The blue houses & co.

There are many blue small houses all around the campus, and i was wondering what they were for. So now i know, they put all the waste from the campus in there. It is maybe 2m^3 full with this unsorted waste (most organic), that someone has, after the house is full, to drag out. Not such a pleasant work. And after they pile it on the small truck which is already
overloaded, there is some remaining trash all around the house and on the walking way. Many insects and well, bit smelly! Hum, not the best way to deal with this problem.
So by the way, the Waste Problem: you might know that it is very common to have a quite big amount of waste pickers and scavengers in developing countries. So for me it is very common
to see some in Brazil (mostly collecting Aluminum cans), or even in Germany (collecting glass or other bottles which they just change for money in the supermarkets machines) sometimes.
But this poor people here, i was reading there should be millions of them. And i see many around. The other day, shopping, someone distributing advertisements here, and 10m ahead, someone collecting them back from the people.
On the town nearby, i think the waste collection does not work that efficiently, and going for dinner somewhen, on the side road of a very busy street/pedestrian way, there it was the waste bin, and the many opened plastic bags of waste around. They were opened because a very old lady, with bare hands, was searching for some paper, metal or plastic (and the thing is, first there is not so much left, since people already sell what is valuable, and there is so much organic, it litters, it stinks....).
I am always deeply sad to see these things, but here i guess nobody seems to care about it. So asked when the waste was going to be collected/sweeped, no one knew.
Anyway, i am still sorting my waste, even though i really don't have so much, some plastic wrapping and tee bags and a few other organic. (and hair and dust!)

The main point here which would solve some problems (or at least contribute to it) is source separation. It should not be so difficult to teach people that, is it? It is also necessary to think about solutions including the waste pickers and scavengers, they depend on the waste of other people, this is sad, but it is the reality.

days passing by....

Tuesday

Early in the lab, nothing different: still no internet (even thou Mr. Luo is trying hard! somehow they say it doesn't work on my computer because of the operational system?!? huh? i am
not even using Linux, and besides that, i worked before in the other room just with another cable! well, it would be nice if they had wireless, and it would be nice to have this problem solved
soon. Lunch with Miss Yuan Hongshu. Still need to upload money on the student card, so that i don't have to take another line to buy the receipt.
Snap and lab again. Today finally met the girl Wu Xiang (all the previous me, we had dinner - one of my favorite food until now, huoguo. It is quite difficult to understand her English, but i can tell, she can spell words really fast. Walking around the campus, and observing the moon eclipse. Relaxing at night again with some movie: The 13th. floor. Simulation of the simulation!

Monday

What i thought it would be a real productive working day (i was at 7.30 at the Lab), turned out to be a shopping day, (or walking day). The girls said that there would be
some sold out in the biggest walking/shopping street in Sy, and we should go there. Changed buses once, and almost two hour later, there we were. Big and crowded, what could i expect. i was not really in the mood for shopping. Just bought some supplies and one new bag where i can also carry my laptop. Got at home so tired, dinner, shower, some time in the lab, bed.

Sunday

So, if yesterday there was no sightseeing because it was too warm, today´s reason was the rain/fog. Hum, maybe i complained to much. Anyway didn't move my ass from the sit, besides for going out to eat something. Dont have to say what i did all the time: reading. God, so much information, my head is blowing up......
When i thought that i could start reading an interesting master thesis about CDM policy and implementation in China (from Lei Zeng), the other girls (Hailian´s classmates) showed up, inviting me to go to their dormitory. So kind, the prepared a table of sweets and snacks, and we chatted a bit, or i was pretty much the only one talking, need to think about some more interesting conversation topics.... They want to improve their English, and are not so skilful in dialogging, and sometimes i am not sure if they understand what i talk about at all. Anyway, lovely girls, Yuan Hongshu, Tian Xuehui and Li Guirong. Too late and tired, just decided to watch Ladies in Lavender. (With Daniel Bühl one of my favorite German actor)

Saturday

So funny to wake up alone before the alarm rings, and to manage to get up with no putting offs. Did some laundry and cleaned the room. Met the folks and we visited the Liaoning Universtiy - across the big street. Well, i am very impressed, it is huge, and it looks much noble than
the Hang Kong University. It was so hot over here, that we every now and again stopped by some shadow and took a rest. Walked for more than one hour. Then, some time in the lab, lunch, lab again.
At night, more reading at home, and relaxing with The day after tomorrow (and beer/chips, the junk combination!). All you need for a happy Saturday, even though it would be nice if the girls weren't so loud all the time. :-P
By the way, about the movie, i thought it was a shame i had never seen "THE MOVIE" about the effects of climate change, since i am so interested about this topic. Well, now i realized i wasn't missing so much of a thing!

