Monday, June 8, 2009
Today we were sitting in class as Dr. Brown reviewed the schedule:
-Exam tomorrow on Vehicle Dynamics
-2 classes of Electric Circuits
-Exam Friday on Circuits
-3 classes of Thermodynamics
-Exam next Thursday on Thermo.
The End.
We only have 11 full days left here in Nanjing and 16 before I arrive back in the States. In some ways I still feel like there’s a lot to see, but then again, I’ve done a lot too.
So, when I last posted, we were about to begin vehicle dynamics. It has been a piece of cake! Without being cocky, I expect to get a grade in the mid 90s on tomorrow’s open note test, and I haven’t studied yet.
In the world of extracurricular events, the past few days have been fun, but not very busy! On Thursday, I tested the taxi system for the first time by getting a ride to the Purple Mountains, with a goal of seeing the Observatory there. To gain the necessary elevation, I hopped on the Zijinshan Ropeway. Crossing one peak and climbing another, the ropeway covers 1.4 horizontal miles and climbs over 1300 feet. The ropeway was like a ski lift in that I sat on an old park-style slatted bench with a sketchy “lap” bar (it was really about a foot off my knees and didn’t contain anything). The bench hung from a steel aircraft cable that covered the entire 2.8 mile distance. Even though benches were spaced every 20 ft or so, I only saw 4 people going the other way as I went up. Lots of empty benches and a 100-foot drop made the ride… well… eerie! Once I became acclimated to the height and the peacefulness, however, it was actually very pleasant.
So, I went allllll the way up, looked around, and then came haaalllllf way down, where the Purple Mountain Observatory was located. The observatory, built in the 1920s, welcomed the modern age of astronomy to China. They have apparently made a number of discoveries there, although the facility seems somewhat limited. While visitors were not permitted access to the main telescope or room, there were a few displays and some astronomical tools from the dynastic period. Did you know that this year is the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first telescope? I didn’t either.
After riding back to the bottom, I walked back to the hotel – only 2.5 miles – and called it a day. On Friday, I returned once again to the Confucius Temple shopping area for some more fun wandering and spending. I bought myself a Xun – a Chinese ocarina. It is excellent, but will take some practice to do anything relevant with.
Saturday was also a somewhat unexciting day. We took a day tour to Lishui, where we visited a park and had lunch. The park was somewhat fun. Our tour guide showed us a shallow fish hatchery and told us we could attempt to catch one if we wanted. Since we didn’t, he jumped right in, stalked a couple fish for a few minutes, then grabbed one! It was unbelievable! We applauded as he held his fish up happily. After that, we wandered around the park some more before getting on a boat to see a natural bridge. For anyone unfamiliar with a natural bridge, it occurs when a stream creates sink holes, which in turn erode lower layers of sediment over millions of years. In this case (like the natural bridge in Virginia), the result is a deep ravine with a narrow bridge joining the cliffs. That pretty much summarizes Saturday.
Sunday, Sunday. A small group of us decided to try going to church. It was really quite an amazing experience. Here in China, the Christian church is government run. From what I understand, it’s about 90% legitimate, but there’s supposedly some hogwash too. I don’t know, I haven’t been. That said, we chose to go to Nanjing International Christian Fellowship. NICF is a church for foreigners in Nanjing. To get in, one must have a foreign passport. It’s completely led by volunteers in English and the speaker rotates on a weekly basis. The most surprising and exciting thing about the experience was how international it was. As I’ve said before, Nanjing is 98.5% Chinese. Well, I think the other 1.5% was at this service! I’m sure 25 or 30 countries were represented by the couple hundred in attendance. At the beginning, they asked new attendees to introduce themselves. In addition to us, the other new attendees were from India, Lebanon, the Philappines, and Zimbabwe. The guy who gave the announcements was British and the guy who gave the sermon, African. It was truly awesome to see such a group of people, united by all being foreigners and Christians. There were contemporary songs, communion, a Sunday school orchestra performance of Via Dolorosa, an offering, and the sermon – just like home! In fact, the preacher even gave a lawyer-tax collector joke. I guess some things truly are international!
Anyway, it’s time to wrap this up and get to studying. After tomorrow’s test, we will be going to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial, remembering the 1937 rape of Nanking. I perceive it will be a lot like D.C.’s Holocaust Museum, though I haven’t been to that either. Thus, this promises to be interesting, informative, and memorable. Until next time, zai jian!
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