zubkavich (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} zubkavich) wrote,@ 2009-06-07 19:44:00 |
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It's Monday morning here in China while you guys enjoy your Sunday evening time.
The past two days have been pretty crazy. We had meetings all day Saturday, getting a quick tour of the University and then looking at student work, meeting some staff and discussing curriculum, scheduling and seeing if there was enough overlap to have our two schools interact on some level (maybe even partnership). It's involved, complex and I could feel my body getting really tired by late afternoon as I tried to adjust to the 12 hour time shift. We covered some initial ground, decided we'd continue on Monday and called it a day.
That evening we had a special banquet dinner with the Dean of the University. She's also the wife of the Governor of this province, so we were treated really, really well and, after a special tea ceremony, ate a wide variety of gourmet dishes that included goose liver, sashimi, grilled fish, marinated eggplant, donkey meat dumplings and mango jelly.
Heading back to our hotel for a couple more drinks and good conversation, I collapsed in an exhausted heap.
Sunday was our day off and a chance for us to tour the city and take in the local culture. Harbin is close to the northern border of China and was controlled by the Russians in the past, so there's a lot of Russian architecture/influence around the city. Russian gift shops and vodka abound. Harbin is China's tenth largest city, with a population of 9.4 million people (over 10 million if you count outlying areas). To give you some perspective on that - Toronto has around 3 million (5.5 if you including outlying areas) and is Canada's most populated city. Most locals here look at Harbin as a medium-sized city in comparison to Beijing's 17.4 million people. Crazy stuff.
After wandering and shopping, we saw a group of portrait artists set up in a public area. Their skills were readily apparent and when I asked about pricing, they were charging the equivalent of $5 for a full colour 25 minute pastel portrait. Intrigued, I sat down and let one of the artists draw me. Harbin isn't exactly a tourist heavy city, so we were already getting stares as some of the only Caucasians around... but once we sat down and let the artists draw us, a huge crowd formed. It was really odd. Suddenly we were like celebrities and the artists there had a slew of business from locals who wanted to watch and also be drawn after us.
Once my portrait was done, I was disappointed/amused with the results - even though the artist had examples of very sensitive and beautiful portraiture, he didn't accurately portray me at all. He smoothed out my features and idealized everything to try and make it extra-flattering, but it just ended up looking like I was a teenager with perfect skin, shimmering eyes, red lips and nary a wrinkle. We assume it's because he didn't want to offend me, but I was honestly hoping he'd accurately portray what he saw instead of making me a member of New Kids on the Block or something. Still, there was much laughter for the rest of the day as our crew discussed how undeniably "pretty" teen pop star Jim was. I'll have to scan that piece when I get home so that all of you can join in the horror.
PHOTOS HERE
After a tasty dumpling lunch (7 people mowing down on food and beers totaled out to about $20 - crazy) we were told we were heading to the Tiger Park. The Manchurian Tiger Park was amazing and horrifying at the same time. Over 500 tigers and other big cats in a massive complex with van tours and a winding walking path fenced in so you could get close to the animals. I've never seen anything like it. The animals had a lot of space to roam and seemed well kept overall, but it also seemed really cruel and unusual as the staff threw live chickens into areas so the tigers would shred them to death for our amusement. Hard to describe in a brief journal post here.
TIGER PHOTOS HERE
A multi-course Chinese dinner back at the hotel, a couple more drinks and I crashed again.
This morning I'm awake and getting prepped. We're back to the University for more meetings. Sean and I are doing a presentation on Seneca and the Ryan film this afternoon. Not sure how many students will be in attendance. After that, not sure.
Gonna shower and snag some breakfast here.
The past two days have been pretty crazy. We had meetings all day Saturday, getting a quick tour of the University and then looking at student work, meeting some staff and discussing curriculum, scheduling and seeing if there was enough overlap to have our two schools interact on some level (maybe even partnership). It's involved, complex and I could feel my body getting really tired by late afternoon as I tried to adjust to the 12 hour time shift. We covered some initial ground, decided we'd continue on Monday and called it a day.
That evening we had a special banquet dinner with the Dean of the University. She's also the wife of the Governor of this province, so we were treated really, really well and, after a special tea ceremony, ate a wide variety of gourmet dishes that included goose liver, sashimi, grilled fish, marinated eggplant, donkey meat dumplings and mango jelly.
Heading back to our hotel for a couple more drinks and good conversation, I collapsed in an exhausted heap.
Sunday was our day off and a chance for us to tour the city and take in the local culture. Harbin is close to the northern border of China and was controlled by the Russians in the past, so there's a lot of Russian architecture/influence around the city. Russian gift shops and vodka abound. Harbin is China's tenth largest city, with a population of 9.4 million people (over 10 million if you count outlying areas). To give you some perspective on that - Toronto has around 3 million (5.5 if you including outlying areas) and is Canada's most populated city. Most locals here look at Harbin as a medium-sized city in comparison to Beijing's 17.4 million people. Crazy stuff.
After wandering and shopping, we saw a group of portrait artists set up in a public area. Their skills were readily apparent and when I asked about pricing, they were charging the equivalent of $5 for a full colour 25 minute pastel portrait. Intrigued, I sat down and let one of the artists draw me. Harbin isn't exactly a tourist heavy city, so we were already getting stares as some of the only Caucasians around... but once we sat down and let the artists draw us, a huge crowd formed. It was really odd. Suddenly we were like celebrities and the artists there had a slew of business from locals who wanted to watch and also be drawn after us.
Once my portrait was done, I was disappointed/amused with the results - even though the artist had examples of very sensitive and beautiful portraiture, he didn't accurately portray me at all. He smoothed out my features and idealized everything to try and make it extra-flattering, but it just ended up looking like I was a teenager with perfect skin, shimmering eyes, red lips and nary a wrinkle. We assume it's because he didn't want to offend me, but I was honestly hoping he'd accurately portray what he saw instead of making me a member of New Kids on the Block or something. Still, there was much laughter for the rest of the day as our crew discussed how undeniably "pretty" teen pop star Jim was. I'll have to scan that piece when I get home so that all of you can join in the horror.
PHOTOS HERE
After a tasty dumpling lunch (7 people mowing down on food and beers totaled out to about $20 - crazy) we were told we were heading to the Tiger Park. The Manchurian Tiger Park was amazing and horrifying at the same time. Over 500 tigers and other big cats in a massive complex with van tours and a winding walking path fenced in so you could get close to the animals. I've never seen anything like it. The animals had a lot of space to roam and seemed well kept overall, but it also seemed really cruel and unusual as the staff threw live chickens into areas so the tigers would shred them to death for our amusement. Hard to describe in a brief journal post here.
TIGER PHOTOS HERE
A multi-course Chinese dinner back at the hotel, a couple more drinks and I crashed again.
This morning I'm awake and getting prepped. We're back to the University for more meetings. Sean and I are doing a presentation on Seneca and the Ryan film this afternoon. Not sure how many students will be in attendance. After that, not sure.
Gonna shower and snag some breakfast here.
