Tyler Nading and Cameron Smith's Blog from Beijing
Thursday-Friday, July 10-11 – Tyler Nading
First of all, happy 21st to Cam!!! You can finally let loose bud! Thursday I was finally feeling better after heading back to the hospital on Wednesday to get rid of the nausea that was still hanging around. I re-joined the class for a full day for the first day in over a week so it was nice to be back. Today's sessions were on the specific programs being implemented in Beijing to get ready for the Olympics. Most of it was stuff that we had already heard but it was still good to hear everything they have been implementing. Fact of the day: the largest polluter in the St. Louis area is none other than the Granite City Steel Mill!
The afternoon session let out a little early and so Cam and I went with three other students to a relatively well hidden ping pong room, complete with about 15 or so tables in this dimly lit basement. We got it handed to us by two of the kids in our group (Neema and Mark), and on the walk back, Mark explained to us the ping-pong scene at Washington University, which was pretty interesting. Turns out we have a lot of talent (16th national championship???).
Because Friday was our last scheduled day of class, for the morning session all of the Wash U students just presented our ideas for what we will do our project on. We were supposed to pick a topic from anything that had interested us during the two-week period and that would be our focus for the next five months as we put together a report and presentation.
I chose to do mine on the impact of air pollution on solar panels as the building we studied in had 180 solar panels but that only accounted for 10% of the building's energy. I thought that number seemed pretty low and guessed it could have something to do with the smog in Beijing. Cam decided to do his project on ethanol production in China and compare it to the U.S. China's ethanol usage as fuel has been decreasing while the U.S.'s has been increasing so that's an interesting contrast for Cam to explore.
After the presentation, our professors scheduled it so that Cam and I had time to head up to the Great Wall since we had missed it in the previous week when our classmates had gone. The Wall was amazing and Cam and I scaled it pretty quickly. It was truly amazing as we could see the wall heading off into the distance as far as we could see. It was an awesome experience, especially for our last day, so we were very excited that we got to squeeze it in.
So, to wrap up the trip, it was definitely an interesting experience and my perception of China would forever be tainted because of the week I spent laid up feeling miserable. However, the tours were amazing, and it was great to see all the history in Beijing.
To sum up the air quality issue: yes, the air is bad, but I don't think that the public understands how hard the country is working to make it better. It is definitely an important issue to the Chinese people and government, and the progress that they have made in the past five years is astounding. Will it be better for the Olympics? I'm not sure. They have a long ways to go still and a lot of it will depend on whether or not the weather cooperates for that two-week period. I will definitely have my fingers crossed for Beijing though as it would be a great story to see blue skies throughout the Olympics.
Thanks for sticking with us and reading the blogs and thanks to Chris Mitchell for putting this all together. An early congratulations to him and Ms. Mary Ann as they will be tying the knot this August. Take care and as always, go Bears!
Wednesday, July 9 – Cameron Smith
TBA
Monday, July 7 – Cameron Smith
Today was our first day back to class since our little mishap, and it turned out to be a pretty good one. The first talk was on the health effects of pollutants. Professor Tong Zhu from Peking University spoke about how the health effects of air pollutants are measures...and it sounds like it involves a lot of educated guess work.
The next lecture was given by Washington University’s own Dr. Pratim Biswas, the chair of the EECE (Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering) department and a specialist on combustion research (clean coal technologies). His presentation represented Washington U. very well, as students from WU Tsinghua University, and Peking University were all in attendance.
After a quite adventuresome lunch (there were many unique dishes that I had never seen before including two types of fruit that were completely new), the group headed to the Emerson (yes, the St. Louis Emerson) pressure-measurement devices plant in Beijing. The plant produced pressure-measuring devices that were used in Asia as well as the United States. It was interesting to hear that they had had to begin stocking up supplies six months in advance from producers who will be forced to shut down during the Olympics so that production could continue. It was also to cool to learn about the practices to reduce energy (recycling washing water, reusing waste heat from equipment to heat the building).
