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It may seem like we've had a long vacation but don't worry, we haven't. In fact, we worked really hard on our thesis and on the last week of May we went back to Sweden to defend our thesis. We are really happy with the feedback we received. If you're curious about our work, you can check it out here: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?searchId=1&pid=diva2:625012

 

  

We're off to see the Alright Wall of China. Since Thamwika feels that Badaling is too crowded, we're going to a part called Matianyu. It's a place where you get to take a slide down from the wall. Sounds awesome! See you when we get back!

 

It's going to be a little quiet over here for a bit. We have a deadline on Friday evening where our data and part of the analysis has to be presented. But since we're off to yet another vacation we'd like to try to finish our analysis. Wish us good luck and we'll see you on the other side!

 

This past week we had skype meeting with our supervisor regarding the thesis. We're now half way through and this experience has been truly interesting. We'd be lying if we said we haven't been struggling. We are in a quite unique situation and we're truly greatful to have been given this opportunity. But conducting a research without access to neither a library nor a supervisor has been proven quite a challange. Obviously we were aware of that fact before coming here and tried to prepare as much as we could. But, when you've never written a thesis before it's hard to know what to expect. Along the process we've changed our focus once, twice, three times... We've lost count. However, this change is a natural part of the process. If you run into issues, which most likely will happen once or twice, you need to adjust thereafter.

 

 

Today is the start of Yabroad's Instagram promotion and I felt really clever when making this:

 

 

 

Sightseeing in Yuyuan Garden, a classical garden in the middle of Shanghai, which stood finished in 1577. 

 

This weekend as we were strolling the streets of Shanghai we came upon an insect market. Naturally we had to go inside and check it out! 

 

The first thing that hit us was a cacaphony of sound. Birds were calling, dogs barking, cats meowing and hundreds of crickets were making their high-pitched sound.

 

 

 

All over Mount Huashan golden locks and red prayer ribbons are attached to the chains guarding the drop-off. The locks symbolize eternal love for the people that are the most important to you. 

After the seeing the Terracotta Army we sped off on the next leg of our journey. As you might remember, our original plan was to go to Mount Huangshan, but due to miscommunications we ended up on Mount Huashan instead. Well, no harm done! 

 

Mount Huashan is one of China's five great mountains and has a reputation of being somewhat dangerous. In recent years, however, safety has been much improved, so we only feared for our lives on some occasions. Mostly the stairs were wide and had sturdy handrails. 

 

 

A family we met on the way were a bit braver though. 

 

On Friday morning we got up early to get a head start on the thousands of Chinese people we suspected would compete with us to get on the bus to the Terracotta Warriors. We got to the bus station at about half past nine, only to discover that our efforts had been in vain. The square was already full of people who all had the same plan as us. 

 

 Proof that I was actually there. Pit one is about 200 meters long. That's a lot of warriors!

 

 

The excavation is still going on. Digging is still going on in two other pits that we unfortunately didn't have time to see. 

 

 

Well, I guess it's about time to tell you all about our amazing weekend off.

Typical tourist, anyone?

 

We started off by taking the night train to Xi'an. The train was clean, the beds were comfortable and the kids in our coupé were well-behaved. 5 points out of 5 possible! We arrived at eight in the morning, ready for some intense sightseeing. 

After a long holiday it's time to get back to work. Here we are planning for the coming weeks. If you're interested in the results, make sure to follow instagram.com/yabroad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This saturday I went to the cinema with some co-workers while Thamwika was at home nursing a cold.The movie was a Chinese romantic comedy, which, thankfully, had English subtitles. The movie tells the story of a spoiled Chinese girl who comes to Seattle to give birth to her rich lover's child. She gets stuck in a house with two other pregnant Chinese women and when her lover runs out of money,she faces a hard time trying to take care of herself. Luckily, she finds solace in driver/doctor Frank, and the rest of the movie follows the twists and turns of just about any other rom-com ever. 

 

Apparently, Chinese women giving birth in America is a quite common phenomena. There are special birthing houses for Chinese women, called maternity mansion, where they can live while waiting for their delivery. Children born on American soil automatically get American citizenship, which opens up a lot of doors that are unavailable to Chinese citizens. 

 

A funny thing about the movie was that they turned on the lights in the auditorium in the middle of the last scene. It was like the attendants were saying "Okay, now you know how it ends. Go home!". Another, not so funny part was the constant ringing of mobile phones. One guy sat looking at his ringing phone until the caller hung up, without turning off the sound. Gaah!