World Exposition 2010, (Part Two)

Our second day began bright and early. We loaded the bus and headed for the Expo. Diego and I were optimistic about seeing some of the larger pavilions before the crowds arrived at the Expo. We got there at 8:30 and waited in line for it to open at 9. It didn't look good; there were tons of people everywhere. After a long wait, we got through security and traveled in the sea of tourists downstairs to the subway which would take us to the Expo. In China, apparently it is normal to sprint inside the subway cars and fill up the seats as fast as possible, which is exactly what our fellow tourists did. And the running didn't stop there. When we arrived at the Expo stop, tourists sprinted from the cars the second the doors opened, pushing and jostling past anyone in their way. I don't take too well to jostling, but there's only so much one person can do against a heaving, jostling, sprinting mob. It was scary.

We got upstairs and, hurrying gracefully, we walked to the Spain pavilion, which we had heard was very good. When we got there, there was already a long line in front of us. We figured it could have been worse and decided to wait anyway, and we were inside in about twenty minutes. It was a pretty cool pavilion, with a performance and some exhibits. When we left, Diego got to take a picture with a genuine Spanish lady.

We had intended to attend some other big ones in the morning, but the lines were already horrendously long. As we were contemplating what to do, I spotted Ireland, so we headed there. We didn't wait long, and it was a really great exhibit. I have ancestors from all over Europe, so I don't exactly have any heritage or homeland, but since my last name is Irish, I guess Ireland is my surrogate home. I would love to return to the Emerald Isle someday and start up a pig farm of my very own, but it's going to be a while before I've got the money to move back into that glamorous business.


We saw the Netherlands pavilion next, which was a big white and yellow walkway which looked like a carnival ride. They had sheep you could sit on, and we met some Netherlandian people who were very friendly and spoke about ten languages. As a girl recounted her languages, she said, "And I speak a little English," after talking to us completely fluently for fifteen minutes. Damn Europeans and their language skills. We drifted around for awhile after the Netherlands, visiting Romania and several smaller African pavilions before having a lunch of steak skewers and sandwiches at the Brazilian restaurant. We decided to have a long lunch, since the crowds were only going to get worse before they got better, and sat down on the grass at the Mexican pavilion. We ate our lunch despite the curious stares of the Chinese family in front of us. And behind us. Not just cursory glances, not just curious looks. These were stares. It was growing to be a common occurrence, at least. Nonetheless, we enjoyed lunch. Diego took a nap and I drew the Mexican pavilion in my sketchbook. I was very comfortable, lounging on the grass, though my comfort was slightly diminished when I saw a little Chinese girl pull down her pants and pee on the grass about twenty feet from my spot. I tried not to think about the implications of this event on my own little patch of grass.

After a long lunch, we got up to peruse some of the South American countries. In one we made a friend who gave us a personal tour of his pavilion, and in others we met locals and discussed the Expo and China with them in English and Spanish. I wish we had gotten contact information from all the people we talked to because we would have contacts all over the world. There were many very nice people, and a lot of the workers in the pavilions were about our age. It was fun to meet our counterparts from all over the world.

In one of the South American pavilions we picked up a tail. We waited in line behind a guy about our age who did a double take when he saw us, then smiled and stared at us for awhile. We said hi and interacted for awhile, as much as one can without any sort of shared language. We went through the pavilion with him and headed for the next one. It seems he was headed there too, so he followed us into it, quiet and smiling. We finished that pavilion and stood around wondering what to do, and he drifted nearby. When he followed us into the third pavilion, it was starting to get creepy. Luckily we were able to lose him by running away and hiding in a dumpster. Not really. He just drifted off after the third pavilion. He seemed pretty friendly. Maybe too friendly....


We had dinner, the same food as the night before, which I really enjoyed. My boss had brought his wife and 8-year old son and told me he needs to practice his English, so I sat next to him and talked to him during dinner ("How are you?" "What is your name?"). He pointed at two different dishes during the dinner and said, "Very good." And he was right. We had some Turkish ice cream after dinner, and went to all the smaller European pavilions. In Moldova, we talked to one of the workers for about ten minutes about her country and how nobody know anything about it. She asked us to sign the guest book and in return, she gave us Moldova care packages, which included an umbrella and coffee cup. It was very kind.