Last night, Tyler accidentally knocked a plastic sign that said "Concierge" off of the counter at the hotel. It broke in half. The manager was a little angry and initially asked us to pay $200 to replace it (she later took this down to $80). Our bus driver for the two weeks was there, and this obviously high price made him mad. He offered to take the sigh home and fix it overnight. Sure enough, the sign was good-as-new in the morning. This is just another example of the sweetness of our bus driver. Every time we leave or get on the bus, we tell him "You're the man!" (this is the only English phrase he understands) and give him a high five. His name translates to dragon. He's a stud.
Sunday, July 6 – Tyler Nading
Hello again! Today was especially great because it was the first day all trip that we didn't have anything planned in the morning. Cam and I both slept until after 11 and felt really refreshed by two when we were meeting to go to a market.
This market was different than others that we had been to as it was much more authentic Chinese; not just cheap tourist items that Americans are typically interested in. Cam and I both bought silk robes with dragons on them! I'm not sure what Cam thinks, but it was definitely my favorite purchase of the trip so far.
From the market, we headed to a kung-fu show so we were all really excited about it. There were some really cool stunts and all of the performers were extremely well trained, but Cam and I couldn't help but feel that the performance was pretty watered down. The show had a story line that was read aloud in English and there wasn't nearly as much actual kung fu as we thought there would be. Still was a good experience though and we were both happy we went.
There's one more thing that Cam and I have picked up on during our stay that I want to mention here. We have seen only 1 residential neighborhood since we came here and that was on a tour. However, anywhere we look in any direction, we can see high-rise apartment complexes. There are so many of them! Because of the population density here, those who can afford housing are all in apartments, while there are definitely some slums as well. Stay classy St. Louis.
Saturday, July 5 – Tyler Nading
We woke up this morning feeling pretty well and thus decided that we would try our luck on the tour for the day. We were heading to the Summer Palace, which I had heard was one of the more amazing sights in Beijing, so Cam and I dressed and got ready to go. The morning was a little difficult, but after lunch we started getting our strength back and felt much better.
The Summer Palace was very interesting and featured a large lake in the middle of it. We didn't have time to hike up to the top of the palace, but we did make sure to hop in a boat to cross the lake, which was very enjoyable.
From the Summer Palace we headed to the Beijing Zoo!!! We were all so excited and they had a whole section of the zoo allotted to pandas. We also made our way to the lion and tiger den and saw some pretty impressive felines.
Overall, it was definitely a good day and very encouraging that we made it the whole time without having to make any sprints to the bathroom. A lot of our group tried their luck at a Beijing dance club last night but Cam and I decided that it probably wouldn't be the best idea for us seeing as how we wouldn't be able to hold back from dancing the whole night. Tomorrow should be even better as we will be heading to a kung-fu/acrobatics show that we're very excited to attend. Hope all is well!
 Friday, July 4 – Cameron Smith
Ty revealed to ya'll yesterday that we got a little sick a few days ago (what was Wednesday night in Beijing) and had to spend all of Thursday in two different Chinese hospitals. It was probably the worst I've ever felt for an entire day, with the vomiting and the fever and the headache and the sore muscles and the large amount of other uncomfortable bathroom hours (use your imagination).
As Ty relayed, we both spent the night in the hospital because he had been held overnight. That night be both slept great...maybe a little too great. We both had accidents during the night (again, use your imagination) and therefore had an interesting early period on the morning of July 4th. Our fevers and headaches were gone for most of the day (we were feeling better and better), and our only remaining large-scale problem was the one that kept us near to a toilet at all times. The doctor checked in on Tyler a couple of times and we were allowed to leave for the hotel at around 3:30 in the afternoon.
During the day we had finally been able to keep food down. When we got back to the hotel we were greeted by our classmates who were happy to see that we were back. It was really nice to see some familiar faces and hear some conversations held mainly in English, and we really appreciated their genuine concern for us. We went to bed feeling that the next few days were sure to bring rapid recovery.
Special thanks for this day go out to Jordan, a hotel front-desk worker who has become our friend. He was supposed to go out with us on Thursday night for Tyler's birthday, but our bacteria clearly had different plans. He was so disappointed that he wrote us a note in the hospital and then had traditional Chinese gifts for us when we returned to the hotel. He had been so friendly to us the whole time we've been here, and he deserves some credit.
