James Taylor in China

I have to note that I'm listening to James Taylor (a singer from NC who sings "Carolina on My Mind") in the wonderful cafe here in Xiamen, and I must say it's kind of surreal.

Last Friday Sandra, another girl from UNC, and I went to an orphanage in China to volunteer. We played with children aged 1-2 for about an hour and a half. That was all they wanted/needed us to do: play with the children, so it was very fun. The children were adorable, and they were young enough that they didn't mind (or understand) my very poor attempts to speak Chinese to them. I feel privileged that they let us help out.

Yesterday we visited Xiamen's Coca-Cola factory. The Chinese translation of Coca-Cola is a transliteration, but it also has a great meaning: roughly: delicious happiness. Very clever naming! The bottling machines were incredibly cool, and they gave us free Cokes at the end.

I apologize for the short entry. I haven't uploaded my pictures to my computer yet. My parents are coming to visit me next week, and I'm sure I will have lots of pictures after that.

Da Jia Hao

Da jia hao! (Hello everyone!) I'm currently at an adorable little cafe (with wireless internet!) that could be sitting in Chapel Hill. It's so lovely - they even have really good coffee, which is a rarity in China.

Life is going well. My classes aren't too bad, but they do require daily studying and homework. I had my first test on Friday, and it went very well except for the listening comprehension. It's a definite weak point for me.

China is quickly turning me into an extreme cheapskate. The other day we decided to go to the restaurant downstairs in our dorm instead of the dining hall, and I remember being a bit put out because that meant lunch would cost me 10 yuan instead of 5. (I recently bought a very expensive dictionary, whether you count it in yuan or dollars, so I’m trying not to spend too much money on food.) Of course, once I reminded myself that this meant the price of lunch was increasing by about US$.70, I was fine. (It’s about 7 yuan to 1 US dollar.) Now, not that 5 RMB is the price of most meals in China, but that fact that I can get lunch for about 70 American cents points means I’m going to have a hard time buying food in the US.

We went to a Pizza Hut for dinner, and at 50 yuan per person, it was one of the most expensive meals I’ve had here. (roughly US$7.00) The prices were so “expensive” because it was actually a nice sit down restaurant – appetizers and everything. It occupied the entire top floor of a building downtown (21^st floor, perhaps,) so it boasted an impressive view of the city.

I’m not the only cheap person in China though. They had a salad bar that costs 28 RMB, which is a lot for China, although it’s also the only place I’ve yet seen that offers salads. A woman there was really getting her money’s worth out of it though! She was starting to stack up pieces of watermelon when we ordered, and by the time we got our food, she was still there, with layers of watermelon cubes and cucumber slices about 9 inches high! It was incredible. One of the girls wanted a picture, so she and a couple guys went over, and at first they tried to take it without her noticing, but then they asked if we could take a picture, and she was fine with it. She even posed with her tower for them. I don't have the picture, otherwise I'd post it.

There is a large Buddhist temple just off campus, and they have gardens there as well. These lily pads are probably a couple feet in diameter.


This is also from the temple complex. I actually haven't been to the temple proper, as it started to rain while we were exploring, so we decided to come back another day.



I think this is all the program participants. I think this is from the day we visited an old military fort, but my camera ran out of batteries. At some point I hope to get someone's else's pictures.

KFC and McDonald's are incredibly popular here. There are some slight menu variations, for example McDonald's serves taro pie instead of apple, and you can buy egg custards at KFC. The Chicken McNuggets taste the same though!

Japan

I thought I would post about Japan, before I spend too long in China and forget about my brief overnight in Narita. Our group flight out of Raleigh Durham took us on through Tokya/Narita for one night before we flew to Xiamen. We flew via All Nippon, which was the best airline I've taken yet. They served quite decent meals, and Haagen-Daas ice cream for dessert! It was lovely - as were the stewardesses, actually. Apparently they have very strict appearance standards for the flight attendants - basically, they have to be tall, thin and pretty. Kind of appalling actually, but they were all very friendly.

Once we got to Tokyo/Narita airport, we discovered that it would take far too long to get into downtown Tokya for us to go there, so instead we explored the suburb that the airport is in - Narita. It was very nice and quiet. We found a huge temple complex with beautiful gardens, and a shopping mall that was eerily similar to SouthPoint or Carolina Place.

I've managed to post a few pictures, so enjoy!

This is me at the temple complex. We came straight from our flight from Raleigh Durham, via Chicago, so we were all pretty tired and rumpled.


That's a bamboo forest - there were even bigger ones that we walked through on our way to the temple. The hazy look in the pictures is not some mysterious Asian mist, but the sweltering humidity that occasionally fogged up my lens.