I think that's all we did on Sunday. Strangely, Sunday was the least crowded day. When we arrived on Monday, the crowds were just as bad as Saturday. When we entered the subway, I did as the Chinese do and ran to get a seat. My plan was to get a seat and then give it to an older, slower person, who suffer immensely in this subway seating system. But there was a flaw in my plan! I needed an old person! Not a middle-aged person, not a guy with a few gray hairs, but a real old person who would appreciate the offer and not just get offended. I hadn't foreseen this problem, and I was forced to reap the benefits of my lightning agility and flying elbows for myself.

Our plan to visit one of the most popular pavilions, Germany, was foiled by an immense line. Instead we continued to visit smaller pavilions. We saw Greece and ate delicious cornbread ball things, and went to the Central America pavilions, Argentina and Turkey. Turkey was interesting. The country has tons and tons of history, and its location makes it unique, halfway in Asia and halfway in Europe. The last couple hours I sat down and drew the Germany pavilion, determined to take at least something away. The drawing turned into an exploration of the fastest way to draw an umbrella, since most of the people in the huge line held an umbrella to protect them from the sun. As I drew, curious Chinese people kept coming over and peeking over my shoulder at the drawing. It's pretty unnerving to be watched as you draw, but I didn't really have a choice so I just did my thing while people came and checked up on me. At one point there must have been about ten people crowded around looking at my drawing, which I had just started and comprised no more than a couple of squiggly lines. I took pictures with several people during my time drawing, and one old man sat down and talked about life with me. In Chinese, that is. I don't speak Chinese, but I found it enlightening, nonetheless. I got his business card. The pavilions were very fun and interesting, but I think I enjoyed my time drawing more than any of the countries. It allowed me to take away something truly unique from the Expo. Amateur, ugly and unique, haha. But really, if I had a month off and some spare cash, I would just go and draw every pavilion because some of them are really astounding.


And that about sums up the trip. I was late to meet Diego because I got so absorbed in my drawing and taking pictures with Chinese people, but we were still back to our meeting place with time to spare, and we boarded the bus and headed back to Nanjing. The bus trip was actually nice, it gave me a chance to reflect, write Emma a letter and read a little bit. Returning to Nanjing was a curious feeling. When I was studying abroad, the first time London felt like home was when I returned from my trip through Italy. I really began to love the city after that. I'm far from loving Nanjing, but there is a hesitant familiarity forming between us. I'm over the initial shock of living here and hopeful for the next seven weeks.


Grandma Rosemary, thank you for insisting I attend the World Expo. As you can tell, I had an amazing time. And thank you to everyone who reads my blog, I really appreciate your support and words of wisdom.

In case anyone was curious, no, we did not visit the USA pavilion. Apparently it sucks, though that didn't prevent a long line. There was some rumor about the USA not even having a pavilion, so maybe it was a rush job or something. All I know is that the world was not very impressed.

The pictures are of the UK pavilion (the spiny thing), the Ireland pavilion (the grassy glassy thing), the Germany pavilion (the silver thing), the Netherlands pavilion (the orange and yellow thing), the crowds in the subway and exhibits inside some of the pavilions. Oh, and me and a Chinese guy. The picture of the old man and the duck was one of my favorite things at the Expo.

World Exposition 2010, (Part One)

Well...here we are again. It's been a very hectic three days at the World Exposition in Shanghai and I haven't had time to write, so here I am back in Nanjing, eating a coffee cup full of muesli and hot cocoa mix with a tea spoon, faced with the daunting task of summarizing the last three days of madness. I will do my best.

To start off, an introduction. I don't know why, but before I went to the Expo I lacked a clear understanding of what the Expo actually is. So I will describe it, in the fullest detail, for the benefit of my blog. The World Exposition is a collection of 'pavilions' (which in some cases means a whole building and in other cases only an area of a larger building) sponsored by nations of the world. The participating countries (not every country has a pavilion) use their pavilions to showcase their cultures, economies, famous people, technology, history, etc., basically whatever the country deems important enough to show the world. The pavilions are highly creative, fun places. Expo attendees stand in line outside each pavilion and are allowed to enter in groups of about fifty to one hundred, so that the pavilions don't get too crowded inside. They contain performances, works of art, videos, photos, precious artifacts and more. Each pavilion typically takes about ten to twenty minutes to visit in its entirety, though some can take much longer if you examine everything they contain. The stronger countries typically have larger, more exciting pavilions, and for this reason they are much more popular among the visitors. Waiting times for the most popular pavilions
(Italy, France, Germany, UK, Japan, Australia, Spain) regularly exceeds four hours. China's pavilion is, I believe, the only permanent structure in the massive Expo area. To visit it, visitors must first wait in line for a ticket and a time, then show up at their appointed time to wait in line again to enter. Needless to say, I did not visit the Chinese pavilion. Diego and I visited many of the smaller pavilions. I'm not sure how many we visited, but probably over thirty. Our wait time never exceeded thirty minutes, and there is plenty to see in the smaller countries. Many of the countries offer restaurants or bars somewhere on the outside of their pavilions where they serve the traditional food and drink of their country. There are also several pavilions structured around themes such as the green movement, healthy cities, etc., and some pavilions are constructed by big companies, though neither of these types of pavilions are the main attraction of the Expo. By this time you're probably a little bored of my exposition on the Exposition, so I'll tell you about what I did now.