only now....

i discovered this really interesting "Daily guide to helping the Planet" -
www.planetark.org
Some news about China:
Climate, Biofuel New Challenge to Poverty Alleviation
China Starts Building First Northern Nuclear Plant
Environment Vs Growth Debate Heats Up in China

Student's life

Who said that student's life should be good?!?! A bit of a hard time is always ok, but i am happy i had to undergo other circumstances than the ones here. Students have to have a lot of discipline. And not so much of freedom.
The small dormitories are for 2 or 4 girls. (i am lucky i am alone). The guys are never allowed to come in.There is place only for bed, table and a small wardrobe. Two collective washrooms for a entire floor (something of 60 rooms), with 6 toiletts each (and always at least 1 or 2 of them is broken), and 2 big washing basins, 8 water taps at all, where you are supposed to do everything: laudry, washing dishes (thou you are not supposed to cook - which means boiling some noodles - everybody does it!), washing hair, "shower".
There one or two washings maschines in these rooms, but they are not working, because it is vacation! (i still have to figure out how to use them!)
The electricity of the dormitory is turned off at 11pm (lucky me again, until now this not apply to me!), the main door of the dormitory building is closed at 10.30pm.
Hot water has to be collected (that's why the big thermic bottles..) from a room nearby, and this can be done only in some specific time during the day (from 11 to 12 if i remember well, since i never do this). And the shower room is only open from 12 to 18.
Good things: there are supermarkets, beverage stores and hairdressers inside the campus.

Week II - part II

Friday (24.08), decided to stay at home, doing guess what? Reading. Very interesting papers, but some with quite a strange english. Strange was also the fact that someone called on my cell phone, and I couldn't, obviously,understand him, so there came messages, which i also could not read! After i wrote that i can only understand english, then the questions came: my name, how old, what i do, where i am from. So first i asked where did he get my number, and i answered some of the questions. Somehow maybe he lost the interest, and didn't call or wrote anymore, which is pretty much ok for me. It is nice that people want to make friendship, but i don't feel confortable about so much encroaching......
In the evening went with Mr. Luo and Miss Zhang for dinner, had delicious dumplings, and this special chinese salad. When we got out of the restaurant, i could observe other similarity to Brazil: the party is outside! Tables on the walksides, people talking loud and drinking beer, and eating. Eating eating eating, this is something really people do here. (Another observation is that they discuss a lot when they are ordering the food, maybe like, asking how it is prepared, or if everything is really everything fresh, i don't know...). After that i managed to convince the students to come to this pub with me (was it warm beer, louzy food, bad movies!).We were the only guests, it is not really typical for people here. Well, and the prices are also more closer to the American/European standard. Ah, Closer was the name of the movie we could choose to watch! Special service. Liked the movie, made me think a lot. And, after some beers and still full (chi bao le!) from dinner, just gave up going back to the lab. While reading in bed i felt asleep with the book in my face!
Wednesday and Thursday (22-23.08), some routine is always good. Reading a lot, doing some literature research, finishing writing the report about the scientific research from last semester.
Thuersday, had dinner in the other restaurant of the campus. Also went "outside" (this means cross the big road) to copy some articles and parts of books. Had the courage to eat something from these food sellers on the street. Very good actually, made of eggs, looks like a "hamburger", and then, while preparing to cross the road (i always hate that), big surprise: almost stepped at huge rat. So again, always watch your step here! Evening in the lab doing this and thats.
Wednesday, finally got to walk a bigger round in the campus. Big and still many things being constructed. One interesting thing: you don't see so many cars, in fact there are not so many parking places as well. There are at least 15 bike-parking places, and there are maybe 1000 bikes all around. There is also a relatively big stadium, and many many playgrounds. If you ask if people is playing ping-pong, no, they are playing basketball. They seem to like it a lot here.

