Week 2 & 3

 Time is flying by and Tina and I have started planning out our remaining weekends so we can make the best use of our time. At work, Brad and I have been getting many recommendations of sights to see and places to visit and we now have quite a list! Last weekend we were going to visit a nearby city called Suzhou that is famous for its traditional gardens but had a last minute change of plans. The clients of Brad’s and my design team were supposed to arrive Saturday for an important meeting and we found out on Wednesday that they decided to come early and wanted to have the meeting Friday morning. Our office has been furiously trying to get prepared and Brad and I have been busy working with the 3D modeling/rendering company to get our design schemes ready to show at the meeting. Due to our busy work week, we were not well prepared for our tentatively planned trip to Suzhou and when our host/employer Jun Li invited us to join him and the clients on Saturday we felt it important to change our plans and agreed to join them. Brad and I were unsure at first what we were being invited to and were a little afraid we would have to work on Saturday but soon found out our fellow interns were also invited. As our host, Jun Li wanted to invite us to join him while he and the clients visited past projects to reference for our current project.

On Friday, I was excited to leave the office at 5pm and Tina and I enjoyed a couple hours of shopping before meeting the other interns and some coworkers for a delicious Sichuan style dinner. Sichuan is a province in SW China and is famous for their spicy food; I’m told the spiciest in all of China. It is traditional in China, for one person to order and for everyone to eat together. It is also traditional for one person to pay and we have witnessed a few friendly scuffles at various restaurants as people fight over who gets to pay the tab. The evening was quite a treat and we are going to try and take our coworkers out to dinner at some point to reciprocate although it will take some sneaky tactics to successfully pay the tab before them. In regards to the food, I thought it was delicious and it helped to have a pitcher of fresh pureed watermelon juice which provides relief for our burning mouths. I’m hoping to find a Sichuan style restaurant in Portland or St.Louis to take Dave and Melissa or my Dad since I think they would really enjoy the food.

I must say that the highlight on Saturday was again, the food! After we visited a residential complex so the clients could view the stone cladding and another very contemporary, geometrically styled residential complex designed by Jun Li, we were treated to a fantastic buffet lunch at a fancy restaurant overlooking the Huangpu River. The restaurant was on the East side of the Huangpu River in a high-end district known as Pudong, where the tallest high-rises in Shanghai are located. The restaurant was on the 8^th floor and it overlooked a waterfront park and the river and offered great views of the West riverbank known as the Bund. I was amazed at how many different dishes there were to choose from and I regret that we were not allowed to take photos of the food, (Guilluame tried) as it was all very beautiful.

Sunday involved more sightseeing in Shanghai. Misha and I visited a beautiful Buddhist temple and afterwards Guilluame, Brad, Tina, Misha and I all met up at M50, a complex of contemporary art galleries and studios. The Jade Temple is a walled-in complex that provides a wonderful respite from the bustling, loud, and crowded city that surrounds it. Misha and I enjoyed viewing the intricate wood carvings, giant statues of Buddhist gods, and two large jade carvings of Buddha from which the temple gets its name. My favorite part, besides the peace and quiet, was visiting the tea room and sampling a variety of specialty teas that the monks make. We were given a list of 10 teas and each had a description of what effects the tea provides such as energy or help sleeping as well as more medicinal ones to lower blood pressure and ease indigestion. The teas were made from various kinds of roots, flowers, leaves, and other unknown dried things and were unlike any teas I have seen in the states. I greatly enjoy the rosebud tea that is made from little pink rosebuds and smells like potpourri!

M50 is an old complex of industrial buildings that have been converted into art galleries and studio spaces. The whole complex is deceivingly large and would definitely take most of a day to thoroughly explore. The layout and atmosphere was unlike any art gallery I have been to and I enjoyed the lack of pretense and rough-around-the-edges feel. Each building is filled with numerous galleries, shops, and studios and all the buildings are connected with winding paths and elevated walkways. Every imaginable space seems to be utilized and even one of the stairways had its walls filled with paintings. I have read that contemporary Chinese art is very popular internationally right now and that may explain how such a large collection of artists are supported.

It was back to work Monday and another deadline as the whole hotel complex design is hopefully to be approved by the client on Friday. Cross your fingers! There have been so many changes so far that it is hard for our design team to keep up and I worry about some of my coworkers who work tirelessly through the night and the weekends to keep up with the changes. It’s definitely been a great learning experience so far and it’s only the third week! This weekend we really are headed to Suzhou as Tina and I have booked train tickets and hotel rooms for Saturday night. I’m really looking forward to visiting some traditional Chinese gardens!