Back in Oklahoma!

We made it home safe and sound! It was a long and wonderful journey and in many respects- life changing for my students. They had the opportunity to see China for the first time and I had the opportunity to see China again through their eyes and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  Over the course of 10 days, we saw parts of Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Beijing. We experienced remarkable architecture, food, art and historic landmarks. We climbed on the Great Wall, stood atop the highest building in China, looked into the eyes of the loveable great panda and talked with Chinese administrators anxious to learn about the American model of student affairs- more specifically, leadership development and career services. 

My students and staff were remarkable ambassadors for the United States and for Oklahoma State University. Everywhere we went we saw old friends, (former participants from the International Symposium on Student Affairs hosted by OSU) and made new friends. We tried new foods (some great and some, by our pallets, questionable), rode in infamous Chinese cabs through crazy traffic without screaming audibly, sang Michael Jackson tunes with a van driver who understood no English and couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket but nevertheless, made it abundantly clear how much he loved  American  pop music. Our laughter and singing on that van as we toured downtown Shanghai, will stand as one of my most joyful and indelible memories of the trip.

Our group endured novel bathroom experiences where water and paper products were seemingly never available at the same time in the same place. This made us appreciate our hotel rooms even more.   We had the opportunity to meet with young college students and more clearly understand their fears about studying in the US. Some young people believed that all Americans were violent and disagreeable based on learning about us through music, video and TV.  Others were excited to see Americans on their campus and wanted to learn more about us.

We were reminded that although this is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it is still a communist country and things that we take for granted (access to the internet for example) are not guaranteed. Blogging was complicated in China. Rather than writing and posting our comments   directly online, we had to send our information through a third party who posted our information for us. This small inconvenience was telling.

 It was by all measures, a remarkable trip. We appreciated having the opportunity to see another part of our small world. The “six degrees of separation” took on new meaning as we made connections half way around the world. Thanks to our OSU orange shirts, students heard “go pokes” as they were leaving the Great Wall from a couple from Florida.  While visiting the US Consulate General office in Chengdu, China, one of my students discovered that he and the new commerce officer shared much family history in common.

Vivian Wang, an OSU doctoral student helped us make all the arrangements in China- domestic travel, hotels and transportation and without her help, our trip would not have come together as it did. I would also like to thank her family in Shanghai for meeting us at the maglev train and treating us to a wonderful evening.

I remain very proud of my students and colleagues. We traveled well together and had a ball!

-Dr. Bird

Day 9: Homeward Bound!

Ni hao! (which means hello!)

The Great Wall of China

Here's just a short recap of our very full day in Beijing... we have so much to share with you, but we'll post a more extended version soon! Today we watched the sunrise national flag ceremony in Tiananmen Square, traveled about an hour outside Beijing to visit the Great Wall, explored on our own (without Vivian or another Mandarin speaker!) and used our newfound talent of negotiating, toured the "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium and "Water Cube" Olympic Aquatic Center, enjoyed one last large, delicious Chinese family-style meal, and shopped before packing to fly back to the U.S.

Segway Scooters at the Olympic Stadium

While the day was, as usual, full of awesome and surreal moments, a definitely unique and standout point of today was renting Segway Scooters and racing around the Olympic track (see photo). We depart for the airport at about 4:00 am, which is the reason for our brevity now, but we are so excited to share more photos, stories, and details about our adventures upon our return!

The "Birds Nest" - home to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing

Day 8: Beijing!

Ni-Hao from Beijing! read more after the pictures...

We landed just a few hours ago and it's hard to believe that our adventure is nearly over.We have done, seen, and eaten so many things it's hard to believe we have been here only 8 days. We are so thankful to all our wonderful hosts along the way that have made us feel like celebrities. We flew here form Chengdu which we have declared to be over favorite city. Chengdu is located in the Sichuan Providence, Chengdu is a lot like Oklahoma: centrally located, good food, and the friendliest people anywhere.

 We were greeted by our hosts from Southwest Jiaotong University and taken to our wonderful hotel called the California Garden. Abby says that is nothing like California but it was very lovely. After a good night's rest we loaded up and headed to Southwest Jiaotong University for a formal meeting and Dr. Bird and Dr. Ehlers lectures. While they were presenting, the grads got to see the sights with some students that recently studied at OSU. They told us that they miss Eskimo Joe's Cheese Fries and Dr. Pepper which we are beginning to miss too. We took a tour of their student services including residence halls and counseling services.
 SWJTU has impressive facilities and wonderful staff. After our tour we went to our most formal meal yet hosted by SWJTU and tasted some of the Sichuan cuisine which is known for it's hot flavor. We also learned that when toasting someone of a higher rank than you that you should put your glass lower theirs, this can be tricky because our hosts always lower their glasses first.
 