Week II - part I

Tuesday (21.08) evening. After a long day in front of the computer, here i am again, not feeling keen to continue working right now, need some break, and while i drink some beer and listen to music, to try relax a bit, i can dedicate myself to these memories a bit....So, just had some "hot" noodles at the restaurant. Somehow i am not so lucky with the dinner "upstairs". It works like this, in the first floor there is always rice or steamedslu bread with many different dishes, with meat, tofu or only vegetables. Upstairs they have noodles and some fried rice. It is definitely better to eat downstairs, but the point is, at 6 there is sometimes no food anymore. Normally the students go to the many small restaurants around, and it is not so much more expensive, maybe we should that as well. But it is necessary to plan some more time, since you have to walk some more meters. (i wanna a bike.....)

Today was a special day, wanna know why? I realized i was wrong about the shower. I tought there was no such a thing here, but, indeed, there is. It was just not working, because it is vacation now. (like many other things, there is no reason to keep things running for the few remaining students, they should find some other solution!). So, back to the shower, it is a HUGE shower room, like those we see in the movies where the prisioners shower all together, and then something happens...there is place for probably 100 girls. And it is not so far away from the dormitory. Marks are bought with some guy who looks like a gangster, one costs 3 and 10 for 25 RMBs. I would never do this, but it is pretty easy to fake them! Bad news are, they shower only work from 12 to 16, day yes day no. Well, one can not have everything! But the water is warm. What else...

So, yesterday (Monday 20.08), since there was no electricity in the laboratory from 9 to 16 (it is also quite normal, sometimes they let you know it, sometimes not) me and Hailian decided to do some SSS (sports, shopping, sightseeing!). We went to the Beiling Park, and to get there, interesting walking under the bridges.

The park is amazing. So many people, mostly the elderly and some handicapped, doing exercises. Also people sleeping in some shadow, biking or doing tai chi chuan ('Supreme Ultimate Force') or playing this tipical chinese instrument (i wish i knew the name).

This is the biggest park around, and here i think most people can really forget that outside the city is big, loud and sort of polluted. It is a world for itself, with many specialthings, not easy to describe, and not possible to see all them in 3 hours.

Walked and walked and walked, and we haven"t been everywhere. In the middle of the park is the Qhing Zhao Tomb, Unesco patrimony. Fried noodles for lunch in on of these very tiny restaurants where you have to go through the kitchen. I have to get used to the fact that when i ask for water, i get warm water.

After some rest, visited the Hang-kong University old campus. Well, it is old, but it has something. I liked it a lot, with the many trees and other green areas, the uncountable round tables everywhere, where the students probably could play cards or eat during the breaks or in the evening. There are even some of them under the grape trees. The buidings are much more closer to each other, and you have everything you need in the blocks around. In fact, it would be much better to be living there, speacially because of the park, which is on the other side of the street.

By the way, streets. There are plenty of big avenues, with 6 railways, and it is everytime an adventure to cross them. And the shopping was afterall reduced to visit some 2RMBs store. Yes, this stores i also know from Brazil, where you can buy 200 different products, that you probably dont need, for only 2 RMBs. I tried to be moderate and bought only 5 things. One of them was a set with these magic metal puzzles......Almost melting and tired from the day, we took the afternoon off. I did some literature research/reading in some books/proceedings from Hailian while we cooked soup at her dorm.

In the evening i tried to learn some Chinese. I figured out i really need to be more consequent in studing it. "Fleissarbeit". Learn, write, repeat, repeat. The four tones are just SO IMPORTANT. I also need to get used to the word order in the phrases. It is quite simple and interesing. The question pronoum always come at the end, you dont say what do you like, you say _you like what_?I am very glad that the grammar is not difficult at all, i just need to understand better how it works with the "particles".

Sunday (19.08) after my last post, we went for dinner nearby, something different. Huoguo- chaffy dishes. Delicious, i ate a way to much. Observations from restaurants until now: people is loud. And they drink a lot of beer. It is nice to see that it works just like everywhere, in one table the "women", end of 30ies, maybe single, having fun. In the other table the men, maybe collegues from work, all with a cigarret in the hand, and don't even start with beer, but with these strong wine. In the other table 2 couples, the guys maybe talking about cars, the girs about their dress. People is people everywhere! :-) (dughhh!)

Had a funny "accident" when going back to the lab. Since it rained some days ago, and the road is not asphaltiert, and what i tought it was dry, showed up not to be. Famous Feet in the mud. At least i was wearing my flipflops, and the other students could laugh a bit. Digestion while watching Bourne Ultimatum. Good programm for a hot sunday evening.

