July 31, 2007

So I don't think much has happened lately. This past weekend, I just played it bum and didn't do much. For the past let's say 2 weeks my project has hit a roadblock. I'm getting a bunch of errors for running my jobs. So most of it has been a problem with the servers, making it extremely frustrating. Sometimes I feel like giving-up. When looking back at those feelings about giving-up, every time I am ashamed of myself as this is something I should feel. I have disgraced myself and my Father in so many ways, that this is just another example of how much growth I need and how far I am behind in my Walk. Anyways, things today and yesterday are starting to work. I basically just gave up using the PRAGMA grid and just started using the slower CNIC clusters. HAHA I feel dealing with UCSD after my recent experience with ACS and them shutting down my VPN access (cutting my off from my server) that dealing with some entity halfway across the globe is really troublesome. Later on I plan to continue to us the PRAGMA grid, but I feel that I should deal with one problem at a time. haha So right now I'm running my jobs, and I feel there's not much to do. I have a VTC tomorrow. eh.... I think that's it for work.

On with my growth here. I guess there has been quite a bit. Looking back at my past conflicts with people and the lessons that I've learned, I noticed that I have truly grown in many ways. Like I finally recognize the enormous pride that I must downsize and become more humble. Also, before whenever I saw someone acting what I would call "stupid", which I see many times, I would usually butt into other people's business and just make my life more difficult, but now I don't do that I feel. Well I don't do it as much as least. haha Ummm.... Oh being here in China, I am constantly reminded how blessed I am with everything that I have been given. For example, before I would think living in a double would be really difficult. After seeing how little people have to live with here in China, with many college students having to easily cram at least 4 people in one room with no privacy, I see how much I have been given. So to tackle this observation I've made, I have challenged myself next year by changing from a single to double and now a triple in one room. I think it's an experience that I require in my growth to remind me how much I've been given. Furthermore, before I guess I've always spent money pretty freely with some self-conscious constraints, but now I have noticed how frivolously I have been with money and how much I have been blessed with the ability to support myself. So now I plan to be more charitable and not be so careless with my money. So guess that's it for that.

On another note about how much I've been blessed with, I came around someone else's blog recently as linked here. After reading this, I now see how we as a nation have strayed so far from what we have embodied. A country of the free? I think not now. Many of us in the U.S. feel that our government exercises too much military will without enough discretion, but I even now see how we have strayed from a country built upon a mosaic of people through immigration. It seems that we selectively choose people immorally who can come and become and American citizen. Is it that much of a privilege? Should one be examined like an animal to be seen as a "desirable" or "defective"? This all goes back to the movie Gattaca, where we are much like a eugenic society. Who are we to to decide if one is flawed? I feel that we acting as if we are God when we have no place to do so. So therefore, I think we should reform and change our views of people that are "foreign" and embrace as brothers and sisters despite anyone's flaws.

Oh so spiritually I feel that I have suddenly been reminded about how much more I need to grow. Like I feel that I was in a way content with myself. But again I am ashamed, for I always have room to grow. For me, I think there's an exceptional room for growth. Anyways, so now I'm reading more of the scriptures, and with every verse I read, I gain ever so much more wisdom. I guess that doesn't make sense, but I'm too lazy to fix that. haha

Finished my books. I finished 2 series of books. haha Wow I read a lot now. Ummmm... Dealt with freaking Citibank about my credit cards. Trying to get my prescription medicine from U.S. here. And that's about it! Woot woot!

July 27, 2007

So not much has been happening lately. I'm basically writing this so I can procrastinate from sleeping. Anyways, work is okay. After working my butt of for the past couple of weeks, I am at the point where I don't have much to do. I'm basically just waiting for my program NAMD to get installed correctly on the PRAGMA test grid correctly. So this is taking awhile, because when I test it and usually find out that things aren't working, I have to e-mail someone, then wait a day for a reply. Simply said, I only do one thing each day really. I'm reading up on some things and catching up on some of my reports that I'm behind on. But at least I'm beginning to get to know the people in my lab better now that I have more time.

Hmmm.... What else is happening? So I got about 450 shares of Ford stock last week. Screwed it up a little bit due to the time difference, so lost about $300 from that so far. Didn't know that Akamai was going to release earnings today, or I would have probably bailed out. So I just lost about $650 on that I think at least. Oh, yesterday I forgot that Amazon was going to release their earnings, so I skipped out on making about $600. Oh well. Gained about $400 today on Apple stock. Apparently, Apple is valued more that HP now.

Oh, I found a really cool video. Here is a link of a Chinese plane landing. Doesn't that make me feel safer in China. Huh? And I think that's about it. I'm feeling pretty lazy now. Oh well. Wow, that was a good way to kill time. Well, good bye y'all!

