Asian Pear Jam Making and a Reflection on the Events in Washington D.C.

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside, avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and that my blog highlights what the world can look like after a recovery from covid-19 begins. Once things improve, I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal.

If you have fun following my blog, please subscribe and let me know! To subscribe, enter your name and e-mail on the right side of the page. Once subscribed, you’ll receive an e-mail with each new post. If you have any questions about my life in Shanghai, please ask. Instructions are on the “To Comment” page. Also, feel free to share this blog with anyone else who may be interested in my adventures!

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest post continues to find all of you safe and healthy. Before I get started on this post, if you haven’t seen my previous post about my amazing trip to Harbin (https://astronomerinshanghai.com/uncategorized/astronomer-in-harbin-adventures-in-a-winter-wonderland/), please check it out! It was a fantastic experience and I really hope you all enjoy seeing the highlights from the Snow and Ice festivals!

I need to begin this post by discussing the absolutely terrifying act of domestic terrorism that took place in the US last week. When I went to bed on Wednesday night (Wednesday morning US time), I was filled with a sense of hope. Rev. Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff had just been elected to the senate from Georgia. The image of a Black man and a Jewish man serving as Senators from a traditionally conservative state brought me hope that with Democrats controlling the Senate things appeared to be moving in the right direction. However, when I woke up on Thursday morning (around 5pm EST), I was met with messages of fear from my brother and parents. While I went to bed feeling hope, I awoke feeling a deep shame at being American. While I wasn’t able to watch the domestic terrorism that unfolded (this was not a protest and should not be called a protest under any circumstances) live, I spent the next 5-6 hours doom scrolling, alternating between different CNN, Washington Post, NPR, and New York times articles, essentially consuming my entire day.

While I know that many of you read my blog to learn about and see my experiences, I need to share my thoughts on what happened. First, as I noted, this was not a protest. This was and act of domestic terrorism led by white supremacists and racists, spurred on by the deceitful actions of the worst and most selfish President in US history. That we have people unwilling to accept a fair election strikes me with a lot of fear that going forward, the losing side will not be willing to accept their loss. Second, the contrast between the actions taken by police on Wednesday, who were allowing armed attackers to illegally enter the capital, taking selfies with them, and ushering them towards the members of congress when compared to the riot gear and weaponry dispensed towards the peaceful Black Lives Matter protestors over the summer only further illuminates how racist and corrupt the police system is in the US. In the summer we had non-violent protestors beaten and shot with rubber bullets. This past week, we had violent domestic terrorists being allowed to freely leave the capital. It is clear that because these protestors were white, they were treated better by the police. That alone is not okay and is unacceptable. It is therefore up to everyone to demand police reform. Demand that police be held accountable for there actions (which sadly is not often the case and was not the case for the officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back). Demand that people are treated equally and that those laws are enforced. The last point that I’d like to make is that it’s a sad day for Democracy in the US. Every member of the Republican party who has supported Trump and his antics over the last four years needs to resign. Moreover, those who refused to condone his lies about the election need to be held accountable for their crimes against democracy. It was their cowardice and refusal to accept the results of a just and fair election and denounce Trump’s lies that led to the actions on Wednesday. Moreover, the cabinet members who chose to resign instead of enact the 25th amendment are cowards and should receive no credit for finally having a backbone. That Senators like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz still chose to attempt to discredit the election in order to appeal to Trump’s racist base only illuminates how polarized and divided America is. This was a sad week for America. Hopefully, Congress will impeach Trump so he’s never able to run for higher office again. However, Trump is clearly a symptom and not the root cause of the racism that is pervasive in America today. America has a long way to go and a lot of work to be done. It’s up to all of us to continue that work to help make the world a better, fair, just, and anti-racist place.

I hope that you all take the time to consider what I’ve written. While I realize not everyone will agree with my political view, I hope that you all recognize that things have to change. If they remain the same, America will not be great, it will only be racist and divided.

Even as all the political chaos is swirling in the US, covid-19 remains a severe, and underappreciated problem in the US. I remain increasingly concerned about your safety and health. Particularly those of you in Saratoga County, which now has one of the highest covid-19 rates in New York State. It pains me to see the fear on my family and friends faces when I talk with them. The US has over 22.2 million cases and 372 thousand deaths. This is not acceptable and these numbers land squarely at the feet of the Trump administration. So, please, regardless of what policies are enacted, wear masks and gloves, wash your hands, and don’t travel. In China, things have changed a bit. There has been an outbreak in Hebei (even further north than Harbin). There are a few hundred cases there (so still small numbers by US standards), but that city has been locked down to prevent spread. In Shanghai, there are 106 active covid-19 cases. The recovery rate for Shanghai is at 92.8%. So, if strict policies are enacted about quarantining and travel, it is possible to halt the spread of the virus.

In terms of Astronomy, this was a very productive week! I received positive feedback from my first reviewer (of 2) for my Dark Energy Survey paper on the evolution of the Stellar Mass – Halo Mass relation. So, I spent some time making some of the minor clarification revisions. I’m very excited to publish these results, so hopefully the rest of the process will go well. I also spent the rest of my time working on my Luminosity Function analysis using the simulated mock data. I finally figured out how to make mock observations and have begun analyzing the Luminosity Function in the mock.

Surprisingly, the weather was very cold this week (at least by Shanghai standards). This was the first time while I’ve lived in Shanghai where the temperature did not reach above O Celsius. This past week, was the coldest week in Shanghai in decades. That same cold wave also hit Beijing. While I know the weather in Shanghai isn’t cold for me (based on living in Saratoga, Providence, or Ann Arbor or after my recent trip to Harbin), in Shanghai, this is incredibly cold. The main reason it’s so cold is that in the Southern parts of China, the government does not require buildings to have insulation and heating (they have air condition heating). So, often times, even when it’s not that cold outside, it is cold or chilly inside. However, despite the cold weather, I still bundled up and went for two runs this week! Even with the cold weather, I managed to take some photos of some cool things around Shanghai!

Although I intentionally wanted to have a productive week, I still made some time for some fun activities. On Sunday morning, I was invited to a brunch at my friends Heather and Shimi’s. I had a lovely time chatting with everyone about the political turmoil in the US and of course Astronomy, while enjoying some delicious food.

The highlight of my week was on Sunday afternoon when I made Asian Pear jam with my friend Hannah Maia! As my Mom knows, Pear jam (or Pearserves as she cleverly calls it) is one of my absolute favorite flavors of jam! So, when Hannah Maia suggested making it, I was very excited!

As you can see, we had a really fun time spending the afternoon making the jam! More importantly, it has a really wonderful flavor! I look forward to enjoying it in the coming weeks! Plus, we’re planning to make more to give as Chinese New Year gifts!

One last highlight of the week, was that I got to see/play with some of my friends pets this week! You see Daniel’s kitten, Osiris; Kate and Ilan’s super friendly and fluffy dog, Pina; and Anton’s cat, Solo!

Jewish Life in Shanghai

On Friday, Moishe House hosted their first Shabbat of 2021. I hadn’t been in the physical Moishe House in a while (due to a combination of work, traveling, and some of their events being elsewhere), so it was really nice to join together for the Shabbat blessings and then spend Shabbat with some of my friends (and their pets) and enjoy some delicious Mediterranean style cuisine (I made oatmeal raisin cookies for desert)! While unsurprisingly, there was a lot of talk about the political situation in the US, it was really interesting to chat with other ex-pats about the situation in the US and hear there thoughts and opinions on it as well.

Overall, this was a quieter week, which after my adventure in Harbin was much needed. Next week, the first half will be all work, but then from Thursday – Saturday, I’ll be going to Xi’an with Heather and Shimi to see the Terracotta Warriors! So, make sure to check in next week!

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my week and my jam making. If there’s anything you would like to know about my life in Shanghai or my trip to Harbin, please let me know!

In peace,
Jesse

January 4, 2021January 5, 2021

Astronomer in Harbin: Adventures in a Winter Wonderland!

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai and China! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside, avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and that my blog highlights what the world can look like after a recovery from covid-19 begins. Once things improve, I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal.

Life in Shanghai

Happy New Year! I hope that this first entry of 2021 finds all of you continuing to stay safe and healthy. I know 2020 was a difficult year for many of you and while I know that turning the calendar to a new year won’t magically change anything, I hope that you, as I do, enter 2021 with optimism that things can and will improve! I hope that the first few days have been a good start to 2021 and that you all have a safe, happy, and most importantly healthy new year ahead!

As you can tell from the title, most of this post will highlight my photos from my amazing trip to Harbin! However, before I do that, I want to update you about my life in Shanghai. First for a covid-19 update. While the vaccines in the US are making headlines, China has also developed it’s own vaccine (the SinoPharm vaccine). Some of my colleagues at SJTU will be getting that vaccine (I will have the opportunity to during the next round of sign ups). So, I’ll keep you all up to date on that end. In terms of the number of cases, there have been a few small outbreaks in China (10s of cases). However, the government takes those cases very seriously, so people who traveled to those areas are required to quarantine for 14 days. This is the main benefit of the contact tracing. In terms of numbers (based on the numbers from SHINE News), there are currently 94 active cases in Shanghai (all imported) and the recovery rate sits at ~ 93.4%. For China as a whole, the recovery rate is at 94.2%. Hopefully the vaccines as well as following social distancing guidelines will yield similar results elsewhere as well!

