Curative Properties of Chicken Soup?

This article --- and, especially, its opening picture --- makes me want to have some chicken soup.

(Tip of the cap to I Fucking Love Science.)

Mmm... Soup Dumplings

I am a big fan of Shanghai Soup Dumplings, and I had a chance to have a bunch of good ones when I spent three weeks in Shanghai five years ago. But, wow, some people have OCD about it.

Additional Translation Fails

Translating can be hard, and sometimes things don't quite go right. You can find many of the signs from the above website in one of my previous posts. However, many of the "new" ones are also glorious. It's hard to say which are my favorites in the new list, because several of them are awesome. For example, 'soup for sluts' and a fire extinguisher being labeled as hand grenades are simply excellent! (Those are both on the other list as well.)

(Tip of the cap to Iain Macmillan.)

The Signs Says What?

Here are some awesome (and also "awesome") Chinese signs that got lost in translation. Several of these are hilarious, and in my opinion #22 is the best. (Number 22 made me laugh out loud. It is awesome!) I have doubts about the authenticity, though. They seem too funny to be real signs without any photoshopping or other alterations. They're damn funny, though.

(Tip of the cap to Ravi Montenegro.)

Pictures from China

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to Shanghai.

That's All, Folks!

My photoblog project is now done, so now my pictures will be part of regular photography and photo albums for the forseeable future. The the last entry, from 7/16/10 (I didn't post until now because I needed to return to Oxford to recharge my camera's battery) features three of my Somerville math students and me at the World Expo in Shanghai. And I think that it is absolutely awesome that I was able to hang out with 3 of my students in their home country of China! (One of them is actually from Shanghai, and she showed me around the "Ancient Town") near her parents' home.

I'll write more about the Expo later---maybe tonight. I also have a couple more Shanghai tidbits to share that I didn't get a chance to blog about for the past few days (because I was tired from doing them!).

The total number of photoblog entries was 367, so I went just beyond the promised 1 year. I hope you enjoyed this project as much as I did!

Regularity

The people who work at the coffee place (near the SJTU campus) where I've been going know me now. They know what I usually order and that I want a receipt (and there is the potential for confusion every time I ask for a receipt at a new place). It's a small thing, but they also gave me a notepad with their name/logo on it when I was leaving today. (I think that one of the girls behind the counter remembered that I was eyeing it curiously one of the times I was in there.) People were also playing Uno today, and seeing the Go set and other games there makes me want to get my Go Moku skills back, go back to trying to learn Go, etc. The place is pretty cool, but I do wish that their coffee drinks had more caffeine in them and that their cold drinks were colder (say, with actual ice in it). Still, I like the place, and I have only seen coffee chains where I can get truly cold drinks or blended coffee drinks in the downtown areas. And the people who work there do seem very nice, even though we can't understand each other. (Maybe that helps? :) )

Also, I bought my first souvenir today (not include the pictures I have taken and my memories, of course). In fact, I don't normally buy souvenirs at all even when I travel to interesting places. I was rather utilitarian, though, as I got a carrying case for my ping pong paddle---which is something I had been meaning to buy for several years. I did consider buying a nice stuffed octopus yesterday, and I will likely buy either a stuffed animal or something artistic at some point. Maybe when I go back to Nanjing Road (which is a ridiculously huge shopping area)?

Blue Eyes

Blue eyes and an American accent will apparently get one pretty far in some parts of town.

Old Friends, Old Town, Somerville Student, and Dumplings

I went to one of Shanghai's 'old town' areas tonight. Here is a really sweet picture of it. I went with Joy Zhang, who is one of my undergraduate students from Somerville (she's from Shanghai), and her mother. Joy knew that I sought dumplings, so we went to her favorite dumpling place. We also walked around to soak up the scenery, and I took some seriously awesome pictures. Competition for today's photoblog entry was absolutely fierce, so just wait until you see other pictures from today in my the picture gallery I post for my visit to China.

Yesterday I had dinner with Anatole Faykin, a Lloydie (class of 1996) who is living in Shanghai right now. He's lived here before, and he tends to move around a lot. I hadn't seen him since my birthday party in 2009---he was living in London at the time. I plan to see him again before I go. I am also planning to see Chris Shu, a fellow 1994 Beverly High grad, who I haven't seen since graduating from Beverly (or possibly early in summer 1994)! He's been living in Shanghai for many years. He started using an English name when he moved there; he used his Chinese name when he was at Beverly.

My lecture course on networks has also been very rewarding. I have worked very hard for the course on this trip, but the whole experience has been wonderful thus far---with lots more cool stuff on the way.

Oh, and I also saw a store whose name reminded me of a name of another old friend of mine (and, indeed, a friend who is actually from Shanghai).

Irony

It looks like I'm going to be supplied with a cell phone during my stay in Shanghai.

What Happens in Shanghai Stays in Shanghai

At about 1:30 pm or so, I'm going to get on the bus to Heathrow airport, from which I'll be flying to Shanghai! This will be my first trip to China, and probably the trip to which I have most been looking forward among any trip I've taken in the past several years. It's going to be awesome. I'll be working hard---I am teaching a 2-week summer school on network science---but it will also be a lot of fun. Even the hard work should be eminently worthwhile, as my lecture notes will basically be the first draft of what will eventually be an introductory book at the level of first-year applied math graduate students. I have one from high school who lives in Shanghai, and also one friend from Caltech who lives there. Plus, one of my Somerville students is from there, so I think the plan is for her to show me around. Two of my other Chinese students from Somerville also plan to be Shanghai during my trip, so I'll hang out with them as well. I also will try to visit other places in China as well during my trip. (My students were each trying to convince me to visit them in their hometowns.)

Update: According to the weather report about an hour ago, it was 97 degrees Farenheit in Shanghai and the overnight lows for the next few days are around 79-80 degrees. I knew this was coming. I am crossing my fingers that my place there will have air conditioning! There are also supposed to be thunderstorms, so we'll see how things go. But it certainly looks like I am going to transition from trying to be outside as much as possible to wanting to spend quality time inside...