After lunch we headed to the hotel for a quick change and finally went were on our way to see the PANDAS!!!! Once inside we immediately took the tram to the top of the park and saw about four panda's playing and wrestling which caused a lot of oohs and aahs from the crowd. We also saw four baby pandas which have to be the cutest babies on earth.

We were not able to hold the panda like Jackie Chan, unless you count the panda that Lena held at the gift shop for photo opt. We also saw some red panda's which are actually from the raccoon family. Before dinner we hit the mall to do a little shopping and didn't make it inside because of all the people selling their wears outside of the mall. We met a lovely woman from Tibet (Chengdu is the gateway to Tibet) whom is currently living in Chengdu because her son is attending school there and she was selling jewelry to help pay his tuition. Dinner was at a Tea House and yet again the food was amazing. Ally and Lena drank Peanut Juice also known as peanut milk.

We were way too full and had the opportunity to attend a Sichuan Opera complete with fire breathing, masking juggling, shadow puppets, and the main event mask changing, We are so grateful for our dear friends at SWJTU for making this happen, it was a high light of our trip.

This morning we had a early wake up call and went to the US Consulate Office in Chengdu. We met with a couple commerce officers to talk about the purpose of our visit and the business climate in Chengdu. Starbucks was the next stop and Abby says tastes like Starbucks in Seattle: thank you global markets!

Chengdu University was our next where we saw old friends from the summer symposium and had a very attentive and interactive audience that made us feel like pop stars. We had another lunch with the most beautiful table that had goldfish bowl in the middle. The food again was amazing. After a short meeting we headed to the airport for Beijing. Dr. Ehlers made through security without incident for the first time and hadn't been put probation until she lost Dr. Bird for a short time. (By lost I mean that Dr. Bird told her where she was going, and when the rest of us asked where she went - because we needed to board - she sent search party in the wrong direction)

Beijing is beautiful so far and we have an early morning to go see the flag raising at Tienanmen Square and then it's off to Great Wall. Signing off from China for now.

Good Night....or Good Morning.

- Abby, Lena, & Ally

Day7: Leaving GuangZho

We just left GuangZhou and now we are on our way to Chendu. It was such a short day in Guang Zhou but we were able to cram a lot into the trip. We started our stay off with a bang with having a loving lunch while overlooking the Pearl River with the Student Affairs Administrators from Sun Yet Son University. We had lovely Cantonese food and Lena had been talking about this Coconut Jello that she loves and low and behold if it didn’t show up on the table by pure dumb luck.

We also surprised Lena with a birthday cake and it included Lechi nuts which is also Lena’s favorite fruit. Turns out having your birthday in 10-10-10 in China means that you get your wish with food. We also had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Di’s son whom is 15 and has better English then most American students of his age. He told us a lot about GuangZho and about the city’s preparations for the Asian Games which they will be hosting in a couple weeks.

We made a quick change of clothes and headed over to campus to meet some of the students in the 2+2 program in which students in the HRAD program do two years of study in China and then they do two years of study at OSU. All the male students sat on one side of the room and all the female students sat on the other side of the room which is something you would never see in an American classroom but surely leads to less distractions from learning. The students were very bright and asked us lots of great questions about coming to Oklahoma State. They were very curious about living on campus, part-time employment in America, and how they could connect with local students. Afterwards Dr. Bird and Dr. Ehlers were presented with coins from the Asian Games and the rest of us were given goats which are the little mascots of the games. The students gave us the mascots and explained each of their names to us and what they meant.

The weather in Guang Zho is very tropical and humid which means that it is very green but also that rains at the drop of a hat so when we went to take a group picture in front of the lovely banner they made for us we had to use umbrellas until it was picture time. After pictures we went on a short campus bus tour and then they took us shopping. We went to a flea market in which we were able to use our bargaining skills and we able to get a lot of fun trinkets to bring home. We didn’t have much time before it was time to go on a river dinner cruise. We had a buffet dinner which was a first for our trip in China and we were able to city all the city lights which were so beautiful.

We were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel and our eyes were closed before we could hit the pillow. We have to be up early to check out of our hotel and head to the new campus of Sun Yet Son which is on an island. We were able to see our friend George one more time for breakfast before we loaded the bus and we told him to make sure to come and visit us soon in Oklahoma.