In terms of Astronomy, this was a mildly productive week. I spent a lot of time putting together a virtual poster on my Dark Energy Survey (DES) Stellar Mass – Halo Mass relation research for the upcoming AAS meeting (if any of my Astronomer friends are registered to participate, please check out my poster!). Other than that, I’ve spent most of my time getting adjusted to working with mock simulations and working to understand how to take “mock observations” using that data. Hopefully this week, I’ll have some more exciting updates to share!

Now for what you’ve all been waiting for, Harbin!!

Harbin!

For those of you who are unfamiliar, Harbin is a city in north east portion of China (north of Beijing) with over 11 million people. Harbin is located in the Heilongjiang Province, China’s northernmost province. Harbin is famous for its snow and ice festivals, which you’ll get to experience here! Moreover, Harbin is very cold! The temperatures had highs of -20 Celsius with lows of ~ -27 Celsius. In Fahrenheit, those temperatures are about a high of -4 and a low of -17. Keep in mind these are temperatures without windchill, so it is even colder there. It’s like a polar vortex, but for months. While I have experienced plenty of cold days in Saratoga and Ann Arbor, this was a new level of cold I had never felt before! Just to go outside, I wore ski socks, boots, two base layers, tights (sometimes 2), pants (or snowpants), a puffy jacket, my northface coat, gloves, a hat (sometimes 2) and a scarf. One of the things I was most looking forward to about this trip was seeing snow!! I haven’t seen any since spring of 2019, which was so long ago! So, I was very happy to see it upon arrival!

First off, I had an amazing adventure exploring Harbin and the snow and ice festivals! I had a fantastic time with my friends Hannah Maia, Anton, Lea, Yujin, and Cathie! It was a great travel group and I couldn’t have asked for better travel buddies!

Since Harbin is far from Shanghai, we had to fly. While under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be a big deal, this was actually the first time I’ve flown since arriving in China in October of 2019. So, since many of you have likely never been in an Airport in China, this is what it looks like (which is pretty similar to a US airport)!

We arrived at our lovely hotel in Harbin on Thursday afternoon. So, we only did a little bit of exploring on Thursday, but there was still a lot to see!

While we were out walking, we came across a group of older people who were dancing/exercising outside in the -22 C weather! So, Hannah Maia and I joined in!

And of course we spent the evening celebrating New Year’s back in our hotel! Just like in the US, there are New Year’s celebrations broadcast on TV. We watched one sponsored by TikTok live from Shanghai!

Sun Island: The Snow Festival

The first highlights of this trip was the snow sculpture festival on Sun Island! As you can see from the assortment of photos below, this is a massive festival with all kinds of different gigantic sculptures. There were castles, dragons, cats, and replicas of works of art all made out of snow!

As you can see these are massive sculptures! I was stunned by how large and detailed these all were! It was breathtaking!

While the sculptures were amazing. My favorite part was sledding! We got to slide down some of the slopes on our buts as well as on plastic slides! There was even a high speed ice slide that felt like you were on a luge track!

I haven’t gone sledding in years! This transported me back to childhood and sledding down the hill in high rock park. I had a huge grin on my face the entire time!

One interesting things about Harbin was that there were birch trees! I didn’t realize these grew in China, yet alone outside of the northeast! So, it was nice to see something that reminded me of home!

The Harbin Snow and Ice Festival: A real Winter Wonderland

On Friday Evening, we had the pleasure of going to the 22nd Annual Harbin Snow and Ice Festival! As you’ll see below, this is such a magical place! All the castles, statues, and structures lit up (using LED lights embedded in the ice) truly brought the whole area to life!

As you can see the festival is amazingly magical! The way it was lit up made everything look gorgeous, like it was part of a fantasy land! Despite the cold, I couldn’t help but want to explore and see as much of it as possible! It was so much more amazing than I ever expected it to be.

We ended the ice festival by ringing the giant bell set up at the ice festival. It’s traditionally rung three times for good luck (which didn’t exactly happen)!

While the whole festival was amazing, One of my favorite parts was this series of concentric rings made of ice! It looked super futuristic and we had fun sliding around! Almost like we were in the space station!

Downtown Harbin!

Even though there was so much to see in the Ice and Snow Festivals, I’m really glad that we got to explore Downtown Harbin, particularly the large pedestrian street as well. We spent parts of Friday afternoon and Saturday exploring the area. The pedestrian street was lined with different ice sculptures, depicting mythic scenes, animals, and even advertisements! 🙂

On top of all the ice festivities, there was even another Ice Fair directly on the river that runs through Harbin! The ice is frozen 2 meters thick there, so it’s incredibly sturdy! Unlike the others which were artistic, this one was entirely games and activities. They had bumper cars, zorbs, and sleds!

We even went on the Crazy Octopus ride, which drove us around in circles on a giant inflatable octopus attached to a jeep!

In addition to exploring all the ice festivities, we went and saw the famous Saint Sophia Church. This is a Russian style church built in Harbin. Since Harbin is so close to Russia, the Russian influence is quite strong.

Food in Harbin

While I have an easy time finding vegan/vegetarian food in Shanghai, sadly, it was not quite as easy in Harbin. However, thanks to a lot of effort and help by my friends, especially Cathie and Hannah Maia, I was always able to eat something (and it was generally great)!

On Thursday night, we celebrated New Year’s Eve with a Hot Pot dinner! I enjoyed all different kinds of vegetables (mushrooms, spinach, cabbage, potato, bamboo,…) as well as a ton of different tofu!

On Friday, we enjoyed Russian food for lunch! I had vegetarian borscht for the first time!

After the ice festival on Friday, we enjoyed tons of Shao Kao (barbecue skewers)! I ate so much vegetables! The spicy and grilled veggies were great!

However, my favorite meal was on Saturday, when we had tofu bao buns (Thanks to Yujin for finding them)!! They were delicious!

One of my favorite food experiences was eating the frozen food outside! At the ice festival, they were selling frozen fruit, preserved in sugar. I got strawberries, which were great and reminded me of the strawberry smoothies I used to get growing up! I also even enjoyed a peach ice cream bar earlier in the day! Nothing quite like eating frozen food when you yourself are frozen! 🙂

Jewish Life in Harbin

Interestingly, Harbin has a long Jewish history. Following the Russian Revolution, many Russian Jews fled south to China and established a community in Harbin. They stayed in China until the early 1950s following the formation of Israel and the fall of Chang Kai-Shek. Harbin still has a synagogue, which today serves as a museum. Unfortunately, the museum was closed for renovation. However, we were still able to see the Synagogue and feel the Jewish presence within the city. If you zoom in on the center photo, you can see the star of David on top of the dome!

Beardcicles in Harbin!

Now perhaps the most funny (at least for my friends) part of the trip was the way that my beard would freeze each time I went outside! Although I tried to cover my face with a mask, that would cause moisture to build up and freeze on my classes, which was not ideal. However, beardcicles are nothing new (they happen when I run) and led to some very funny photos! Everyone (including our taxi drivers) thought my beard looked hilarious!

The Seven Stages of Beardcicles!

As you can all tell, this was a fantastic trip! I’m so glad that I was able to go and explore Harbin! This was my first time leaving Shanghai and its neighboring provinces, so I’m really excited that I was finally able to start exploring China! Hopefully this is the first of many exciting trips around China in 2021! I also am so glad that I got to experience Harbin with such great and wonderful friends! Thank you to Hannah Maia, Anton, Cathie, Yujin, and Lea for making this experience all the more memorable!

Next week will be a quieter, work focused week, but I’m sure I’ll have some new and interesting things to share with you all and to reflect upon.

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my week and experiencing my trip to Harbin through these photos! If there’s anything you would like to know about my life in Shanghai or my trip to Harbin, please let me know!

In peace,
Jesse

Trivia

Also, as promised, here are the answers to the trivia questions that I wrote!

Famous Last Names

For each question, provide the last name in common between the two people described.

Director of The Batman and War of the Planet of the Apes and the first actor to play Superman?
- Matt and George Reeves
The creator of Doonsebury and the Prime Minister of Canada?
- Gary and Justin Trudeau
Actor known for his roles in Whiplash and Spider-Man and the founder of The Ringer and former ESPN talking head?
- J.K. and Bill Simmons
Senior Senator from New York and comedian known for her role in movies such as Trainwreck?
- Amy and Chuck Schumer
Musician who was part of the Hollies and CSN and a former two-time NBA MVP?
- Graham and Steve Nash
Secretary of State under President George W. Bush and retired Jamaican Olympian sprinter?
- Colin and Asafa Powell
Formula One race car driver with the most wins of all time and the original actress who portrayed Sarah Connor in the Terminator Franchise?
- Lewis and Linda Hamilton
The original actor who played Dumbledore and the vice-President elect of the United States?
- Richard and Kamala Harris
Actress known for her work in Arrival, American Hustle, and Man of Steel and the Second first lady of the United States?
- Amy and Abigail Adams
Actor known for his diversity of roles including Batman Begins, The Machinist, and The Fighter and a professional footballer for the Tottenham Hot Spurs?
- Christian and Gareth Bale

Characters from the Bible

This father of Noah is described as having the longest lifespan of anyone in the Bible?
- Methuselah
Who are the two sons of Joseph (adopted by Jacob)? — Corrected due to an error on my part.
- Ephraim and Menashe
Who was the King of Israel who was succeeded by King David?
- King Saul
Who was the third child of Adam and Eve?
- Seth
Who is responsible for cutting Samson’s hair?
- Delilah
Who is the mother of the prophet Samuel whose exultant hymn of thanksgiving is described in the Bible?
- Hannah
This sister of Moses led the women in dancing and celebration after successfully crossing the Red Sea?
- Miriam
The Talmud names only Four angels, they are Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and who?
- Uriel
Who was the leader of the Israelites that sent spies into the city of Jericho?
- Joshua
Who is the mother of Abraham’s other son, Ishmael?
- Hagar

December 27, 2020December 27, 2020

Wonder Woman 1984, a Holiday Party, and Trivia!