More at the temple complex. We were the only ones there!


A funny store name at the mall. I think it was just a regular clothing store, that happened to be called Drug Store's. That of course is only the first of many funny English translations I've seen since coming to Asia.


I apologize if this grosses out or offends anyone, but I have posted a picture of a "squatty potty" (a squatting toilet.) They're the main form of toilet facility in Asia, and I can't say I am too keen on the concept. As you might imagine, they're often unclean and smelly. Not to mention awkward to use. If you plan on traveling to Asia, consider yourself warned!


And finally, the temple that we saw. I unfortunately have no idea what it's called, since I can't read Japanese. It was quite impressive though.

Ni Hao!

Greetings from China! My access to the internet since I've gotten here has been appallingly limited, so do not expect frequent updates, though I will try my best.

I also do not foresee nearly as many pictures as my Australian posts, as the connection is much slower, and uploading pictures could take awhile. I'm just guessing at this point though, as the real reason for no pictures in this blog is that I have not loaded any of them onto my computer yet.

Aside from terrible internet, my university also has teeny tiny dorm rooms (I don't even have a desk in my room,) and rock hard beds. Food here is all covered in heavy sauce, oil or both, and water needs to be boiled before it is potable. Of course, all of these minor complaints are made up for by the beautiful campus, the ocean view from my room, the fantastic other participants in my program, and the exoticism of it all.

My Chinese is, as I thought it would be, completely inadequate for even daily funtioning. I needed help from one of the fluent participants to buy a hair dryer, and my ability to order meals is limited to "I want a chicken dish, not spicy." I am optimistic though that I will improve immeasurably. My Chinese class is very intense, and if nothing else completing three semesters worth of Chinese in one will certainly make for a big improvement in my skills.

Normally I would welcome comments, but I'm not sure I will be able to view them. Blogs seem to be censored here, and while I can post entries, I cannot even view my own blog (so far as I can tell right now anyway. The blogging website is in Chinese characters here, so I could be doing something wrong.) In short, email me!

Rapporteur's Report

This is my final blog about Canberra. I have a few final photos to share, along with further details of my internship.

Final thoughts about my internship:

I think I have neglected to write enough about my internship, especially considering it’s the whole reason I came to Australia, not to mention I’ve been working there full time since I got here.

I’ve been interning at the Australian Institute of International Affairs (a lot to say when I answer the telephone!) Most people immediately ask: What does the AIIA do?

Good question. The stated goal of the AIIA is to “increase awareness of international affairs in Australia.” They do all sorts of things to achieve this goal. They publish an academic journal (the Australian Journal of International Afffairs) and a book series chronicling Australia’s foreign policy over 5 year periods, organize conferences such as the National President’s Forum I attended in Brisbane, hold lectures and other events for their members, and lots more.

But what do I do? Like the Institute, all sorts of things! I open and sort the mail, answer the telephone, and other administrative (intern-y) tasks. I also get to do really important projects, like copy-editing and writing the abstracts and keywords for a special issue of the International Journal of Global Energy Issues, drafting the Strategy Day papers, etc.

My last project was planning a new publication for the AIIA – the Emerging Scholars series. The National Office hosts many interns who are writing papers for academic credit, like me. Now these papers will be published! This is one of my favorite projects, as I think it’s a great development, and I have control over every aspect of the series. Not to mention, there’s also a good chance that my paper will be published by the series (once it’s finished, of course.)

Here are Martha and I. We were dressed to go out for a function at the US Embassy. I am going to miss Martha; we had a lot of fun together. My last afternoon at work we used GoogleEarth to find maps of our hometowns. Charlotte is not in 3D yet, but Groningen, Holland was (it was lovely!) She also showed me where she lived during her gap year in London, and true to form, as we took a virtual stroll down the streets, we got lost!

I’m not sure how I let this happen, but I didn’t get a picture of myself with my host family until the night before I left. (Please pardon the fact that I am in my pajamas.) They were so wonderful, and I really hope (and believe) that the feeling was mutual. I look forward to going back to visit. Perhaps in the summer next time…

This blog post had a relatively large number of pictures that included me. The picture above explains why: this is what I looked like every day commuting to work, and it’s not a pretty picture. The brown boots with the black “tracky-daks” (track pants) are not as obvious in the picture as they are in real life, but trust me, it was not pretty. I was warm though, and that’s about all I cared about.

Next post: Sydney!

Australian Cuisine

In reality, Australian food is very similar to American food, albeit with a more British influence. Morning Tea and Afternoon Tea are official meals, which I love. I have fallen in love with scones with jam and cream. Scones here are a bit similar to a Southern biscuit, but without the heavy salt and grease.

