crazy within the confines of the mill. We waited in front of the guest house for him and a driver in a little rickty car drove up -- I thought my car was bad, this thing looked like it would fall apart at any second. Kirk spoke a few sentences in chinese to the driver and told him to take us to Tumen Bar which is a bbq restaurant (somewhat?). When we arrived it appeared to be a very run down shackish type place. There was a single table with no chairs and all of the meat cooking was done on a little grill out front that looked like it had been out of service for years. There were 3 beers on the table for Kirk, Tabatha, and myself before I was able to fully take in the place and a bunch of chairs seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. I was a bit shocked at this. The beers I was also shocked at. I have never been a fan of beer but it seems to be the drink of choice here in China. I think this comes as a byproduct of the water not being particularly safe to drink. After a while, some of the locals started coming up and sitting with us, having a drink, and it was very exciting just to hear stories of Dagong (the city where this restaurant was) and also of where these people came from and what the 'real' life was like here in China. Granted, before we were really able to talk to them, we had to go through somewhat of an initiation and take a shot of mijiu which is a rice liquor. It tasted awful and has to be the worst thing I have ever tasted. After this, the locals taught us how to play a card game which I don't quite know the name of, it sounded like bu keuh - it was very interesting and is like a mix of poker and rummy. Its very interesting! We played for a few hours and then returned to 'Chin Dong' (Gold East) and went to sleep.
I have so much more to talk about but as I have to be on the bus in a few minutes I better run! Until then Zai Jian!
Posted by rwpridge ( May 20 2008, 07:18:16 PM GMT+08:00 ) Permalink Comments [4]
Sunday May 18, 2008
Nanjing...and all that jazz
Ni how ma!
Upon reading my last entry, I realized that NCSU's blogging system does not allow for Chinese characters. It simply replaces them with question marks??? Oh well!
Today was pretty crazy and I am extremely worn out. But I figured I would blog because there isn't much else to do tonight (this morning for all of my devoted readers!)
Tabatha and I got awkoke yet again at the crack of dawn. Our body clocks still aren't quite right as we are waking up at about 5 in the morning without alarm clocks. It's still dark outside when we are starting to get ready for the day typcially. I forced myself to go back to sleep for a little while today. It is kind of difficult though because I can't say the matress is extremely comfortable. I am getting used to it quickly but at the same time it is kind of like plywood - sooo stiff!!!
When it finally got light outside, Tab and I went and got breakfast. We have been really excited about breakfast every morning so far. They have the most 'American' choices. Eggs, Toast, and Peanut Butter and Jelly have been very exciting :) Tabatha likes her dumplings but I discovered something very similar to a funnel cake today. They have these fried dough sticks that they dip in their hot soy milk in the morning. I put sugar on it instead and showed them what funnel cakes are like in the US. Another good part about breakfast this morning was we met a girl in her mid 20's who spoke relatively good English! She went to Syracuse and got a degree in Retail I believe. We had a long conversation about many things including the paper industry. It was interesting - Tab and I were relieved to hear someone that was speaking a language we understood though!!!
About 8 o'clock we jumped on a mill bus and went to Nanjing a little more than an hour away. I am glad that we did this because it gave us a chance to get away from the APP/Gold East area for a little while. Steve, one of our hosts, showed us around. We got a little lost at times but we managed to find our way back eventually :) We started in Nanjing by visiting the Confucious Temple (so I was told) I never exactly figured out what specifically was the temple but there was a lot of fancy Chinese architecture. We went to a lot of street shops and Tab bargained with the people to buy bracelets and things. I think I'll wait a little before I go and turn into a shop-a-holic! :-P
Maybe I should start a street shop though? It could be a hit based on one thing that happened to me today. It was rather funny. There was about 10 people standing around looking at me (I've gotten that alot here considering I'm about a foot taller and 100 lbs heavier than anyone around). Finally, one of those people came over and asked me what size shoe I wore in Chinese - Steve translated for me. I told them a 15 USA and one of the guys looked really excited and everyone else looked kind of bumbed in that group. They had put a pool in and were gambling on my shoe size! Oh the joys of being an American!
We then at lunch at this place called Ma Da Niang which I think means something to the effect of Big Mama or Woman? It was really good and we had lots of dumplings and a rather weird soup. It had these clear noodles in it and it kind of scared me. It took us 20 minutes to find a table here though. According to an American Tabatha and I met yesterday, there are two things the chinese have a lot of: shopping and food. They love to eat out. It was so difficult to find a seat and it was so crowded. I have never seen more people in my life. And the crazy part was, it was all underground. There were big malls above ground and little shops and such below ground.