July 24, 2007

So earlier, I had a lot that I wanted to say, but the freaking RIAA thing came up. So I had to vent about that. Now that that's over, I can now talk about what I really wanted to talk about with what's been happening. So on Sunday, we went on a foray to Tienanmen Square again, since the night before it was closed. On the way there, we tried stopping by at the US embassy, but they were closed. From what I could tell, it was only two floors and not as grand as one would expect it to be. Furthermore, the walls didn't just have just gate things to keep intruders out on top of them, but also had a criss-cross to keep people in. I'm not quite sure if I'm making myself clear, but that is the best I could explain.

Anyways, after that, we kept going and stopped by at Wong Fu Jing. There we stopped by the bookstore, which I say was huge. That took at least a good 30 minutes. We met some people from San Jose there that were quite interesting. After meeting them, I was able to reflect upon myself and my pride. I feel that so many of us are driven by our goals, and always taught that we should believe that we ourselves are the best. But after observing these people from San Jose, I have seen how flawed that thought can be. I feel that we, myself included, have draped a veil upon our eyes and have failed to ignore the many things we can learn from each other. It is actually I think one of my biggest challenges to be humble, for I myself also have pride. It is with humbleness that I believe I can reach my goals the best. With pride I feel I will only make enemies with others around me, and it is imperative that I gain favorable opinions of people so that I would not have to deal with drama and so I could therefore focus on my task. I don't know, maybe I'm just babbling or being weird, but this is my train of thought right now. But I do feel that pride is definitely a vice that I must overcome.

Anyways, after the bookstore we went to McDonald's. Yes I mean McDonald's. I love getting their ice cream cones which is only 2.50 RMB. And this is the closest I can get to good old American ice cream. Also, at McDonald's in China there's no such thing as apple pie. They have Taro pie, Pineapple pie, and something else - Orange pie! They all come in more or less the same kind of cardboard container and look just like a regular apple pie. I got the pineapple pie and it was great! Much better than the apple pies.

But I refrained from getting more since I was concerned that I had my daily helping of calories from 2 ice cream cones and 1 pineapple pie. Can't forget that this is McDonald's. Eh....

After that, we went to Tienanmen Square and finally I got to go on it. I got to say it was great during the night. It's completely different, and I definitely prefer it there. I got to say it was huge, and I learned some things about Chinese history that I probably dismissed earlier in my life. Like the purpose of the People's monument was to symbolize how the Cultural Revolution took pride in the people (hence communism). It was also funny how some merchant was trying to sell water bottles for 2 RMB in Chinese, but when the guy saw Ryan, he said "5". That was hilarious and another example of how dishonest Chinese people could be.

After that we had a good dinner that my cousin took us to. I was surprised how hard it was to get rice in China. I was quite peeved off at the person. And apparently they served us our dessert before our main courses. So even though the food was good, the service was annoying. Like how freaking hard is it to get rice in China! My cousin's explanation, and I agree, is "Hey, it's China. The simplest things are the hardest."

Jumping to the future now, I just finished the new Harry Potter book. I actually thought that the ending was a little disappointing, but it was pretty good. I think Joanne Jo Rowling did a good job writing it. After reading an article some while back on the novel's history, I learned how Joanne Jo Rowling changed her name as the author to J.K. Rowling because of the publisher's beliefs that a feminine name would hold back the amount of books sold. This sad to say I feel is somewhat true, and is a clear example of how we must fight such discriminatory beliefs. I feel that it should not matter what gender or affiliation that any person might have. Every single person can have a large impact on society, and I think this is key. So I would only hope that people Joanne Rowling can take their new found power and wealth and wield to battle the discriminatory notions that run our societies.

Subpoena Afterthoughts

So I've been doing some research on this subpoena, and I found this article detailing this latest batch. In light of this, I now know by first hand how dishonest the music industry has become. By trying to trick people to indict themselves of a crime, the music industry has sunk to an even lower level than their supposedly "relentless piraters." By looking at what organizations are represented by this organization, I have come with another simple conclusion. This is small probably to these music companies but I have decided to boycott these companies by investing in their stocks. Many times I have considered buying stocks like Sony, which owns Sony BMG, and Time Warner, which recently spun off a company called Warner Music, but I say now, that I will boycott in investing in these companies by purchasing any of their stocks shares as it seems like the values that govern these companies have deteriorated to such a level that I myself am now disgusted. It's a wonder how these companies stay in business with their values and how so very few people, including the artists that are represented by these companies have spoken against them. I remember a couple years ago how I hear a news story on the news about how the media is now controlled by then a few major media companies by consolidating everything. Back then, everyone was scared of large corporations governing the media that we are exposed to, and I simply dismissed it as another more efficient way for a business/company to be run. But now, I would like to publicly rescind these beliefs as I am now exposed to the edge of the other more cruel aspect of consolidation of business. And it is by this experience I now understand the fear that large corporations represent in society.

