March 17, 2008
First, I’d like to thank all those who’ve written about this trip – it’s good to know that someone, somewhere, is reading this blog! Here are the answers to your questions:
A) Jelly fish are surprisingly crunchy. I think they must be pickled or something, prior to cooking.
B) I can now update the list and once again pose the question, which of these is the odd one out? abalone, bamboo, beche de mere, chicken, cow, crab, crayfish, dragon (white), duck, eel, fish (pink), fish (red), fish (sort of striped), fish (white), fish eggs, fungi (black), fungi (grey), fungi (red), fungi (white), goose, lamb, mushrooms (brown), mushrooms (white), mushrooms (which grow inside the bamboo plant after it dies), mushrooms (the thin ones which grow after the rain), mushrooms (which grow on the pine trees up in the mountains), octopus, pig, pigeon, prawns, rabbit, scallops, sea urchin, sheep, snails, squid, turkey, tuna, jellyfish, ….??
C) No I don’t spend half my time sitting in a traffic jam and the other half eating – to address that misconception today’s blog gives a brief ‘day in the life’ view of things. This is what happened today:
0115: Turned off the computer and went to bed. We had returned to the hotel at 8.30 pm and I made the mistake of turning on the computer to answer e-mail.
0645: Alarm woke me up. Showered. Sally (my wife) called from Calgary and we chatted for a while, about family stuff. Apparently it snowed again yesterday. I started to pack my bag.
0800: Met my colleague Dr. Cen Huang for breakfast. Cen is the Executive Director of the UCGlobal Centre for International Relations and Partnerships, and is the key organizer / facilitator of our mission.
0845: Back to the room and finished packing. 0915 Checked out of the hotel 0920 Picked up by Ms Liu Yuan, Program Coordinator for international programs at Northwest University. Driven to campus.
1010: Arrive campus. Meet with Dr. Ren Zongzhe, Vice President, in a large meeting room. We sit in big armchairs, with an interpreter sitting behind us. It looks and feels like one of those heads-of-state meetings you see on CNN. There are six others present, in armchairs placed along the sides of the room. A young lady comes in with a thermos and serves tea. Dr. Zongzhe and I discuss the relationship between our universities, especially the Molecular Microbiology Laboratory project led by Dr Kangmin Don (Northwest University) and Dr. Michael Surette (University of Calgary). Dr. Zongzhe expresses a desire to broaden our partnership into other areas, especially in Life Sciences and in History, Culture and Archaeology, and informs me that it is hoped a delegation from Northwestern (led by their President) will be in Canada in June. We agree that Calgary ought to be on the itinerary, and that a formal signing of any expanded MOU would be a useful step forward.
1045: Tour of the Molecular Microbiology Laboratory, where I am given far too much information about bacterial pathogenesis and novel antimicrobials screening using high throughput gene expression. Exactly.
1115: Visit Professor Baoguo Li, who heads the Primate Research Group and is head of an international study of the Golden Monkey. He shows us some amazing photographs from his field trips up into the mountains. 1130 Tour of the Northwest University Museum, where artifacts from the past 2500 years are displayed. Some were found on the campus, which is located right outside the Xi’an city walls and used to be the site of an important temple. Many items on display were excavated by students as part of their field work to one of the many archaeological sites around Xi’an. As capital city for 13 dynasties, the region is one of the most productive in the world in terms of artifacts.
1155: Walking tour of campus.
1215: Lunch with Li Changan, Dean of International Programs, and some others of his colleagues. Northwest University has its own on-campus hotel, and we eat in the attached dining room. I recognize everything. Dean Li stresses that he would like to increase participants in our student exchange programs, as well as enhance research collaboration between professors.
1315: Ms Liu collected us and drove us to the airport. On the way we stopped and visited the
Confucian temple: Entry to the Confucian temple at Xi’an, known for the “Forest of Stone Steles." Confucian temple at Xi’an, which is known for the “Forest of Stone Steles”. These are large stones inscribed with text. The most famous is the Canon of Filial Piety, written in 745 AD and recounting the disciple Zeng Shan’s conversations with Confucius. The one I liked best, however, was a tablet written by the Emperor Huizong in 1108 AD. Here he gives an account of the education system, school rules and standard of personnel training and selection in the second year of Daguan of Song. Oh that our educational records would last as long!
1500: Arrived at the airport, checked in. Through security, found the gate. Found a computer terminal, answered a few urgent e-mails.
1630: Boarded the plane.
1715: Plane took off.
1910: Arrived Guangzhou. Collected bags. Went upstairs to the departures level. Checked in our bags for the next flight. Apparently in China you cannot book your bags (or yourself) through on a connecting flight, but must check in again for each leg.
2000: Through security, found the gate, had coffee.
2115: Boarded the plane.
2150: The plane took off.
2255: Arrived Shantou. Collected our bags. Met by Ms. Shellan Zheng from the International Centre. Driven to campus.
2335: Arrive campus. Check in to Shantou University hotel.
2350: Turn on computer. Download photographs from the day and write this blog.
0030: Checked e-mail and replied to urgent ones.
0115: Sent this blog back to Calgary. Turned off the computer. Went to bed.
So that’s what the last 24 hours has been like over here. And the answer to my quiz is still the same – I’ve still not eaten turkey.