Thursday, July 3 – Tyler Nading
In anticipation of enjoying a wonderful 21st birthday on a sunny day in Beijing, I couldn't quite sleep the night before. Neither could Cam. Turns out it wasn't the nerves, but a bacteria that's becoming more and more common in China called Gastrolitis. We finally had our temperature taken in the morning to find mine above 103 and Cam's almost at 102. Our chaperone for the trip, Dr. Chen, immediately took us to the local university student center and hooked us up on some IV's.
After about 5 hours of sitting upright in chairs with fluids coming in, we got rushed to another hospital because neither of our fevers were breaking. This was my first time ever riding in an ambulance and, although I was truly feeling awful, I do have to admit that it was nice to get pampered like that.
We got settled into the new hospital, which was a hospital designated for foreigners, and immediately felt better. The whole staff at this hospital spoke English, which was very welcoming and comforting. I was immediately injected with some ibuprofen and my fever starting going away. I had to stay the night just to make sure that everything was ok and even though Cam was discharged he decided to stay the night with me.
That's all for day eight, you'll have to stay tuned to make sure everything turned out ok!!!
Special thanks go out to Dr. Chen from the engineering school at WU and Dr. Ye Wu from Tsinghua University here in Beijing. Dr. Chen was with us the whole time (over 36 hours), and without the two of them we definitely would have struggled much more than we did.
Wednesday, July 2 – Cameron Smith
Hello from Beijing Day Seven. Today began another day of lectures and lab visits, and the focus of discussion all day were the environmental problems correlated with automobile use. Our speaker in the morning was Dr. Wu, one of the top vehicle experts in Beijing (he has also worked in the Argon National Laboratory in Chicago for some years before his return to China). Dr. Wu was a great speaker and really encouraged questions. He discussed how far Beijing (not really China as a whole) has come from having a vehicle fleet with no emission regulations in 1999 to only being about three years being Europe and the U.S. in emission standards.
During the last 10 years, the fleet has grown in number about 15% each year, but thanks to stricter policies on emissions, there has been no corresponding increase in pollution due to vehicles. He talked briefly about the future of cars (in the United States and in China) and said that he thinks hybrid cars offer the best option for an environmentally friendly automobile (as far as the production of the car is concerned from its assembly to its fuel usage). Sorry if this bores you...but it is really exciting to us and learning about these topics if the reason we came here!
The afternoon brought a visit to a vehicle testing lab complete with dynamometers (the treadmills for cars). After a return to the hotel, we ran to the local basketball courts to play some more ball with the students of Tsinghua University. This time, Ty and I played on opposite teams. The ball was a little higher quality this time, but we were still about six inches taller than the tallest guy and about a foot taller than most. Highlights included a tip dunk by Tyler over me and a backboard pin by me on one of Ty's attempted lay-ups. We ran back to the hotel, and we both felt pretty poorly for a while. This was the first time we really physically felt the effects of the pollution. We concluded that the marathon runners in next month's Olympics might be in for a rude but expected surprise.
The last event of the night was an event put on by the seniors of the Class of 2008 at Tsinghua University's department of Environmental and Energy Engineering. They performed Chinese dances (we got to join in on one where they asked for volunteers), songs, and other serious and light-hearted acts. It was really neat to see how close this class was--here at Tsinghua, the students live with other students in their own major. It was almost like a senior night for basketball players, and the camaraderie between the students was really cool. Everyone was very accepting and nice to us (even on this special evening), and this re-emphasized the openness to outsiders we have been shown this whole trip.
Tuesday, July 1 –Tyler Nading
Hello again, we just wrapped up our second day of class today at Tsinghua and Peking Universities. Just like yesterday, we had a couple of one-hour presentations and then we went to Peking University for a tour of the campus and the labs. In class, we learned what aerosols are (particles suspended in air) and then mainly concentrated on the sources of aerosol creation. The second presentation was about CFCs and the destruction of the ozone so the two complemented each other very well and proved to be very informative.
