More Pics of my poster and partner project

Here are some close up shots of my partner project in Jinan. I really wish I could have taken one of these home, but alas, I guess it was just not to be.
We put tracing paper on the inside. It gave it more structure, and helped make the edges look a little cleaner when it was rolled together. We also put wire in for more support. Here's a shot of my poster.

Train Catching

The bus ride to Suzhou was interesting, everyone was hot as there was no air conditioning and we were in a bus that had exactly enough seats for the whole group. Needless to say it was a small bus, more like a large van if anything. So we were all on this bus for like 2+ hours. Where were we going, you might ask? Well to Suzhou, of course, the city known for its Chinese gardens. We were all relieved to get off the bus. The Chinese did a really good job at designing this garden. Every view was carefully planned. I suggest you look up Chinese gardens, it's pretty fascinating stuff, but too long to get into here. We got a chance to wander around these gardens for a bit, then we were free to wander wherever we liked in the city, until we all met up at a different garden.

After some time, and a few closed gardens, later we all ended up at a zoo, the saddest zoo in the world. It’s here that the story gets interesting. You see, now the group splits up and some go back on the bus to return to the hotel. A few of the more “adventurous” people stay behind and plan to take the train back. Really, it was just a mis-communication, no one really knew what the other group was going to do or where they were going to go, so everyone had to make a split second decision with little information to go on. I was in the group that stayed, because I didn’t know what was going to happen on the return bus trip and the train held more appeal to me than the bus. This new smaller group became even smaller when it split up again and three people went off on their own to shop while the five remaining, including myself, went to a pagoda.It was really cool and gave an amazing view.Soon it was time to go to the train station. We walked over and met up with the other three who'd gone shopping. They had already bought their tickets. We tried to get tickets for the same train but ended up getting them for the 8:45 instead of the 7:30. In the end we got into some taxis and went to get dinner, leaving the other three to go on their train. For dinner we had noodles and dumplings.

Now the story gets even better. We headed back with only a little time before the train left. Since there were 5 of us, and a taxi only holds 4, one person, Edwin, took another taxi by himself. He happened to get into his taxi after us and got dropped off at the station further ahead where we couldn't see him.

Edwin had all the tickets and the four of us in the other taxi had no idea where he was. After some quick thinking I suggested that we head over to the gate because that’s the most logical place to be. Then across the square, like a game of Where’s Waldo, I spotted Edwin. Looking at my watch I realized that we had about 7 minutes before the train left. I took off running, hoping the guys behind me were still actually behind me. We all ran through the bag scanners and down to the gate that said Shanghai. Unfortunately there were two gates that said Shanghai and we just so-happened to be at the wrong one. Once again, we dashed down the aisle and got through the next gate just as the guard was about to close it. Suddenly we were running down a set of stairs, through the underground hall and up another set of stairs.

Fortunately for us the train wasn’t there yet. This allowed us enough time to dash to where our car should be. It was car number 14 and naturally that would be as far away from us as possible. Just as we started to sprint toward the other end of the platform the train showed up and we all hopped on in the nick of time. It was an adrenalin rush to say the least.

The rest of the story is more relaxing. The train ride back to Shanghai was less than an hour and then we took the subway to our end of town and walked to the hotel. On the way was something that I thought was kind of cool. Right outside of the subway exit there are these big buildings for shopping. On these buildings are huge screens of ads. But on this screen there was a mistake, as you can see.
If you can't read it it say's... "It is now safe to turn off your computer"
All in all, I found that it was the perfect day and was happy that I had stayed behind. It also makes for a really good story.

Afternoon at the Museum

The Shanghai Museum is, of course, located in Shanghai. Its a building shaped to resemble an ancient Chinese bronze pot. In the museum there are rooms that hold relics of ancient China. There were bronzes, coins, clothes, furniture, jade (though that room was closed) and an assortment of other things.

The next museum we went to held the Shanghai Biennial. It had art from really well known artists. It was all very contemporary. This was on the outside of the museum. These sculptures were inside. The artist, Yue Minjun, is very well known. His work is shown a lot outside of China.

Shanghai Nights

One night we all squeezed onto a packed bus and rode across the river. We were going to a very tall building. This building had an observation deck where you could see all of Shanghai. Since we went at night we saw all the lights. From the 360 view, Shanghai is really a big city. The tower in the distance has two round sections and is called the Oriental Pearl.
This is a view from the inside of the building.

For some reason, in the lobby to the elevators there was a wax statue of Jackie Chan.
Here are some more shots.

This is China Town

When entering the city of Shanghai it easy to see why every calls it the "modern" city of China. It is different from the other cities that we have been to. There are many tall building and trendy stores that weren’t seen in Beijing. Of course, it does have its fair share of older buildings. In fact, some older ones are right next to our hotel. These are homes that seem to not have changed much over the last few decades.Shanghai is a city where there was always seems to be something going on. There are museums, shops, parks, and random little places that you find by just walking around.

Shanghai was hot and humid like the rest of China.

The Shanghai Express (not actually what it was called, but wouldn’t that have been cool).

We got to take an overnight train from Jinan to Shanghai. It was pretty nice as sleeper cars go. Apparently, I’m an expert on them. I’ve only ever taken one before this experience in China, from Switzerland to Paris, but it was a lot less comfortable than this one, and more crowded, too. This one held four people and was a fun thing to get to do. I happen to enjoy train rides a lot, so please enjoy these shots.