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside, avoiding large gatherings, and social distancing, I hope that my blog highlights what the world will look like after a recovery from covid-19 begins, which can only happen by following the practices listed above. Once things improve (which is not now), I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal.

If you find my blog interesting or enjoyable, please subscribe and let me know! To subscribe, enter your name and e-mail on the right side of the page. Once subscribed, you’ll receive an e-mail with each new post. If you have any questions about my life in Shanghai, please ask. Instructions are on the “To Comment” page. Also, please share this blog with anyone who needs reassurance that eventually life will return to a semblance of normalcy.

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest entry continues to find all of you safe, happy, and most importantly healthy. Even though this has been a unique and different holiday season, I hope that you have still taken the time to relax and do something fun. More importantly, I hope that you are all continuing to take covid-19 and the dangers associated with it very seriously.

Before I discuss my week, I want to begin by saying how disappointed I remain in the general attitude and behavior of Americans with respect to the covid-19 pandemic. While I know many of you are remaining at home and are continuing to isolate and stay socially distant, based on what I’ve seen on Facebook and heard about from my family, that is not the case with most of America. I remain incredibly frustrated by the fact that Americans continue to act selfishly by traveling and gathering in large groups. Americans as a whole seem unable to recognize the sacrifices that are needed for the greater good. Given the dramatic rise in increase of covid-19 cases after Thanksgiving, I had hoped that this would not continue to be the case. Moreover, if there was ever a year to not travel to be with loved ones and to remain home and connect virtually, this was it. However, based on what I’ve seen, far too many people failed to follow the CDC recommendations and I believe that the number of cases will continue to skyrocket in the US in the coming weeks. While there’s little I can do, I will emphasize again that the only reason China was able to avoid the catastrophic outbreaks that exist in the US was that the government shut the country down and people wore masks and followed social distancing practices.

While I know a lot of the lackadaisical attitude toward covid-19 exists because people are being selfish and not recognizing the dangers, I think the continued absence of moral leadership from the Republican Senate and current President have only further worsened the situation. Whether it’s the inability to agree to provide more than $600 (which is chump change and in my opinion far more should be and already have been provided) or to extend rent relief and other social benefits, it is clear that the Republican party has a total absence of moral leadership and general morality. So, if you are a Georgia voter or know Georgia voters, please encourage them to vote.

In terms of the covid-19 situation in China, the situation remains under control. There has been a minor outbreak in one of the districts in Beijing, similar to what happened in Shanghai a few weeks ago. However, unlike in the US where there is no response to such an event, here the government acts quickly, using contact tracing to test everyone who came in to contact with the infected individual and also effectively quarantining an entire neighborhood/district. If the US wants to halt covid-19, these same swift actions must be taken. In terms of numbers, there are 108 cases (all but 2 are imported) in Shanghai. In Beijing, there are 21 cases. The recovery rate in Shanghai sits at 92.3%. For China as a whole, the recovery rate is 93.5%. Even though these numbers are so low, the government here always acts swiftly to nip any threat before it grows, which is comforting.

In terms of Astronomy, this was a productive week. Unlike in the US, the semester is still going on, so I’m still working every day. I spent most of my week working on measuring the luminosity function in a simulated mock data set (taken from my friend Haojie’s model — he’s also a postdoc at SJTU). We’re doing this to better understand what we are detecting in our background measurement for our observations. I’m just finishing those measurements now, so hopefully soon, I’ll have some interesting findings. I also spent more time working on my halo mass estimating paper, comparing the magnitude gap method (which I pioneered) to the Central + N satellites method and total satellite luminosity method. On that front, I’m going to refocus the paper to make it more narrow and clear. So, hopefully that will get done this week.

Outside of Astronomy, it was surprisingly warm for most of the week. Most days were in the low-mid 50s, with lows in the 40s. I was even able to wear my short tights during each of my three runs this week! It’s supposed to get cooler during this upcoming week, but the weather will maintain in the 40s for the foreseeable future.

During my walks and runs around Shanghai, I saw more cool things to share!

Now, before I discuss the different highlights of my week, I wanted to let you all know that I got my new passport on Tuesday!!! Only 11 days after I applied for my renewal! Clearly there’s no reason it should take as long as it does in the US. So, I will be able to join my some of my friends for a trip up north to Harbin next week!!!

Even with that to look forward to, I still made some time for some fun activities this week. On Tuesday night, Kehilat Shanghai and Moishe House hosted another trivia night! I posted the questions I wrote at the end of this blog for you to try out! I think some of them are a little bit harder this time. Then, on Friday, I was invited to a holiday party by my friend Clem (who is not in the picture)!

I had a wonderful time celebrating with great company and enjoying delicious food (I made chocolate peppermint cookies) on Friday night! I spent most of the night talking about travel plans for the winter as well as a great conversation about The Beatles! For those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope that you had a nice and safe Holiday.

I know I commented on this last year, but I will again. It’s both weird and really nice to be working during the period of time between Christmas and New Years. It’s weird because I have not been in school or working during this week for almost my entire life. It’s nice, because as someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas, it lessens the emphasis that American society puts on celebrating Christmas and allows me to treat the day as I would any other day, which I quite enjoy.

The highlight of my week was seeing Wonder Woman 1984 in theaters on Saturday!!! This was the first time I’ve ever been to a movie theater in China and it was an interesting experience. A few things to note. I saw the movie at an IMAX theater in downtown Shanghai, so I think this experience is probably fairly typical for Shanghai. First, people can bring in snacks and drinks without it being an issue. Many people brought coffee or boba (bubble tea to the movie). Second, the theater didn’t actually sell any food. There was no snacks or popcorn to buy, only drinks. Third, there were no trailers played before the movie. Other than that, the experience was actually fairly normal. The only real difference was that the commercials were in Chinese. However, I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to pick up and recognize a lot of the words in the commercials! I will note that I did wear a mask in the theater. Many of the other moviegoers did as well. I was not bothered by this at all even though at this point it is purely a precautionary measure. Below you can see some of the advertising and signs up in the theater!

In terms of Wonder Woman 1984, I loved the movie. While I don’t think this WW movie is quite as good as the first one, I think the cast did a fantastic job bringing the characters to life. Gal Gadot does such a great job playing Diana/Wonder Woman, so I hope we continue to see her in the role for a long time. More importantly, I thought that the message and heart throughout the film was both very moving and timely. I have a wonderful time seeing it and I hope that you all take the time to see it (it’s streaming on HBO Max for those of you in places where it’s not safe to see movies in the theater).

Overall, this was a quieter week, which was nice since it allowed me to get a lot of work done. As I mentioned, next Thursday I’m flying north to Harbin (it’s really cold there, but there’s snow!!!). I do want to give you all a heads up that I return from Harbin Sunday evening (when I usually write the blog posts), so I won’t be writing a post until the next day. So, don’t worry if you don’t hear from me until Monday of next week. In the interim, I hope that you all have a wonderful New Years! Please make sure to celebrate in a socially distanced and responsible manner. Hopefully 2021 will be a better, healthier, and safer year for everyone!

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my week and my first movie experience in Shanghai! If there’s anything you would like to know about my life in Shanghai, please let me know.

In peace,
Jesse

Trivia

Famous Last Names

For each question, provide the last name in common between the two people described.

Director of The Batman and War of the Planet of the Apes and the first actor to play Superman?
The creator of Doonsebury and the Prime Minister of Canada?
Actor known for his roles in Whiplash and Spider-Man and the founder of The Ringer and former ESPN talking head?
Senior Senator from New York and comedian known for her role in movies such as Trainwreck?
Musician who was part of the Hollies and CSN and a former two-time NBA MVP?
Secretary of State under President George W. Bush and retired Jamaican Olympian sprinter?
Formula One race car driver with the most wins of all time and the original actress who portrayed Sarah Connor in the Terminator Franchise?
The original actor who played Dumbledore and the vice-President elect of the United States?
Actress known for her work in Arrival, American Hustle, and Man of Steel and the Second first lady of the United States?
Actor known for his diversity of roles including Batman Begins, The Machinist, and The Fighter and a professional footballer for the Tottenham Hot Spurs?

Characters from the Bible

This father of Noah is described as having the longest lifespan of anyone in the Bible?
Who are the two adopted sons of Joseph?
Who was the King of Israel who was succeeded by King David?
Who was the third child of Adam and Eve?
Who is responsible for cutting Samson’s hair?
Who is the mother of the prophet Samuel whose exultant hymn of thanksgiving is described in the Bible?
This sister of Moses led the women in dancing and celebration after successfully crossing the Red Sea?
The Talmud names only Four angels, they are Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and who?
Who was the leader of the Israelites that sent spies into the city of Jericho?
Who is the mother of Abraham’s other son, Ishmael?

I’ll post the answers for you next time!

December 20, 2020

Channukkah, Parties, and Peanuts at MOCA!

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside and are social distancing, I hope that my blog highlights what the world will look like after a recovery from covid-19 begins, which can only happen by following the practices listed above. Once things improve (which is not now), I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal.