Subpoena

Okay, so the most possibly annoying thing happened just within the first hour. So I woke up late today and checked my e-mail like I usually do, and apparently I get a little present e-mail from UCSD. Here's some excerpts.

We recently received a letter that a subpoena will be served regarding the illegal distribution of copyrighted material from a computer registered to you. The subpoena warning alerts us that this company has identified your computer as distributing copyrighted material, intends to file a lawsuit and will be serving a subpoena to UCSD to obtain your name and contact information.

UCSD's response will be as follows:

1. The first notice is a warning, but your connection has been blocked temporarily in case your computer has been compromised and to prevent you from getting more copyright violations.
2.You will be required to schedule an appointment with the ACS Help Desk, and will need to bring in your computer. Your connection will be blocked until the appointment has been completed. (Like I have no idea how to do this if I'm in a different country almost on the opposite side of the world.)

So right now, I am quite annoyed, not panicking. Why? Well let's see..... First I haven't downloaded any music illegally for the past couple years. Second, they basically shut-down my research project in China by closing my access to UCSD servers/clusters through VPN.

So yeah.... Really annoyed right now. I think I'm deciding to fight this rather than do a settlement because I feel that I've been wrongfully accused of a crime I did not commit.

You know, now I think about it, I think this e-mail has shown a lot about me. First, I did not really panic. I was more on the lines of like, "What the heck?" And second, I saw this from a purely legal point of view and contacted my parents to find me a lawyer.

But now after reading this e-mail again, I just figured out that this is a warning. But still, this warning is really annoying since I'm not quite sure what I'm getting warned about. (I've been freaking buying my music for over 2 years now off of iTunes!!!! My latest iTunes receipt says 01/05/2005) I guess this continues to demonstrate how the RIAA is flawed still by not quite knowing who the heck they're targetting.

July 22, 2007

So yesterday was one of the best days I've had here in China. I think maybe the brightest so far. I think maybe it made this trip totally worth it. So how did this day start? Well, I first got to sleep in until 10:30. OMG! I finally got to sleep in! When I woke up, I sort of did my thing, just killing time, then got ready for my cousin what was coming to visit me while he was in Beijing doing business. When he came, we started talking about stocks. haha Like how I just bought 425 shares of Ford stock. What a dork I am. haha Then after Alex got his lazy butt to my place we went out to go to eat lunch at one of the chain restaurants I went to with my family here in Beijing before. The food there I think was maybe one of the best I've had in a long time probably since my cousin ordered the right type of food. After that, we planned to go to Wu Dao Ka to pick my new Harry Potter book. Going there, we had an enormous string of good luck. We weren't quite sure how to get there, so we tried taking a taxi. Our first taxi drove us a little bit then dropped us off, since his meter wasn't working. Then the next taxi that we got into laughed at us, and told us how to get there by foot. So we just walked there in about 10 minutes. Getting the book, I was thinking about how fast I usually read, and how it would probably only take me a couple days of casual reading to finish it. What a shame.

After getting the book, we went to Silk Street by subway. When we got there I was a little disappointed to find out that my cousin didn't really want to shop/bargain with us. What a shame, since he's a really good bargainer. But after spending some time there, I began to understand why he did not want to come with us. First, the place was huge! He would have had to shop with us for maybe 4 hours in this building. Second, we got to bargain ourselves. I'm sure we didn't always get the best prices, but I got to say, it was one of the most fun and interesting experiences in my life. Before I always complained how in China we would even have to haggle over the bill at a restaurant, but when haggling for merchandise, I got to say it was really cool. The people working at the stores there could speak some english and spanish too. It was interesting watching people haggle. All the time, the people in their little shops would try to lure in Caucasians, Indians; basically anyone who did not look Chinese. From that point, I am glad that I look Chinese, since I didn't get constantly bothered. Also, it was interesting watching like 2 15 year old Caucasian girls yelling back at one shop employee for a bargain. It was quite entertaining to watch. Sometimes people new that they were getting jipped by the enormous prices they were offered since they looked like foreigners, but it seemed like many just saw it as entertainment. Hey, I guess I would also. I'll post some pics up of what I bargained down. But for now, here's the list. (Disclaimer: A lot of things in Silk Street are fake knock-offs)

Got talked into buying some insect in some glass thing for 80 RMB that I did not really want. Bought a coach purse for 180 RMB. Bought a silk scarf for 25 RMB. Bought 3 mesh shirts for a total of 190 RMB.