After lunch we checked out the big malls above ground. It was really crazy to see all of the people in the malls we went in. The first place we went into, Tab's eyes just lit up (as would any womans). It was an endless shoe store. I have never seen a larger one. It was as big as the mall in my hometown: Full of shoes!! OMG SHOES....SHOES....SHOES...(for those that get the reference). We the went on and I bought a little alarm clock since I fried the one I bought the first day because I screwed up my power converter. There is a reason I don't care for electrical engineering and physics 208 hahah.
We then checked out another big store that had a lot of really big name designer brand stores. I felt like I was in NY CITY. There were stores for Gucci, Prada, Versace, Louis Vaiton (I know I butchered that name), and many many others. It was kind of cool because I had never really been in stores like that. Granted, they still had their American prices on it. I don't know how the chinese can afford it?
Anyways - we looked around a bit more, got lost a few times, and found a movie theatre. Then it was back home for a quick nap, a bit of dinner, and then some R and R! The day has ended quite nicely though :) Today was some sort of a holiday and they have been shoting fireworks outside of our rooms for about an hour now! It's been real exciting. I think it scared Tabatha at first though - she had this really worried look on her face when she came to my room asking what it was. It did sound like guns and cannons going off after all....
Until next time...Zai Zhen!
Posted by rwpridge ( May 18 2008, 08:55:29 AM GMT+08:00 ) Permalink Comments [9]
Upon reading my last entry, I realized that NCSU's blogging system does not allow for Chinese characters. It simply replaces them with question marks??? Oh well!
Today was pretty crazy and I am extremely worn out. But I figured I would blog because there isn't much else to do tonight (this morning for all of my devoted readers!)
Tabatha and I got awkoke yet again at the crack of dawn. Our body clocks still aren't quite right as we are waking up at about 5 in the morning without alarm clocks. It's still dark outside when we are starting to get ready for the day typcially. I forced myself to go back to sleep for a little while today. It is kind of difficult though because I can't say the matress is extremely comfortable. I am getting used to it quickly but at the same time it is kind of like plywood - sooo stiff!!!
When it finally got light outside, Tab and I went and got breakfast. We have been really excited about breakfast every morning so far. They have the most 'American' choices. Eggs, Toast, and Peanut Butter and Jelly have been very exciting :) Tabatha likes her dumplings but I discovered something very similar to a funnel cake today. They have these fried dough sticks that they dip in their hot soy milk in the morning. I put sugar on it instead and showed them what funnel cakes are like in the US. Another good part about breakfast this morning was we met a girl in her mid 20's who spoke relatively good English! She went to Syracuse and got a degree in Retail I believe. We had a long conversation about many things including the paper industry. It was interesting - Tab and I were relieved to hear someone that was speaking a language we understood though!!!
About 8 o'clock we jumped on a mill bus and went to Nanjing a little more than an hour away. I am glad that we did this because it gave us a chance to get away from the APP/Gold East area for a little while. Steve, one of our hosts, showed us around. We got a little lost at times but we managed to find our way back eventually :) We started in Nanjing by visiting the Confucious Temple (so I was told) I never exactly figured out what specifically was the temple but there was a lot of fancy Chinese architecture. We went to a lot of street shops and Tab bargained with the people to buy bracelets and things. I think I'll wait a little before I go and turn into a shop-a-holic! :-P
Maybe I should start a street shop though? It could be a hit based on one thing that happened to me today. It was rather funny. There was about 10 people standing around looking at me (I've gotten that alot here considering I'm about a foot taller and 100 lbs heavier than anyone around). Finally, one of those people came over and asked me what size shoe I wore in Chinese - Steve translated for me. I told them a 15 USA and one of the guys looked really excited and everyone else looked kind of bumbed in that group. They had put a pool in and were gambling on my shoe size! Oh the joys of being an American!
We then at lunch at this place called Ma Da Niang which I think means something to the effect of Big Mama or Woman? It was really good and we had lots of dumplings and a rather weird soup. It had these clear noodles in it and it kind of scared me. It took us 20 minutes to find a table here though. According to an American Tabatha and I met yesterday, there are two things the chinese have a lot of: shopping and food. They love to eat out. It was so difficult to find a seat and it was so crowded. I have never seen more people in my life. And the crazy part was, it was all underground. There were big malls above ground and little shops and such below ground.
After lunch we checked out the big malls above ground. It was really crazy to see all of the people in the malls we went in. The first place we went into, Tab's eyes just lit up (as would any womans). It was an endless shoe store. I have never seen a larger one. It was as big as the mall in my hometown: Full of shoes!! OMG SHOES....SHOES....SHOES...(for those that get the reference). We the went on and I bought a little alarm clock since I fried the one I bought the first day because I screwed up my power converter. There is a reason I don't care for electrical engineering and physics 208 hahah.