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest entry continues to find you all safe and healthy. For those of you, like my family, in the Northeast, I hope that you aren’t still buried under too much snow and that there were no further complications as a result of that snowfall. Since I know many of you are in academia, I hope that the end of your semester has gone well (or is in the process of wrapping up). Hopefully, you’ve found remote teaching to be more manageable now that you’ve had more experience with it.

I know that like many of you, I am excited to see the role out of the different covid-19 vaccines both in the US and Europe. However, I do want to point out a few different points that I believe may be being overlooked. 1). Just because there is a vaccine, this does not mean that people should stop social distancing and start gather in large groups. As such, in most of the world, it is vital that people not gather to celebrate Christmas and New Years. There was a large surge after Thanksgiving and I’m fearful of what will happen after Christmas. 2). Even though the vaccine is beginning to be rolled out, it will still take until the summer for the vaccine to be widespread, again emphasizing the point of maintaining safe and smart practices of mask wearing and social distancing. 3). We still don’t know how long the vaccine is effective for. What I mean by this is we don’t know if this will become something people get once, or is like the flu vaccine and something people get every year.

With those points in mind, I really hope that all of you, especially those of you who chose to gather in large groups (indoors) for Thanksgiving, reconsider and cancel any plans to do so for Christmas or New Years. I understand how isolating and lonely it can be to not be with all your loved ones, but in order for the US to recover as quickly as possible from covid-19, sacrifices must be made and people must act for the greater good.

In terms of covid-19, the situation remains entirely under control in China. Restrictions on who can enter the country are still in place, and China punishes countries by removing flights if too many people from one country enter with covid-19 on a single flight (hasn’t happened to the US yet). In total, there are currently 94 cases in Shanghai (all but 3 are imported). Beijing has 12. The recovery rate is at 93.0%. The recovery rate for China as a whole is at 93.3%. These numbers continue to be in stark contrast to the USA, where there are 17.6 million cases and it’s unclear how seriously people are taking this. This difference emphasizes why it’s important to put in place actual policies to halt covid-19.

On the Astronomy front, this was a relatively productive week. I wrapped up a draft of my paper on different methods of estimating the halo mass, the total cluster mass including dark matter, so hopefully that paper will be submitted in the coming months (there’s still 1-2 more science things to do). I also spent a lot of time beginning to use one of my colleague’s mock galaxy catalogues to do a simulated version of the Luminosity Function. I also spent time working on my measurements of the Intra-Cluster light and it’s evolution over the redshift range 0.2 < z < 0.9. Hopefully, I’ll be able to stay productive and make some more tangible progress in the coming weeks (my semester doesn’t end until around Chinese New Year — February). Additionally, we finally finished all our work as part of the DESI secondary spare targets selection committee! After meeting from 11pm – 1am on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we were able to wrap our discussions and finalize which projects we’ve chosen to observe! Overall, it was a really interesting (and sometimes exhausting) experience! I’m glad I had the opportunity to participate.

Outside of Astronomy, I went for two runs this week! It’s a little bit colder now (weather’s in the 40s most days with lows in the 30s). So, I’ve had to break out some of my slightly warmer running layers (though by Saratoga or Ann Arbor standards, this is very pleasant weather, especially for December).

During my runs and walks throughout the city, I saw a lot of really cool things!

Also, even though movie theaters aren’t all open in the US and Europe, they are here in Shanghai. I’m very excited to go see Wonder Woman 1984 in theaters (likely next weekend)! There are even adds on it on my Xiaomi smart tv. Hope you all are able to see it on HBO Max as well!

This was a really fun week filled with lots of fun parties and celebrations with friends! On Wednesday, one of my fellow SJTU postdocs had a going away party. She’s moving back to South Korea at the end of next week, so all the postdocs gathered for a fun farewell dinner! It’s been a long time since we’d all gathered together, so it was really fun to see everyone!

Then on Saturday night, one of my friends hosted a holiday party! Unlike a lot of the social events I attend (either the Kehilat events, Moishe House events, or Heather and Shimi’s parties), I didn’t actually know that many people at this party. However, much to my pleasant surprise, I had a wonderful time and met a lot of really interesting people. I spent the night chatting with people from all different groups within Shanghai about vegan food and different recipes (everyone loved my wild rice salad and toffee squares!) whether fried rice is more culinarily interesting than Chinese American food, and the best ways to learn Chinese (which for me was quite useful — on that front, I’m still working at it and getting a lot better!). Also, unsurprisingly everyone wanted to ask me different Astronomy questions, which was fun! Sadly there weren’t any photos from the night to share, but it was a wonderful evening!

A few weeks ago, I shared some photos of a Peanuts exhibit in Shanghai. On Sunday morning, I went back and saw the entire exhibit at the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibit was the first such exhibit in China, celebrating 70 years of Peanuts (mostly Snoopy). The exhibit featured different sculptures, multi-media presentations, and paintings representing the different themes and ideas that recur throughout Peanuts! I had a fantastic time exploring the exhibit and hope that these photos make you feel like you came along with me! I will point out, that you can see in the photos that I am wearing a mask. While not required outside, museums require patrons to wear masks.

There were so many highlights, like the snoopy going to the moon exhibit, the different Asian interpretations of the characters, and the giant snoopy, but my favorite was a gigantic wall scroll of Snoopy dreaming about a great adventure scene!

Overall, it was a fantastic exhibit and it was a lot of fun for me to be back in a museum again! I haven’t gone nearly as frequently as I used to since covid-19 started. So, I’ll have to go visit them more frequently in 2021. 🙂

Food in Shanghai

On Monday, I got dinner with one of my friends. We went to one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants, Godly!

We enjoyed a tofu hot pot (similar to a miso soup), fantastic eggplant, mushroom curry, and Chinese yams! I think the eggplant is amazing here!

On Wednesday, I also took photos of the vegetarian highlights from our SJTU gathering!

I enjoyed a cooling fruit bowl (for a break from spicy food), a pumpkin and cheese dish (which was weird), seasonal greens, fried silken tofu (my favorite), a fried pumpkin ball (kind of like tempura), and peanut butter and mango ice creams! They referred to these as shaved ices, but reminded me of ice cream, which actually originated in China!

Jewish Life in Shanghai

In addition to the parties I previously mentioned, there was one more party! On Thursday, I was invited to a Channukkah party hosted by my fellow KS board member Bruce and his wife Cibele! It was mostly members of the KS family Shabbat community, so even though it’s just me here in Shanghai, I feel very fortunate to be included in these events and to be welcomed into that part of the community!

As you can see we had some beautiful and creative menorahs (and lots of kids to light them)! My favorite was the menorah made out of oranges (which were then devoured)! That came about because one of the children was watching his older sister make a menorah and he wanted to make one as well (and then he found a demo of how to make it our of oranges, his favorite fruit, online). It was really cute! I had a fantastic time celebrating Channukkah with many of the lovely people I’ve gotten to know and become friends with within the KS community. This Channukkah celebration, along with last week’s party, highlight how important Kehilat Shanghai and it’s members have become to my life in Shanghai!

And not to forget, I also lit my menorah each night as well!

As you can see, I had a wonderful Channukkah and week filled with many celebrations with many different groups of friends. This has again made me realize how fortunate I am to be able to celebrate safely with others. While I know the holiday times are difficult for many of you this year, I hope that you can take comfort in knowing that next year’s celebrations will be even more special and memorable. Overall, this was a really wonderful week filled with parties and a great time at the MOCA museum. Hopefully next week will be equally as productive and fun! Also, for those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope that you have a wonderful, safe, and socially distanced holiday.

I hope that you all enjoyed seeing photos from my parties as well as exploring the Peanuts exhibit at MOCA. If there’s anything you’re curious about with regards to my life in Shanghai, let me know!

In peace,
Jesse

December 13, 2020

Channukkah in Shanghai

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside and are social distancing, I hope that my blog highlights what the world will look like after a recovery from covid-19 begins, which can only happen by following the practices listed above. Once things improve (which is not now), I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal.

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest entry finds all of you, your families, and your friends staying safe and healthy. I know that for many of you the winter has already been hard since you are no longer able to gather outside for socially distanced visits. Despite that, I hope you are all taking some time to do things that you enjoy (that are safe). Moreover, as the holiday season continues, please follow social distancing guidelines, do not gather in large groups, wear masks, and wash your hands. I know that some of you are tired of these restrictions, but if we want the vaccines to effectively work, we need to act smartly to first slow the spread of the virus.

I don’t want to comment too much on the situation in the US, but I remain continually troubled and fearful of the current political divide that exists in the US. It’s really dangerous that the Republican Party effectively announced to the world that it no longer believes in democracy (though their stance on voter suppression, especially minority votes, has long suggested that). While I’m glad that the Supreme Court has continued to toss out Trump’s frivolous law suits, the one raised by Texas and cosigned by over 100 Republican House of Representative members further highlights how broken the current political system is. If we can no longer accept fair elections, then the US is no longer the bastion of democracy.

Additionally, I remain incredibly concerned about covid-19 in the US. There are almost 16 million cases in the US and near 300,000 deaths. The level of complacency I continually see on Facebook and hear about from my family and friends is frightening. I can’t stress this enough, but the vaccine will not immediately improve the situation. It will take many months for enough people to be vaccinated for any kind of immunity to be built up, so it is paramount that you all continue to follow safe practices. Moreover, I’ll again ask that you not gather for holiday celebrations. While I know many of you didn’t for Thanksgiving, please follow these same precautions around Christmas and New Years.