Which was HAVE LOTS OF FUN!!! Sort of. We walked a lot, and my feet hurt a lot. After the first day I had blisters on both my heels. Now...I still have blisters on both my heels. But it was worth it. I saw so many countries, and learned so much, and now I just want to go to all these countries instead of working or doing much of anything else. Which is healthy, I think. But I'm very glad I went, especially because my grandma Rosemary gave me some money and told me to use it to go to the World Expo, and I put it to good use. I'll try, for both our sakes, not to write about every single detail of the trip, but just to give some of the more exciting single details. I think I'll not try to finish it all tonight either. Gotta sleep, you know.

The trip was organized by our company, AO Smith. They hired a bus to take us, bought the tickets and arranged a hotel for the other employees and us. All in all, about twenty-five people went. Diego and I knew about five of these people beforehand, and we got to know them and a few other people a lot better, which makes me happy. The bus trip from Nanjing to Shanghai took about four hours. There were billboards, houses, and factories the whole way, and the air never looked non-smoggy. Which made me kinda sad. As we got closer to Shanghai, the trip organizer came around with a clipboard and a list of names. We needed to sign for the tickets. When he got to us, he just pointed where to sign because it was all in Chinese characters. The guy behind us peeked over our shoulder and burst out laughing. The clipboard said 'Foreigner 1' and 'Foreigner 2' for Diego and me.

We were hungry when we arrived, and we were eager to have something familiar. Mexican food satisfied this craving for both of us, so we hurried off to the Mexico pavilion. It proved to be one of my favorite. There is a picture of it here somewhere (and if you click on it, it gets bigger). I just found it to be very creative. The pavilion was dug into the ground so that the roof formed a grassy slope where people could hang out in the shade cast by several metal kites in the air above. I just thought it made a

very nice area, and we spent some time here in the next couple days. We went into the Mexican restaurant and sat down, overjoyed to find a menu with familiar food on it. I ordered a fajita plate, Diego had a burrito, and we decided to split a platter of nachos. Not yet used to the local currency, we spent...a little more than we wanted, but it was soooooo worth it. The food was delicious and reminded both of us of home.


Leaving the Mexico pavilion, we wandered around in the area, finding Venezuela, Chile and Cuba nearby. In the Cuba pavilion, you could buy Cuban cigars. The cheapest were about 40 dollars, but it was still tempting. The first pavilion we entered was Venezuela. The line seemed to be moving, so we jumped to the end and waited for our turn. In hindsight, this was an optimistic thing to do. Since the line was moving, tons of people were trying to hurry and enter the pavilion, and most of them just jumped right in front of us since we were still outside the barricaded zone. Diego yelled at them and I brandished my elbows, but none of it seemed to make a difference. We had learned a bit of essential Espo information: Chinese people don't do lines. From this point on, Diego and I walked side by side, with broad chests and wide arms and blatantly stopped any people who tried to slip past us inside the barricades. This group was distastefully large.


Walking around the Expo was different from what we expected. We anticipated meeting a worldly crowd, composed of people from every corner of the globe. Instead, everywhere we looked, there were Chinese people. The first day was so Chinese that Diego and I would tell each other whenever either of us saw 'foreign' people, which in this case referred to anyone who didn't look Chinese. We typically went up to them and talked to them. We met people from many, many different places this way. We also met some very friendly Chinese people, though we weren't actively seeking them out with an air of urgent friendliness as we were the people of other nationalities.

