Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Technical difficulties

Please stand by, my laptop has apparently been invaded by Chinese net gremlins.

Or the Chinese government doesn't like me.

Blah.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Day 3

Day 3 was the first day of classes. I woke up before the alarm (!), went for a run with Shannon before breakfast (!), and managed to shower and get back out the door for class in about 20 minutes! Not bad. Quite amazing actually, and I only had one cup of coffee...

We started with an orientation, giving us basic info and a few dire warnings about traffic, drugs, and the like. I switched all of my classes, since International Business Transactions and WTO Law were both overfilled. Besides, I may use International Environmental Law and International Labor Law more. Classes went an hour later due to the orientation, and a bit longer for us when the door closed. Apparently, no one inside or out can open these doors without a special key or mojo or kung fu or something. Our Environmental class started late due to the door being locked, then we all paniced when we all collectively got locked in the classroom. Our Chinese students luckily called the admin people on their cell phones, and eventually we were let out. But it happened again after Labor class, and about 7 of us, including me, got locked in the classroom again.

We did get lunch delivered from the cafeteria, and the only utensils we had to eat with were spoons. It was amusing. But the food was ok, and free, so we dealt with it. One thing definitely holds true, regardless of cultures - cafeteria food is nothing wonderful, esoecially after the amazing dinner we had had the night before.

Back to the hotel again, and since Mom wanted to chill in the room for a while, Shannon and I went back out to head to the department store. I was a bit sketchy about walking that far, as it required crossing about 5 major intersections. But we managed to make it safely there. The crossing guards seemed to take special interest in the unpredictable, crazy american chicks, and made sure we made it safely across their road! But I'm glad we walked as we managed to find a facial salon as well. Or really, they found us through their little promotional man on the street. He took one look at us and dragged us over to the salon. It was rather affordable, and a 2 hour facial is a lovely thing :-) We got slathered with all kinds of stuff, steamed, plumped, exfoliated, and massaged. About halfway through, their English speaker arrived, and we traded words with the help of my little Rough Guide Mandarin phrasebook. She spoke excellent English, and we managed to get across that we were law students for the summer at the university. She also helped explain the slatherings and plumpings we were getting a bit. They were facinated by Shannon's dark green eyes. And Shannon finally let me know after about 45 minutes of being slathered that she'd never had a facial before! I found that terribly amusing, but tried to explain things as they happened so she'd have a clue. We all learned a few new words, and it was entertaining.

Then Shannon decided to ask them if they knew of a tatoo parlor, as some folks in our group had wanted to get tatoos. We got walked over to the place by two of their promotional boys (they were probably in their 20s, but they looked young to us). It was definitely an adventure, punctuated by us passing the phrasebook with characters and English in it back and forth to try to communicate. I think they asked us to dinner more than once, but I was keen to get back to the hotel.

Mom had gone over to the restuarant from the night before with a few fellow students. They hadn't fared as well in the Chinese food bingo game. They hadn't managed to order as much food, and ended up with a plate of deep fried crispy chicken cartiledge. Mmmmm, yummy, nothing like southern fried cartiledge. I declined to try it, but got included on the beers as a result. Nice work on my part, eh?
Day two was Sunday, and we had a welcoming reception. We woke up, found our free breakfast, and explored the hotel a bit. Breakfast is an interestig mix of cultures. There's a daily omlette stand, and usually sausages, breads, and hard boiled eggs. There's also fresh fruit, salad, hash brown patties, Chinese dumplings or steamed buns of some sort, random vegetables, congee, dry cereals, and juice and coffee. Nice spread, and I'm eating rather healthy when the fresh fruits and veggies are nicely cut up and available every morning. I think they reevaluated the coffee situation after we cleaned them out the first morning in minutes.

The weight room was comical. Good free weights and machines, but not the biggest space, and the treadmill made us all laugh. It was a self propelled little thing, and I think I'll be running on the street instead. I'd probably break it in my enthusiasm.

