The Fourth Day

This morning the internet went down and I could not get into contact with any of my peoples in America. It was very depressing. I spent the morning working out, I jump roped for 20 minutes and did some other stuff. My breakfast this morning will be hard boiled eggs, pineapple bread, Ginkgo nuts, and fruits. It will be good. I need to get a refill on my water, to do this one goes down to the front desk and gesticulates wildly until the person there understands you. I also  need to go to Wu-mart later today and get towels, and brushes to clean things with, and more food. The Ginkgo nuts are great and I need some bananas.

This morning was busy. I got to work early at about 800 and there was no one there except Wendy. I have such a hard time understanding him it is not even funny.  Trying to talk with him is almost impossible. he knows the words and what he is trying to say but he cannot pronounce anything.  I had a lull until about 830 when Pimpan came in and we started working. We cleaned tobacco seeds and got them ready for testing. this involves ethanol, bleach and water being pouring into the seed container separately. The container is then shaken for varying amounts of time and then using a micro pipette. After this I learned about gel electrophoresis, and watched as Chunlin prepared a gel for running. After this we analyzed the gel and selected the lengths of the DNA strands that were wanted using UV light. (The indicator used glowed in UV light). These we cut out of the gel and then used a separation kit to extract the DNA from the gel. During this Leo was cleaning small pots, he made a rather incredible stack of them. This morning I learned a lot about the how the cutter enzymes work and the how the electrophoresis works. 

For lunch we went to the cafeteria and I had a egg, pork, cucumber, carrot stir fry with the first sticky rice I have eaten in China (rice is good), and a Lotus root, it almost has a shape like Swiss cheese, it had the same texture as Jicama, it was pretty good, I liked this meal more then any of the others that I have had at that place. Leo, Chunlin and another whose name I do not know yet came and eat lunch we me. Dr. Hongmei came in, she has made plans for me to go to the Olympic Park this Saturday with her son and some people that she wants me to meet. She said that it is about a 30 minute car ride from here. After visiting the park we are going to have lunch. I may be making Thai food with Pimpan for dinner on that day as well. I should be able to make it to the Wu-mart after work today. Pimpan knew the folks that I had dinner with last night, she said that they taught her how to make the Bangladeshi food as well, and she said she would teach me.

Something that is kind of funny but may be a result of the communist system is that the people in the lab are not supposed to do dishes, (the lab ones) or at least are encouraged not to, there is someone who comes around and does dishes. Also funnyish, one of the security guard that controls the door to get into the building where the lab is about 15 years old. I was walking around the other day and saw him smoking, all I could think of was the M*A*S*H episode, "The Moose" where the head of the family is about 13 and smoking, except that this kid looks younger. Also the police for the most part wear combat fatigues. 

 Cleaning tobacco seed

 tobacco seed, there are a ton of them in there

Chunlin placing spliced DNA on the gel

Leo's pot pile with me, Chunlin, and other

growing taller, pot pile

me and Chunlin before lunch after separating DNA samples from gels

Lunch; notice the lotus roots in the front.

The AQI is at its lowest since I have been here, it is at 86 which is very good for beijing, it is still higher then in Texas most days but about 150 point lower then yesterday. I saw blue sky for the first time today since I have been here

I have been using Wikipedia a lot this week as well, some of the things the lab people do not know how to explain in English so I use Wiki to find what I need.

This afternoon was pretty slow, Pimpan showed me how to sow tobacco into the testing medium in Petri dishes. So I sowed the seeds we sterilized this morning into the dishes. Jimmy showed up at around 230, while I was in the middle of a dish. We soon finished with the sowing and after that in the lab there was a lull in activity. Leo even started playing that virus game that was popular on the IPhones last year.

Due to this lull at 400 Jimmy, Leo and I walked over to the Wu-mart where I restocked on ginkgo nuts, got papaya, other nuts, a different type of bread, a brush and some Asian fruits.  On the walk over there we saw a bike with a huge load (look in the photos). On the way back from the store the middle schools let out and we saw the uniforms that they have to wear. Also on the way back there was a back hoe parked as if it were a car in the parallel parking spots. Walking up the stairs I ran into Salma and we talked, she asked about my projects and other stuff. One of her daughters was kind of hanging out in the doorway while we spoke.  I may at some point go play Ukulele for the kids, but I do not know as of this moment. 

 Sowing Tobacco

Sown tobacco, the seeds are small; zoom in

 Check out the load that this biker is carrying,

 Sweet ride dude

Dinner was good, I ate what I got from the Wu-Mart, nuts cherries a weird fruit that I do not know the name of, hard boiled eggs and a sweet bread. It was very good. I also scrubbed out the floor in the shower as it was pretty dirty. right now I am watching a Star Trek before heading to bed.

Good day for all in America, good night for me.