The eggs were soft boiled and need to be re-cooked (maybe not the best idea, but I hate to waste food). Ended up having PB&J sandwiches for breakfast. I have nearly decimated my jars of PB and J in less than a 48 hour period. I went to the lab where I sat and watched them choose cutting enzymes. I kind of fell asleep while they were trying to tell me something so they told me to take a nap like Leo does in the afternoon. Good advice. Nap, I did. At 930ish I went in to talk to Dr. Hongmei. She explained some stuff to me and it has helped increase my understanding of what we are trying to accomplish in the lab. I now have a goal to work towards which is awesome (everyone needs a plan to be successful). After that we had tea together with Jimmy. I tried the green tea for the first time. It was okay, but I like the chrysanthemum tea better. Dr. Hongmei told me about some places that I need to visit such as places to buy antiques and the pearl markets.
After our break, I went back to the lab and learned about plasmid extraction and using Beers law to determine if the sample extracted was DNA. I did this with Chungli. We went to lunch at about 1140 and I had a stir fry with mushrooms, peppers, meat, and of course, rice. It was more than acceptable. On the way back to the dorms, I ran into Pimpan's boyfriend, henceforth to be referred to as the tomato man as he works on tomatoes. We talked about lunch and the Thai food that he made last night and was enjoying for his meal today. He said that it would be too spicy for me. I told him that he will have to teach me how to make it. (Definitely not a stranger to spicy foods...Dad is always creating dishes that my mom can't eat because of the level of heat.) Pimpan's boyfriend lives on the floor below my room.
After work today at 500 I am going to see the tomato man's lab and greenhouses and going to look at the pool for swimming. It may cost a lot to swim: 30 entries will be about 650 Yuan, 120 dollars or so. Mom says I need to do it for my mental well-being and that I shouldn't let the cost inhibit me from joining.
I went back to work and watched as Pimpan picked primers for DNA splicing, I then started showing her photos of home. They liked the birds and the bluebonnets although on the translation website that they have it said that bluebonnets were native to Scotland. I prepared some Micro pipette tips for the autoclave and then watched a few other things. We left work at about 400 and went to see the tomato man's place. His real name is Jay Jay. He is working on mapping the genetics of tomatoes and looking at the inheritance of tomato traits. His tomato plants were some of the best I had ever seen, They had huge tomatoes which looked terrific. We then walked around the greenhouse area. They do a lot of vegetable breeding here at the CAAS. They had tons of eggplants and cucumbers. We walked over to the Hydroponics greenhouses and looked inside them. They were pretty impressive though the general system did not look very efficient. Because the plant had no way to support itself without roots (hence hydroponics), each plant was tied to the roof and just kinda hung in the water.
Overall the tour was pretty interesting. At 530 I went back to my room to get swimming stuff and then went to the lab to wait for the guy who was taking me to the pool. We rode there on bikes though it is easily within walking distance. My bike was really sketchy. The pedal was bent which made me feel as if I was slipping off every time I pushed on that pedal. It was also a tiny bike which made for some interesting riding. And that reminds me: Last night while I was running, I was running faster then most of the people biking, I was passing them in the bike lane which was kind of funny. The pass for 30 swims was 630 Yuan. I went ahead and bought one and then was required to buy a cap as they were mandatory. They have you do a "deep water" test in order to allow you to swim in water that is maybe 5.5 feet deep. You had to swim 200 meters without stopping. Yes, I passed. They then give you a deep water pass which allows you to swim in the deep end of the pool. It is a laminated card with your photo on it. I had to get small photos made for that though and the people in the lab had fun making them for me. I swam until the pool closed for my session at 730 then biked back to the dorm where I went down to reboil my eggs. I took my Ukulele and played while I did that. While I was down there one of the guys asked me if I was working on my Ph. D. which made me laugh. He took it well when I told him I was just 18. I got my eggs reboiled then came upstairs and ate eggs and nuts and fruits. It was a decent dinner if I say so myself - definitely preparing myself for those meals at college in the fall.
Today I tried to teach some peeps about the difference between a "ch" sound as in peach and a "sh" sound as in fish. Most people cannot make the "ch" sound. Also I tried to teach one of the women in my lab how to say "tree". When she said it, it sounded like "chewy". It was quite amusing.
I may be cooking for Pimpan on Thursday. She wants me to make pasta, Chicken Parmesan, and a tomato sauce. I will use the tomatoes from Jay Jay to make the sauce. There is a blender here so I should be able to make a decent one. We found out the Chinese symbol for wheat so we can buy flour to make pasta. I am going to need to find a good pasta recipe and figure out how to make it without a roller. I think that we may have a rolling pin though. I will probably start with that tomorrow evening at the latest.
The air is pretty clear tonight so I will probably run again in the morning. Yay for breathable air!
Chungli teaching me how to analyze samples with light
blue skys
Jay Jay the tomato man
places to go
The bike I used
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