We then checked out another big store that had a lot of really big name designer brand stores. I felt like I was in NY CITY. There were stores for Gucci, Prada, Versace, Louis Vaiton (I know I butchered that name), and many many others. It was kind of cool because I had never really been in stores like that. Granted, they still had their American prices on it. I don't know how the chinese can afford it?
Anyways - we looked around a bit more, got lost a few times, and found a movie theatre. Then it was back home for a quick nap, a bit of dinner, and then some R and R! The day has ended quite nicely though :) Today was some sort of a holiday and they have been shoting fireworks outside of our rooms for about an hour now! It's been real exciting. I think it scared Tabatha at first though - she had this really worried look on her face when she came to my room asking what it was. It did sound like guns and cannons going off after all....
Until next time...Zai Zhen!
Posted by rwpridge ( May 18 2008, 08:55:29 AM GMT+08:00 ) Permalink Comments [9]
Saturday May 17, 2008
Getting Started
?? (Thats supposed to be Hello in Chinese)
The past two days have been a whilrwind of nerveracking excitement. Just 30 or so hours ago I was getting ready to hop on a plane to go to China. Now I am here in Zhenjiang about 3.5 hours outside of Shanghai.
The 16 hour plane ride was not nearly as bad as many I have had in the past that are long distances. Tabatha and I had bulkhead seating meaning there was no seat in front of us. It was really nice because of my long legs!
When we arrived in the airport, we originally got really worried because it took forever for our luggage to come out. Most everyone else got theirs ahead of us (granted, we were some of the first to check in at RDU so maybe our stuff got put in the back!). Once we got our baggage there seemed to be over 1000 people trying to get out of one door at the airport. It was a bit of a jam but Tab and I made it :) We then met our driver whose name, from as best as we were able to understand, is Hoon.
Then began my first experience with Chinese roads and driving. It is really wild. I can't believe the traffic there. I used to think I-40 was bad but let me tell you - the Chinese roads are insane! The speed limits and driving lanes appear to only be moderate suggestions. Occasionally we would pass someone on our side of the road going the opposide direction - or someone randomly walking in the middle of the road with cars flying by at 120 km/h +. The Chinese people have a very peculiar way of driving. Tabatha and I have joked that they have 3 pedals on their cars: Acceleration, Brake, and the Horn.
After the 3-4 hour drive from Shanghai to Zhenjiang where we are staying until the end of the summer, Tabatha and I met our hosts here, Mr. Weyrehm Wang and Steve Huang. They greeted us and we ate our first Chinese meal in a dinning hall with them. They had a buffet for us which they kept open for us after closing time :) We then checked into our rooms at the guest house. I was really impressed. Coming over I expected a small room hoping it would be the size of my dorm room. I was plesantly surprised when I found I had a full apartment to myself consisting of a main bedroom about twice the size of my dorm room, a moderate sized living room, plus a kitchen, and bathroom! Tabatha and I then got a short tour around and went to sleep! :)
We got up this morning really early. It wasn't intentional, it just kind of happened. Tab, I think, was a little sick and woke up about 4am. I haven't really been sick yet and am hoping I don't. I woke up about 5:30am when the sun started to rise. My bed was so firm it felt like I was lying on a piece of plywood. Its a good thing I like firm matresses! :-P I was a bit stir crazy so I decided to get settled and unpack all of my bags. Then Tab and I went to breakfast. It was interesting. There were some things there I knew what they were, and items that I didn't have a clue. I decided it was probably best not to ask and just eat. Who knows...maybe I'll get brave by the end of the summer? They had a small egg station and toast. Tabatha made me try the dumplings which weren't bad, but I didn't love them as much as she did.
After breakfast, Tab and I jumped on a bus to somewhere (I'm not really sure where - it was kind of on the other side of the mountain). It was like the 11th anniversary of the athletic program here at Gold East and because of it there were these mini-olympics going on or something. That is what we went to see. Steve introduced us to all of the mill presidents and such when we arrived and we sat at the front table with them :) It was exciting for a while. People from all of the different departments marched in what not. It is really difficult to describe because I'm not really sure what was going on. It reminded me a whole lot of the opening program of the olympics. One guy was even carying a torch - granted, I don't think he lit anything with it.
After the first main race, we left. Our sleep schedules and the Jet Lag started catching up with us. We ended up walking back around the mountain. It was about 2 miles probably? Steve kind of shocked Tabatha and I when he started humming the NC State fight song on the way back. For a moment, I was singing it too, and then I realized I was in China and not at NCSU. It turns out Steve, one of our hosts, was an NC State grad!