We didn't have any real goals this first day, so we wandered from pavilion to pavilion looking for ones which had little to no line. There were not very many which fit into this category, which meant that we wandered a lot. We walked A LOT. We eventually ended up in the Asian part of the Expo, and we saw Vietnam, which was one of my favorite pavilions. The outside was composed of stained bamboo, and inside was very pleasant. We visited many smaller Asian countries before making our way over to North Korea. Angels graced the entrance to the pavilion. There was a rainbow on one wall, which soared mightily over a beautiful, plant-strewn gazebo. In the center of the room was a large fountain depicting several small cherubs. One held another in his arms while he released a white dove into the sky (see picture). Over several impressive nature photos hung a sign which read, "Paradise for People." At the gift shop in the corner, several booklets were for sale, written by the man himself, Kim Jong Il. They had titles like, "Let Us Create More Good Music, Dances and Films Congenial to the Sentiments of our People and the Aesthetic Sense of the Times" (see picture). It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

We passed through some Middle Eastern pavilions on our way back to dinner, which was included in our package deal. This was some package deal, by the way. We paid 520 RMB, or approximately 75 dollars, for a roundtrip ticket to Shanghai, three tickets to the Expo, two nights in a hotel and two dinners. The total cost should actually have come to about 2080 RMB, but someone at the company, most likely the man in charge, Wei Ding, decreed that we had only to pay for the Expo tickets and the booking fee. I must say, again, we have been treated with exceptional kindness. Anyway, we went to dinner at a busy Chinese place where they set dishes for you on a spinning platform in the center of the table. We ate in the traditional Chinese way, sharing the dishes between everyone at the table. The first day was a little rough because it was unfamiliar food and I was really tired, but I found some things I really liked, and the second day I really did like the food. We ate with all our coworkers and I could tell we were gonna be friends. Awwwwwwww. After dinner, Diego and I decided to try to go to a big pavilion, since we thought a lot of people would have left. We settled on Sweden; not a huge one, but pretty popular nonetheless. We waited for about forty minutes before getting inside. And it was AWESOME!! Before visiting the pavilion, I knew I wanted to visit Stockholm at some time, but now I want to move there posthaste and start a family and career. Maybe that's a little excessive, but the pavilion was so cool! It was all about beautiful Swedish design, and beautiful Swedish nature, and beautiful Swedish women, and how all three coexist in beautiful Swedish cities. It renewed my interest in design as a potential career path and I was completely rejuvenated when I left the pavilion.

By the time we left, it was about time to head back to the hotel. The Expo closes at 9 pm, so our group was meeting at nine at a location outside. We went back to the hotel and I called my friend Mark Cruz, from good ol' Klamath Falls. He's in Shanghai for another month, taking the last two classes to earn his degrees from Pepperdine. We met up eventually, and he, in his infinite wisdom, brought me to one of his favorite places in Shanghai: a massage parlor. A latenight one, no less. He said he and his friends frequent the place for its cheap foot massages. I must say, if I lived in Shanghai, I would probably have to go every day. It was amazing. We paid a little over ten dollars for foot massages which lasted well over an hour. It gave us a chance to catch up, and the Chinese ladies taught us a few words. I learned an important one when she started massaging a more tender area of my foot. Toma = Pain. Nevertheless, I felt amazing afterward and Mark took me to another one of his favorite places, a hole-in-the-wall food place where you pick out skewers for them to cook from a selection of meat, fish and vegetables. It was delicious, and we walked back to the Pepperdine compound, where Mark gave me the tour. Pepperdine owns houses in different parts of the world where students can study abroad. They have all basic amenities and their teachers come to the house. This helps to avoid many of the common issues of studying abroad; it's a very cool way to do things. Finally we two Klamath Fallsians said goodbye and I took a taxi back to my hotel. I avoided looking at the clock because it would have told me how little sleep I was about to get.

But I can't avoid looking at the clock right now, and I need to go to bed. This thing is quickly turning into a monster. There's so much to tell! I will continue, and hopefully finish, tomorrow.

I Gotta Pack

Diego and I are getting up at 4:50 am, China time. Lucky we're not from China, or this would be a very difficult task. For us it will a leisurely stroll out of bed around 2 pm. We're going to the World Expo! Woohoo!

Friday was a pretty good day. Breakfast. Love it. [See picture.] I turned in the project I have worked on for the past couple of days. It was received well, both of my bosses liked it, and they said they were impressed I was able to turn out such a professional-looking report in so short a time.

Today I built a bike frame in Solidworks to celebrate finishing my report. I had been trying to make one while at USC, but I failed. Today, I learned a new feature which made it much easier. Woohoo! Now I can design a fork, and tires, and a little Solidworks man, and make it animated, and have so much 3D modeling fun! If only I were joking. I'll probably do it, and I'll probably have fun. It's times like these which tell me I am indeed an engineer.