In stark contrast, the situation in Shanghai and China as a whole remains under control. There was a small outbreak in Chengdu, but thanks to strict lockdowns and contact tracing, thousands of people were tested and the outbreak was contained. In Shanghai, there 82 cases (all but 4 are imported cases). There are just 4 in Beijing. The number only rises in Shanghai because people (who are quarantined upon arrival) test positive. The recovery rate in Shanghai is 93.6% and the recovery rate for China is 93.2%. So, again the situation in the US was avoidable and strict policies must be adhered to to turn the situation around.

Now, for an Astronomy update. This was a relatively productive week. I spent a lot of my time working on my Luminosity Function analysis as well as my Halo Mass (amount of dark matter in a galaxy cluster) proxy analysis paper. We’re still working on understanding the background measurement for the Luminosity Function, but we’re exploring a lot of different scenarios (and will start looking at simulated mock universes as well). I also began taking measurements of the intra-cluster light (ICL) profiles for my DES-ACT analysis, and have begun looking at the redshift evolution in the ICL. So, despite all the planning for the Channukkah party (more on that later), this was still a productive week.

As a result of the party planning as well as some really bad pollution over the weekend, I only got to go for 1 run. Hopefully that will be rectified this week! I still saw a bunch of cool things that I thought I would share!

Additionally, though not a fun activity, I renewed my passport on Friday! I was making some tentative travel plans and found out that you can’t travel (by plane/train) in China if your passport expires in less than 6 months (mine expires at the end of April). So, hopefully in ~2 weeks, I’ll get my new passport and be all set for some winter adventures with my friends! Thankfully, it’s a lot faster doing it here than it is in the USA.

While most of this post will focus on my Channukkah celebrations, I did one other fun thing. On Saturday, the Unravel storytelling group put on an exhibition of photographed portraits of some of their featured story tellers. Each portrait was accompanied with a 1-2 minute piece of their story. The exhibit was really cool and a great way to continue to engage with the stories. Plus, at the event two of the people whose photos were used told their stories. So, it was a fun way to take a break on Saturday!

Jewish Life in Shanghai

First, Happy Channukkah to all of those who are celebrating! I hope that you’ve enjoyed lighting the candles on your menorahs as well as some latkes or sufganiyot! On Friday, I, along with my friend and fellow board member, Ha, organized the 4th annual Kehilat Shanghai Shabbatakkah Channukkah Party! This year, we partnered with the restaurant Tacolicious (where we do trivia — the owner is Jewish and a member of our community) for a fantastic party! Ha and I spent a ton of time preparing for the event and we were thrilled with the turnout! We decorated the restaurant with great decorations (from Taobao), which went great with the restaurants day of the dead aesthetic! 🙂 We had Channukkah music playing throughout the night (even the Friday DJ played Channukkah music!). We also had goodie bags of dreidels and gelt (real chocolate) for the kids!

We encouraged everyone to bring their menorahs and had a wonderful table of menorahs set up for everyone to enjoy the festive lights with!

However, the highlight of the evening was the amazing latkes and sufganiyot made by Chef Thijs (who’s Dutch) at Tacolicious! It was his first time making them and he did an amazing job! Everyone loved them and I enjoyed so many of them (along with a few tacos) throughout the evening!

I had a fantastic time celebrating with many of my friends (Hannah Maia, Heather, Shimi, Kate, Ilan, …) and fellow members of the Jewish community. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about being on the board and leading the high holiday services is that I feel like I’ve really become a vital part of the Jewish community and gotten to know and become friends with so many wonderful people within this community! I’m extremely grateful for this community and how it’s helped Shanghai feel like home!

Overall, It was so wonderful to have the Jewish community gather together to celebrate! Everyone had a fantastic time (from the kids to the adults). It felt really great to hear so much positive feedback from the community about the event. In total, we had about 110 people come, which was amazing! More importantly, everyone had plenty of latkes, sufganiyot, and gelt to enjoy! So, my first time organizing a party was clearly a success!

Now, just in case you think I didn’t think I celebrated on my own, here are photos from the first and third nights!

My weekend was further filled with Jewish activities on Sunday. At Tov, there was a really interesting adult education session led by one of the community members about his grandparents journey of being refugees following WWI and WWII. He traced his families journey from Galicia (in Poland) to being refugees in Sweeden following WWII. Afterwards, some of the other community members discussed their families stories of emigrating from Europe or being refugees following WWII.

Moreover, Kehilat Shanghai followed up there Channukkah celebrations at Tov with a cute Channukkah carnival (dreidel, menorah making, cookie decorating)! I even made a menorah out of mahjong tiles! I thought it’d be a nice memento of my time in China!

The Channukkah celebrations were wonderful this weekend! I know many of you were not able to celebrate or gather in the ways that you usually do. This makes me reflect on how grateful and thankful I am both for the Jewish community of Shanghai, but also to be in one of the few places where we were able to safely gather and celebrate together.

This was a fantastic week, filled with tons of Channukkah celebrations, delicious food, and even some research progress. This upcoming week, I’ll be back to the grind as I have 3 late night (11pm) DESI meetings about the secondary observing proposals (yes, we never did finish that). However, I also have some fun plans to look forward to next weekend as well! I hope that all of you also enjoy the rest of Channukkah!

I hope that you enjoyed seeing my Channukkah celebrations! If there’s anything you’re curious about with regards to my life in Shanghai, please let me know.

In peace,
Jesse

P.S. Here are the trivia answers. Let me know how you did!

TRIVIA

Category 1: Judaism and Food

During Passover, Matzah is eaten instead of Bread, in order to be Kosher for Passover, matzah must be made in less than how many minutes?
1. 18 minutes
During Channukkah, fried foods are eaten to remind us of the miracle of the oil lasting 8 days. Some of the traditional foods include latkes and these jelly filled doughnuts?
1. Sufganiyot
During Purim, hamantaschen are traditionally eaten as we recall Queen Esther’s triumph over the wicked Haman. Traditional flavors include raspberry, apricot, chocolate, and this ingredient, more commonly associated with bagels?
1. Poppyseed
Each week for Shabbat, Challah is enjoyed. However, during this holiday, instead of the traditional long braided challah, the challahs are round, often including raisins.
1. Rosh Hashanah
The Passover Seder plate features charoset, matzah, and maror. Maror refers to something bitter. Traditionally, this vegetable is eaten, either sliced or grated.
1. Horseradish
The Yom Kippur fast is a primary observance of the holiday. Traditionally, how many hours does the fast last?
1. 25 hours
Rosh Hashanah celebrates the sweet new year. Often people enjoy apples dipped in honey and these sweet crescent shaped deserts filled with raspberry jam, nuts, raisins, and sometimes chocolate.
1. Rugelach
This traditional marbled bread desert can come in either chocolate or cinnamon flavors.
1. Babka
Nothing may be more traditional to see at any synagogue potluck than this dish that can be made either sweet or savory often featuring potatoes and carrots or noodles.
1. Kugel
As part of this holiday, celebrated 50 days after Passover and commemorating the giving of the Torah, people celebrate by indulging in dairy foods such as cheesecake and blintzes.
1. Shavuot

Category 2: Things People are or were Thankful For

In the United States, many democrats are currently thankful for the heroic efforts to engage and register voters in Georgia led by this former gubernatorial candidate.
1. Stacy Abrams
In Argentina, football fans remain thankful to this former player and coach whose miraculous “hand of god” led to Argentina’s 2^nd world cup victory in 1986.
1. Diego Maradona (RIP)
In 13^th century Japan, citizens were grateful for this aptly named wind storm that saved the Japanese from two separate Mongol fleets led by Kublai Khan.
1. Kamikaze
During the American Revolutionary War, many were thankful for a victory in this small town in upstate New York, which turned the tide of the revolution.
1. Saratoga
In 1969, American were grateful to have won the space race when these two Astronauts became the first men to land on the moon.
1. Neil Armstrong
2. Buzz Aldrin
Europe was thankful in 1815 when Napoleon was defeated and exiled for the second time, this time to this small island off the coast of Africa.
1. St. Helena
In British folklore, the people of this town were grateful for the heroic thievery of Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men.
1. Nottingham
Many people are currently thankful for the two promising covid-19 vaccines that are being developed by these three companies.
1. Moderna
2. Pfizer
3. AstraZeneca-Oxford
The Ancient Hebrews were grateful for the military victory of Judah and the Maccabees over this group of people.
1. Assyrians
During World War II, soldiers were grateful for the heroic actions taken by many local fisherman and boaters to help rescue allied soldiers during this battle.
1. Dunkirk

December 6, 2020

Post Thanksgiving, a Quieter Week in Shanghai

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside and are social distancing, I hope that my blog highlights what the world will look like after a recovery from covid-19 begins, which can only happen by following the practices listed above. Once things improve (which is not now), I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal.

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest entry continues to find all of you, your family, and your friends safe and healthy. As the situation in the US continues to worsen, you all remain constantly in my thoughts, even as the situation in Shanghai remains under control. With that in mind, I hope that you all are continuing to take covid-19 seriously. Despite the existence of possible vaccines, there are many questions that exist about covid-19 that haven’t been definitively answered (can you get covid-19 twice, how long is the vaccine effective). Moreover, it remains unlikely that everyone will be able to get fully vaccinated until next summer (at the earliest), so it is paramount that you all follow social distancing practices, wear masks, wear gloves, wash your hands, and generally follow smart practices.