Peking University is the oldest state university in China and so the campus was very beautiful. There is a large, man-made lake in the middle and a huge archaeology museum. The leading air pollution specialist at the university gave us a brief overview of the campus history and then showed us around the labs so we could see what they were working on. Most of it was pretty difficult to understand (language barrier along with the depth of the engineering) but Cam and I did our best to figure the processes out.
Dinner was another interesting experience but we all survived. Our whole group still eats every meal together because we are way too scared to attempt to order something on our own. Thus, eating out is a huge ordeal and we never really get to choose what we get to eat.
One more thing I wanted to briefly mention is the large American influence that we've seen so far here in Beijing. We noticed it right when we got here as whenever we are in a public place there are both Chinese characters and English words. I couldn't imagine there being English and another language on all the street signs, tour signs, and shopping markets in the U.S. so it's weird to think that English is everywhere here.
Also, all the presentations are given in English, along with the descriptions of the laboratories given by grad students. I have a Spanish minor and consider myself pretty much fluent in Spanish and yet every student and professor that we have come into contact with here speaks better English than I speak Spanish.
Finally, after a long day yesterday, we strolled into a McDonald's on our way back to the hotel from the Internet cafe. It's amazing to think how international McDonald's is, but there are also KFCs, Pizza Huts, Starbucks, and Subways all within a block of our hotel.
Hope all is well in the states, will talk to you all soon.
Monday, June 30 – Cameron Smith
Hello once again from an Internet cafe in Beijing! Today was the first day of "class", as we had our first seminars and lab tours today at Tsinghua University. The speaker for today was Professor Hao, arguably the top specialist on air pollution in China. He gave an overview of environmental issues and challenge facing China right now and spoke of the opportunities for change in the future.
I promise won’t bore ya'll with the details that we found really interesting, but I think one thing he said was especially worth mentioning. One of his points was that most of China's electricity will be produced with traditional style or advanced
techniques of coal fired power plants. The demand for energy in China is increasing so fast that coal fired plants are the only realistic way to fulfill the needs of the exploding economy.
Research on alternative fuels and cleaner burning technologies dealing with fossil fuels (coal as well as natural gas and oil) is being done, but coal will be the staple of China's energy infrastructure for years to come.
That's about all for the day, but I thought I would take some time today to share a couple of communication mishaps/highlights we've had in our first five days in China. As mentioned before, we came here not knowing any Chinese; however, we are really making an effort to learn and use phrases whenever appropriate. It often turns out that the people we try to talk to know much more English than we know Chinese...but we try anyway.
One of the first phrases we learned was "wo i knee" (or at least that's how it sounds), which means "I love you". The first Chinese man that Ty saw he said "Nee-how" (hello) and then "wo i knee". The face on the guys face was priceless.
On the first day of the trip, the hotel workers tried to explain the Internet fees at the hotel. We had no chance at all. From what I got, it was $20 U.S. a day or a $500 U.S. deposit. We just go to the Internet cafe for two yuan (30 U.S. cents) a day.
We talked to an old man in a park one day. He first told us that he was a physics professor at the University and then tried to tell us what his research was about. It sounded to me like he told us he had a mushy and hard and old brain.
Ty tries to give everyone high fives. Everyone. He tried to high five a woman on a bike, who thought he told her to stop. She stopped and looked really scared of him. She drove off really fast.
Sunday, June 29 –Tyler Nading
Greetings once again from Beijing!! What a day! As classes don't start until tomorrow, we had one more day of tours in Beijing. We started by stopping outside the gates of the olympic village for some photo shots of the bird's nest (the site for all of the indoor olympic events) and then proceeded to visit the hutong.
The hutong was different than all the other places we visited in that it was the residential area for common folk. All the other places we visited were majestic buildings for the emperors so it was really nice to see where everyone else lived!
After the hutong we left for the lama temple (as in dalai lama, not the animal llama which I was definitely confused about!). This was the first time that we saw Buddha in the trip. And wow, did we see Buddha! There were five or six different buildings all with Buddha statues to worship and then in the last one, there was a 26 meter tall Buddha carved out of a tree from Nepal. It was amazing! There was a certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest carving from one tree in history. Amazing!