Once arriving at the university Dr. Bird and Dr. Ehlers spoke first to the province as Sun Yet Son had made our speaking series into a one day Student Affairs Symposium. While they were speaking the rest of us were treated to lovely While they were speaking the rest of us were treated to lovely tea, bananas, and green mandarin oranges. In China mandarin oranges are not just orange and these ones were much bigger than the ones in the US and very tasty. At the end of their speeches we went to lunch at a restaurant that translates to The Boat. It was so beautiful and the whole restaurant was on stilts.

We also had our first experience today with Eastern Toilets and you can see why It Is more sanitary but it causes you to be glad that you do yoga on a regular basis as Dr. Ehlers has been doing the whole trip.

Day 5: Guangzhou

We were up early today to travel to Guangzhou which is in the Canton Province of China. We were very excited to meet the students in the 2 + 2 program in Hotel/Restaurant management. The first cohort will be coming to campus this next fall so we were excited to meet them and talk about OSU. We had a full room of students (over 50) attend our meeting and it is a national holiday in China today! They were full of questions about OSU and Stillwater, and all of them seemed excited to see us and visit about the program. As with all students, they were concerned about roommates, food, the community, and what there is to do for fun in Stillwater. One young lady wanted to know if we had parties on campus. I thought Dr. Bird fielded that question very appropriately! :)

It was Lena's birthday today and we celebrated in style. Dr. Bird ordered her an amazing cake and we enjoyed it after our lunch. We had another large banquet meal upon checking into our hotel, and the most interesting thing to eat was the eggplant with sweet and sour sauce. I'll have to try that when I get home. I think Lena had a very memorable day and a birthday she will never forget.

After our meeting with the students (and a million pictures) we loaded on a bus for a tour of the SYSU campus. It a very large, beautiful campus. Guangzhou is tropical so there are lots of palm trees and rain forest flowers and plants.  After our tour we were taken to a very unique shopping center. It had hundreds of small shops, all under the same roof, and they each sold one unique item. One shop would sell watches, the next purses, another hair ornaments, etc. Very interesting because there was no end to what you could buy and the further you wandered into the heart of the center the more you feared you would never find your way out! Spooky, but interesting. Families were rocking babies, playing cards, eating and socializing in the hall ways. 

Guangzhou is getting ready for the Asian games that will be in town next week. They have also planted lots of flowers for the event and worked on the appearance for the visitors. However, I don't get the feeling that this city is a cosmopolitan as Shanghai.

This evening we went on a dinner cruise down the river. They served quail and a variety of noodles for dinner. It was interesting to watch our hostesses eat quail with chop sticks. The Chinese people love to light their buildings, and they have many video billboards (like you would see in Vegas) aside their buildings, and on barges floating up and down the river. All the lights are very colorful. It rained on us most of the afternoon (tropical showers) so it was very humid all evening.

Tomorrow we are up early to give a presentation, then off to Chengdu (where the panda's live).

-Dr. Ehlers

Day 4: Go Pokes!

The jet lag is a killer, but the seasoned travelers tell me it takes three days to adjust. Night before last, I work up at 12:30 am wide awake, and last night I made it to 2:30 am. I'm hoping for 5 am tonight and a total acclamation by tomorrow night. My fingers are crossed.

Today was a fun day. We started off by visiting the tallest building in the world. It took us 60 seconds to reach the 97th floor. It is an amazing building with glass floors to view the city below. The building is in the new financial district of Shanghai. This area is full of new, amazing buildings with high end retail shops, that we later viewed (after dinner) from across the river. At night, the buildings become lighted billboards that would rival Las Vegas. Along with the floating barges that are also lit up, it makes for some beautiful photography. Dr. Bird took an amazing picture that I can't wait to see when we get back home.

In the afternoon we visited the Shanghai museum.  Bryan and I explored the Chinese Bronze exhibit and the Jade exhibit. The museum is very modern and Shanghai is a very cosmopolitan city. I am most impressed with the modern art and creativity in Shanghai. Prior to the 1980's, we only saw ancient Chinese art and there was very little creativity immediately following the Cultural Revolution. But today, the Chinese people are creating beautiful works of art all over the city. Amazing murals, paintings, sculpture and architectural environments. I am told that many have been created for the World Expo and are new in the last year. It is truly a joy to witness and experience. There is a passion expressed in the works that I believe will define an era in Chinese history.