We stopped off at our favorite Chinese-Italian restaurant for dinner. I got a pizza for three dollars, followed by a bowl of rice and shrimp for two dollars and an Oreo milkshake for another three dollars. By now you must be thinking, three dollars for an Oreo milkshake! That's Silk Road robbery! (Like highway robbery, only in China.) I think it costs a lot to import the Oreo on top.

Diego and I went to the gym at Nanjing University tonight. On the way there we felt a tiny drizzle and Diego wanted to go back and grab an umbrella. I mocked him accordingly, and he opted instead to just choose a path covered by trees. On our way out of the gym, the rain had gotten slightly worse. And as we walked, it got A LOT worse. So that we were regularly stepping through puddles. We arrived back at the hotel soaked through. There was a large crowd of Chinese outside the hotel. They did not smile. And that made us smile.


Tonight we wanted to get three laundry bags for the next three days of laundry, so we wouldn't miss out on our allotted two pieces of laundry per day. Diego just got it cleared up, after about an hour of confusion. First there was a giggling young Chinese lady in our room, who summoned an older grumpy Chinese lady. They played their respective parts well. The younger lady giggled and the older lady grumbled in Chinese. Neither of them understood our predicament in English (even when we said it to them really loud like four times, geez), so Diego had to go down to the front desk and he got it all sorted.

We're going to Shanghai tomorrow! And I Gotta Pack!!!!! (This is like the part in lame movies or books, or blogs I guess, where the main character says the title of the show or book or blog post and everybody goes, 'Oh, I get it, that's the title,' but really they're just annoyed. I'm glad we could share this moment.)

Fourth Day of Work

A pattern is forming; not only in the titles of my last three blog posts (which skips the third day. The Chinese consider 3 unlucky. ...No that's not true). My days are also beginning to resemble each other in a way which only a monotonous 40-hour week can inspire.

Diego and I wake up a little after 6 am, China time. He wakes up a little before me to go in and use the bathroom before I take my shower. I get out of bed grumpily, because our beds are very comfortable. I do some stuff in the bathroom for awhile and get dressed. When I get out of the bathroom, it's usually around 6:32 am, China time. Breakfast starts at 6:30, so we head down to the 3rd floor and bid the waitresses 'Nihao' before taking our seats. This is the best part of the day, because breakfast is awesome. I've been having a plateful of fruit (a banana, pineapple, watermelon, an apple), a plateful of breaded goods (banana bread, wheat bread, muffins) with butter, maybe some cereal (Chinese Cocoa Pebbles, Chinese Cheerios, Chinese Rice Crispies, etc.), and a plate of sausage, scrambled eggs 'German-style Potatos,' as the placard reads. Two to three glasses of orange juice.


We finish eating by 6:55 am China time and head for the door. We walk to our bus stop, standing behind the mini road on the sidewalk where all the bikes and mopeds ride. Our bus arrives, and we struggle to cross the sea of bikes and mopeds before the bus leaves. The bus leaves. We are on the bus. We leave with the bus. We ride the bus to our place of work. Diego puts his head down and tries to imagine he is not on the bus, because he gets carsick as the driver swerves and jerks the steering wheel to avoid hitting other buses. I read a book.


We arrive at work. We get off the bus. We walk to our office, which is behind the main office. But enough of that, it's lunchtime.

Diego and I meet up and walk to the cafeteria, which is all the way on the other side of the factory. We take our time. When we arrive at the 'canteen,' we see prototypes of the three meals offered for the day. It is Chinese food. Real Chinese food. At least one is grossly unappealing. The other two usually offer things we've seen before, such as rice or vegetables. They also offer smatterings of fish or duck. I had some duck today. A bone splinter nearly broke my tooth. We enter the lunchroom and proceed to the line appropriated to our particular meal choice. On our way we are intercepted by a lunchroom worker who forces cans of Coke Zero into our hands. We are honored guests, so we receive Coke Zero. Neither Diego nor I drink soda, so the cans remain unopened. But we accept the kind offering.

We eat our lunch, sometimes with friends in the company. We have made friends with two ladies, Eva and Lily. They are very kind. But today we ate alone. We try most of our meal, but stay away from some things. Everything is covered thickly with oil, though the meals have more vegetables than a typical American meal. We finish our meal and sit for awhile. Eventually we pick up our trays and carry them to the cleaners on the way back to work.