Going back to my cousin's place, we stopped by the St. Regis hotel, a 5-star hotel where my intelligent, bright President Bush could not open a door. I saw a Sizzlers, TGIF, and a Baskin Robbins 31. When we got to my cousin's apartment, I was definitely amazed. The place was right outside of two subway lines, 1-2 bus stops away from major shopping (Silk Street and Wan Fu Jing), 1 bus stops from Tiananmen square, and 2 blocks away from the train station. I got to say it also had a nice view. In his apartment, I was finally able to watch SOME english tv, CNN. My cousin then took us to dinner, which I got to say possibly has been the best food I've had on my trip to China, and he then took us to Tiananmen Square.

On the way to there, my cousin pointed out the building for the headquarters of the building and the secret police, quite scary I think. He also pointed out the People's Republic of China, or something like that. Basically it's China's version of our Congress building. When we got to Tiananmen Square, I learned a lot I felt. At about 9:30 p.m. they close it down. The reason apparently is so that the police could decrease the police force since less people will be on the Tiananmen Square, decreasing the chance of a public protest. Like, supposedly, my cousin informs me that about every work there's some protest that is shut-down immediately. Like within about 1-2 minutes the protest is over, since there's a bunch of police vans, police cars, homeland security police (somewhere between regular police and military), and secret police. So what they do, is that they just shove you into the van and drive you off. And apparently, it is not too uncommon for people to burn themselves in effigy when protesting too. I think it's quite interesting how this is in China, since this is very different in the U.S. In the U.S. we all know that we can protest and take it for granted, but here in China, people are unable to do this. On this point, my cousin was the first person ever that I have found in China that is disgusted by the censorship that they have here in China. Everywhere I go, all Chinese people say that it's okay, because the past was better. But my cousin, having lived in the U.S. for at least a decade, thinks it's ridiculous how they treat their own people.

For a good portion of getting to Tiananmen Square and home, I took the local city bus for the first time by myself here.

Picture of the busses in China going crazy

It's amazing how spoiled I am in the U.S. compared to here. Taking into consideration that so many of these people only make 200-300 RMB per month on average (about $30-$45), so many of them have to take measures that I would have once considered below me. Like on the city buses, they get really crowded. It gets hot and cramped. You basically get packed in their like sardines. Actually worse than the shuttles at UCSD. And in addition, everyone smells. So next time I take a packed UCSD shuttle, I do not plan to complain since people here in China have to deal with so much worse on a daily basis.

When I got home, I began reading my Harry Potter book. I got to say, that it's pretty good. Unlike the sixth book, this book is just filled of stuff happening. A very active book. I apparently read it until about 4:30 a.m. Haha I'm crazy. Anyways, that's about it for what I consider my best day in China so far EVER. See you later y'all. haha

July 21, 2007

July 21, 2007

So a lot has been happening I guess. So late last week I got pretty dang sick. Basically, for the whole week, I felt like butt. I had a freaking sinus infection in China. I didn't really like feeling going into work or doing much else. I thought it was surprising though how easy it was to get amoxicillin. My mentor just took me to the university nurse, and she just gave it to me. I think for two boxes, it was about 15 RMB. That's about $2! So cheap. So because of that fever I didn't get much done.

Even though I was sick, I did a surprisingly stupid thing. I went to a freaking weekend trip to Bei Da Hei. Pardon my spelling but I'm not quite sure how to spell it, and I don't think it really makes a difference. What we did there was go to a "beach amusement park" and ate shellfish for one day (yum!), and on the next day we went on another tour to another beach, a chinese aquarium, and to fake parts of the Great Wall. I feel that criticizing this trip would be too negative, but I feel that some things were quite eye openers to my culture in China. So first of all, I got to say, the train ride was really nice. I honestly think I would prefer it to flying; it was that nice! When we arrived at the Bei Da Ha train station, we were supposed to meet our hosts (family) that we were living with. Immediately, we got some problems since apparently foreigners were not allowed to stay with them and only at hotels. I thought this was quite B.S. honestly, but from what I understand, the reasoning is that the Chinese government only lets foreigners stay at hotels and not with families since they want to control the flow information. And to enforce this desire, the Chinese government has imposed a 50000 RMB fine to anyone that violates this rule. I think it's quite interesting how easy it is for the Chinese government to control things if they really wanted to do, like control of information but not safety. I don't know, maybe it was just me. So when we got Bai Da Ha, we immediately came up with some problems. The family was quite interesting honestly. They lied on the most random things I think. Like, apparently they wouldn't get us beer for dinner because they didn't want us to get drunk. They used the excuse that the shellfish that we were eating, which was quite good, would basically make us sick if we drank beer. This is something I never heard of. Another thing that happened was how a freaking tour guide tried to freaking cheat us by saying the price for one place was expensive so that she could get a kick-back (commission) for bringing people to a similar place. I find it interesting how untrustworthy so many people in China can be so that they could make a buck. Oh, and what else happened was that the tour guide scolded us for being late and threatened to leave us behind when it was the boat driver's fault that she chartered for us. And to add onto that, we had to wait about 1.5 hours for some people at a beach. HAHA You know, I think it's quite interesting how Chinese people try to make money when in a tourist area. They'll do anything to make money. I don't see this really as a bad experience with nothing to learn, but I saw that I began to understand the mentality of many of these people. Since many of these people don't make much money, they do anything they can to make some. And I guess this is how the culture is set-up based on the need to cheat one person so that they could be cheated also. It's an endless cycle and I laugh at it. haha I guess this entry about this trip should also be taken with a grain of salt since I was already in a bad mood since I got bit twice by a spider and I was pretty sick with my sinus infection. Didn't get any sleep for 2 nights since been coughing the whole time.