After the lama temple we went to the silk street which is famous for its knock off items and ridiculously large asking prices. Our instructions were to pay no more than 1/4 of the asking price and to bargain as much as possible. So Cam and I stuck together through the process and managed to do pretty well. I think being so tall really intimidated some of the shop keepers so that was definitely to our advantage. Overall, it was definitely a great experience!
Then finally last night, our tour guide Bryan set a bunch of us up with massages. It was very cheap, and the masseuse came up to my hotel room. It was an hour and a half long for very cheap (less than $20 U.S.) and was the first (and best!) massage I had ever had. Hope all is well! Classes tomorrow so we're excited to get started out there!
We woke up early today to go to the internet cafe so that we could communicate with our families and friends back in America and keep all of you up to date on our experiences. It only cost two yuan (or about 30 cents) for a half hour of internet access.
After a quick breakfast and meeting our tour guide (whose Chinese name I don't remember as he just told us to call him Bryan) we headed off for a day of sight-seeing. On tap for the day was Tian'amen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven.
Tian'amen square was cool for its sheer size, as it is the largest public square in the world. On one side of the square is that big red building/wall where the huge picture of Commissioner Mao (that's what everyone calls him here) hangs on the outside of the building.
Through the gate under Mao's head lies the Forbidden city, the home to the ancient Emperors of the Ming and Qing (pronounced Ching) Dynasties. This place was amazing! Surrounded by a moat and a wall, the city was roughly the size of Forest Park I think and full of red buildings with traditional gold Chinese roofs.
As our tour guide informed us, these characteristics (red walls, gold ceiling) in ancient times were signs of the Emperor. The centerpieces of the city were the Palaces of Complete Harmony, Preserving Harmony, and Supreme Harmony, where many of the ancient edicts were sent out by the emperors. Some of the interesting facts learned include the fact that the city had 8,904 rooms and that the Emperor had 3,204 concubines who were handpicked from the population...busy guy.
Lunch at another traditional Chinese restaurant was next, and it was absolutely fabulous. Egg drop soup, a pork dish with peppers and onions, and about ten other things filled our bellies and made us very happy before we left for the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven brought perhaps the single coolest building of the day, a huge circular tower with a blue roof and red walls (the ancient mark of a temple). We had our first go at bargaining and bought two hackey sack like creations for about one U.S. dollar.
After the Temple of Heaven and another delicious Chinese dinner (including local specialty peking duck), Ty, myself, and another student (Mark Keifer) took to the local outdoor basketball courts to try out our skills against the Tsinghua University Students.
We didn't know any Chinese sayings, but somehow we got in a game where we pretty much dominated. Most of you have seen me and Ty play, but Mark is a defensive squirrel and a great cutter on offense, so he complemented us well. Our offensive movement often caught them offguards and Ty and I each even had a couple dunks (so what if the rim was a couple inches low!). It was really fun to talk to them after the game for a little bit about their basketball thoughts.
Friday, June 27 – Tyler Nading
Greetings from Beijing! Day One. So, after the grueling 30 hour travel day, we all made it to the hotel ok and dived in for a good night's rest. Cam and I were of course staying together for the trip and we were both pleasantly surprised at how nice the hotel room was. We woke up in the morning feeling great; amazing how we avoided the jet lag. Breakfast at the hotel was the first authentic chinese meal of the trip and proved to be very encouraging. We all found something we could eat fairly regularly, which is essential as we will eat breakfast there every day this trip.
After breakfast, we headed to the super market to get some bottled water and other essentials. We are not supposed to drink any of the tap water here so having some bottled water stocked is never a bad thing.
I don't know how lunch time came around so quickly, but it seemed like we had just finished breakfast when we strolled into a restaurant for lunch. This was difficult because it was our first time trying to order food with an obviously large language barrier. We were there with Dr. Chen and a student that will be attending grad school at Washinton University next fall so they ordered about 10 plates for the 13 of us.