We walk back around the building, taking our time again. Many people stare at us. We are two of perhaps six Western faces at the factory of about one thousand workers. We get stared at everywhere we go by curious Chinese people. We go back to our respective desks. I work for four more hours on the important work I have been given. At 4:23 pm, I put my computer away and gather up my things to go home. I go downstairs and meet Diego, and we walk around the building and board the number 3 bus which will take us back downtown where we live. Diego sits with his head in his hands again. I read again. When we arrive at our stop, we get off and begin our adventure. It is 5:30 pm and we have four and one half hours before bedtime. But we need dinner. Our homesick selves have eaten dinner for three of the past four nights at an 'Italian' restaurant with a picture menu. They serve just about everything, and some of it tastes just like normal. Today I had two scoops of ice cream followed by deep-fried bananas served with another scoop of ice cream, followed by meat lasagna. Diego ate chicken drumsticks, a plate of pasta and deep-fried shrimp. Our food cost 98 yuan: about 13 dollars. This is our only expense for the day.



After dinner, we went to a music store I wanted to visit and played with the instruments for awhile. I want to buy one, but the one I want is 400 yuan, or about 57 dollars. It's a Chinese clarinet, sort of. They also have beautiful bamboo Chinese flutes, but I've never succeeded in making sound issue from a flute. I may buy one for the chance to try.

We walked to another music store to compare prices and look at their instruments, then we walked home. Diego exercised and I came down to join him just in time to accompany him back to the room. We tried for the fourth time to find the sauna, but the massage place in the basement, called Hot Springs, has been giving us the runaround. It is a very weird place. I think it must be a rampant sex massage parlor.

Now it's bedtime again. I'll probably read some more. I'm reading a book about Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and now I really really want to travel there. Hopefully we can get a week off of work or something. This weekend we're going to the Shanghai expo. We are paying 500 yuan for a bus trip there and back, three-day tickets to the expo, two dinners and two nights in a fancy hotel. The expo tickets alone cost 400 yuan, so the company is giving us a great deal. There is no doubt they are treating us well. But I know with certainty from my partial week of work that I do not want to work at a desk. My eyes hurt from staring at my computer, and my back hurts because the chair is awful, and I feel like an old man when I get up. Not a spry old man either.

We're both excited to see the Shanghai expo this weekend. I'll be sure to tell you all about it. Grandma Rosemary said I had to see it with the hundred dollars she gave me, and I'll be doing it with money to spare. Woohoo!

Second Day of Work

I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Yesterday was real bad. I didn't want to go back to work. And not because it was hard. Because I felt like I was just in the way. Like I wasn't needed. Like I was imposing. I felt I was in a place I didn't belong, and I was just wasting everyone's time. The feeling was familiar. I had grappled with the same issues four fortnights ago, when I joined the USC football team....

It was a hot March evening, and I had to go to the bathroom. I and the other twenty-two potential walkons were told to show up at 5 pm, and we had been standing on the sidelines for over an hour, waiting for practice to end so we could take the field and prove our worth as D1 football players. Most of our time was spent puffing out our chests and checking each other out. 'Ya, I could take that guy,' was on everybody's mind as we each looked at our fellow walkons, and it was only true for half of us. Statistically.

Finally, the time came and we trotted onto the field. We ran down to the far end and did some quick drills to warm up our legs. Some of the guys were really getting into it, hoping to impress the coaches by getting SO WARMED UP! I took my time, going through the drills hard, but trying not to look like an idiot.

We finished warming up and the coach in charge told us all to line up on the endline. Specialty players (running backs and wide receivers) were up first; all other positions were second. We were running 110-yard sprints. The first group needed to make it in under 15 seconds; the second, under 17. And we started running.

I was in the second group, of course. Although I cannot pinpoint the exact position I would assume on a D1 football field, I can state with absolute certainty that it would be in the 'other positions' category. A broad category which contains positions as yet uncreated, for which the ideal candidate would be a tall, gawky engineer whose knees were in pain from the marathon he ran nine days ago. On second thought, maybe that is more of a specialty position. At any rate, I went with the slower group. And oh boy did I go. During the first sprint, I was near the end of my group. I'm not really fast. But as we kept running, I moved closer and closer to the lead. We ended up running ten of the sprints, and for the last three I finished either first or second, and I finished under 17 seconds every time.

The coaches gathered us up. We all thought we were going to go run 40-yard dashes, or catch some footballs, or at least sign some autographs in order to prove ourselves. But one of them just asked whether we could make it to a 7 pm meeting on the following day, and dismissed us, saying they would email those of us who made the team.