On the bright side though, I did have some good points on the trip. So I mentioned earlier how we went to the beach. Supposedly, this was a really nice beach for China, but too me it was disgusting. I have pictures of it in my pictures section; so you can see for yourself. So why do I think this was actually something good for me. Well, I was able to see how lucky and spoiled I was. I mean, I've been living in San Jose for my whole life (a 40 min. drive to Santa Cruz) and lived for 3 years in San Diego. I got to say, our beaches are spectacular compared to theirs. No competition. And by see this, I feel I have gained a new appreciation for what I have been blessed with. Another experience which I enjoyed quite well on this trip was the train ride. It was amazing how smooth and comfortable it was. I swear, I would possibly rather take a long, comfortable train ride than fly. It was really convenient and really comfortable.

Well I think that was it for the trip. So what else have I seen that was worth noting. Oh, I saw naked boys and girls (not in the pedophile sense) at the beach. i thought it was really interesting how again I was blessed with so much to be able to simply have swim suits on the beach in America. Ummmm..... The shellfish was really good and fresh. I went swimming with some of my co-workers on Thursday. I realized there that many people in China do not know how to swim. And most of them first learn a form of breaststroke, which I consider the 2nd hardest stroke to learn. I mean, I think I am credible on this topic since I've been teaching swim lessons for about 5 years. So when I was there, I tried teaching one of my co-workers, Sun Yuanhua, how to swim freestyle. Oh another thing. Many times when I walk along the street I see girls holding hands. At first I saw this as a display of affection and homosexuality. I was so surprised to see this since I always thought that the Chinese people were so conservative and not allow such public displays of affection. When I saw this, I immediately went to my roommate, Ryan, about this since he knows so much about this topic of homosexuality, for him being one also. And I learned that being queer is actually very horrendous for many people in China. Holding hands was more of a different form of showing friendship. This was quite interesting how different our culture was from the Chinese culture.

Other than that, I don't think there's much else to talk about other than I'm getting my Harry Potter book later today! Woot woot! So goodbye y'all and I'll fill you guys in later with what I've seen and learned.

July 13, 2006

So what's been happening lately? I'm not quite sure. So let's first start with my work. At work, I think I've made a lot of progress. For awhile, I've been trying to figure out how to fold a protein from the amino acid sequence. For those of you that do not know biology, here's a simple explanation. Every protein that we have has a code made of amino acids. This code by itself is called a primary structure. After some folding, you get the full protein structure. Now folding the protein, there are an innumerous amount of ways for the protein to fold. So through this program called Modeller, which has many algorithms, you can minimize the energy in the protein fold to create the most stable protein structure. After doing this, you have to check some numbers to make sure there is the lowest energy basically possible and is representative as an already template structure that is known. So after let's say 3 weeks, I finally finished this after repeating doing this for at least 5 times. After doing this, I learned quite a bit about myself I feel. First, I don't really mind doing monotonous and repetitive work much as long as I know why I'm doing what I'm doing. Second, I am extremely obsessive compulsive when I have a problem that I can't figure it out. And third, I really enjoy working the computers. Now that I have completed this step, I have to figure out how to do the next step in my project and learn how to use the program basically from scratch I feel. I used to be really frustrated about this, but after finishing this second milestone in my project, I look back and enjoy what I have done for I have learned a lot of computer language in the unix environment. I think it's in a way invigorating since I have always been in one way or another lean towards programming since I was young. And being a biology major, I never really used computers until now. So I feel this is a new application I can use later on. But now, continuing with the status of my project, I feel that I am definitely behind schedule. So now I'm trying to push myself harder to catch up to where I should be.

