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| Novel Energy Staff: From Left to right: Cathy, me, Miwi, Driver, Nancy, Lucy, and Moni |
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Ashley and her coworkers
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
From Alyssa
6/29/2011
The past few days have been busy at work- I have all of my projects culminating at the same time as well as the internship reflection paper to worry about. I have been also really working on my Chinese (both speaking and writing) with Ting Ting at the office. She laughs at me when I say something the wrong way, but normally she can understand what I’m getting at. I have also been thinking a lot about the fall semester back at AU, because I’m thinking of switching some classes around based on what I am learning and researching this summer at my internship. Right now, my classes in the fall will be about US Security Policy and Global & Human Security, but I’m actually considering switching to International Environmental Politics because I find the work I am doing fascinating right now.
The Great Wall trip we had on Saturday was really fun—I absolutely loved seeing it with my own eyes. It is every bit as cool as it is in all of the pictures. When I got home I wikipedia’d it to find out more about it, and it spans over 5,000 miles! That’s longer than NYC to LA by a significant distance. I was very impressed, as I’m sure everyone else is who has been to see it. I had been told by my parents (who went there in 2008) that it was really steep and hard to climb, but I was surprised at just how difficult it was. The builders of the wall made every single step a different width than the previous step, and it’s very steep. I feared for my life at times because I could see myself falling over the edge. Ashley and I are both terrified of heights—this was intense. But fun none-the-less. The scenery is breath-taking. I don’t think I have ever been anywhere in my life more beautiful than the Great Wall. (Besides maybe Vail, CO- it’s a tie.)
In other news, next week Ashley and I will be going to Seoul for 4 days before returning to the US! (Time went by so fast here; I can’t believe it’s almost time to go home.) I can’t wait to see Korea.
I think I definitely want to come back to China at some point in my life for an extended period of time. I have to convince Nick (my hopefully open-minded and adventurous boyfriend) to try to find a job in Beijing so we can move here some day for a bit. It’s an awesome city and I’m so glad I decided to do this internship.
Monday, June 27, 2011
At the Great Wall
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| The 4 of us as soon as we got to the top |
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| It was really steep |
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| Ashley showcasing the cannons |
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Alyssa, very happy to be there  |
Friday, June 24, 2011
From Alyssa
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| Alyssa, Professor Kiang, and co-worker Fan Jie at the office |
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| Ashley and Alyssa at the gate of the Lama Temple |
From Ashley
Blog 6.
Work this week was…well work. Monday I was sick due to either chicken
on a stick or spaghetti that I had for dinner on Sat. Alyssa and I
both had each, and we both were sick. The irony of it…we’d had chicken
on a stick before (sure from a different street vendor…so it’s
entirely different) but Dmitri totally was playing the safe card and
seeing how chicken on a stick made us feel the first time…we totally
were fine…but he was still in debate. Then second go around we got
sick…naturally he thought this was hilarious.
But so Tuesday, Miwi needed my computer (the only Mac in the office)
for her project so I was asked to switch with her. After work I met
Alyssa in Sanlitun for dinner (it’s the embassy area). We had Chinese
versions of American food…and I got a blue cheese hamburger and it
could have been the best burger I’ve ever had in my life. Then somehow
I lost my phone somewhere (my Chinese one that had no reception
anywhere…so not that devastated.)
So Wednesday was more of Miwi’s office area. She sits at the window
and has a lovely view…however it was HOT. The wall of her desk just
totally blocks the air. I was in shorts and a tank top just sweating
sitting down. Keep in mind they ACTUALLY had the air-conditioning on,
but as the norm, the window was open. I said I was hot, and Miwi was
like “well it helps if the window is closed.” So later I decided to
shut it…the problem is Lucy went right behind me and opened it. So
about 2 hours later Lucy asked me if I was hot…I said yes, and she
advised me to open the door to the private office next to me, and turn
on that air conditioner, again with the window open and the other one
on. This is not a great method of cooling down an area, but sure I’ll
go along. The part that hit me the hardest however was that I had just
read an article about how Shanghai is having to close businesses and
shopping areas on top of factories during the summer to reduce the
power usage and reroute it to homes. Clearly, we were wasting energy,
but what can you do? On a happier note…we all got cacti!
The new intern (Moni…I think) she’s from Hong Kong and looks so
young…she’s an undergraduate for sure and I think she’s really like
18…but she started this week. And because it was Cathy’s and Driver’s
(I don’t know his name…we nod and non-verbally communicate mostly)
birthday we got cake! So it was happy birthday and welcome cake. We
sang happy birthday and proceeded to listen to Josh Grobin and the
Fray for a while. Later in the afternoon my first shipment of Chinese
print catalogs to museums and universities went out. NYU, AU, and the
Freer Sackler were the biggies in the batch. Hopefully they’ll decide
to take some art!
Thursday started off like any normal workday…except for one reason or
another everyone was out of the office except for Cathy, Moni, and me.
Lunch was a surprise though. Meat is not eaten here at all like it is
in America, so I was trying to find a piece and kept looking at it.
Finally they asked me if I knew what it was. I said well clearly it’s
meat, and they all laughed. We had pigs feet for lunch…Later, I
realized I was having a hard time seeing (around like 3pm) so I had to
turn on the light (the lights-all but one—typically stay off. Within
the next hour it started massively thundering and lightening and a
huge downpour started. Of course it was the ONE-day the entire week
I’d actually dressed up for work. Thankfully I had my umbrella and
they gave me a poncho…and then Lucy dropped Moni and me at the metro.
It’s been strange here weather wise. Beijing does not get that much
rain, but due to the massively flooding in the southern region it’s
been raining here a lot more.
