27 September 2014

Gentlefolk,

Our main preoccupation over the last week has been the imminent move to our new apartment.  The university has built a new residential building for foreign students, and the foreign teachers will also be housed there.

Vera has been amazing, as always.  She is very well organised, and has been slowly packing our things into boxes over the last 2 or 3 weeks.  To think we arrived in China with just  a suitcase each, but that was 5 years ago and we sure have picked up a few things along the way!  Why do we homo sapiens have the urge to fill every cupboard and drawer in our proximity?

We may only be moving about 750 meters, from one corner of the campus to another, but it involves just as much preparation as if we were moving 70 kilometers.

A couple of our colleagues have moved already, not without problems - nothing goes smoothly in China. Workmen here often neglect the final touches - as long as it looks OK, that's good enough. But closer inspection shows the poor finishing - for example, big gaps in windows; or showers which are not properly installed; or fans which don't work.  I don't know why owners accept such poor workmanship from contractors, but it seems to be normal here.

Vera & I are scheduled to make the move tomorrow morning, Sunday 28 September.  I will take some photos of our new digs and include them in a future post. Our accommodation for the last 3 years has been two rooms on the 4th floor of the campus guesthouse.  The new apartments are nice (small living room with kitchen, one bedroom, and wonderful views across Tang Dao Wan Bay), but we will have much less storage space which will make things awkward.

In today's post I will cover the Freshmen's final military parade and also show photos of the new Hilton Hotel which has just opened.

Military training

In last week's post I described the compulsory military training which all Freshmen must do for about two weeks when they first start university or college.  This academic year the training at our university started on Thursday 11 September and finished with the Final Parade on Saturday 27 September (this morning).

The parade went for about an hour.  The students took it very seriously and performed well. It is quite amazing how they changed in 16 days - from looking like a rabble, to putting on an impressive display of marching and other combat skills.

The relief on the young faces at the end of the parade was palpable.  They survived a tough 16 days of military training, and put on a good show for the leaders.  Big achievement, and an obvious sense of camaraderie.  Now their real college life will begin.....

Here are some photos of the final parade.

The President, Vice Presidents, CPC leaders, and College heads viewed the parade.  The Party Secretary (the power behind the throne) gave a stirring speech, telling the new students to study hard so that they can contribute to the future development of the motherland.

Before the parade started President of China University of Petroleum (same as a Vice Chancellor in Australia) Shan Hong Hong walked around the oval accompanied by  two military officers and reviewed the groups of trainees.  

Professor Shan Hong Hong is one of the few female university Presidents in China.  She is widely respected as smart and highly competent.

First the flag was paraded.  The guns carried by the Honor Guard look real, but are plastic replicas.

One of the female Corps in the parade.  This year the girls all wore red berets - very fetching!

Female Freshmen acknowledging the university leaders on the podium.

The trainees, both boys & girls, did the 'goose step march' for about 60 meters in front of the Leader's podium - not easy to do, and looked most impressive. 

Male Freshmen goose stepping and shouting their allegiance.  The leaders of the future.

The trainees performed routines using these wooden rifles.

Trainees showing skills with knives.

Trainees demonstrating their skills at unarmed combat.

The last display of the parade featured a mock battle.  A group of soldiers defeated a pirate gang who had occupied an island.  In the photo the valiant soldiers have killed the pirates (see dead bodies) and are about to declare a glorious victory.  Any similarity between the island depicted on the large poster in the background, and the Diao Yu Islands is purely coincidental!

Qingdao Golden Beach Hilton Hotel

You may recall back in March I mentioned that a new Hilton Hotel was under construction.  It opened in July 2014.  It is about 5 km from the University, near Golden Sand Beach.  Three days ago two other teachers (Paul & Michael) and I cycled there to have a look.

We were gobsmacked.  It is a seriously impressive hotel.  An attractive building, set in large, landscaped grounds.  A huge outdoor swimming pool, plus two beach-volleyball courts.  The Health Club is located in the basement. Membership is a mere $2,000 per annum (introductory offer 50% off at the moment).  Comes with unlimited use of the heated indoor swimming pool.

A sea view double room with breakfast is $200.

It will be very interesting to see how this hotel performs.  I think it is a bit ahead of its time.  I doubt our area of Huangdao (about 30km south of Qingdao City) can support a hotel of this size and quality at this time - it's just too big and luxurious.

It is certainly a big step up from the Wyndham and the Howard Johnson 5 star hotels, and they will both suffer from this new competitor.  A new Sheraton Hotel will open in about 6 months, and while it looks as if it will be a very nice hotel, it is not in the same class as this Hilton.

My prediction is that occupancy will be low, less than 30%, and Hilton will walk away from its management contract within 2 years.

Here are some photos of the new Hilton Hotel:

View of the back of the new Hilton Hotel, across the children's pool in the foreground and then the main pool.  The hotel is located about 500m from Golden Beach, the best beach in Qingdao.  And, yes, that blue sky is for real.  We are right on the coast here, and fortunately the pollution is not as bad as in many inland areas.

The foyer of the Hilton Hotel is luxurious.

The bar area of the Hilton Hotel.

Paul inspecting the 30m indoor heated swimming pool, next to the Health Club.

...

Well folks, that's it until my next post.

From 1 - 7 October is the annual National Day holiday.  Vera and I will visit Dalian in Liaoning Province during that period.  I'll try to do another post, featuring our new apartment, before our holiday, but it depends on time.  We'll see how the move goes.

Best wishes, and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Saturday, 27 September 2014