A Recap of This Past Week

I am currently sittin g in the lobby of a Holiday Inn in Suzhou, China. We are on our class field trip doing a number of things. Once I get back to my laptop, ill post a full recap of what I have been up to this past week! It was pretty fun and fulfilling week :)

To tide you over, here are some pictures of the oldest pagoda in China that is still fully standing. And yes, it does slant at about a 3 degree angle.

It's Already Been 4 Weeks!!

Before I start this one, just want to apologize for not having posted for awhile. I did not realize that I was actually going to be this busy haha, and maybe I was being just a tad lazy =]

Anywho, last time I posted I talked about going to a water town and seeing a pretty stellar concert that is Steve Aoki, hopefully this one will be just as interesting.

This past Friday, a group of us guys decided to head out for some night fun at a bar called Perry's. Many of our group had already been here and told us that it was a good time. It had a great atmosphere and most of the people there were fellow internationals who were here either for school, internships, or jobs, which made it easier to relate to and start conversations with.

To start with, it was just Elliot, Carlin, and I that got one of the bigger party tables that were there because it was the only table that was available. We were perfectly okay with this, just more room for us when the rest of the group came. We ordered and were getting used to the atmosphere when a bigger group of girls came to meet up with some of their friends that were sitting at a table close to ours. (Please read the rest before jumping to any conclusions haha). Being the good gentlemen we are, we decided to graciously relinquish our seats so that these lovely ladies could enjoy a night with their entire group. Later, a girl from the group came over and talked to us introducing us to the rest of their group. The girls were from a scattered number of countries throughout this world. Germany, Finland, Norway, Sweden, England, and one lone American girl. They were all here for school, and being at a bar figured they were around our age. After talking more and more with the American girl, we found out that most of the girls were 16 and 17 years old! Haha, Carlin, Elliot, and myself all looked at each other, wondering why such "young" girls were doing at a bar. The official drinking age in China is 18, but many bars do not care who they let in.

The rest of our group showed up, and that was the end of talking for the most part with that group of girls. Myself and Carlin just sat in amazement just looking around the bar observing the different culture of this bar, the amount of "underage" drinkers, and the diversity of the seemingly worldwide activity that is drinking.

I knew I was going to be in a place that was nothing like anything I had experienced before; new food, new people, new everything, but even by week 4, I am amazed at the stark differences between what I thought I knew China was like, and what it is really like. Although Shanghai is a very diverse city, I did not think I would meet people from 10 different countries in one night. I was thinking that when I went out to a bar or club, that I would be meeting people my age or older than me, I was not expecting to meet people younger than me let alone 16! The funny thing about some of the 16 year olds, they seemed to fit the bar scene better than I did haha. This all being said, I have been loving experiences these new things, things that if I would have played it safe, would have never experienced in a million years. It still just takes me back to the fact that God has to have an amazing plan for me...I cannot wait to see what the rest of this semester has to bring.

I must say that going to Perry's was a great time, and getting to know some of my fellow students on this trip has already proved invaluable. I definitely know that these relationships will last outside this trip and continue to last for quite some time. The rest of last weekend was pretty laid back, and so I won't post really about that. Homework was complete and movies were watched, that is about it haha.

This is at Perry's. The whole bar is covered in signatures from people around the world. It makes for quite the wallpaper.

The following Monday (4 days ago), we went on a field trip with my ME 497 class to the American Axle Plant here in China. We loaded up the bus around 7:15, and the trip there ended up taking around 4 hours =/. It was only suppose to take one and half hours. When we were on the highway, the traffic came to a sudden halt. Here, because of the smog, the whole highway was shut down. Yes it was that bad, below is a picture of us when we were stuck. You can kind of see how bad the traffic backup was and the smog.