Crumpets, another "tea" food, are also fabulous. They're like a cross between pancakes and English muffins - extremely good toasted with butter and peanut butter.

Bangers and mash, a very British dish, is also a popular Australian dinner. (It's sausages and mashed potatoes.) Even more Australian, I think, though is a lamb barbecue or roast. It would be roughly analogous to an American Sunday pot roast - a classic.

Below is one of my favorite Australian foods - the Lamington. It's sponge cake dipped in chocolate and coconut. It's so fantastic!

Sometime they have cream in the middle: yum-o! (As an Aussie would say.)


Those are meat pies. Pies in Australia, much like in the UK, are generally savory. The only sweet pie they really eat is apple pie.


The quintessential Australian product: Vegemite. It's concentrated yeast extract, and it tastes about how you might expect concentrated yeast extract to taste. I can't say that I enjoyed it very much, unfortunately. It's a bit of an acquired taste, I think. Australians enjoy Vegemite sandwiches, and it functions much like peanut butter in the US.


I am going to miss these. Tim Tams are fantastic - they're a bit like chocolate covered oreos, so as you can imagine, they're wickedly delicious.


I know this isn't Australian, but I had to post proof of Krispy Kreme's transpacific move. As far as I knew, Krispy Kreme was just now making it in to the northern part of the US, so I was floored when I heard they have it here. It's extremely popular, needless to say.

The only food I have heard of that is not available in Australia is the graham cracker, which means they don't make s'mores! It's a tragedy, really. Roasting marshmallows just isn't the same.

Many foods are the same but are called different things. For example, raisins are called sultanas and bell peppers are called capiscums. Lots of brand names are different as well - Rice Krispies become Rice Bubbles, etc. And people might look at you funny if you ask for a Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich, as Jelly is Jello here. (You'd have to ask for Peanut Butter & Jam.)

Adventure in Embassyland

Martha (pronounced Marta) and I decided to go to an Egyptian National Day reception at the Egyptian Embassy. The AIIA gets invited to lots of different events, lectures, and receptions, and it’s considered one of the perks of the internship to be able to go to them.

We took the bus as close as we could get, and then we had to walk the rest of the way. We’ve been on outings before, notably to a couple of lectures at Parliament House, and we should have known that if we made wrong turns with a map (as we did walking home from Parliament House) that we shouldn’t go anywhere without a map. Unfortunately, we forgot!

Luckily it was a beautiful, sunny day, probably the warmest it’s been since I’ve been to Canberra (it got up to 15 degrees Celsius!) We walked past lots of embassies, which was interesting. They are all in the same suburb of Canberra. After realizing we were not heading the right place, we ended up at the Lodge, the Prime Minister’s residence (the Aussie equivalent to the White House.) There was a number on our invitation, and we thought the Lodge would be a good landmark to start from to get directions. While I was calling the Egyptian Embassy though, a security guard from the Lodge came out, and while I was afraid we were going to be told off for loitering, he was very friendly, and when he heard we were lost he promptly disappeared back inside to get a map to show us the route.

He gave very good directions, and we ended up at the Embassy only about 40 minutes late. On our way, we also saw the American Embassy. Martha saw it first, pointing ahead, “I think that’s the American Embassy.” I looked, and replied, “Oh, the one with all the cars?”

Yes, it was the one with all the cars.

It was an absolute compound actually! Most embassies are just one building, but the US Embassy had enormous grounds with multiple buildings, all in red brick colonial style (they would have been at home on the Chapel Hill campus.)

The reception itself was fine, if a bit dull. Martha and I were mostly just curious about as it would be like and hoping for a free lunch. We didn’t get lunch, but we did get to try lots of little bites of Egyptian food. A lovely little pastry that tasted like baklava, falafel, and mahshi - grapevine leaves stuffed with a rice mixture.

Next week we’re going to an event at the US Embassy. Perhaps we’ll remember to bring a map this time!

Below are a few of the embassies that we saw. I would put up a picture of the Lodge, but it was surrounded by a wall, so we didn't get to see what it looks like.

The Turkish Embassy

This is the French Embassy; I was surprised by how unattractive it was. I believe Martha described it as an "ugly bunker." Maybe they were going for a bastille theme. ;)

Here is the Indonesian Embassy, which I enjoyed seeing, as I met the Indonesian ambassador at the conference in Brisbane.

Here is the American Embassy. This picture doesn't nearly capture the scope of it. There were lots of parking lots out front, with a ton of buildings surrounded by the fence.