Continues later!

PS. Hey, i did wash my feet just right after the accident!

China's GHG Emission

There is this website called science and development network - www.scidev.net, and they have a special Chinese regional gateway, where it is possible to find all kinds of "news, views and information about science, technology and the developing world".
The bad news: China's total GHG emission have, according to Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, already surpassed the USA's one.
So the question is, will this situation change with the introduction/transfer of new technology? Some points here.

-> I have been reading a lot, need some time to digest all the information. And as soon as Prof. Raninger is back i should discuss with him about the structure of the work.......
More about daily life soon. :D

Second Weekend!

Thursday evening 16-08-07

-War-

I have tried everything, i burned this smelly sfuff, i fixed the door net, i was careful not to open the window without the net, i fighted them everyday and night, and for sleeping, i covered myself until the hair,and they were always there. Bastards! They even bite me on the nose! urghhhhhhhhhhh....................

So today i came earlier than usual, cause I wanted to finally work on the 2 pending works for Weimar. I sit on my table, make a coffee, prepare everything, and when i look up to the ceiling, i see them, the enemy! I don't know where they come from, but there are least 30 of them, some are quite big! I declared war! If someone could see me, would probably thing that i am completely crazy.I climbed the window and the bed to kill them, i was throwing things
against the walls, and finally, i guess i got them all. Now i have all these dozens spots of
blood and dead mosquitoes sticked on the walls. My goblet! Two hours of my precious time later, i am tired and irritated. I was possessed about killing all them, and i will kill them again tomorrow. But there must be an easier way.Hum, it also be good if stops raining. :-(

Maybe i should just stop complaining and go sleep. Tomorrow is brand new day, perfect to start being more effective with my tasks!

Friday 17-08-07

Reading:

Books:

- Solid Waste Management for Economically Developing Countries, by L. Dias et.al

- Municipal Solid Waste Management, by C. Ludwig et.al

- Integrated Solid Waste Management, Tchobonoglous et. al (i am planning to buy this one here!)

News on the web:
-Chinese Environmental NGOs Called on to Play a Bigger Role

-SEPA Calls for More Public Involvement

-China Sets Renewable Energy Target

- Carbon Challenge

And literature research
@ scopus/science direct and scholar.google.
Found some interesting peer-rewied articles, just need to get to them!!!!!

Saturday, 18-08-07

Non-scientific reading.

In the Frankfurt airport there were not so many good options for English books. Among Danielle Steel, Tom Clancy and Dan Brown, i chose Paulo Coelho, The Zhair. Shame on me?!?! It took me two evenings to read it, and I am glad i had finished. Now i can buy some of the English books sold in the bookstores here, Hesse, Kafka, Hemingway. And for 1/5 of the price.

Lunch and walking around the town near the University Campus (Zheng Liang Cun). Checked prices for sending packets to Germany. Discovered an interesting Pub - American Pie - Warm beer, cold food, lousy movies, in this town, which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Should go there someday, not because of food or beer, but the movies they show for free everyday at 7pm.
Ordered new glasses, since i didn't bring mine, and i did start to have some headache because of so much reading. A perfect service, very simple store, but the offer you some fruits, then they measure your diopter (thanks God it was the correct one), and they say they call some hours later. In fact, they come to your place to deliver the product! And it was also possible to handle a bit, from 190 to 150 RMBs. Good good deal.

Then we wanted to download some movies from the internet, but there was no electricity at the lab. This fact is quite very common. It is just bad, e.g, for the experiments, since the online measurements and the stirring stop.

Again some more walking around, had my hair washed and cut, very interesting experience. The drying was not so effective, and my hair had more volume than before. They like this here, and i would die to have the waveless Chinese hair. I also noticed that most of the hairdresser here are men, not women as i am used to.

Bought some more small things, basically "plastic stuff" (chopsticks, plates, cups, and so on). Went to KFC and had coffee. Hum, not good at all, but it was also nice to observe that people, even thou they have so many nice restaurants around they go to this, that is per se "the" fast food chain in China, even stronger than Mc Donalds. Like people say, taste you can't discuss, you lament.