The plant was pretty interesting. It was about 210,000 square feet and reminded me much of my internship. The pictures above really don't do it justice on how massive the plant was, but they are some neat pictures regardless. There were many machines doing pretty awesome jobs on the floor, and a few labs doing quality testing. We were showed around most of the plant and ended with some amazing sandwiches and fruit (May be the best American Style sandwich I have eaten here. I was going to take a picture, but I was so hungry that I forgot to haha). We did end up making it home with a lot less difficulty than it took getting there. The experience was pretty unique because even though it was a Michigan based Company, the way it was run was anything but American.

That brings us to Tuesday-Thursday which really nothing exciting happened, other than on Wednesday night, many of us went out to Burger Night at a bar in the French Concession of Shanghai. Below is said burger, which I must say was an experience in itself. Below is a picture of the burger that I got. It was a Blu Cheese Burger which I was expecting to have a bit of blu cheese sprinkled on the burger. NOPE, haha there was a ton of it right smack dab in the middle. It was still a pretty dang good burger which sent me home a pretty happy camper.

The burger was really like a baseball. Both the burger and the fries were delicious

This brings us to today (Friday February 1st, 4 weeks in). I can't express how thankful I am that I am here living out this experience. God is working in me, that much I know is true. Also so thankful for my parents and my family. I was able to skype with my lovely parents this morning, and their bright faces said enough without them saying a single word. I love them so much! Also shoutout to my amazing sister Ashley and her husband Lance, and to my brothers Logan and Nate. Now, none of you can be mad at me haha =]

Before I head off to another pretty relaxed weekend, I want to share my progress for the first 4 weeks on a few topics

The Bet: None of us have caved, all facial hair is going strong. Not going to lie, I grow a pretty awesome mustache! Ask my parents if you don't believe me haha, they saw it on skype this morning
Chopsticks: Never thought I would love these little guys as much as I do. They are really useful, pretty much an extension of my hand. I wouldn't say that I am on grandmaster level with them yet, but I am extremely close!
Friends: Never would I have thought that I could actually have engineering friends outside of Carlin and Elliot haha, but I have already made a few good ones. Also, I have been reminded why I like hanging out with Carlin and Elliot haha.
Faith: I was pretty nervous that when I came here, my faith would suffer. I keep mentioning in my posts that God has blessed me so much with being able to go on this trip, and it really is so true. I keep seeing his amazing works where ever I go whether its in the people I am talking to, the opportunities he opens for me, or just the amazing scenery here, I see Him. It really is relieving to know that whatever happens here, He has His plan for me and has everything under control!


Writing these entries really makes me step back from this entire experience of China already, and really want to understand why the people here are the way they are. Why they focus so much on family? Why "face" and self-pride are so highly regarded? Why China keeps adapting to western society, when outside influence in America is so menial and slow? I still have about 3 and a half months, and I am hoping I can answer some of these questions before I have to leave!


Hopefully you who read this get something out of it! =] I really do enjoy writing them when I get the time. I am hoping to keep posting atleast once a week.

If you are wondering about anything I am doing or will be doing, please please please email me at blairc@purdue.edu. I would love to answer any questions that this blog may have sparked or questions you already had about China.

Also, if you want to skype, my skype name is at the top right underneath the picture. Just add my name, and we can set up a time, I would love to skype!

God Bless!

Corbin

OH WAIT, PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS YOUTUBE VIDEO!! haha its of some of my group doing a little dance for a Chinese banquet. I was in charge of doing the music for it, enjoy! =]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz0Tfn5BcCw

Courtney

Just so everyone knows, I Love Courtney Apperson!

The Bet

Because we have no one to impress here, Carlin, Elliot, and I decided to make a little bet. Starting during the first week, we are not allowed to shave beard, mustache, or head hair. Since money is involved, I trying my hardest to not cave.

Me - It kind of sucks for me because my face does not understand how to grow hair that connects. My thinking is that if it grows longer, it will signal the areas around it to start growing hair, seems pretty logical.

Carlin - He only knows how to grow a neck beard which he can even trim to make look better (its actually in the rules)

Elliot - This kid probably has it easier than all of us. It grows in quite even.