Off to the reception at 2pm, and first view of Zheijhang University where our classes are held. After a wonderfully perilous street crossing in front of the university, it's a really pleasant campus. Lots of trees, and they tend to decorate with little 4" pots of growing flower plants in circles on the sidewalk every 15' or so. The buildings are about 10 storeys tall, and rather institutional. Functional, basic amenities, more comfortable chairs than our home school, that's for sure. We gathered in the main auditorium and met the Director of the Zheijhang Law School, and Professor Sung who arranged the program with Professor Tiefenbrun from our school. Our other professors introduced themselves, and they had all of the students - Chinese, American, Canadian - introduce themselves as well. Then we all milled around a bit outside. Dinner was supposedly planned, but that turned out to be a trip to the dining hall. We weren't terribly impressed, so we went over to the restuarant across from our hotel, after dropping Mom at the hotel.

We walked in, much to the amusement of the restuarant staff. We were somewhat dressed up from the reception, and we managed to communicate that we wanted dinner and there were 4 of us. They seated us and found the English speaker in the place. A very nice man, he led us back to the fish tanks area. Instead of a menu, they have displays of various dishes in refrigerated cases, roasted pork strung up, tanks of living fish to pick from and small baskets of vegetables. Each has a price displayed. We picked a cucumber salad and fruit plate from the first case, some BBQ pork from the second, I picked out a zippy, flashy silver fish that looked rather healthy, some dumplings from the far case, and broccoli and bok choy as veggies. He escorted us back to the table, after punching in our selections to this cool little Blackberry looking jobber.

We managed to order drinks, after I had a moment with Mr. Blackberry about whether they had TsingTao beer or not. I really didn't care, I just wanted a beer instead of overpriced bottled water. But we got our drinks. The meal was delicious! The fruit had an interesting mayonnaise sauce in dollops on the watermelon and melon, but everything else was a smash hit in our Chinese food ordering bingo! Since the displays aren't great, we weren't entirely sure what we were getting, but we got some fantastic dishes. The fish was sublime, delicately steamed and served whole, eyes popping on a big platter. The veggies were perfect and nicely cooked. Considering the language barrier, we did well!

Then just back to the hotel and off to bed. Jet lag ate my head, and 8:00pm sounds like a lovely bedtime!

A few quick words

A few quick words about my situation. Internet takes a bit of doing - it's either in the coffee shop for wireless and pay for a beer as I maneuver through the wireless Internet connection or the business center. And the default format is in Chinese, so maneuver is definitely the word. This could be interesting - let me know if anyone knows how to fix it, as I've exhausted my usual remedies. Or the business center, where I can't drink a beer and type, and I still have to pay to use their computer. Meanwhile, I'm able to write these entries in my room offline and drink beer and cut and paste a bit later. I know what system I picked.

I have no idea if my pictures are posting. Please tell me if anything shows up or not.
Second, I'm limited by battery power in the coffee shop. So it's about an hour of useful time on Frankenstein (my laptop) before the battery is done. My apologies if I don't send you love letters daily, but time is limited.

Third, I hesitate to leave the computer plugged into the wall when I can't be here to see it blow up and somehow avert the rumored power surges in the Chinese electrical grid. But I think I'll get used to it. The TV looks ok, so chances are it isn't that terrible.

Fourth, I need to go check my grades from Spring semester. Ugh... wish me luck.

Fifth, this is quite a different situation, but thus far there is enough familiar to make it work. China is a pretty interesting place, but so far I'm relatively comfortable. It seems safe, the people are friendly even when we can't communicate a bit, and I've managed to get fed on a regular basis thus far. And the Chinese students in our classes are very helpful and well spoken. All good things. And it truly is a beautiful city, with lots of little touches that American cities just don't have, like decorative dragons on concrete bridges and really lovely parks with well maintained landscaping. No dog crap on the sidewalks, no one litters, everyone is polite even when they're about to run you over in their car. I could grow to really like it here, despite the hotel pool being completely a big fat lie. There is no pool, there is no hot tub. There is no joy in studentville....but I think we'll manage to cope ok :-)

Arrival

We arrived on Saturday at the Yellow Dragon Hotel here in Hangzhou, after a lovely cab ride through the outskirts and city of Hangzhou. The best way I can describe driving in China is perilous. Someone in class described crossing the street as Frogger. I'm sure there are worse places, but they're treading the perilous edge between order and chaos on the streets, that's for sure! The center of the road is for cars and buses. Lanes are simply suggestions, and changing lanes is a matter of simply turning the wheel into the next lane, regardless of who or what is there. Pedestrians seem to just wander into traffic and manage not to die. You may think I'm being dramatic, but I just about lost it watching two ice cream cone eating children just stand and watch as our bus passed within inches of them. Literally inches. It's quite an experience.
We passed by fascinating high rise apartment homes, either covered in tiles or bricked in interesting geometric patterns. Roofs are tiled or metal, although it could also be a metallic finish. Then there were huge areas of gardens behind each row of homes, no clue if they were ocmmunity gardens or run by groups of farmers. Interspersed between the sparkling 5-7 storey apartments were old buildings, or the remains of them as they're being replaced.