I was confused about the nature of the tryout, but I went home satisfied. I fulfilled my quixotic dream of trying out for a real football team, and I held my own. Hell, I thought with a chuckle, I might even make it. And with that frightening thought in my mind, I fell softly asleep....Actually, that's not how it happened. I'm getting carried away with the story telling. In reality, they emailed us at about 10 pm that night. I had been checking my email like a madman. I expected them to accept about three guys, five at the most. And I thought I might just be in that exclusive group. So when I saw the list of the fifteen recipients of the email, I was surprised, and even more confused. Maybe I hadn't made the team yet. Maybe the meeting was a consolation meeting for those of us who suck. Who knows?

I do, because I went to the meeting. I did indeed make the USC football team. What the hell? I never wanted to make the team. Whose idea was this? Anyway, the coaches told us what time to show up for practice each week, and gave us some forms and sent us on our way. Naturally, I had class during two of the three practices. I talked to the coach, who, surprisingly, did not offer to reschedule practice to fit around my classes. So I went home with a choice to make. After talking to my appointed athletic advisors, I chose to rearrange my classes and join the football team. Sure, I would be stretching myself pretty thin, but this was the USC football team! Given the chance to join, I had to at least try it.

So I went to practice the next day. I was nervous. All the walkons were. The players (which included me, for this brief time) showed up at 2:15 and met in an auditorium, where we talked about special teams, and the drills we would run that day during practice. After special teams, Coach Kiffin talked to us about the team in general. Then we split up into offense and defense. Being, obviously, a DIVISION ONE COLLEGE FOOTBALL LINEBACKER, I went with the defense. Next, we split into position meetings, so the linebacker coach Joe Barry talked just to us division one college football linebackers. After all these meetings, we went to pick up our gear for the team. They gave us literally everything we needed to practice and workout. Cleats, socks, underwear, shorts, a shirt, pants with pads, shoulder pads, a jersey and a helmet. IT WAS AWESOME.

I quickly went to put on all my stuff and rushed out onto the practice field. Adoring fans lined the way. No joke. I got into the practice field and milled around for awhile as the real players went over formations and defensive assignments. Then the team all gathered up and stretched together and did skips. After warming up, we moved right into the special teams game: Lions and Gazelles.

The first day was the only day I would participate in a special teams game. Granted, I was only on the team for three practices, but still. I watched for awhile to get the feel of the game. Basically it was a foot race with a little bit of agility thrown in at the end. Cool, I thought. I got it. I jumped in (or was thrown in, I can't remember which) against another white kid and readied myself. Because that's what you do when you're about to compete against a D1 athlete. You ready yourself.

The coach shouted go and we started. I turned and sprinted for the cones and watched in horror as my gazelle breezed past me as if I were standing still. I lost, painfully. The next time around, I was paired up with the same guy. His name is Jordan Cameron, I think he's a tight end. He's about my size, a little bit bigger. Way faster. This time he embarrassed me even worse, shoving me onto my butt at the end of the drill. It was part of the game, and he helped me up, but it was pretty bad. All the other guys were laughing and one of the other players told me I should probably just go and stand with the fans. (Yes, USC football practices have fans, and lots of them. Ridiculous.)

I spent one week on the team. I wasn't publicly embarrassed again, but this was only because I went to great lengths to avoid these situations. It wasn't the same game I played in high school. Not only were the players better, but I didn't know anybody. I wasn't part of the team. Add in the time I wasted during team meetings and in practice while I watched from the sidelines as the other players scrimmaged, and the resulting stresses on my classes and homework, and the bottom line was that I wasn't having fun.

So I quit. It was a tough decision, but it was the right one. When I told the coach, he didn't seem very surprised. He told me I could give my gear to the guys downstairs, and he gave me a firm handshake. I didn't give him any excuses, and he didn't ask for any. I just told him I was quitting, and I think he understood there were reasons enough. I turned in my stuff (they didn't let me keep anything!) and that was the end of my time on the football team.

Wait a minute, what was I talking about? Aren't I in China? Sorry, I guess I lost my train of thought. Back to the present. Today was much better. Granted, I spent four hours before lunch proofreading a company history booklet they gave me, convinced I could do a better job (and I can, and will), but after lunch, I asked for and was given some real live engineering work to do! One of the engineers gave me a part to model, and now I'm building it on the computer. I don't really understand how they made the part without a computer model though. It's possible they just gave me something to do to make me happy. But it worked, so I'm happy.