Sunday, 19-08-07

Prof. Raninger was planing to go to a beach down to the south, and would call me, but i guess he probably gave up. Slept until late, but could not stand the "workers" laud noise outside anymore. So, on friday, when i open the door, there is a role in front of it, i still don't what they had to fix, but it was in almost the entire first floor. They worked yesterday and today, and thou everything is still a mess on the corridors, it is finished. I have heard a very
interesting phrase: In China, everyday is a working day. There is no such a thing as weekend, not for most of the working people. Amazing. The country that never stops!

So, since today is Valentines day in China, e got my husband some presents:

He is a geologist, and likes stones! I thought he might like these ones, still don't know how to take them! :)

Here you can read some interesting story about the origin of this Double Seventh Festival.

This and thats again.....

tuesday, 14-08-07
Busy day, meeting with Prof. Raninger and some definitions of theproject tasks. Mainly i will work on 4 different topics (more about that later), which makes the work really interesting and not boring at all!I already have 100Mb in collected literature and other readings. If you think it is not much, wrong, it is a lot. I read 2 papers today, and i need to be getting faster!Problems still not solved: internet connection in my office and money withdrawning from the credit card. [:(]

Pleasant dinner in the evening with collegues. Really nice and traditional restaurant downtown.(Forgot the name!). Had these delicious dumplings, also some lamb, calmari and special chinese salad. Also some beer and green tee.
(hum, bad, i had all the names in pinyin, but since i am not using my computer, the text editor here does not recognize the accent characters, so i will have to write it again later.)


So the typical aquarium in the restaurant, where you can choose your food, and the typical architecture.

It is interesting to observe the similarities, in some sense, of some aspects of the daily life of people here and in Brazil. I somenow imagine myself leaving here for a longer period of time..........

We talked a lot about China and some problems it is facing this evening. There is just not words to describe what is going on in this country. Well, you probably all know well, but it is somehow different when you feel it here. People work hard, they destroy in on day and rebuild things in the other day. Countryside is migrating in mass to the cities.
It is soo many people, for example, as i was told,waiting in lines of 2-3 hours to get a place at a restaurant, or, not being able to get a taxi, because they are all busy, or, facing shopping center so crowded, that they have to struggle to come in a store, and fight to get to buy something! They are building, everywhere, in the highs and towards the countryside, expanding, taking people their home for few money, to replace forstores, shopping center, offices. And everyday more and more people come to the cities, to try a betterlife. And related e.g. to these facts (more people living in cities, construction and production fever) there is always a greater and greater energy hunger, and, there is always more big piles of waste being generated. And all in all, this is all taking China to invest in renewable energy (in 2006 NDRC approved the Renewable Energy Law), and biomass has a great potential in this mix. Waste is here considered a biomass, and the perspective is that many anaerobic digestion plants for the generation of biogas will be constructed, also with the good deal of CDM financing and CERs trading. I am very curious and anxious about how things will develop in this sector here, since it is also known that sometimes and in some regions it takes too long for decision makers and stakeholders to put their hands on work and really make things move. In this case there is still a lot of knowledge to be transfered.

Anyway, after the nice dinner, we did some joyride, not so long, but it was possible to take a glance at Sy by night. It is beautiful, with all the lights and buildings, colours, sounds and smells and so many people around, in the squares and other public spaces, in front of the small restaurants and bars, in the cars, also spinning around (and indeed, driving like crazy and honking all the time). Again, more about the places later.

Wednesday, 15-08-07

Reading and reading. For those who think i only write on this blog, it is not true, i do work!
It is still bad not to have internet in my room.

In the late afternoon - further talking with the Prof. More infos....


Dinner in one of the many small and cozy restaurants around the campus. I learned that there are more than 3000 medium and big restaurants in Sy.
And maybe 3 times more of the small ones !!!!


Hey, these is what you might find on your way home:


Thursday, 16-08-7
soo many things to do, one week that i am here!
Had to take the time to go downtown, and finally i could get money at the Bank of China. 2 hours and 4 RMBs later, finally got to the university.
Rainy day again, and foggy/smoggy. Visibility something like 10 meters!

Chinese characters

I am getting more and more fascinated about the chinese language!
The characters....it is just soooooo interesting.
I always take some advertisement or some other pieces of paper and i keep looking to them for minutes and minutes....

I am trying to learn at least the most simple ones, so i started drawning them in a list, and then i ask someone to translate it. So i exercise trying to recognise them in other contexts, but then i got fascinated with other different characters.