The REASON I am telling you guys this because if you start seeing pictures of me with this gross facial hair, you will understand the reason behind it.

I will try to keep up how everyone is doing, but none of us are planning on caving any time soon. Its going to be quite the challenge haha.

Corbin

Aoki and Qidao and Friends

So this past week and weekend have been pretty amazing.

I got my first grades back from my first few assignments, A's across the board!! haha. Knowing how my papers and classes are going to be graded has taken some stress off my shoulders which is nice. I really did not do much this past week school wise. I did however attempt to get my laundry done which sent me on a wild goose chase following this chinese girl with Elliot and Carlin. In the end, she took us to this little po'dunk room in the back of a store to have this lady do them. It was going to cost us 300 yuan to get 2 loads done, NOT WORTH IT! We did find a place on campus that does it for 12 yuan per load which is quite the bargain but is not open till Monday =/. (For those who were wondering 1 USD = 6.2 Yuan)

Getting off the school topic, my Friday started off extremely well. First of all, there was no morning class scheduled for Friday, so I could sleep in!! I also was able to finally skype some amazing friends of mine from back home. Talked for quite some time with Amanda Werling and Kristy Andorfer, which was nice and needed. My Friday evening class ended and onset Stevie Aoki hysteria!! (Mostly it was Elliot just freaking out, but the rest of us were pretty stoked as well) He was going to be playing at a club in Shanghai, and about 15 or so of our group got tickets. I was not able to take really any pictures, but once my friends share me their pictures, I will post them. I really had no clue what to expect at a concert like this. First of all it was in a club which is pretty small compared to other places he has performed. Second, he plays electronic music and I had not previously listened to really anything that resembled this genre. Although I had my doubts, I would be lying if I said I was not pretty excited to attend this concert. The time came around to leave for the concert and being with Elliot, we had to get there early so we could be in the front of the venue. We definitely showed everyone when we got there 3 AND A HALF HOURS before he even appeared haha. The concert started at 9 with a few openers, and Aoki was "supposed" to take the stage around midnight. Well we got there at 9 on the dot, and Aoki didn't show his face until 1:30 AM.

I also had my doubts about this, but I was not let down. His showmanship, ability to keep the crowd entertained (myself included), and the atmosphere he created was impressive. For those who don't know me that well, I do not listen to music that often let alone go to concerts, and even I had an amazing time. By the time Aoki took the floor, choas and madness had swept across the crowd. Even though the venue was small, there was really no place to even jump up and down let alone dance. Mass shoving wars started, barriers were broken, and among it all was me having the time of my life. It really does show that trying something completely out of your comfort zone can be so rewarding. AND this may come to shock to many, but I would say that I was definitely dancing or attempting to atleast. I also have witnesses for any unbelievers haha. I got back to my room around 3:15 where I was finally able to breathe clean air and rest legs that had been standing for around 6 hours. All in all, it was a good night, and I have Carlin, Elliot, and Josh to thank for that!

***********Because I don't have any pictures now, check out this youtube video of Stevie Aoki, so you can see what was witnessed on my end!**************

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waM6R5_1Vuw     (This is from last year, but its at the same place as we went to)

 This was my getup for the concert. YESSIR, I brought the pink pants to China! haha =]


After sleeping in some on Saturday, Elliot, Carlin, Josh, and Zack decided to visit a place called Qidao (Chi - Dow). It is a smaller water town, but still considered to within Shanghai. There is not really much to say about this place, but It was definitely fun seeing all the old architecture and numerous shops. This was also the first time we visited a place without having someone in our group who could speak or read Chinese. Needless to say we made it there and back with very few hiccups, which I would consider a successful trip.

Below are some pictures that were taken from this water town.

 After taking this picture and uploading it on here, I forgot to even check out what this building actually was. I think it was a restaurant, but I am not completely sure. Many of the buildings in this area had lights like this lighting it up against the night sky. It was a very neat site to see.