From my outsiders perspective, this was a relatively normal week in the US, which means that it was still unsettling. I am very much troubled by the attitude of the Republican party and it’s members. It is disgusting that in a recent Washington Post poll only 25 Republican house of representative members acknowledged that Joe Biden won the election. I hope that the beginning of the Biden-Harris presidency can return things to normalcy. However, the extreme polarization that exists within the American electorate is very scary. Moreover, if any of you are in Georgia, or have family/friends who are registered to vote there, please make sure that they are registered and vote. If you want Congress to actually pass a stimulus bill that will help the American people and not corporations, it’s paramount that the Democrats gain control of the senate.

In terms of covid-19, the situation in the US seems to have further accelerated following Thanksgiving (with no look of slowing down). The US is up to over 14.5 million cases. So, I’m going to ask all of you to not travel for Christmas or attend religious services. If we want the virus to slow down, everyone must act responsibly and start thinking about the greater good and not their own selfishness. In stark contrast to the situation in the US, in China, the virus remains entirely under control. In Shanghai, there are 61 cases (no new local cases). There are 4 in Beijing. The recovery rate for Shanghai sits at 94.8% and for China as a whole, the rate is at 93.2%. I will note that there have been more cases in Hong Kong (~1100). However, since that’s an island (with somewhat separate regulations about who can enter), there doesn’t appear to be any additional spread to the mainland.

In Astronomy, this was a very productive week! On Friday, I finally submitted my Dark Energy Survey (DES) paper on the Stellar Mass – Halo Mass Relation to the DES Cluster working group for the collaboration wide review. Since this is a paper where the analysis was done as part of DES, the paper mush be internally reviewed by two members of the collaboration, followed by a short period where anyone in the collaboration can review it, after which it is then submitted to a journal for publication. So, this is the start of the publication process for a project I’ve been working on for almost the last two years! Needless to say, I’m extremely excited to start to share this analysis with the larger scientific community. I think a lot of the research that is discussed in this paper nicely synthesizes all of my prior work from my dissertation building a really cohesive narrative (that I look forward to discussing further once it’s published).

On top of that, I spent a fair amount of time working on other projects. I’ve begun the scientific analysis on the higher redshift DES-ACT clusters as well as continued to work a lot (and use most of my computing resources) on my Luminosity Function measurements. I also finished the main scientific analysis for the project comparing different methods of estimating halo mass (magnitude gap, central + N satellites, satellite galaxies). I’ll spend some time this week revising the drafted paper.

As you can tell, this week was largely dominated by my research, which is good, since it was very productive! However, I balanced out all the time in front of my computer by going for three runs. It’s still warm enough that I’m able to wear my short tights (which is nice). My friends complain that it’s cold, but having lived in Saratoga Springs, Providence, and Ann Arbor, I’m perfectly fine with temperatures in the 40s and low 50s. 🙂

During my runs and walks around the city, I continue to see a lot of cool things! The Pagoda is on the SJTU campus!

As you can see, Shanghai is always lit up, so it’s hard to tell what’s Christmas decorations and what’s just normal!

In addition to all the work, I did take some time for some fun stuff. On Friday night, my friends and I got together for another improv night and potluck (I made tofu meatballs)! It’s always fun playing different improv games. Although I’m still not really good at the games where you have to randomly jump into scenes. I guess it’s still a little hard for me to think completely on the fly without getting into the right mindset. This time we played some favorites including freeze (where you freeze people and insert yourself into a scenario), change word/change action (where you tell actors they have to do one of the two options randomly), paper chase (where you act out a scene and then have to randomly do 3 actions/phrases that are written on pieces of paper in your pocket), and half-life (where you act out a scene in 1 minute, then 30 seconds, 15 seconds, 7 seconds, 3 seconds). Overall, it was a lot of fun and a lot of laughs!

On Saturday, I spent most of the day helping my friends Hannah Maia and Sydney with their apartment renovations, mostly helping to clean up and remove a lot of junk left behind by old tenants. While exhausting, it felt very good to help my friends out. Plus, it’s nice to have friends who are only a 5 minute walk from my apartment! I didn’t realize that not all apartments get completely cleaned out like what I’ve experienced (I guess I’m lucky).

One highlight of helping Hannah Maia and Sydney, was that I got to meet Sydney’s cat Friday (seen below along with two other cats of Shanghai!). The white cat lives at the foreign import store I go to and the other cat lives in my neighborhood.

Trivia

Since some of you asked for them, I thought that I’d include the trivia questions that I wrote for last week. Some are easy, others less so. I’ll post the answers at the end of the blog next week, so you can all test yourselves!

Category 1: Judaism and Food

During Passover, Matzah is eaten instead of Bread, in order to be Kosher for Passover, matzah must be made in less than how many minutes?
During Channukkah, fried foods are eaten to remind us of the miracle of the oil lasting 8 days. Some of the traditional foods include latkes and these jelly filled doughnuts?
During Purim, hamantaschen are traditionally eaten as we recall Queen Esther’s triumph over the wicked Haman. Traditional flavors include raspberry, apricot, chocolate, and this ingredient, more commonly associated with bagels?
Each week for Shabbat, Challah is enjoyed. However, during this holiday, instead of the traditional long braided challah, the challahs are round, often including raisins.
The Passover Seder plate features charoset, matzah, and maror. Maror refers to something bitter. Traditionally, this vegetable is eaten, either sliced or grated.
The Yom Kippur fast is a primary observance of the holiday. Traditionally, how many hours does the fast last?
Rosh Hashanah celebrates the sweet new year. Often people enjoy apples dipped in honey and these sweet crescent shaped deserts filled with raspberry jam, nuts, raisins, and sometimes chocolate.
This traditional marbled bread desert can come in either chocolate or cinnamon flavors.
Nothing may be more traditional to see at any synagogue potluck than this dish that can be made either sweet or savory often featuring potatoes and carrots or noodles.
As part of this holiday, celebrated 50 days after Passover and commemorating the giving of the Torah, people celebrate by indulging in dairy foods such as cheesecake and blintzes.

Category 2: Things People are or were Thankful For

In the United States, many democrats are currently thankful for the heroic efforts to engage and register voters in Georgia led by this former gubernatorial candidate.
In Argentina, football fans remain thankful to this former player and coach whose miraculous “hand of god” led to Argentina’s 2^nd world cup victory in 1986.
In 13^th century Japan, citizens were grateful for this aptly named wind storm that saved the Japanese from two separate Mongol fleets led by Kublai Khan.
During the American Revolutionary War, many were thankful for a victory in this small town in upstate New York, which turned the tide of the revolution.
In 1969, American were grateful to have won the space race when these two Astronauts became the first men to land on the moon.
Europe was thankful in 1815 when Napoleon was defeated and exiled for the second time, this time to this small island off the coast of Africa.
In British folklore, the people of this town were grateful for the heroic thievery of Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men.
Many people are currently thankful for the two promising covid-19 vaccines that are being developed by these three companies.
The Ancient Hebrews were grateful for the military victory of Judah and the Maccabees over this group of people.
During World War II, soldiers were grateful for the heroic actions taken by many local fisherman and boaters to help rescue allied soldiers during this battle.

Jewish Life in Shanghai

On Sunday, Kehilat Shanghai hosted another Adult Education session at Tov, this time on Jews and Hollywood. We began by discussing how many of the earliest Hollywood studios were founded and run by Jewish men. However, we noted that while the owners were Jewish, they did not turn Hollywood into a Jewish industry (meaning it did not turn the focus into Jewish related themes/topics). Additionally, we discussed the roles that Judaism and Jewish characters played during the golden age of Hollywood (including the Jazz Singer and Fidler on the Roof). Then we ended by discussing the current situation in Hollywood. Overall, it was an interesting conversation, touching on topics to Jewish actors who changed their names to the reasons why Jews began to invest in entertainment in the first place. Considering that Jews are often stereotyped as running Hollywood, it was interesting to discuss the history behind that.

Next week, on Friday, Kehilat Shanghai will be hosting it’s 4th Annual Shabbatakkah Channukkah Celebration! I’m one of the board members coordinating, organizing, and promoting the event. We’re holding the party at Tacolicious (the owner is a member of community!). So, I look forward to sharing with you all a lot of the highlights of our celebration! They’ll be latkes, sufganiyot, and tacos for everyone!

This week was very much a work focused week, which after Thanksgiving was needed. This upcoming week will be a bit of a mixture as I spend most of the first half of the week doing research and attempting to join for some of the DESI zoom collaboration meeting (starting at 12:00 am most days — the west coast and daylight saving time are the worst) and then working on preparations for Channukkah! For all of you who are celebrating Channukkah, I hope that even though you’ll be celebrating with your immediate family, that you are able to make some latkes and enjoy them yourselves along with the festive glow from your menorah!

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my week. If there’s anything you’re curious about with regards to my life in Shanghai, please let me know.

In peace,
Jesse

November 29, 2020November 29, 2020

Thanksgiving in Shanghai!

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my life and adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside and are social distancing, I hope that my blog highlights what the world can look like after a recovery from covid-19 begins, which can only happen by following the practices listed above. Once things improve (which is not now), I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal.

Life in Shanghai

I hope that this latest entry finds all of you safe and healthy. Even though 2020 has been an incredibly trying year, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I hope all of you were able to reflect on what you are thankful for. Moreover, I hope none of you made the decision to gather in large groups. While I know that this may have been difficult, in order for the covid-19 situation to improve, it’s paramount that people continue to maintain social distance practices, minimize your pod to only essential people, and generally avoid unnecessary contact and large groups.

