DAY 682-685

July 15-18

1) These past few days have been much of the same, so I shall instead talk about something else I find intriguing. How time flies, I often wonder to myself. In two weeks, I will be heading back to Dublin, for what would be my final semester here in Ireland (before I go back home of course!) I know one thing for sure - I will not be used to the cold weather once I return to Ireland. Unless the heat wave magically persists throughout summer...

2) This year has been one of change for me. Some changes are good and some not so much. Coming to Beaumont was a change, intermediate cycle was a change, my parents visiting me in the summer was a *HUGE* change, going to China was a change, and finally, it's my last semester in Dublin before yet another change. If it's proven anything it's that I have gone through thick and thin and have survived (thus far).

3) This has got me thinking. In my opinion, people in general dislike change. Especially when they've gotten comfortable with their current lifestyle. We dislike changing school (for fear of losing our old friends); we dislike a change in management (because we now have to re-learn and follow a new style of how to do our job); we dislike moving house (because we are now in an unfamiliar environment and need to adapt to it). Basically, we want the status quo to remain, assuming we are agreeable with our current quality of life.

4) But change never lasts too long. After a while, this becomes the current style of living, and the past is all but forgotten (at least temporarily). We make new friends, we learn how to make our new boss happy, we've met the neighbours and made friends with them etc. We are now comfortable with this lifestyle, until another change occurs forcing us to adapt. So people who are more successful are those who can adapt easily to any sort of change.

5) So how do you mould yourself to be someone who can change according to the situation? Well, first you need to familiarise yourself with the situation you're in, and what type of change it is. Then, you need to think of how to obtain the same results for this situation (that you are in), as compared to the previous situation. If you used to get praised by your old boss for doing a good job at work, then what do you need to do now in order to get praised by your new boss? Similarly, if you had loads of friends in your old school, what do you need to do now to make loads of new friends?

6) After analysing the situation and determining what needs to be done to achieve the desired goal, you also need to work hard towards this goal. This can be done by inculcating a desire of self-betterment. Essentially, you work everyday trying to better yourself, and not by comparing with other people, but with yourself. Only envy and jealousy can result if you insist on comparing yourself with others (as you'll inevitably compare the best of them vs. the worst of yourself), so stick to comparing with your previous self.

7) Soon after you adhere by this, you will notice that positive results are starting to show. They may not be as poignant as the previous results you had, but these things take time. You need to adapt, and the more you do, the easier life becomes - until finally you've back to your old threshold of good quality of life. Until the next cycle repeats itself...

8) And that's about it for my blog today. I have no idea why I decided to write on this topic of change, but I thought it'd be fun to express what I think (I usually never do so) and see if anyone agrees or disagrees. Anyway, that's all for today's blog, and thanks very much for visiting. Have a great day, cheers! :D

The crescent moon visible from my apartment building :)

 Getting economy rice (热干菜) for lunch today...

Followed by a LARGE cup of "双拼巧克力" - ice chocolate with pudding and taro balls :D

The tool for ejecting the SIM tray of my phone has now been sadly lost forever under the cupboard...

DAY 677 & 678

Jul 10 & 11

1) Back at it with the lab experiments. Honestly I'm not sure there's much more to write about that I haven't written about before, as it's basically the same rigmarole over and over again. Not that I'm complaining - I've learnt so much ever since coming here! So maybe instead of writing about the things I did these two days, I will write about how my perception of China (and Suzhou!) has changed drastically ever since coming here.

2) I have been welcomed with open arms ever since arriving in China. I've made tonnes of new friends, some of which are my lab mates, and others from various labs etc. As an outsider, my initial expectation of China was that of a country which is an economic superpower, at the expense of the sociability of the locals. I was (to my own detriment) perhaps expecting a pressure cooker system - one in which the citizens were caught up in, hence their social development and demeanour would take a back seat. How wrong I was.

3) I also expected a lot of pollution, and for many people to be wearing masks. My vision was of large industrial plants, with chimneys bellowing thick plumes of black tarry smoke, and the cityscape devoid of any greenery whatsoever. Again, I could not be more wrong about this. Meticulously planted rows of trees, shrubs, and bushes adorn the streets of Suzhou. Literally everyone uses electric vehicles for commute, with the rest opting for public transport. I recently learnt from Chris that even open barbecues are not permitted due to the environmental impact they may have.