So what else has been happening? Culturally, I feel that I'm getting more in touch with my heritage. When I first came to China I always felt that I knew even though about my past, but now I have realized that I have so much more to learn. Right now, my Chinese is finally starting to pick-up. I can now start understanding people again. haha. I know this is quite strange you might think, but I grew up in a dialect of mandarin that is quite different, Shanghainese. So I think this is pretty good. I am also beginning to talk with more people in my work. I am learning a lot through them about their view about U.S. policies from China. Like Paul, was telling me how he thought that U.S. came to Iraq just for war. Which I do agree with. It's quite interesting how different and similar some issues differ and coincide between Chinese views and American views.

About my personal life, I've begun running again. After eating all of this good food, I am afraid that I'm getting a lot fatter. So now I'm trying to run everyday now. I've ran both days before today in the night, since it's too hot to run any other time in the day, but today I sadly had to refrain from running since I got sick. It's really annoying how I got sick with another sinus infection, because I wanted to work today. But instead, I slept in and got some amoxicillin. Dude, the amoxicillin was so cheap. It was only 15.2 RMB. In U.S. money, that's about $2. So cheap! And I didn't even need prescription. I just asked for it, paid for it, and walaa! Interesting how the system works here. But yeah, not much has happened really other than running and getting sick. I expected to get sick in China, since both times before I came to China, I also got sick. I'm just glad that this time I took a preemptive strike on my sinus infection and was able to avoid the hospitals here. When they draw your blood here or give you a shot, they don't even use needles. So that's just how bad I think the hospitals are here. But that's only because they have to deal with so many people since there are about 15.2 million people in Beijing. Anyways, now I'm just rambling and I think I should end it here. So there it is? Peace out homies!

By the way, here is an interesting video I found. Don't take this video at face value, since I hear there are factual errors, but I think this is an interesting different point of view.

July 8, 2007

So I think quite a bit has happened yesterday. I went to a Chinese Science and Technology Museum. It was interesting in some ways, but I thought that a lot of parts of the museum were pretty old. Like I felt the technology that was so fascinating there was pretty old or nothing new. I guess that's a because I live in Silicon Valley. So maybe it's a geographical difference that causes it. But I also think that it's social. In America we are a pretty technology-oriented society, and in China I feel what most people are concerned with is just getting things done in the masses, which does not require the most technological solutions. So I guess that's something I've learned. Also, I noticed how a lot of things inside the museum were actually advertisements, like Intel and BMW. Only those stands were pretty cool. And another thing, since this musem was what I would think as very child oriented, I got to observe a lot of the interactions between the children. So I've worked with children quite a bit teaching swim lessons to them for about 5 years now. But these children, I swear were crazy. I felt like they had so little control. Some of them had some manners and restraint I could tell, but most of them were just outright crazy. I felt like it was jungle in there, and I really wanted to just restrain some of those kids, which I did not. I guess that's another difference in American culture where children in China I feel have less discipline. I guess that has to do with the one child law allowing parents to spoil their children or maybe just how a lot of the culture is very how should I say it, unfounded in a set of traditions. Anyways, I felt that I learned a lot on this trip; not from seeing the booths in the museum, but more of observing interactions between people.

So what else did I learn yesterday? Oh, so I also went to what was called an English Corner. Basically, a lot of students in the university would come together and practice their english with each other. I learned a lot from going here, for I did not realize about a lot of these opinions that the Chinese had. For instance, I learned how a lot of people in China dislike the Cultural Revolution. I always thought that most of the population was proud of it since it created the foundation of their current communist government. Oh, and I also learned how the people feel that there's not as much oppression and propaganda now. Like, to us in the U.S., we have always focused on comparing the human rights violations between us in the U.S. and China. But these people helped open my views by pointing out how so much has changed in the past couple years that you can't deny that human rights will probably only get better with the progress that they've made so far. On another part of our discussion, we also talked about the diverse community in China. I did not know about this, but apparently a lot of people in China feel ill to Shanghainese, which is what I am. Apparently, everyone supposedly agrees that Shanghainese are very good business people, but because of that, they look down on all other Chinese people. I feel that this was interesting since I never knew that. I'm not saying that I feel insulted by it, which I don't think I should. I just think that this gives me a new perspective on who I am and the diverse interactions that have been forged within China's population. So other than that, there are a couple other things, but I prefer not to go into lengthy detail, since I have to go soon. But on and on, I plan to go again to this English Corner every week now to learn more about China's culture.