I remember seeing pictures and video of the Chinese people when President Nixon made his historic visit to China in the 1970's. Everyone was wearing the traditional black & white clothing, riding bicycles, and were considered to  have "one thought" as part of the Communistic way of life. Today, the 'Chinese people have anything but "one thought". Creativity abounds and is around every corner in Shanghai. The Chinese people enjoy fashion and unique hair and clothing styles. Yesterday, when I walked into the food court at Fudan University, the students looked as if they could have been our students by the way they were dressed, the book bags and back packs they were carrying, their cell phones. laptops, and ear plugs. They were busy trying to visit with friends, eat lunch, and get back to class just like our students in the Union. It dawned on me that the Internet has truly transformed the planet into "one world".

We spent the late afternoon shopping in the historic district. This is a fabulous area with renovated buildings in the traditional Chinese architecture. After our daily Starbucks visit, we shopped like pro's. Vivian and one of our friends from Fudan University escorted us (and led the bargaining) from shop to shop. We ate dinner at a historic restaurant and were able to see a traditional Chinese wedding rehearsal dinner in the works. Vivian ordered for us and did an excellent job. The Shanghai crab dumplings were amazing and Vivian explained how they get the soup inside the dumpling.

The evening concluded with a visit to the riverfront for a photo shoot. Vivian hired a bus driver that played and serenaded us with "boy band" music. He was so funny singing the songs (loudly...as if in a keyoka bar) with his Chinese accent. It concluded a perfect day, and a most memorable visit to one of the world's most beautiful cities. I will always have fond memories of Shanghai and will hope to visit here again in the future.

By the way...if anyone sees Robin Purdy please tell her that we are going to have plenty of miles to log for "Cowboys on the Move". The students on campus better get busy because Dr. Bird and I are going to give the Faculty/Staff team a big boost!

How 'bout the POKES???? Happy to read that we won the game last night....Go Cowboys!

-Dr. Ehlers

Day 3: Shanghai part 2

Old Shanghai!

The Bund

At the Top of Shanghai World Financial Center - tallest building in the world

After another delicious breakfast at the hotel, we got an early start and explored shanghai.  Our first stop was the city's financial district, in which we visited the Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC).  The SWFC is the tallest building in the world and the highest observatory on earth.  The elevator ride of 450 m only took us less than sixty seconds.  All the staff wore uniforms that looked very futuristic, like they were from star trek, (pretty lavender and grey colors).  The view from the top was incredible allowing us to see not only the rest of the financial distrcit (including the Pearl Tower & Jinmao Tower which both used to be the world's tallest buildings).  The view from the top allowed us to see all of Shanghai. 

After our time at the top of the world, we were off to the Shanghai Museum.  Instead of taking a cab, we chose to partake in Shanghai's subway system, which was immaculate, clean, and very efficent.  After departing from the subway, we began our tour of the exhibits in the museum which included; chinese painting, calligraphy, jade, bronze, and Catherine the Great.  After we learned a lot about the Chinese history and heritage at the museum and a quick rest, we met up with a representative from Fudan University, Ms. Liuthe.  

We were fortunate enough to have already gotten to know Ms. Luthie as she had been able to attend the 2nd Annual Chinese Symposium this summer at Oklahoma State University.  When we arrived in old Shanghai we took to the streets in order to learn about how to haggle and bargain (with a lot of help from Vivian and Ms. Liuthe).  The markets were very busy, full of vendors, fine stores, restaurants, performances, and more.  The architecture of old Shanghai was incredible, and provided us with an incredible experience.

We started to wrap up our evening with dinner in old Shanghai where Vivian picked out a number of great dishes so that we could truly experience some of the best cuisine that Shanghai had to offer.  Some of our favorite dishes included the Pumpkin Seasame Pie and the Xiao Long Bao (the Shanghai Special Dumpling).  The Shanghai Special Dumpling is one of the most unique dumplings and can only be found in Shanghai, made up of an array of delectable flavors that we will never forget.  Finally, we went to the Shanghai Bund, which was truly a sight to behold.  The Bund is made up of an array of old and historical pieces of architecture that span a range of ages and eras.  The Bund looked across to the Shanghai Financial District that was lit up in an elegant display of lights and beauty.  Shanghai and it's people have provided us with an unforgettable cultural and educational experience that will stay with us for years to come.

Tomorrow we're off to guangzhou to experience some of China's southern cultures and customs.

-Ally