4) All this just goes to show one thing - you can never trust what you see or read in the news. The best way is to decide for yourself. By travelling there and physically experiencing everything first hand, you will have an unbiased view of the life and culture of the netizens, and you can make up your own mind once and for all. For this reason, I encourage everyone to travel often, and travel far. Widen your horizons and become a well travelled individual. Then you will gain a better appreciation of the myriad of customs and variety that each country has to offer. And variety, as they say, is the spice of life! :)

5) And that's about it for today's blog. I hope you enjoyed it, and hope to see you in the next one. Thanks very much for visiting, and have a great week ahead. Cheers! :D

Look - you can have fun with chemistry - just look at that huge balloon! :)

Shi Zi Tou (Lion's Head) is very common.  The poetic name of this dish results from its appearance: large meatballs in a bed of cooked cabbage suggests, with a little imagination, a lion's head surrounded by his mane!

Claypot rice - so effing good! ^^

Too much goodness in one pic - the soup was heavenly as well in case you were wondering...

It's been a while since I've been back in the "教工食堂" (Teaching Staff Dining Hall), but one staff member card and five hungry stomachs later, and here we are! :)

Some sweet treats from my lab friends in the biology lab! Thanks again yo :))

I couldn't resist another pic XD

DAY 676

Jul 9

1) Today was a rather tiring day, and it was all due to one particular experiment. I spent literally the whole day (from around 8.30am till 9pm) doing one part of this really, really tedious experiment. It's basically silica gel column chromatography (which is meant to purify compounds) turned up to 11. We had a lot of compound to be purified, so obviously, the experiment took much longer.

2) All through the afternoon and evening I was preoccupied with ensuring all the product (collected in those conical flasks you can see below) had been collected. This involved doing a thin-layer chromatography (TLC) after all five conical flasks had been filled. The problem was there was a lot of product to be removed, and even more solution to begin with! So I ended up with the following cycle - prepare solvent, add solvent to column, pump solution out into conical flask, collect into all five conical flasks, do TLC, rinse and repeat ad nauseam.

3) After what I can only assume is a very long time, Chris said not to bother with the rest of the product. On the TLC, the spot (for the product) was getting fainter and fainter - indicating that there was much less product than before. However, the spot was always there (if it was absent that would indicate that we had finished retrieving all our product that we wanted). So we ignored that last bit of product, and focused on evaporating our collected solution.

4) By around 8pm, we had finished evaporating and vacuuming our compound (evaporation to remove the solvent and vacuum to remove any excess moisture). All that was left to do was test this compound to make sure we had synthesised it correctly. Time for mass spectrometry then. Ran the compound over 10 minutes and found the single solitary peak we wanted - that was perfect!

5) Given that this was just one intermediate in a sea of intermediates leading to the final product, I think we can all appreciate the role of a scientist/ researcher in synthesising and optimising complex compounds from scratch. Anyway, that has been my long (and tiring!) day, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks very much for visiting, and have a nice weekend ahead. Cheers! :)

Silica gel column chromatography

Lunch with friends

Huge fried chicken thigh, potato strips, and "mapo" tofu (麻婆豆腐)

"Mapo" tofu is tofu (beancurd) set in a spicy sauce, typically a thin, oily, and bright red suspension, based on douban 豆瓣 (fermented broadbean and chili paste) and douchi 豆豉 (fermented black beans), along with minced meat

Thin layer chromatography on a much larger scale...

Had my first taste of "jiaozi" (饺子) in China

(Jiaozi is a kind of Chinese dumpling consisting of a filling of ground meat and/or vegetable filling wrapped into a thinly rolled piece of dough, which is then sealed by pressing the two sides together. 

The "jiaozi" that I had is called "xiang gu ji rou jiaozi" (香菇鸡肉饺子) or "shiitake mushroom and chicken dumplings". Tasted absolutely wonderful! :D

A nitrogen gas leak caused this valve to freeze over - oh look what happens if a random finger pokes it...

A trail of water results as the leak cannot repaired - the ice almost instantly vaporises!

DAY 669

July 2

1) Today has been yet another exciting day in the labs. As you already know, I'm basically working in two labs over the course of the day. These days, I usually go for the morning seminar at 8.30am, before heading to the biology lab until evening. Then, after dinner, I head back to the chemistry lab and finish before 9pm. Then I walk back home, full with new knowledge and stuff to write down before I forget.