Once we got back to our rooms - Tabatha and I ended up taking a nap (slept right through lunch!) oh well :)
Now I am just checking my email and typing up this blog entry! Dinner should be good since we didn't get lunch - After that I don't know what our plans for the evening may be. There is a little gym here with some treadmills, ping pong tables, badmintton courts, a there is a Golf Driving range outside. There are also lots of trails to go hiking on! I'm sure we'll find something to do :)
I don't know when my next post will be since my internet appears to be flaky and my computer is giving me lots of problems. It took me over an hour today to boot it up :-/
Until then,
?? (Good bye)
Posted by rwpridge ( May 17 2008, 03:02:32 AM GMT+08:00 ) Permalink Comments [5]
The past two days have been a whilrwind of nerveracking excitement. Just 30 or so hours ago I was getting ready to hop on a plane to go to China. Now I am here in Zhenjiang about 3.5 hours outside of Shanghai.
The 16 hour plane ride was not nearly as bad as many I have had in the past that are long distances. Tabatha and I had bulkhead seating meaning there was no seat in front of us. It was really nice because of my long legs!
When we arrived in the airport, we originally got really worried because it took forever for our luggage to come out. Most everyone else got theirs ahead of us (granted, we were some of the first to check in at RDU so maybe our stuff got put in the back!). Once we got our baggage there seemed to be over 1000 people trying to get out of one door at the airport. It was a bit of a jam but Tab and I made it :) We then met our driver whose name, from as best as we were able to understand, is Hoon.
Then began my first experience with Chinese roads and driving. It is really wild. I can't believe the traffic there. I used to think I-40 was bad but let me tell you - the Chinese roads are insane! The speed limits and driving lanes appear to only be moderate suggestions. Occasionally we would pass someone on our side of the road going the opposide direction - or someone randomly walking in the middle of the road with cars flying by at 120 km/h +. The Chinese people have a very peculiar way of driving. Tabatha and I have joked that they have 3 pedals on their cars: Acceleration, Brake, and the Horn.
After the 3-4 hour drive from Shanghai to Zhenjiang where we are staying until the end of the summer, Tabatha and I met our hosts here, Mr. Weyrehm Wang and Steve Huang. They greeted us and we ate our first Chinese meal in a dinning hall with them. They had a buffet for us which they kept open for us after closing time :) We then checked into our rooms at the guest house. I was really impressed. Coming over I expected a small room hoping it would be the size of my dorm room. I was plesantly surprised when I found I had a full apartment to myself consisting of a main bedroom about twice the size of my dorm room, a moderate sized living room, plus a kitchen, and bathroom! Tabatha and I then got a short tour around and went to sleep! :)
We got up this morning really early. It wasn't intentional, it just kind of happened. Tab, I think, was a little sick and woke up about 4am. I haven't really been sick yet and am hoping I don't. I woke up about 5:30am when the sun started to rise. My bed was so firm it felt like I was lying on a piece of plywood. Its a good thing I like firm matresses! :-P I was a bit stir crazy so I decided to get settled and unpack all of my bags. Then Tab and I went to breakfast. It was interesting. There were some things there I knew what they were, and items that I didn't have a clue. I decided it was probably best not to ask and just eat. Who knows...maybe I'll get brave by the end of the summer? They had a small egg station and toast. Tabatha made me try the dumplings which weren't bad, but I didn't love them as much as she did.
After breakfast, Tab and I jumped on a bus to somewhere (I'm not really sure where - it was kind of on the other side of the mountain). It was like the 11th anniversary of the athletic program here at Gold East and because of it there were these mini-olympics going on or something. That is what we went to see. Steve introduced us to all of the mill presidents and such when we arrived and we sat at the front table with them :) It was exciting for a while. People from all of the different departments marched in what not. It is really difficult to describe because I'm not really sure what was going on. It reminded me a whole lot of the opening program of the olympics. One guy was even carying a torch - granted, I don't think he lit anything with it.
After the first main race, we left. Our sleep schedules and the Jet Lag started catching up with us. We ended up walking back around the mountain. It was about 2 miles probably? Steve kind of shocked Tabatha and I when he started humming the NC State fight song on the way back. For a moment, I was singing it too, and then I realized I was in China and not at NCSU. It turns out Steve, one of our hosts, was an NC State grad!
Once we got back to our rooms - Tabatha and I ended up taking a nap (slept right through lunch!) oh well :)
Now I am just checking my email and typing up this blog entry! Dinner should be good since we didn't get lunch - After that I don't know what our plans for the evening may be. There is a little gym here with some treadmills, ping pong tables, badmintton courts, a there is a Golf Driving range outside. There are also lots of trails to go hiking on! I'm sure we'll find something to do :)
I don't know when my next post will be since my internet appears to be flaky and my computer is giving me lots of problems. It took me over an hour today to boot it up :-/
Until then,
?? (Good bye)
Posted by rwpridge ( May 17 2008, 03:02:32 AM GMT+08:00 ) Permalink Comments [5]
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Posted by rwpridge ( May 31 2008, 08:39:45 AM GMT+08:00 ) Permalink Comments [1]