heidicard's blog

Having trouble updating the blog!

heidicard — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:24:59 +0000

Hello from Wuhan! It’s been almost a week now, and I’m doing my third presentation today, on marketing and public relations in academic libraries. I included a couple of pictures from my first presentation, on assessment — there were so many people who attended! I also included a picture of some Wuhan students who took me around campus earlier in the week.

My email address is heidicard, if you want to email any comments or questions. I can’t access the blog site, so I won’t see them. I hope this post makes it — I might have to just go back an fill it all in after my trip!

Arrived in Wuhan!

heidicard — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:13:03 +0000

I arrived in Wuhan yesterday and I am fortunate to have internet access in my room. I’m so glad I decided to bring my computer too, because I can keep up on my correspondence, work on my presentations, and feel connected! However, it was an experience to come to a place where I couldn’t read the signage! How interesting to ride by shops and buildings and not know what they were. However, it has been such an experience — I haven’t been out of the country for about 7 years, and I really missed the challenge and wonderment of experiencing a new culture.

I received my itinerary and I am being taken to a conference called "2009 Academic Libraries Annual Meeting of Six Provinces of Central China". The conference is in Xiangfan, where I will be from 10/27-10/29, then to Wudang Mountains — there is a big Taoist monastery where they teach martial arts. We will be there for two days and return to Wuhan on the 31st.

Then, I will go to Yichang on 11/4 for a tour of the Three Gorges Dam and what is listed as "touring folkways of local people" (sounds great!). Then, I will leave for Beijing on the 7th.

No pictures of Wuhan yet — but soon. I have just been acclimating myself and now I have to work on my presentations. I do have email access, so feel free to email me!

Jet Lag Struck!

heidicard — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:14:38 +0000

I thought I would make my very brief stay in HK a bit easier by taking a tour, which was fun — went to Lantau Island to see the “Big Buddha” at Po Lin Monastery, as well as a small fishing village on the far side of the island. More details later, but here are some pics. I got back to the hotel and was so exhausted I decided to take a quick nap before heading out later. Big mistake! I woke up at 9:30pm, too tired to go anywhere. I decided to just catch up on the day I lost en route instead.

Blogging about my trip!

heidicard — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:30:51 +0000

Good Morning! It’s grey and dreary here in Hong Kong, but that doesn’t mean it’s cold! Actually, the next two days should be clear, so I’ll cross my fingers. I’m off on a bus tour today — seemed the easiest way to cover a lot of ground when I only have a couple of days to see such a huge city!

I’m trying to figure out how to post my blog to Facebook, so hopefully, this entry will make it there!

More to come. . .

Hong Kong: night shots near my hotel

heidicard — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:50:06 +0000

I arrived in Hong Kong around 9:30pm, but I was surprised to find that I wasn’t very tired. I took a walk out in the balmy evening and there was even a few drops of rain. Generally, I’ve found in my own travels that international cities don’t vary much: too many people, too much traffic, and lots of noise and air pollution. But, it is always fun to explore new cities in different countries. My hotel is next to a huge shopping center called “Times Square,” and of course, being an international city, HK has many, many familiar shops.

Bon voyage cake

heidicard — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:43:53 +0000

Here is the last (blurry) piece of cake that my wonderful office-mates got for my going-away treat! I won’t see anything like this in China, which might be a good thing! I’ve eaten way too many “treats” in the past two weeks, all with the excuse that I won’t get to eat it for the next five weeks in China! The cake was chocolate-mocha-Kahlua torte. . . YUM!

Off-topic

heidicard — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:20:51 +0000

Here is a picture of myself and my friend, Renee, after we ran a 5k a couple of weeks ago. The morning started off with rain pouring down, which miraculously slowed to a mere drizzle as the race began at 8:30am. Unfortunately, however, the poor 10k runners got drenched when the rain started up again. We didn’t bring cameras with us, so we took this when we got back. This was the first race I ever ran! I never thought I would finish, but I managed to run the entire 3.1 miles. My finishing time was 43:25. Talk about miraculous!

http://www.rungreatrace.com/

Heidi_Card.pdf

Getting ready for China

heidicard — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:09:20 +0000

My itinerary is as follows:

Leave Pittsburgh October 12, 11:20am

Arrive Hong Kong October 13, 7:05pm (note that I lose an entire day! Yikes!)

Three days in Hong Kong, then I fly to Wuhan on October 16.

Three weeks in Wuhan, with 5 presentations, sight-seeing, and who knows what else! But I’ll keep you posted!

Fly to Beijing November 7 – 12.

Then, back home to Pittsburgh on November 12, leaving 5pm and arriving 10:22pm! I WISH the flight was only 5 hours!

OK, more to come. . .