It’s hard for me to disentangle the political and covid-19 situations in the US. So, I want to reflect on some of what’s been happening. It’s frustrating and scary that the covid-19 situation in the US is so out of control. There are over 13 million recorded cases in the US. The only other country with anywhere near as many cases is India. It frightens me that so many people were selfish and traveled or gathered in large groups. I fear that between now and Christmas, this number will only drastically rise, and thousands of people will die. I find the continued absence of empathy or acknowledgement of wrongdoing by the current administration incredibly problematic. This is not just a failure of leadership from the current (and soon to be former) President, but from the entire Republican party (Mitch McConnell’s selfish refusal for a stimulus package). Its abundantly clear that this party only cares about their own personal well being and not the greater good of America. Moreover, the pardoning of Michael Flynn is very problematic because it is a precursor to what will surely be Trump’s attempts to pardon himself. I don’t understand how so many people were so delusional as to believe that Trump was fit for office, let along doing a good enough job to warrant 4 more years. I remain scared by the division that I see from the outside when looking at the US. This division is illustrated not only in the political rhetoric and cries of a rigged election, but in the response to the seriousness of covid-19. I hope that the incoming Biden administration can assuage some of my fears, but I fear that the continued polarization of American may have reached a point of no return.

Now to transition out of politics, This was another very productive and busy week for me research wise. I finally sent off my DES Stellar Mass – Halo Mass paper to my collaborator! 🙂 So, hopefully, I’ll be submitting that paper to the collaboration in the coming week or two. I also spent a lot of time working on my Luminosity Function research. I’ve optimized the codes I used for this analysis so it’s now significantly faster than it was previously! We’re looking at the different ways we can measure the background galaxy counts, which have yielded some surprisingly interesting results. I’m also continuing to work on my DES-ACT high redshift galaxy analysis and started to measure the intra-cluster light (the faint diffuse light that surrounds a central galaxy), which is cool! Lastly, I’ve been back finalizing the analysis for my SMHM magnitude gap vs central + N satellites analysis (a project I started in March). Hopefully, that’ll be quick, because most of the paper is already written!

Outside of Astronomy, this week was dominated by preparing for Thanksgiving (lots of cooking)! In preparation for the feasting (and in an effort to burn some calories), I went running twice. It’s still warm enough to wear my short tights, which is nice, though the temperature is now down to the 50s (lows in the 40s). Additionally, on Sunday, Moishe House organized a post Thanksgiving cardio HIIT workout using resistance bands and bamboo poles, which was a lot of fun! So, I definitely got enough exercise in to counteract the feasting.

During my runs and walks I saw a lot of cool things, including a really neat Peanuts exhibit that I’ll have to go back to take a closer look at!

I thought the high rise with the Chinese pagoda on top was really cool as well!

In addition, there were some other fun highlights this week! On Tuesday, Kehilat Shanghai and Moishe House did our monthly trivia night at Tacolicious! This time, I had the pleasure of being the host. I wrote two rounds of questions, one on Judaism and Food and a second on Things people are Thankful For. It was another fun night! Though next time I hope I get to play instead of just hosting. 🙂

Additionally, the combination of the workout and Moishe House Thanksgiving allowed me to spend some time with my favorite animals! The Moishe House kitten (tentatively named Osiris) is adorable. Plus, I also got to see Kate and Ilan’s fluffy and friendly dog Pina!

In addition to the fun stuff, I also got my flu shot on Friday. I went to a local clinic (thanks to Shimi and Heather for the help setting it up) and it was nearly identical to my experience in the US. The only difference was that I needed my passport.

Thanksgiving in Shanghai

For those of you who are longtime readers, you may recall that last year, I didn’t do anything for Thanksgiving, which was a depressing. Thankfully this year was quite different. I was invited to two separate Thanksgiving celebrations on Friday night and Saturday night.

On Friday night, Moishe House hosted a Thanksgiving Shabbat! There were over 30 people in attendance. There was so much delicious food! Since turkey is so expensive they opted to do a vegetarian thanksgiving (which made me very happy)! I brought homemade stuffing (my Mom’s recipe). I also helped Hannah Maia make lentils with mushrooms, onions, squash, and a miso maple syrup sauce, which we then stuffed inside pumpkins as the centerpiece!

Other than the stuffing and Lentils, we had challah rolls, mushrooms, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, salad, cranberry relish, green beans, and just a ton of other delicious food. For desert there were a plethora of pies as well as delicious homemade gelato (chocolate, vanilla, salted carmel, and earl gray with blueberry swirl).

The Moishe House Thanksgiving feast was followed up by another night of delicious food and wonderful company hosted by Heather and Shimi! We had a smaller 15 person celebration on Saturday. On Wednesday, Heather and I had made seitan as a vegetarian main course, which turned out fantastically! I also made more stuffing as well as orange cauliflower, which was a huge hit! You can see pictures below. 🙂

This was another night of delicious food and even better company! In addition to what I had made, there was macaroni and cheese, potato salad, bread, cheese, edamame, and cranberry relish (plus some meat items). For desert we all enjoyed a delicious pumpkin pie that Heather had made as well as Chocolate cake and banana pancakes! Overall, it was a delicious and satisfying meal filled with great conversation with friends!

Before I conclude, I want to reflect on how lucky and grateful I am. First, I realize how fortunate I am to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with so many wonderful friends because of how China has handled covid-19. I know that for many of you, this was a particularly difficult holiday because you made the smart and safe decision and decided not to be with loved ones. While I’m sure that was difficult, I know that next year’s celebration will be that much sweeter. I also want to acknowledge and thank all of my friends who helped me celebrate Thanksgiving! After a year of not celebrating the holiday, it was so wonderful to celebrate with so many close friends here in Shanghai. Whether it was collectively enjoying the delicious food or the many interesting conversations I had over two nights of feasting, I am so grateful to have so many friends here to celebrate with. Lastly, I’d like to especially thank Heather and Hannah Maia for hosting two amazing Thanksgiving celebrations. I’m so grateful to have both of you as my close friends! Whether it’s celebrating holidays together, making jam, collaborating on events, discussing important topics such as anti-racism, or working out, I’m really thankful to have you both in my life! Thank you for being such caring, supportive, and fun friends!

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to thank my loving and supportive family. While I haven’t seen them all in over a year, I sent them flowers to let them know I was thinking of them. Even though I’m half a world away, thank you for being so supportive of me. Whether it’s talking about research or talking about life, I’m so grateful to always have the three of you to talk to, Thank you for being the best parents and brother that I could ever hope for.

I also want to make sure that you (my readers) know how grateful that I am for all of your interest in my life and experiences in Shanghai. It’s been a wonderful way for me to stay connected with family, friends, and community members back in the US and I’m so glad that you all get so much enjoyment out of it! Thank you for your continued support!

As you can tell, this was a very eventful, but wonderful week, filled with lots of research progress and even better celebrations with friends and family. This upcoming week will definitely be quieter and likely be quite research dominated, but I’m sure I’ll have a few fun things to share!

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my Thanksgiving celebrations and seeing all the delicious food. If there’s anything you’re curious about with regards to my life in Shanghai, please let me know.

In peace,
Jesse

November 22, 2020

The Yu Gardens in the Late Fall and a Kehilat Shanghai Book Talk!

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside and are social distancing, I hope that my blog highlights what the world can look like after a recovery from covid-19 begins, which can only happen by following the practices listed above. Once things improve (which is not now), I hope you enjoy small gatherings with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal. Since outbreaks may still occur, it’s important that you wear masks and cooperate with social distancing guidelines so things improve.

Life in Shanghai

I hope this latest update finds all of you continuing to stay safe and healthy. As cases drastically rise in the US, I remain very worried about all of you. So, I hope that you are all taking covid-19 seriously by wearing your face masks, washing your hands, and staying inside as much as possible. While it is promising that there are two potential vaccines that should be available soon, please remember that when the vaccine is released not everyone will be able to get it right away, so it is paramount to take precautions in the interim.

I’m not going to spend as much time talking about politics as in prior weeks, but I do want to note two things. First, the Republicans and Trump acolytes who refuse to acknowledge that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election are terrifying. It scares me to think that this is the new normal, only accepting results when they are in your favor. This is the behavior of a child. This is undemocratic and treasonous actions. Cronies like Mitch McConnell who refuse to condone this behavior are no better and must be called out for it. Second, it frightens me that there have been over 200,000 cases of covid-19 in a single day and people refuse to do anything. Despite the administrations continued absence of leadership, everyone needs to take covid-19 seriously. So, again, I ask you all to not celebrate Thanksgiving in large groups (I mean outside the immediate family you live with). Marketplace (the American Public Media podcast) shared some very troubling reports that suggest that in groups greater than 10, the likelihood of an attendee being exposed to covid-19 is very high. So, please don’t put yourself in any unnecessary risky situations.

Unlike in the US, China has covid-19 under control. There’s still fear of a second wave, so precautions (like masks) are still taken on subways, buses, and taxis. However, the number of active cases is down to 65. All but 4 are imported (the 4 are residents in the area of Pudong I mentioned last week, which is quarantined). There are just 4 cases in Beijing. The recovery rate for Shanghai sits at 94.5%, while the rate for China as a whole is 94.3%.

In terms of Astronomy, this was a very productive (and very busy week). I’m just putting the finishing touches on my DES research on the Stellar Mass – Halo Mass Relation, which we plan to send to my co-authors this week! I’m excited to finally be finishing this analysis, and can’t wait to share it with the Astronomy community! I also spent a lot of time working on my Luminosity Function analysis as well. We’re still figuring out some of the issues with our different background measurements, but overall, we’re getting a good sense of how we plan to proceed for our actual science argument. I also spent some time updating the target list for our DESI secondary target proposal of spectroscopically complete galaxy clusters, using the most recent forecasts of what DESI is expected to observe. So, overall, I’ve spent a lot of time working on research, but got some positive and exciting results out of it, which makes me excited!

