would, but this time we were much more thorough in touring the
grounds. Huiwen was gracious enough to spend the day with us and show
us around. She was a little bashful when it came to practicing her
English with us, but I suppose that's to be expected. Yesterday the
lab went to a seminar about how to go about getting a research paper
published. At first I was wondering why the heck I even bothered
going, but it turned out the speaker was British. I did feel a bit
bad though when no one laughed at his jokes. I mean, they weren't
great jokes, but still. Cultural differences, or more accurately
linguistic difficulties, I guess. At the end he left some time for
questions, and unsurprisingly no one spoke up. So finally, I decided
to ask him something, I mean, it was English after all. Apparently
people who ask questions are highly regarded here because once I got
done, someone came and presented me with a gift. It was a fancy
bookmark souvenir thingy. Weird. Also, while on the subject, I am
receiving increasing requests to review papers written in English.
Not that I'm complaining, it's about the only thing I can really
contribute. However, I did have to try and translate some really
poorly written English today. That was dumb.
Yesterday was also Linchang's birthday. On top of that he is
defending on Saturday. Cakes and celebrations abounded last night.
Also, we are probably going out to celebrate on Sunday. And by we I
mean him and Purdue students. Well, I haven't asked them yet, but at
the very least I'm celebrating.
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