There were definitely some interesting plates and some first times for both Cam and I. Among the noteworthy were the jellyfish, cow tongue, pig stomach, and goose wings. I would be lying if I said everything tasted amazing, but Cam and I made it through and enjoyed the dining experience. The surprise of the day: lotus flower, served chilled, tastes great.
After lunch we had a tour of Tsinghua University. The school houses 30,000 people and it was very apparent as we were walking past the housing facilities. As we will be learning about air quality and the environmental practices of the university, we started the tour at the energy and environment building. They have some great energy saving practices and have actually cut down their energy expenditures by 30% by using solar panels, natural gas, light sensors that detect when people are in the room, and natural light sensors that detect the amount of natural light entering the room and adjust the intensity of the lights accordingly.
We made it for dinner at the dining halls and took a bus back to our hotel because the walk would have been too long. On the way back we passed a park of about 15 outdoor basketball courts crowded with hoopers. Cam and I made a vow that we would return and play with them sometime soon so we will keep you posted on that.
A karaoke bar topped off the night. Unfortunately, there was a very limited supply of english songs but we made the best out of what there was. Highlights may or may not have been Cam and I singing "Show me the meaning of being lonely" by the Backstreet Boys, (I'm not going to lie, we did know most of the words without the monitor..) or Madonna's "Like a Virgin" when two of the chinese employees at the bar came on-stage to dance with us.
It has definitely been a fun and exciting time. Cam and I have been working on our chinese at every moment possible and have about 10 phrases down, including "please", "thank you", sorry" (really comes in handy", "you're pretty", and "i love you". Clearly, all of these sayings have come into play very often.
Tomorrow includes Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City which should be very exciting. More to come!
Thursday, June 26 – Cameron Smith
I got into St. Louis at about 2:30 on Tuesday and met with coach Edwards and coach Whittle as soon as I arrived to get my National Championship ring (which is sweet even though I promptly got it stuck on my finger and had to make myself bleed to get it off).
My Mom and Dad (who would be dropping Ty and myself off at the airport the following morning before returning to Indiana) and I picked up Tyler at the airport as he arrived from Denver and ate our last supper on American soil with the One and Only...the Man, the Myth, the Legend...Zach Kelly.
Zach is recovering from a shoulder surgery that put his arm in an awkward sling for three weeks and still getting used to the face that he can walk through doors normally (and doesn't have to shuffle through sideways) now that the sling is off. Ty and I spent the rest of the night with Zach and some St. Louis friends including the local female hoop star Jill Brandt.
My parents said their farewells to us at 6:30 the next morning as the trip officially began. The flight itinerary took us from St. Louis to Minneapolis to Tokyo to Beijing and included just over 30 hours of travel in all. The first flight landed in Minneapolis without a hitch, and the group decided to head to the Mall of America during our four hour layover, where we met Ty's high school friend and all-Big Ten point guard at Minnesota, Emily Fox.
In between our final stretches before our 12-hour flight to Tokyo, two remarkable things happened. First, Ty and I somehow got our seats changed from two normal seats a couple rows apart to two seats next to each other in a bulkhead row that has about twice as much leg room as a normal seat. (On second thought this might not be so remarkable given Ty's history as a charming brown noser to strangers). The second remarkable event...or thing really...were the hand dryers in the airport restrooms. They were sweet--you just stuck your hands in a blower thingy, and when you pulled them out they were completely dry.
The flight to Tokyo was thankfully not all that memorable. There were a couple of movies (most notably Horton Hears A Who), a couple games of Rummy (Ty dominated me), a couple stretch breaks, and a massive failure of those so-called "Nighttime Sleeping Aids" a.k.a. Sleeping Pills that don't work for a hill of beans.
We arrived in Tokyo and in preparation for the 4-hour flight to Beijing we again attempted to change to some better seats. This time there was no luck, and we ended up next to each other in the middle of a row. At 6' 5" and 185 pounds, I took up the least room in the row, so needless to say it was a cramped and uncomfortable 4 hours. Soon enough, though, we stepped foot on Chinese soil, were through customs, and on our way to the hotel for a much needed sleep. |