Traffic

The traffic in China is crazy. I would not have the guts or the skills to pull off driving in this country. It seems like there is an unspoken rule of the road here. It appears that the lines on the road are mere suggestions and that the biggest vehicle always has the right away. It’s almost mesmerizing how the bus driver drives in Jinan; he can maneuver the bus into any ally/busy road. The car horn is used liberally in driving as well. I wonder what the driving test is like in China?

Locusts! They’re Everywhere!

So the food in China comes in all sorts of forms. When the group eats out at restaurants we are fed like royalty. The food just keeps on coming out of the kitchen. Some of the food is unidentifiable, some is tasty and familiar and some is questionable for Americans.

Here are some interesting foods that are available to anyone who want to try.

100 year old egg.Tiny scorpions.

Locusts on a stick. These were actually served at dinner on a plate a few nights ago. I didn’t have any. I don’t regret it either.Crabs, also on a stick.

The last dinner in shanghai.

Today was our last day in China. I walked around and went to the MOCA. It had some cool stuff in it but it was very small. The rest of the day was really spent working on my personal project. I’m working on something that resembles a coin. Its not finished and I don’t want to post pictures of it yet.Later we went to a vegetarian restaurant, which was one of the best meals we have eaten as a whole group.

On another subject for just a moment, there have been a few days that I haven’t written about. Well, when I get back home I plan to finish this blog up and add all the rest of my adventures.

The rest of the night was spent packing and writing the last words of china.

The Opening

So, I realized that I had yet to write about the opening we had in Jinan. It was a good show and we all worked hard to finish what we needed to on time. I think my group project turned out nicely. My personal project was ok. I wish that I had more time to maybe work on multiples. But overall I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
These paper cuts took a long while to cut out. The red poster above was my personal project. It's really big.

Some Thoughts

We have one more full day in China. This trip seems to have gone by really quickly. Soon I’ll be back home and walking to school.

Today I went walking around and saw what Shanghai had to offer. It was really hot and humid and I was out for most of the day. At one point it started to rain. It has rained at least once at every place that we’ve been to.

A Spring Sprung

Jinan is known for its springs and one morning we all got to go to a park with well-known springs. It was very busy there. Like every park that I have been to in China, interesting activities are happening. At this spring there was a man writing calligraphy on the pavement.It seems that here, keeping the old arts alive is very important. Calligraphy is very respected and is still taught in school.

Also, for some reason still unknown to me, there were seals in one of the springs.

Besides seals, a lot of the ponds were full of fish.

After wandering around a bit, I came across a bridge and there was a group of men playing musical instruments. Most were traditional but one guy was playing a saw. He played it really well, too.

A Little bit extra

Ok. I can't leave without saying something more interesting. This morning at 7:00 we all got on the bus and went to Zhoucun. Zhoucun's cultural festival was going on and we just happened to have seats at the opening. There was no English spoken but there was a lot of "singing" in Chinese. I say that because I think that there might have been pre-recorded vocals present in some or most of the acts. I'll post some pics as soon as I can. I just need to get them on the computer.

Long Day, Short Time

So, today was another long day. I seem to not get enough time for this blog, which is rather sad because I have a lot to report from yesterday and today. I'll just start with today and get to yesterday later. I am really not prepared for today, I haven't put my photos in my computer yet. The last part of the day was spent working on my group project with my partner. Here is a picture of us, seeing as I don't have much else right now.

Closed Computer Lab

I had planned on writing a lot today. I had a really big day and did a lot of stuff that I would really like to share. Sadly, because the computer lab is closed I can't do much. It's closed because of the festival here. Right now I am sitting in the stairwell using what little wifi I can get. Here is a pic so that you have something to look at.

Sore wrist and fingers

Today we went back to the university to work some more on our projects. The night before I had some cutting homework and got one piece done. We're doing four. We both have a lot of paper cutting ahead of us. By the time I finished cutting one full board out my wrist, knees, and fingers were really sore. I really hope it looks good in the end, I hate to have all my efforts be for nought.

It Starts

Yesterday we went to the university and spent all day there getting our projects started. My partner and I are doing a take on Chinese paper cuttings. It’s taking a long time to do because it’s a slow process. I don’t have pictures of them because I’d like them to be totally finished before I post them. But I might just do it later anyway because I'm impatient.

The Little Things

Crickets!

During my travels in China there a few things that come up that are especially interesting. I am going to talk about some of them. One of these things happened in Beijing. At the hostel there was a birdcage. Inside this birdcage was a small loosely woven ball. Inside this ball was an enormous cricket. Now, for those who haven’t seen “Mulan” or read about the pop culture of crickets, they are considered lucky in China and are kept as pets. They eat fruit and vegetables. Apparently they also fight these crickets for money.

Lets go Fly a Kite

Today we went to this place that makes kites. It was a 3-½ hour bus ride to the city.
We walked around what you would call the kite factory. It was really just a bunch of small rooms in a back court yard. Each one had something different. This one was used to hang the newly painted silk.
I really liked their old traditional-looking kites, but when asked about them, I was told that they don’t make them anymore because there is no market for the traditional style. Apparently everyone wants the newest modern kind of kite, with bright colors and modern shapes.
Not everything on this trip was done in a new modern way.
After lunch (which had a great egg tomato soup), we went to a place where they do traditional wood block prints.
These prints are for the New Year. People put them on their windows for good luck in the coming New Year.

We watched a demonstration of this process and even got to do a one-color print ourselves.

There were also three dogs at the printing place. Here are two of them. Its a nice moment but they fought most of the time we were there.
On the way back my only pen stopped working. I need to get another one.