ABCDE

A is for Apex

A couple of days ago, Ben (my teammate) and I ventured to climb the mountain next to the school. It's called Niujiao Shan (Bull's Horn Peak), and it has a path with 500 something steps leading to the top. On our way up, we encountered surprisingly old people (still able to climb mountains!) and a frighteningly large bee. All mountain pictures courtesy of Ben:

The mountain as viewed from campus. Note the little pavilion thing at the top.

Two cats that we saw on our way to the mountain.
Ben says they should be named Yin and Yang.

Me heroically climbing the mountain with my brand new knock-off
Converse All Stars that cost 30 Yuan (~5 dollars).

View from top of mountain.
This looks over at the place where we took the first mountain picture.

View from top, other side.

B is for Bar
Tuesday night, Ben and I decided to go explore the nightlife of Dalian. Following the suggestions of a guidebook and the internet, we headed to a certain Makewei jiuba, a.k.a. Dave's Bar. The bar was mostly empty and we ended up playing with the bar cat and chatting with the 19 yr old bartender, who was nice enough to offer us free sunflower seeds to munch on. She told us that the weekend is when the bar comes alive with patrons from all different countries. We're going back tomorrow night. I'm still looking for an expat...

One of the few photographs that I've taken in China that has any artistic merit. I like the contrast between the green Tsingtao beer and the bartender's red shirt. I like contrast between the white kitten and its black tail.

His name is Bush, and apparently, he drinks beer.

Anybody is allowed to write on the walls.
I'm going to bring a marker the next time I go and leave another enigmatic note.
Look, Lily, it's Russian! What does it say?

Matrioshka and foreign bills

Zhongshan Square at night is all lit up full of teenagers playing badminton and kicking feathered hacky sacks.

C is for Class

This Wednesday, Ben and I started teaching a condensed version of 6.001 to a group of about 40 students here. As you can see from the pictures, the class is extremely gender unbalanced. Out of the 40 students, less than 5 are girls. Everybody except one person in the class is a graduate student. One guy is in his late 20's. I think he has a thing for me. He just sent me an email in which he called me a "cutie". For now, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and attribute it to his not to great English abilities...

Left side of the room

Right side of the room. Red shirt guy is in both pictures.

Wednesday night, we gave a lecture on MIT culture. Before the lecture, a couple of girls came up to us and asked whether Scot Frank came with us. She was highly disappointed when we told her that he isn't here. Apparently, Scot Frank has quite a following in China. That girl (Janet) is the leader of the pack. She gets really dreamy every time anyone mentions anything about Scot.

D is for Dining
Usually, Ben and I eat at the cafeteria, where we don't have to pay anything. Unfortunately, the cafeteria's open hours are slightly phase-shifted from our normal eating hours, so sometimes, we go buy our own food across the street. Here, we can buy a bowl of noodles or a large plate of dumplings for just 5 yuan (< $1). Our hosts have also been kind enough to invite us out to eat for a few meals.

Flat shrimp. Apparently a Dalian specialty.
One of our students says he's going to invite us to eat those.

Silkworms in cocoons. They wriggle.
We didn't eat these.

They express energy in kilojoules instead of calories here.

KFC should never be repeatedly written. KFCKFCKFCKFCKFCKFCKFC...

E is for Enigma
Recall the note that I wrote at the Shanghai Museum of Art. Turns out, I got another response from it:

Hello stranger,i am shocked by your "sad melting panda",which makes me find your paper directly among the others.Strangly,it seems that i can feel something u held back behind the words on the paper. Or should i say ,i just find some part of myself on u.I don't know... ...i don't know......what u think,what i want,why i took u paper,why i write this crap to u (in my poor english)... ...May be just because u are a stranger to me,even a stranger doesnot really exist... ...may be just because i like the words-"hello stranger."the first words Natalie Portman said to Jude Law in the movie... ...

Well,please forgive my poor english.

Anyway,bless u and your family fine.

ning

Unfortunately, I'm unlikely to get anymore responses from that note as that girl took it with her. To reinforce my image as an enigmatic figure (HA!), I leave you with an unintentionally interesting picture of me taken in front of a fountain on campus.