This one was taken from one bridge to the other. This waterway was the main mode of transportation when the place was first established. There were many gondolas behind me when I took this picture. Also as you can see like I was saying earlier, the lights made the view a pretty nice one to see.

While we were here, we checked out many shops and stalls. We were actually here during rush hour at about 5:30 which then you could see that this place is mostly used by the locals for food and other essential things. This is also the first place that I saw that sold dog to eat =/. We found this out because there was dried dog meat still in the shape of one. (I did take a picture but decided not to put it on here. If you want to see it just let me know)

All in all, the start of this weekend was pretty amazing! Tomorrow (Sunday) should be a pretty relaxed day, and I am looking forward to it!

Again, if you want to skype (Which I would greatly appreciate) just let me know a time that works best for you on your time; and I will try to make time to do it.

Since I got grief last time,
Ashley Noel, I freaking love you! Also tell Lance that as well.

Can't wait to see what else God has in store!

Corbin

School and The Gardens

Hi all, decided to add another entry about how my first week in China has gone!

First of all, I just want to talk about school (I mean it is in fact the reason I am here in China). I have 3 different classes that I actually attend in a building here on Campus. I am also taking an online class that adds onto those classes. The morning class starts at 8:30 in the morning and goes to 11:45, then the evening class goes from 1:00 till 4:15. I honestly did not know that I was going to be in class for this long every single day which actually takes alot out of the class. Although the classes are not that difficult (minus the online class), being in a small classroom for that long is a little boring ha.

Just thought I would add this, so that you guys know that I am actually going to school here =] and not just having fun.

Along with that, the first week of classes, although long, went pretty well I thought. I learned quite a few words/phrases in Chinese that will be useful while out of the classroom, and also learned a lot about Chinese culture. I already have a new respect toward this kind of culture and realize why some act the way they do at Purdue. For Example: The reason their driving is often times criticized is that here traffic is not as orderly and poor driving is often times the result of this. Learning of these things keeps me awake and actually attentive during class. It will definitely be helpful when working with internationals in the future.

Okay, besides the school thing...I really want to get into what I did this weekend but mostly on Saturday.

Friday night was pretty relaxing night, all schoolwork was done, so I didn't have to worry about that. Carlin, Elliot, and I went out exploring and eventually found another bar. (Earlier on Tuesday, we went out for Burger Tuesday at a bar pretty close to campus, pretty good burger. It wasn't American by any means, but still good =]). Afterwards we found a little DVD shop that sold very new released movies for about a dollar. This was definitely something we couldn't pass up, us being movie lovers. We went to bed pretty early because on Saturday, we had some big plans to go out to some Ancient Gardens here in Shanghai.

This was the main reason for going. It was so serene and amazing. This area has been preserved for over 400 years and seriously was an amazing sight to see. If anyone ever decides to visit China, Shanghai specifically, you need to stop by this garden.

While on this trip, we also did much shopping and also tried a lot of new and interesting foods. It has been a goal of mine to try a bit of everything if it is offered to me. I have yet to throw up because of disgusting tasting foods, but I almost did from a some rice vodka stuff which I will explain about later. I have not turned down food YET, haha but I am sure I will eventually.

For lunch we stopped by this buffet style restaurant. The amount and variety of food at this place was quite a sight to see. Dishes from turtle, to dove, to prawn, to just an average bowl of rice, this place had it. Below is a picture of what I ended up getting.

The top left is just fried chicken which is becoming a favorite of mine. Top right is a shrimp boiled roll thing haha, it was pretty dang good. Bottom right is a fried roll with a bean paste in the middle. It was pretty sweet tasting, but I was pretty surprised finding out it was bean in the middle. The dish at the bottom left is just a plate of rice with some egg thrown in. I will have to say, I am enjoying using chop sticks more and more every day, and I would say I am getting pretty good at them =]. This meal all together cost quite a bit more because we were in a tourist area but was about $8.50. It easily filled me up and was pretty good tasting altogether.