The hotel is lovely. Very modern, nicer than the franchised Mariotts of the Americas in my opinion. The staff scurried and found the English speakers as we arrived, and one by one they checked us into our rooms. The bellhop very nicely dropped off our luggage right at our room. The room is nice, clean, and has the amenities you would need. It's a rather Beaver setup with two single beds, and they're hard as rocks. But the linens are top notch and the shower is hot. Which was very welcome, since my luggage was still missing. I made do with the clothes I had on, and headed out shopping.

We walked to the right of our hotel, where there are a string of shops in the ground level of the neighboring buildings. Each store is the size of a large bedroom - maybe 20x10 feet. Small display window, and mostly clothing. Fashion is fascinating here - they're very daring with what they wear, and designer-type duds are forgiving on an Asian silhouette. They had all kinds of adorable dresses and skirts, jackets and pants. The T-shirt shops are my favorite - nothinglike random words to cover a t-shirt. I found one that said "In God we trust, legal tender of the United States, and The Tarheel state". Quite entertaining. Love that random grouping of words. I think I'll be buying a few shirts, as I think they're fabulously Chinese.

Interacting with the shopkeepers is wonderful. They're generally happy to see you, but they did follow us around every store as much as they could in the little space. One lady helped me try on these very nice tailored jackets in Chinese brocades - modern, yet in the fancy schmancy silk. It was rather smart, but the green one that looked the best was a bit tight around the hips. We'll see what a few weeks of walking all over the People's Republic does to that...

Finally, I gave up and we headed back to the hotel. I promised myself I was just sitting down for a minute, as it was only 6:30pm or so local time. That turned into a happy cuddle in bed after a very welcome warm shower. I watched a very cool Chinese ballet on TV. The principal female dancer was ridiculously supple and terribly thin. She bent herself like a piece of al dente spaghetti and floated all over the place. The best description of the plot I can give was that she and her lover had been separated, I guess by a shipwreck, and she was struggling through the sea to get to land. They had these huge pieces of blue silk they were waving above and around and below her, like we did as kids with parachutes in gym class. They even simulated waves by folding it above and below itself and running past each other. Pretty surreal, especially in my jet lagged state! When her pirate boyfriend pranced out, I decided I'd had enough and curled up for sleep. I vaguely remember Mimi bringing my suitcase over, which was sweet of her. I passed out for the rest of the night...

Saturday, May 19, 2007

The flight...

Well, we made it onto the flight just fine, thanks to my brother in law dropping us off. Here's a picture of my mom at curbside. Note the large orange suitcase in the picture. This is the last time we see said suitcase for a good day and a half. That big orange suitcase, known as "The Great Pumpkin", was promptly lost by the airline. But we'lll get to that later.

The flight was good - packed with people - but any airline that has complimentary wine, sherry and cognac is just fine by me. We had seats in the very back of the plane, next to the bathroom. I gave mom the inside seat, and I took the aisle in our two seat wide row. We flew up and over Alaska and Russia to get here. The flight went quick - 3 movies, a few glasses of wine, and 40 million people shaking the back of my seat as they walk past in the aisle, and we're there. I had one little dragon lady grandma relishing in shaking the hell out of my seat as she was walking by. Hooray for polite elders, eh? But we made it to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong airport was really nice - they redid it, and it's gorgeous. All the signs were in English as well as Chinese, and the terminal was clean and nice. We found the herd of TJSL students waiting for the connecting flight to Hangzhou. We met and bonded and looked bleary after the overnight flight together. Our flight to Hangzhou was nice as well, breakfast of fried noodles for me, and a rather greasy omlette for my mum. I was next to a very nice business man who spoke a bit of English.


But since my battery is almost dead, this is the end.

More later.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Welcome to my Hangzhou Travel Blog!

Here's where I'll be posting once I get to China!

Stay tuned for the adventures of me and my mom!