July 6, 2007

So not that much has happened in the past week. So I feel like I was struggling a lot in work. I wasn't struggling because I had no idea what I was doing, but more like I was struggling because I had to learn a lot about programming language to understand what the heck I was doing so that I could learn the programs I was using. Well on that note, I basically was donig protein folds this whole week. I had to restart my folding at least 3 times, because I learned something new about the program. And to top it off, I was about finished every single time right before I had to restart. Now let's see why I had to restart sometimes. First, I realized that the basic way to fold the proteins as I looked in the tutorial was actually not that accurate compared to when I use more than one template protein to fold the other proteins. Next, I had to start over since I needed to make more candidates for protein folding for more accurate results. Finally, I had to restart because I realized that the built-in alignment in the Modeller program was not working correctly and messed everything up. So I had to start-over again. Oh, and to make things brighter, I spent like three days trying to install the program that I needed onto the servers. And I still have not finished installing some programs on their servers since I still have some errors.I've been pretty busy with work, more like obsessive. Sometimes I feel like I'm a workaholic.

Anyways, I haven't done much to explore China. I've been eating a lot of food in my nearby area. I had Korean food that was pretty good. I had rabbit at the lab dinner. Yesterday, I went to a really expensive peking duck place. It's supposedly one of the best out there. I spent about $50 us dollars. So I got some peking duck that cost about 60 RMB. We got to pick which duck we wanted from the kitchen. I think that we were getting some special treatment. We were served supposedly the best pieces of the duck. I got the duck brain. It was quite interesting I thought. A lot like liver I think. I think most people would get grossed out, but I find that when you don't think, that's best. The extra pieces of the whole peking duck were used to make a really good duck stew. got supposedly one of the best shark fin soup in the world for about 281 RMB per indvidual bowl. Got some really crazy good eel barbecue. Got turtle soup. When I saw this on the menu, I had to get this. It was pretty dang good. And the meal included free desserts with some ice shaving pudding, and fruits which were really good. The fruit dish had some dry ice underneath that gave it a cool look. So overall, it was really good. The place was really Western and expensive, but good. Here's a link for the pictures.

So today, I finally finished my protein folding! I'm so happy. After two weeks of work, it's all done! haha. Anyways, so now I have to start figuring out how to run the NAMD simulations. And that's going to take awhile since I also need to find a lot of server power to run them. Anyways, so after that today, I went to play badminton with the people in my lab. Wow, I completely forgot how to play badminton. I mean, I haven't played badminton for I think 6 years now, which is a pretty long time I think. Too make things short, they were super good, and I got creamed. But it was fun still. Then we went to get dinner that was paid for, which I say is really good.

July 2, 2007

So not too much has happened. Yesterday, I just mainly slept since I was up until 7 am Saturday night. So I basically only got like 4 hours of sleep, and I took my time the whole day. I went out and got some quick food on the way to my friends' place. I got some bao zhe, which is right outside my place, for me and for my friends. I am quite surprised how fulfilling it is to just like buy people stuff. I say this not in the sense of good will but more on the lines of just being giving.

While on this topic, I feel that my growth spiritually has been stunted. I feel that I have so much need to learn and become a better christian, but at times in a way I'm shy in showing who I am. I feel ashamed at this, but I guess this is just another way to put myself in another uncomfortable position so I can grow. I more like see this as another challenge that has been given to me to teach me something. On a bright note, I feel like I haven't really strayed from my walk since my disciplines are getting better.

Something that I just learned, and this is probably more to do with me always blanking out and not really paying attentions is that I just found out that my roommate is queer. I think it's really interesting in two ways. First, I never noticed until someone told me. That just demonstrates how I never pay attention to anything. Second, I have always wanted to live with someone that is queer. I feel like this is probably going to be the most life-changing part of my trip here in China.

So it's pretty crazy some things here in China. When you're walking on the streets, you always have to look both ways when crossing a street or walking in part of one, for the traffic is crazy from all the cars, busses, trucks, motorcycles, mopeds, and bikes. Also, it's the craziest thing. Sometimes there's caterpillars hanging off a tree on a strand of silk. You need to watch out from walking into them. Here's a picture of one of the caterpillars.

On the work side, I feel like I am really struggling. The main reason is that the program that I learned in UCSD before I came to China, I don't really use. Other than that, I have no idea how to use the programs I'm required to use to do my project. So this is my day usually. Show up at 9a.m., and spend about 9-12 figuring out how to use my program. And then just give up and do another aspect of my project for the rest of the day until 5-6 after lunch. It's pretty cool though that I'm forced to learn computer language though since I have to figure what the heck I am doing and understand how the programs work.