After eating lunch, we made it to a temple. The temple was pretty old, and Chinese people still use it to this day to say their prayers, burn incense, and worship their gods. It was pretty interesting because it is also a tourist attraction so you have many different nationalities here while people are using it for worship.

Here is a big alter that is used to drop incense in after they are done being used. Altogether, I think there were about 8-10 gods that had statues and could be prayed to here. I was a little hesitant to take pictures just because I felt it was a little wrong to do while people were actually using it for their practical purposes. Others in my group did, so I might post them here later. I did however, take some pictures of important statues that were there that weren't classified as gods. The one below was by far the oddest one. I wasn't able to quite get the meaning of this one, but you guys can make up something if you want.

After seeing this temple, the gardens, and eating lunch, we decided to get in touch with the Chinese culture by diving into some tea lore. If you didn't know, tea is considered one of the most important drinks here in China. It is used to help treat almost any illness, and in some cases have mystical powers. To do this, we were shown by a local man a tea shop that is part of the oldest building in this part of Shanghai. It still has its original framework, shingles, and pretty much everything. The tea house was located on the 4th floor and also had an amazing view of downtown Shanghai. below is a picture taken off the balcony of this building.

As you can see, many of the roof tops show the older Chinese architecture while off to the distance you can see the modern touch the western world has had on this country. On a side note, the big building in the middle is still under construction, when it is completed, it will be the tallest building in the world! I thought that was pretty interesting.

Alright let's get back to the tea. If you didn't know, I really cannot stand the taste of tea, but because I wanted to learn about the tea culture here in China, I toughed it out and drank 8 different teas =] A group of us all sat around this square table with many herbs and spices while a lady told us all about what each of them meant. She made us tea after tea and had us drink them. After drinking about 5 or 6 different common teas, she then introduced us to the medicinal teas. (I had no clue that teas were said to be this helpful and sometimes powerful in this culture). We were allowed to choose 2 of 6 different kind of medicinal teas. I ended up liking one of these teas the most.

We finally called it quits after some more exploring and shopping around 7 and got back on the metro to go home. I was just fine calling it quits for the night, but Elliot and Carlin being the best friends they are, got me to head out to the Kuala Bar for a couple drinks before the night ended. We drank some (Well I drank some, can't say the same about some other select few people I was with *wink *wink =]), and more of our class came to the bar. It was a really good time, and I was happy they drag me to go out even though, I was the one who had to drag them home.

I couldn't be more happy to be here in China with not only Elliot and Carlin, but really with everyone else who decided to go on this adventure. I am amazed by how easily it is to talk with everyone and how well we mesh here. I still barely know most of them, but already enjoy hanging out with them. I am so thankful for being able to be here, and can't wait to be home to share it.

If you want to skype or call, send me an email or facebook me a time that works for you. It is a lot easier for me to schedule my time around a time that works best for you. Morning and Afternoons should work, just let me know! =]

Also want to say a congratulations to one of my best friends from back home. Madison, congratulations! I wish I could be there with you to celebrate with you and Adam!

Love you parents!

Corbin Blair

Downtown Shanghai

Like I said I was going to do on Facebook, I want to post about what I did on Sunday and also show some pictures.

ALSO: If you look to the right underneath the picture, the address of the hotel I am staying at for about a month is there

Alright so let me begin about my Sunday adventures. A group of us set out to explore downtown Shanghai. What we thought would be a decent 4-5 hour journey turned into quite a long 10 hour excursion.

The goal was to visit a place called People Square and another place called the Bund. We started at noon and headed down to the subway. This took us to a little outside of main downtown. (Shanghai is huge, a picture further on down will show this) When we got back to the surface, new and interesting sites were to be made. What we thought was going to be a quick walk to People's Square soon turned into getting lost, getting more lost, and finally still being lost. BUT, being lost when you don't have an agenda is such a great thing. Below shows some pictures of some old housing where the Old Chinese city can still be seen.

This man's cart was packed with a ton of random items. He also had two kids that were hidden among his merchandise.