Work this week was…well work. Monday I was sick due to either chicken
on a stick or spaghetti that I had for dinner on Sat. Alyssa and I
both had each, and we both were sick. The irony of it…we’d had chicken
on a stick before (sure from a different street vendor…so it’s
entirely different) but Dmitri totally was playing the safe card and
seeing how chicken on a stick made us feel the first time…we totally
were fine…but he was still in debate. Then second go around we got
sick…naturally he thought this was hilarious.
But so Tuesday, Miwi needed my computer (the only Mac in the office)
for her project so I was asked to switch with her. After work I met
Alyssa in Sanlitun for dinner (it’s the embassy area). We had Chinese
versions of American food…and I got a blue cheese hamburger and it
could have been the best burger I’ve ever had in my life. Then somehow
I lost my phone somewhere (my Chinese one that had no reception
anywhere…so not that devastated.)
 |
| View from Miwi's desk |
So Wednesday was more of Miwi’s office area. She sits at the window
and has a lovely view…however it was HOT. The wall of her desk just
totally blocks the air. I was in shorts and a tank top just sweating
sitting down. Keep in mind they ACTUALLY had the air-conditioning on,
but as the norm, the window was open. I said I was hot, and Miwi was
like “well it helps if the window is closed.” So later I decided to
shut it…the problem is Lucy went right behind me and opened it. So
about 2 hours later Lucy asked me if I was hot…I said yes, and she
advised me to open the door to the private office next to me, and turn
on that air conditioner, again with the window open and the other one
on. This is not a great method of cooling down an area, but sure I’ll
go along. The part that hit me the hardest however was that I had just
read an article about how Shanghai is having to close businesses and
shopping areas on top of factories during the summer to reduce the
power usage and reroute it to homes. Clearly, we were wasting energy,
but what can you do? On a happier note…we all got cacti!
 |
| Miwi's cactus is on the left, and mine is on the right |
The new intern (Moni…I think) she’s from Hong Kong and looks so
young…she’s an undergraduate for sure and I think she’s really like
18…but she started this week. And because it was Cathy’s and Driver’s
(I don’t know his name…we nod and non-verbally communicate mostly)
birthday we got cake! So it was happy birthday and welcome cake. We
sang happy birthday and proceeded to listen to Josh Grobin and the
Fray for a while. Later in the afternoon my first shipment of Chinese
print catalogs to museums and universities went out. NYU, AU, and the
Freer Sackler were the biggies in the batch. Hopefully they’ll decide
to take some art!
Thursday started off like any normal workday…except for one reason or
another everyone was out of the office except for Cathy, Moni, and me.
Lunch was a surprise though. Meat is not eaten here at all like it is
in America, so I was trying to find a piece and kept looking at it.
Finally they asked me if I knew what it was. I said well clearly it’s
meat, and they all laughed. We had pigs feet for lunch…Later, I
realized I was having a hard time seeing (around like 3pm) so I had to
turn on the light (the lights-all but one—typically stay off. Within
the next hour it started massively thundering and lightening and a
huge downpour started. Of course it was the ONE-day the entire week
I’d actually dressed up for work. Thankfully I had my umbrella and
they gave me a poncho…and then Lucy dropped Moni and me at the metro.
It’s been strange here weather wise. Beijing does not get that much
rain, but due to the massively flooding in the southern region it’s
been raining here a lot more.
 |
| Chinese Birthday Cake |
Thursday, June 23, 2011
From Dmitriy
Regarding my short and long distance journeys, I have already been to a numerous famous Buddhists’ temples (Dalai lama temple, Temple of Heaven), emperors’ palaces (Forbidden City, Summer Palace), Mao Tse-tung mausoleum in Beijing.
Ten days ago, I went to Shanghai where I spend three days. At the beginning, it was not very exciting trip since it was raining and I did not have an umbrella; a hotel where I made online reservation was not the same as on online pictures and did not have an internet access that is why I needed to look for a new hotel.
Ten days ago, I went to Shanghai where I spend three days. At the beginning, it was not very exciting trip since it was raining and I did not have an umbrella; a hotel where I made online reservation was not the same as on online pictures and did not have an internet access that is why I needed to look for a new hotel.
Also, it took me about three hours to find a map of Shanghai, which is very helpful in explaining to taxi drivers where you want to go if you speak no Chinese.
However, after I resolved all these difficulties, my opinion about this city has changed drastically. I was impressed by architecture of mostly 18th and 19th century 5 star hotels along the Shanghai’s bund, which in unison harmonize with a modern business district; I call it Chinese Manhattan.
From Dmitriy--Internship
As it was arranged, I started working for China DR Solution Company. The company specializes in e-commerce and consists of two branches, one is located in USA and the other in China. China DR Solution’s branch in China is the typical example of an offshore internet business where workers from Vietnam, Malaysia and, of course, China perform different types of services through the internet. Such services include, for example, work with internet search engines, such as Google, and numerous article publishing websites.
Currently they are working on the contracts they received from BlackBerry to promote new BlackBerry phones on Google (Malaysia) using different combinations of key words. In other words, they make sure that if somebody in Malaysia wants to Google BlackBerry phones, the contractor’s advertisement will appear among top ten search results.
I have been working on editing articles using specific key words, which are attached to a specific code and linked to contractors’ websites, and posting them on a certain websites. The whole purpose for this is that when next time somebody finds interesting online articles, a reader can go further in his or her research by clicking on a key word, which would take a reader straight to contractors’ website.
By the end of my internship, I will be able to learn how e-commerce works in sphere of providing internet services to contractors from different parts of the world.
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