Did you know there are like 100.000 or so such amazing drawning....But they only use 4000!
Here a good internet source for learning!

Food!!!!

So, as they say here, the food to be a sucess has to first, look good, further smell good, and finally taste good! What a wisdom! And indeed, it always do! Delicious!
Maybe I am eating a way to much, and i will finally manage to put on some weight! :P
Unfortunately I gave my up my vegetarian attempt, but basically i am eating a lot of tofu and vegetables! And I am, don't know why, always not in the mood to make pics of the food.....maybe it smells too good that you only what to eat, and you forget that it also looks good....


Chinese Food Information
Chinese Cuisine, Features, Local Styles, Medicated Diets

People! Get prepared when i come back, i will cook you real chinese food.....

One more day - reading day!

Sunday finished with rain, while i was fighting with t mosquitoes, killed like 10 of them, but after reading, when i went to sleep, there were still 3 survivors teasing me. I will get a net, for the sake of my blood.
Monday: Reading-day, many interesting articles from Chinese researchers, and also from some well known german experts in waste management. Later in the afternoon i started searching/reading about the Approved Methodologies related to Landfill gas (LFG) project activities. (under the Clean Development Mechanism approach of the Kyoto Protocol). Actually it is all about the ACM0001 (Approved Consolidated Methodology) which includes the approved methodologies number 2, 3, 10 and 11.
The applicability is given in this cases: [UNFCCC]
This methodology is applicable to landfill gas capture project activities, where the baseline scenario is the partial or total atmospheric release of the gas and the project activities include situations such as:
a) The captured gas is flared; or
b) The captured gas is used to produce energy (e.g. electricity/thermal energy), but no emission
reductions are claimed for displacing or avoiding energy from other sources;
c) The captured gas is used to produce energy (e.g. electricity/thermal energy), and emission
reductions are claimed for displacing or avoiding energy generation from other sources.

I also took the opportunity to briefly check the Carbon Expo presentations from 2006 and 2007. Need to go back to this later someday.
Anyway, i also started to make some thoughts about the second part of the work, which first will need an analysis of Sy in its urban, social and economical structure. Will definitely need some help with this.

After dinner with the colleagues (today i tried the steamed bred!), we went for a walk around the campus. Nice, and, as they said, really empty. Let´s see how does it look like in 3 weeks....Made some pics. ........


Back to the lab, upset because the trick with the zeros together with my normal 4 numbers password didn't work, no idea what to do now. I guess i can only try another bank, maybe one where i can go to the counter.
I was showed how the CH4 content measurements work, and also the computer monitoring of the anaerobic digesters. Nice nice! Also started collecting maps of Sy, with the help of Mr. Luo. So, late now, have to go! Did i tell you that they close the door of our residence at 10.30pm, and we don´t have any key! Ha, i was also told that they turn the lights off at 11pm, but i never noticed! ;-)

Tomorrow will finally meet Prof. Raninger, and will try to solve the 2 problems, first one with internet access in my room, and with the money!

Rainday

The Friday night was normal, after dinner at the refectory, tried to watch movies with Hailian, but they were all in German, so decided to show her some pictures. Read a bit and Oli called later on.
Saturday started early, met at 8.30 (with the 2 master students) and they helped to try to get some money. Only to try, because it didn't work. Apparently a 6 numbers password is needed to withdraw money from the credit card, but i only have one with 4. Got some money borrowed. We took the bus 255 from the bus station and a after more than one hour driving through Sy (very interesting to observe the places and people from the bus*) we arrived at the Tàiyuán street, the shopping street, crowded, but no car or bikes, therefore, very comfortable.

This is the place where people with greater economical power come to consume! And i tell you, they are really buying. The shopping mall was just like the ones i know in Brazil. Some products are really cheaper than in Europe, some other things are almost the same price. Walked and walked. I bought a pair of flipflops, a t-shirt and 2 science books in English. I have to be very careful when going shopping, cause it is really tempting.
Mr. Luo bought us some lotus (lìanzi), and this was the first time i ate it. And i liked!