As I was saying above, the older houses looked much like these did. They were quite run down and very close to each other. These alley ways were numerous in this area.


While we were lost, we were able to come across a pretty interesting street market. Items included simple things like fruit, vegetables, and rice. Also things like eels, cats, live chickens, fish, turtles, pork, and really anything else you can think of were being chopped up and served fresh to whoever wanted to buy them. The smell was unbelievable but was definitely worth experience. I did take a few pictures of this market, but for some reason I cannot find the pictures I took. Below shows the market from a distance.

After visiting the market, we got back on track and made it to People's Square. For some reference, People's Square can be compared to Time's Square, just a lot of people, cars, and stores. Here we walked around and just stared at all of the huge stores and buildings. We stopped in a park where we took this picture.

We were able to get an older lady to take this picture for us. It turned out quite well other than the fact that Carlin can't take a picture worth his life haha. After walking around the park for a little bit, we decided to go into this Urban Development Museum. This place was packed with information about the Bund, history of Shanghai's buildings, and it also housed a scale model of the entire city shown here.

                                                                   This is the Museum

This is the scale model which took up an entire floor of the museum. The size of this city is just ridiculous.

After the museum, we went and found the Bund. It is a pretty neat place and probably the best place to see the skyline lit up at night. You can look over the river and just see all of the major skyscrapers in downtown. I have been to New York City, but this site seemed to dwarf it with ease. I keep being amazed about the stark difference within the same culture here in Shanghai. The older buildings that were in some of my earlier pictures were literally right on the other side of the road to more western and modern buildings. The lifestyle seems to skip centuries as you cross the street. 

When we arrived at the Bund, we were able to finally sit and rest a little as we waited for the lights to turn on. Although the lights didn't turn on all at once like I was expecting, the view was still one that I will never forget.

When we were taking pictures here, a group of Koreans just randomly walked up and wanted to take pictures with all of us. Strangely as we got people to take our pictures, more and more random people just kept hopping in and taking their pictures with us. FINALLY, Corbin Blair is becoming a famous person haha. 

This is the picture with all the random people and some more people from our group that we met up here.





From here, we took a ferry across the water so that we could eat dinner. A little scary part was when we were crossing the little crossing bridge, the ferry may or may not have come into quickly and clipped it. There was a loud boom and the bridge felt like it bounced up and down which made me scream like a little girl. Seriously gave me a little scare there haha. We traveled across the river and took some more pictures. The new picture on the top right was taken from the ferry. We arrived on the other side and made it to yet another mall to eat dinner. For some reason I was the only person who did not get my food, and because I didn't know how to talk to my waiter, I did not know what to do to ask where my food was. For some reason we found out that the order wasn't placed so for the sake of the group, my order was cancelled, and I got a quick bite from McDonalds!! Sadly, it did not taste like the burgers from home =/ but it still filled me up.

Lastly and finally!! I feel like I have been writing for quite sometime. We made it to the Bottle Opener Building (I am not sure really what the building is called but this is really its nickname. It gets it because it looks like a bottle opener)

At the top there is an opening like there would be a bottle opener. It is hard to see in the picture though.

This is where the highest bar in the world is located. It is open to the public and there is no cover charge at all. We got in the elevator and went to the 93rd floor where the bar was. Of course I had to get something while we were up there just to say I drank in the tallest bar in the world. I got one beer that cost me around 65 Yuan which is around $10. Totally worth it though for this experience. Below is a pretty nice picture taken from this floor of some of the other skyscrapers.

The day was finally over, and we made it safely home. I really was not expecting to be out for about 10 hours, but in all honesty it was such an amazing experience. My feet still are pretty sore, but they will get used to it haha.

Every time I start typing, there is a million and one things I want to make sure I write but never end up being able to. It has only been 5 days and feels like a few weeks. I cannot wait for what the rest of this experience has to bring and know that God has my back =]

Hope all is well for everyone,

Corbin Blair