I spent over an hour downstairs in the gym, lifting weights with Diego and riding the bicycle and swimming. I think it did me a lot of good. We've been looking for a good place to do pullups, and today we experimented with placing the weight bar on a door-frame type place and doing pullups from the bar. The Chinese attendant in the gym didn't like this idea one bit and tried to explain to us why it wasn't safe. But we opted to show him it was safe by doing it anyway. I think it worked.

I want to thank everyone who reads this blog and has given me encouraging words over the past few days. I have great friends and a great family, and appreciate both immensely.

LOVE,
KEVIN

First Day of Work

I've figured out why the meat over here bothers me. It's because it doesn't take much imagination to figure out what part of the animal your meal is coming from. Whether its a funny bone, or some well-placed fat, or some feathers, or a beak, or horns, there are always some clues to help you grasp the fact that you're eating another flesh-and-blood animal.

Today was our first day of work. We caught a shuttle bus to the office outside of our hotel at 7:10 this morning which took us to the headquarters, which is located about 25 km away. We met our advisor and he explained a little about the company and its position in the Chinese market. He also asked us what we were interested in doing. There is a huge factory, 400,000 square feet, where they produce the water heaters all the way from basic sheet metal. We finished our tour by peeking into all the offices. At the call center, employees receive 4000 calls and make 5000 calls daily. He also showed us the engineering division where Diego and I will be helping out.

We still didn't have cell phones, and when one of our hosts asked us if we needed help with anything, we brought this up. She left for ten minutes and returned with two cell phones for us to use during our stay here. We were also given company laptops on which to do all our important work. The company is treating us very well. We get free lunch there every day also, which means we will have two meals provided every weekday here in Nanjing.

During the afternoon, Diego and I joined our respective engineering divisions. Neither of us had much to do this afternoon though. I think we'll need to be very proactive in finding work if we want to be useful to the company.

This blog's not very funny, I can tell. I'm sorry. I'm tired. Of China. No, not really. But China's tough. Got me on the ropes. I'm excited about the possibility of travel though. Our boss asked if we might want to take a little time off to travel. If it's possible, I would love to go to Tibet. I love big mountains, and I've read a lot about the area. It could be a little expensive, but I might not have another chance. So maybe I'll take a couple/few/eight weeks off and go to Tibet. More on this later.

Presidential Palace

Salvation, thy name is breakfast. Diego and I were immensely relieved this morning on discovering that the hotel breakfast which USC has arranged for us every morning is quite to our liking. It is huge, and offers everything two foreigners could ask for. I mean, they even had banana bread. And considering that hardly any breakfast places in America will even serve you banana bread, you should have some idea what this place is like. It is buffet-style. We were curious how much we would have to pay for lunch and dinner at this restaurant: 120 and 180 yuan, respectively, or roughly 18 and 26 dollars. That's a lot of money, especially over here. But we get breakfast for free, so we'll just load our pockets with pork fried rice and go on our merry way.

I'm pretty tired. But I want to share some pictures from the Presidential Palace, which we toured today with our guides, Cheryl and Vicky. (Those aren't their real names. We can't pronounce their real names.) Nanjing is famous for two things, as I've ascertained: most notably, as the site of the worst aggression during the Japanese occupation of the Second World War, and secondly, as the birthplace of capitalism in China. Born in 1912, capitalism grew happily into its mid-thirties before being put to bed by Mao Tse-tung in 1949. Nanjing was the capital of China until that point, when Mao moved the capital to Beijing. Anyway, the Presidential Palace was the main government place when Nanjing was the cat's pajamas in China. No dogs allowed. Even cute cartoon dogs.

The palace was nice. Still very few foreigners though. It seems strange to see a Chinese tourist location filled with Chinese people, though I can't figure out why. It's their country. And it's huge, with tons of people. At any rate, the Presidential Palace contained one Westerner, other than Diego and myself, today.

There were ladies in rubber gloves rubbing insecticide on individual clovers in the grass. I found it a bit strange, and so did the Chinese tourists.


We got some more Chinese food after going to the Presidential Palace. All four of us shared some soup, dumplings, chicken, pork, vegetables and rice, and most of it was very delicious. I suppose I can survive here after all. We paid under 20 dollars for everything, and had plenty of food left over.

On our way back to the hotel, I talked to Cheryl and tried to learn some more Chinese. She taught me yes (shida, pronounced like a bad word, but with da at the end), no (boo) and how much is it (duosho qian. qian sounds kinda like tsien. Cheryl kept telling me to use my nose to say it, which confused me until we figured out she meant teeth.) Coupled with some basic things USC taught us before we left, I...still have absolutely no idea how to speak Chinese.

Bedtime. Work tomorrow.