We had lunch in another shopping center, a huge amount of food for only 6 RMBs.
We also went to a supermarket, and it was a very big one, with too many options! It is already difficult to decide what to buy, and the great amount of choice just make it more complicated. Anyway, the two were very patient, and i was glad that they also bought something. Had 4 bags full of things (and i have to notice, here is just the same as in Brazil, the supermarkets give you the plastic bags for free, next time i have to take my textile bags with me!) and it was only about 100 RMBs. Back to the bus stop, back to the traffic. As i wrote in the beginning,
i thought the streets were not so chaotic. Well, i was wrong, maybe because it is Saturday, it is really loud and busy! And the air is just terrible, you feel the dust going into your lungs. I was so tired that, as soon as i got a place to sit, i closed my eyes and slept a bit. The rest of the "trip" i could further look from the window. This are the times you wish you could make movies with your eyes, in some sense we do it, we just cant reproduce it. I didn't want to take pics, in order not to be indiscreet, or to attract attention. But maybe i should it, since i attract attention anyway! People sometimes look with some strange face at me, and at least the kids laugh back when i smile! I saw no other "foreign" on the streets, but i am sure there are some of them!
Arrived home and took a "shower". If you can call it a shower. Oh ya, i forget to tell, there is no such a thing like a shower room. You use the washstand in the toilette to clean yourself. I took me 2 days to understand that. It is not so bad, we are only girls in the students residence, and it is not that difficult to use a basin for washing. You can also do the laundry at the same time. It would be nice to have warm water. Specially for washing the hair. Calm Saturday evening, we had dinner and came to the lab for some internet use. Read and tried to work on the reports for Weimar, phoned with Oli and went to sleep. The night was not so warm, and i forgot to burn the mosquitoes thing. So in the morning i realized that i had a lots of bites in my hand and arms. :-(
Today, Sunday, should be renamed to Rainday. It started raining in the night, and it is still raining until now. In the morning it was pouring, so that i could not go for my walk around the campus. Well, next time. Anyway, i woke up too late, it was 10.20 am, and i started cleaning up a bit. Had noodles with Hailian at her dorm and then started working (on the computer). Suddenly someone knock at the door, it was Wu Xiang, a really sweet computer science student from my residence, who wanted to practice some English. Well, first she taught me some Chinese, and it is getting better, i can recognize and speak (still not perfect, sure) the four tons. She also showed me some of the characters. So much for the rainy Sunday, had dinner and came by the lab, to check mails and observe Hailian with some experiments. My parents just called me, and we talked a bit. I just realized that it is not possible to access wikipedia, or even blogspot from here. Well, everything is controlled here, and i remember that these websites were blocked. Hopefully i can further use google....
Tomorrow my supervisor Prof. Raninger will be here, and i hope i can get a better idea about my work.
(* About people and places: more about that soon!)

Shenyang, Friday 10th of august.

It´s probably 30°C outside, and now that i have internet access, i feel that i have really arrived. So i can start telling some of my first impressions.
From the beginning, i left the station in Erfurt with my more than 20kg backpack, and i thought i was taking too much.

Well, it was maybe not that much, but it was heavy. And i know i will need the warm clothes in the last month. :-) In the check in they said that i can take 30kg anyway!
Train trip was ok (luck me that there was no strike), and waiting in the airport was boring. Bought books and magazines, read a bit, tried to learn some Chinese.
Flight for the first time in a 747 with a second floor. Tought it would be quite empty, but it was not. Nice service, the stewardesses were very much relaxed, and there was no crying baby or people doing party (like the last flights to Brazil).
Had a place by the window, and could observe, when not sleeping, the view outside. Big cities at night are so amazing. And also very impressive was to Gobi desert. Could not see so much from Beijing.

While almost melting in the 35°C, just worried that there would be any problem in the pass control, i did the transit to the other machine, which was also full. I was indeed very tired, and could sleep the in the last hour of the trip. 14.30, just as said, we were landing. Colleagues were waiting for me in the airport, and, we had to go up and down looking for my backpack.Until now i don't know what happened, just that the luggage was not where it was supposed to be, and nobody knew about it. It comes to be really interesting when there are discussions in the Chinese language. We took a taxi from the very south to the very north, and i could get an idea of how big Shenyang (Sy) really is. More than 7.000.000, way too big for me, but, i guess i will survive. Anyway, streets are clean, the air is a bit muggy. The transit seemed to be not very chaotic. After more than one hour in the taxi (for 110 Yuan), we got in the university campus, almost in the rural area. Another master student was waiting for us, she had the keys of my dormitory. Unpacked, and we went eating. Well, i was afraid it would always be like this, a way to much food, and very spicy. My nose was saying thanks, than, indeed, it was good for cleaning!
We bought some stuff, a sim card for my cellphone, locks for the closet and some smelly incense against mosquitoes & co. There are really nice insects down here.