2) In the biology lab, after having observed pretty much everyone as they go about conducting their experiments, I'm being given more opportunity to try them out for myself. For instance, making the two types of gel for SDS-PAGE (gel electrophoresis) or culturing cells. There's loads more to learn of course, but I am trying my best to memorise all the steps involved in these long procedures.

3) One thing's for sure - time's passing at breakneck speed. It's already been a month since I came to China, and it'll be only one more month till I go back. Another month later and the school term begins. I've been very lucky to be able to spend my summer doing something useful, and looking forward to more adventures with each passing day. Thanks very much for visiting my blog, and have a nice week ahead. Cheers! :)

Tools to make gel for SDS-PAGE

The apartment (Building 8CB) where I live

(I'm on the third floor on this side of the building ^^)

SDS PAGE methods

(I refined it later as I became more adept at it)

Part II SDS-PAGE

SDS-PAGE set-up

(gel electrophoresis - separating proteins according to their molecular weight (kDa))

From l-r: Orbital shaker, rolling incubator, cassettes in buffer solution

Mini centrifuge, reagents to make the "gel", pipettors

招牌米线 (Specialty noodles) 

yum yum ^^

Gel casting stand

(gel will be pipetted into the narrow space between the two glasses and allowed to harden (polymerise))

Rice with meat and vegetables (and soup!)

Chris's detailed drawing of a map of the campus :))

A clearer view of his masterpiece

DAY 655-658

June 18 - 21

1) So I've been out of commission for a good while now, right after announcing that I was back with my fixed computer. Turns out the computer wasn't completely fixed, and I had to return it yet again due to sound issues. Fortunately, the guy agreed to fix my computer for free this time around. Anyway, I've been extra busy in the labs these days, as we've managed to synthesize the compounds that we want, and just need to purify them before storing them away.

2) My log book is getting filled in more frequently - a good sign that I'm making some progress with my experiments. I've also started attending the morning seminars with the others. It is a brief meeting where someone gives a presentation on a published article. Usually the seminar is conducted in Mandarin, which really stretches my ability to comprehend. Thankfully, the journals themselves are always in English, which means I can read from the PowerPoint presentation itself to understand the research.

3) Every afternoon and evening, my lab mates would invite me out to join them for lunch (or dinner). There's always a decision to be made on where to eat, so we usually go for one of the four closest canteens - No. 5, 6, 7 or 8. No. 5 and 6 are together, as are No. 7 and 8. Canteens 1, 2 and 3 are in the opposite campus. And the eagle-eyed among you would realise that I didn't mention a No. 4 - which I can only assume is due to the number "four" being considered unlucky in Chinese culture (because it has the same pronunciation as "die").

4) I've grown to enjoy the long walks to school. The only bit that irks me is the steadily rising temperature as July approaches. The Sun is out in full force early in the morning, and by the time I reach the campus I am bathed in sweat. Thankfully, all rooms including the lab are air-conditioned. Anyway, that is all for this edition of the blog. Thanks very much for visiting, and do find some pics of the lab and of some really delicious (not to mention authentic) food! Have a lovely week ahead, cheers! :D

Posing with my colourful chemicals :))

Just look at the beautiful gradient of colours <3 <3 <3

Silica gel column chromatography :)

Trying to purify our compound with this beautiful reaction ^^

Apparently I look quite dark in this picture haha

 Turns out if you get any frozen meals from the convenience store (Family Mart) they'll heat it up for you (yeay!)

That looks delicious and it certainly was :)

("Zhajiangmian" - 炸醬麵 literally means fried sauce noodles. It is made with thick wheat noodles topped with zhajiang sauce - a type of sauce made by simmering stir-fried ground pork or beef with salty fermented soybean paste)

Noodles with long beans and roasted peanuts, in a hot and sour soup broth :)

The Medicinal Chemical Biology Laboratory,

on the 5th Floor of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Building

Rotary evaporator

Familiar apparatus in a new environment

日式炒饭 - Japanese-style fried rice, served with red bean soup :))

三叔公面馆 - 拌面 

("dry noodles" as recommended by Chris)

A touch of chili paste and it was absolutely heavenly!

Another bowl of fish noodles, this time (if I remember correctly ^^) in a milk-based broth

My apartment living room (there are four bedrooms, two of which are currently occupied)

Kitchen ^^

热干菜 - essentially the same as the "economy rice" we have back in M'sia; where you get a bowl of rice and a choice of meat/ vegetables

I can't get over how amazing the ramen soup noodles are over here <3 <3 <3