北京大学 - My New Job

Sorry about the Chinese characters, I just figured out how to type in Chinese, so I wanted to show off my new-found ability. The characters are the name of my newest place of work, Peking University, where I've joined a Quantum Optics research group with the nifty acronym CREAM. My advisor (stylin' photo) wants me to start working on a terrifyingly complicated simulation - something I had counted on never having to do. I'm not sure what it's about yet, but I think it has something to do with EIT. The University is really good though, and life was starting to get dangerously easy in Beijing. Hopefully I'll be able to extricate myself by February or March, otherwise I'll have to give up on my already trashed schedule (should've been halfway to Delft by now).

I'd hoped that at a first-class University like 北京大学 (sorry), I'd get some kind of special pass that would get me into all of the super-illegal websites. Instead, I have to sign on with a special card (which costs me money), and all I get are the state news agencies and Foxnews.com. How ironic.

Other new developments include the theft of my awesome orange folding bike, leaving me with the hand-me-down pictured below. It's not so bad, I've finally figured out how to re-attach the pedal when it falls off, fixing the tire only costs twelve cents a pop, and the chain doesn't usually fall off. More dangerous, the brakes rarely do anything at all, and the back end of the beast sounds like it could part ways with me at any point. Overall, it's better than the one my French flat-mate had to ride, who complained he felt "molested" by the seat.


Christmas is also getting into full gear here, with techno-jingle bells playing in the malls and lots of misspelled X-mas greetings painted on windows or hung from the ceiling. I was pleased to see that all my sparkling wine needs would be satisfied, if at a somewhat outrageous price (below). Everyone seems really excited about Christmas though, and I've already been invited to a number of parties, so I'll be curious to see the Chinese take on this one.


Finally, I've discovered a brilliant way to dry your shoes after washing the stink of six months out of them, below. Lori and I had experimented with another scheme where we filled my water bottle with boiling water, and wrapped it in wet stuff, but this one I was really proud of, even though it doesn't really work.