Could sleep the first night very well. Even had dreams. Met Miss. Zhang and we came to the lab: new and big, and really nice. There are some fermenters for anaerobic digestion experiments, and other measuring equipments. There is also the climate chamber for the landfill gas formation simulation and there are also two big
pilot plants. Pictures come later.
I got some literature to read, the proceedings of the 1. ICEEE (Institute of Clean Energy and Environmental Engineering) Conference which happened last year. The facts about waste management in China are quite impressive: only 30% of the population is served by collecting system, and this represents 155 Million tonnes waste every year. And only the half of this is treated (most in uncontrolled landfilling, some composting and incinerating). And i ask myself, first, what about the waste of the other 70% of the population? And, what about the other half of the collected waste, where does it go to?
Reading all morning, then lunch at the refectory. Good food, maybe some dishes with too much oil, but the rice is always good, and i am getting better with the chopsticks. The food costs between 2 to 8 Yuan's (20 to 80 cents), and the restaurant is like 24/7, almost all day open, the entire week. People here normally eat a hearty meals for breakfast as well. And guess what, after lunch i could even take a snap. They do so in summer here. But here an advice: not to sleep longer than 30min, otherwise you will be sleepy the whole afternoon.
So much for the first 2 days. Let´s see what the weekend will bring.

Last time

posting from Germany, leaving soon to take the train to Frankfurt. Write you as soon as possible from the Zhōngguó, the Middle Kingdom, das Reich der Mitte.

The most beautiful Landscapes....

I friend of Oli lent me a book from the Chinese National Geography, with the most beautiful landscapes of China. Really amazing. From the most impressive mountains, lakes, islands, up to caves, beaches, waterfalls and so on. Now the list of the locations i can try to visit near Shenyang.

- Changli
- River Liao Delta
- Heaven lake
- Benxi watercave
- Steppe Xilin Gol

SYIAE´s Motto

24 hours left, "almost" everything ready. Yesterday i was in Weimar for some last meetings. It was good that i called this colleague of mine, then he really was able to get some Yuan's for me, and to pick them up, i could also make a last small biking tour in Weimar. I probably will miss biking a lot.
Right now i was just earthgoogling a bit, and i am not sure if i found the university campus where i am going to live (maybe the pics are too old, and therefore i cannot find the airplane). But i found the University´s Motto: Virtuous, Capable, Brave and Perseverant.

Nice, hum?

The airplane:
I checked that it is quite warm in Shenyang these days, 35°C. Almost like home! It seems there is a sport facility at the campus, and the library has a amount of 72,4052 volumes. I can hope it is not too warm inside.

About eating and other stuff...

For German readers, "Reis mit Sch.." in Fichtners Tellergericht.

So, eating well is really one of the favorite activities of Chinese people. (well, at least and specially the ones who can afford fancy restaurants!). And what you can eat in China is nothing compared to what is served in most restaurants here. Only the fact that, over there, you first go to the aquarium to choose your main dish, that is quite impressive.
The good thing is, as the author refers in the article, an entire life would be needed to taste all the vegetarian dishes the Chinese kitchen has to offer! Uff! Maybe I can eat fish sometimes! :-)

All you need to know about Chopsticks

7 days to go! Still need to finish some assessments, but i can already start getting prepared for the traveling. Today i cooked myself some noodles, and guess what, i just ate them with chopsticks.
I do have some experience using these eating utensil, but i need to get faster! It is not so easy, specially when the food is almost finishing.


Did you know that?
> Chopsticks should not be left standing vertically in a bowl of rice or other food. Any stick-like object pointed upward resembles the incense sticks that some Asians use as offerings to deceased family members; certain funerary rites designate offerings of food to the dead using standing chopsticks.
> Chinese traditionally eat rice from a small bowl held in the left hand. The rice bowl is raised to the mouth and the rice pushed into the mouth using the chopsticks. Some Chinese find it offensive to scoop rice from the bowl using a spoon. If rice is served on a plate, as is more common in the West, it is acceptable and more practical to eat it with a fork or spoon.
> In China alone, an estimated 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks are used and thrown away annually. This adds up to 1.7 million cubic meters of timber or 25 million fully grown trees every year. Uau!