On the side of what I did yesterday, I went shopping again in the technology shopping district. I realized at that time how much I like bargaining. I got a miniSD card, which I didn't really need, for 120 RMB. I love bargaining. This gives me extra incentive to brush up on my Chinese in order to be able to bargain. haha

I finally got a haircut today. Wow it was so nice. Before they cut your hair, they wash your hair. After they give you a haircut, they wash your hair. And it only cost about 10RMB. That's about $1.10 US. Cheap eh? Another thing about the barber shops, the whore houses here. It's freaking crazy how a lot of the barber shops turn into whore houses during the night. Here's a link to the whore houses during the night. I'll later post an update to compare the same stores as barber shops in the night.

July 1, 2007

So a lot has happened this whole week. A lot has changed in China since I've last been here. First of all, the flight here was great, even though I was on coach. What I never really understood about ANA - the airline's acronym for All Nippon Airways - was that they would not allow me to pay for an upgrade of my ticket to business class because of my ticket type. I got to say though the food was great, especially the seafood. When we stopped in Narito Airport for a flight change in Tokyo, Japan, I got a great taste of the Japanese life. I was able to eat some expensive airport food that was really good. I was able to use their bathrooms, which I gotta tell you is super cool. One of the toilets in each bathroom had a toilet that washed your butt crack after you did a number 2. I purposely held it on the plane to try it. When I tried it, nothing special. It felt a little weird, but I actually found it didn't do anything but make it harder to wipe myself since it made it wet. Wet butt and water, do the math. It's surprising how efficient Japanese people are. I tell you it was great. Also, on the way from Tokyo to Beijing, the plane had a crazy screen that showed you the runway and bottom view of the plane when you took off and landed. I gotta tell you that was pretty cool.

In Beijing, I never really realized how bad my Chinese was until now. And also, I never really realized how different Shanghainese is different from mandarin. Sometimes when I say some Shanghainese like thank you in my dialect, people look at me all funny. I also learned how difficult it is to get some things done in China. When we first got here, the temperature was about triple digits and we had no AC. Combined with the humidity, that was not great. It took about 3 days to get them to fix it. It took me about 4 days to get internet in my apartment. And we had to pay for a freaking toilet seat that immediatley broke when we got in. I also realized how poorly designed the apartment was since outlets were placed in the oddest spots and the bathroom flooded even though we had drains. From how I see it, this is the way it is, since the Chinese just built the building as fast as possible to meet demand. Like from what I see is Chinese mentality, quantity versus quality.

Despite all these faults, there are some cool things here. First, the public toilets, including work. Instead of toilets for you to take a nunber 2 in for men and both for women, you had to crouch. Although this might seem gross, it's surprising how efficient this was. Talking to my roommate Ryan, we both agree that crouching allows you to spread your butt cheeks, making it easier to clean yourself since there is less contact of your skin with your feces when it exits you. Also, you know how in the US you sometimes read a magazine while on the toilet to kill time or something like that, since you crouch you can't really do that. So you can't really spend time on the toilet, making you efficient time wise. Also, I got to tell you, being in China has made me super cheap. With exchange rate at about 7.6 rmb for 1 US dollar, My average meal is about 3-11 rmb. Do the math. For me, anything over 15 rmb is too expensive for me. haha Like take into example how I went to this Thai restaurant where celebrities go, and it was freaking good. But it was expensive. It was freaking 49 RMB for me! To me that was a lot, but if you translate that to US dollars, that's $7 US dollars. Wow I'm cheap. haha Yet, the food is great I got to tell you.

Something scary about China is that the drivers are crazy. I enjoy driving in the US and consider myself a pretty good driver, but I refuse to drive here, since it's so scary here. Every time you walk across the street you have to look across the street, or you might die. I tell you, you just have to be here to see it. Everyone freaking jaywalks in what you would consider lets say an expressway and just stand in the middle of the road while cars pass you by.
Oh dude, there's a freaking WalMart here. Honestly, I boycott WalMart, and many of you I think probably knows why. But here, it's completely different. It was pretty nice. And they had everything!

At work, people are pretty dang cool. I've noticed how people take 30 min. naps in my office after office. When I first saw it, I was thinking about how unproductive they were, but I learned from my unclie in Beijing that it was custom. Also, I was always thinking how quiet it was in there, but I realized that they communicate to each other through MSN messenger.
The other three guys that I'm working with are pretty cool. We've been hanging out a lot. Since yesterday, we've been playing Mah Jiang with each other each night. Pretty funny; we come here to China to play Mah Jiang. haha

Well I think that's it. There will probably be a lot more and things I'm missing.