Despite all the work I had to do, I made time to go for two runs. The weather was very hot this week (upper 70s) until Wednesday, after which, Shanghai finally entered fall. We’re now experiencing cooler weather, with high temperatures in the 50s. Though not quite fall in Saratoga or Ann Arbor, I really enjoy the crisp cool air and needing to wear my favorite sweaters again! While I was running and walking around the city, I also saw a bunch more cool things to share with you!

I also did make time for some fun activities! On Friday, my friends and I got together for another Improv night! It’s been over a month since we last met, so it was great to flex my improv muscles again! We played a lot of different story telling and acting games. I’m generally better at the story telling or scenario games and not quite as good at the purely improvisational games. My favorite that we played this time was where each person had to write down a saying, song lyric, and action on a piece of paper. Those 3 pieces were then randomly distributed. While we were acting out scenes, we periodically had to pull the pieces of paper out and do what was on the paper immediately, which led to some funny improvisational moments!

On Saturday, before the weather got rainy, I went to the Yu Gardens! While I didn’t go into the actual gardens, the weather forecast was pretty bleak, I love walking around that area and seeing the different decorations and street art!

I thought the giant koi fish set in the sky were really cool! I also stopped by my favorite anime toy store and got some My Hero Academia figures (two will go to Emmet)!

Before I left, I had to see the traditional buildings set on the water filled with gigantic koi fish, which are always beautiful to see, regardless of the weather!

Jewish Life in Shanghai

On Sunday, Kehilat Shanghai had another Adult learning session. This time, we had a book talk by Rabbi Avram Mlotek, author of the new book Why Jews Do That, who is a politically progressive, modern orthodox Rabbi and social activist! I helped organize the talk and really enjoyed getting to hear Rabbi Avram describe how explaining many key aspects of Judaism to people that he works with (through an organization called Base Hillel) in their 20s and 30s and their partners who are not Jewish inspired him to write the book. Given the makeup of Kehilat Shanghai, he was an excellent guest for our community. The book was designed to answer many of the questions that people often have about Judaism, from the complex, How do I know if I’m a Jew, to the fun, Is there a Jewish Halloween! Many of the anecdotes and examples he used combined different pop culture references with Talmud and rabbinic liturgy to make a really engaging book. I look forward to reading my copy!

This was a very work intensive week, as expected, so it was a little quieter week for me. Next week is Thanksgiving (I have two Thanksgivings to go to!). So, I want to take the time to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! While I know this won’t be like any other celebration many of you have attended, I hope that all take the time to reflect on what you are Thankful for. I’m thankful for my health, my family’s health, the love and support of my family, the many supportive and caring friends I have here, and the opportunity to share my experiences with all of you!

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my week and seeing the Yu Gardens again. If there’s anything you’re curious about with regards to my life in Shanghai, please let me know.

In peace,
Jesse

November 15, 2020

Cranberry Relish Making and a Community Shabbat!

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside and are social distancing, I hope that my blog highlights what the world can look like after a recovery from covid-19, which can only happen by following the practices listed above. Once things improve (which is not now), I hope you’ll look forward to small interactions with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal. Since outbreaks may still occur, it’s important that you wear masks and cooperate with social distancing guidelines so things improve.

Life in Shanghai

Given the continued, and incredibly frightening, rise in covid-19 cases in the US and around the world, I hope that this latest entry continues to find you, your friends, and your families safe and healthy. Regardless of whether your hometown is experiencing a large number of covid-19 cases, I hope that all of you are continuing to follow social distancing guidelines and wearing masks. Even though there is a promising vaccine (very happy Pfizer took no money from Project Warp Speed), it will still be a long time before that vaccine is made available to everyone, so it is paramount that we all do our part to minimize and restrict the growth of covid-19 cases in the coming months.

With regards to covid-19, I want to highlight the stark contrasts between how the US and China deal with covid-19. Earlier this week, there was 1 case of an airport worker who was found to have contracted covid-19 (after returning home). The area in Pudong where the worker lived was quarantined, everyone was tested, and extensive contract tracing and tests for anyone who was in the area were done by the city. There was even some fear at SJTU because one undergraduate had been in that area, but his tests came back negative. This is in stark contrast to the US, where contact tracing is not happening at all, tests are not always available and when they are, those tests are not affordable, and most people don’t bat an eye after a single case (unless they know the individual). I’m not even sure how seriously everyone is taking 100,000+ cases a day, which is really scary. While some of you may feel like contact tracing is a violation of your individual freedoms, I assure you, that it is far more comforting knowing that I have not been in contact with anyone who is sick than the opposite. So, although it’s unclear what can be done before January 20th, I again implore all of you to shrink your circles. It scares me looking at Facebook and seeing so many of my friends in groups of 10+ people. Are you really sure everyone is being as safe as they should be? Again, I implore you: DO NOT GATHER FOR THANKSGIVING. If we want the virus to slow down in the US, everyone must make sacrifices. My sacrifice is not seeing my family for over 13 months (with no hope of seeing them until the summer at the earliest — Emmet excluded), so I ask you to think about what you are sacrificing (and also what you’re not willing to) and whether it’s worth possibly infecting others. Again in order to beat this, everyone must work together for the greater good; now is not the time to be selfish.

In terms of the covid-19 statistics, the virus remains entirely under control in China. In total, there are 96 cases in Shanghai (6 in Beijing). All but one case in Shanghai is imported. The recovery rate is at 91.9%. The recovery rate for China as a whole is 94.2%. So, clearly, contact tracing, social distancing, quarantining, and mask wearing all work. Regardless of the existence of a vaccine these practices must be done.

In terms of Astronomy, this was a relatively productive week. I’m working on a bunch of different projects right now, so I didn’t make tons of progress on any single project. I’m working on the final statistical analysis associated with my Stellar Mass – Halo Mass relation project for the Dark Energy Survey (DES). I also am running further tests for our Luminosity function measurement as we work to determine when a locally selected background (a background centered on a galaxy) becomes truly random. Furthermore, I’m continuing to explore the higher-redshift DES-ACT clusters as well! Additionally, we wrapped up (for now) the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) secondary proposal review (we’re taking a break and reconvening again post Thanksgiving). Overall, I’ve really enjoyed the experience (other than the really late nights) of being on the allocation committee. I feel like it’s been a valuable process to learn what science excites others and also what makes a compelling observing proposal as well as given me much greater insight into the science goals and strategic planning of DESI!

Even though almost all of my week was spent working, I still took some time for some fun and meaningful activities. On Thursday, Moishe House had it’s 5th anti-racism workshop. This time we discussed racism in literature and the media. We began by reflecting on the 2020 presidential election, discussing our fears (many of mine were raised in last week’s post) as well as how we felt about the portrayal of Vice President – elect Kamala Harris in the media. We then moved on to discussing whether there were any portrayals in tv, movies, and literature of our own racial, religious, or gender identities that we felt had impacted us either positively or negatively. It was interesting to hear people reflect on books that they had read when they were younger and had since gone back and reread and realized how racist some of them were. Overall, this was a really interesting discussion. I had quite a few takeaways. Like with the definition of racism, not everyone agreed on whether stereotypical and racist portrayals are equally problematic and moreover, not everyone agreed that in the future we’ll look back to what we read now and see plenty of other problems — though I do. Additionally, it seemed like almost all of us found far more negative examples that had impacted us than positive. Moreover, I think that as a whole, we all need to be more cognizant of how people of different races, religions, and gender identities are portrayed. These characters can’t just be added for token diversity and need to be treated the same way you treat every other character.

Even though this was a heavy discussion, it was brought to a much lighter end, when Daniel brought his kitten down (still unnamed, they’re arguing between Morpheus and Osiris). The kitten, now 5-6 weeks old is still adorable!

The highlight of my week was on Saturday when Heather, Hannah Maia, and I got together to make Cranberry Relish! Although we usually make jam together, this time, since Thanksgiving is coming up, Hannah Maia showed us all her Dad’s recipe for Cranberry relish. In addition to cranberries, it has apples, walnuts, brown sugar, cloves, and cinnamon. Although I had no idea what it would taste like, when Hannah Maia suggested it, it came out fantastically! It’s a nice balance of tart and sweet, and I look forward to enjoying it at Thanksgiving (and maybe for breakfast as well)!

Following our relish making, the three of us ordered pizza (we got vegan pizza!) and watched some old episodes of Jeopardy, in honor of the dearly departed Alex Trebek. As I’m sure it is for many of you, Jeopardy was a nightly tradition growing up. When I lived in the US, I never missed an episode. Though sadly, it’s much harder to find while living abroad. There’s been so much good done by Jeopardy and it’s emphasis on the importance of facts and intelligence and nobody epitomized that mindset better than Alex Trebek. Rest in Peace Alex Trebek.

In addition to these fun activities, I also went running 4 times this week! Even though the sun now sets at 5pm, it’s still been relatively warm (and will be for one more week). Most days, the highs have been in the low-70s, with lows in the upper 50s, so I’m still able to run in my shorts and t-shirts! 🙂 Below, you can see some cool things I saw during my runs!

Jewish Life in Shanghai

This week, Josh, the president of Kehilat Shanghai hosted a Community Shabbat service at his home in Pudong! Even though Pudong is quite far, it took me an hour to get there, I was glad I joined. I will note that this is a different part of Pudong (which is gigantic), than the area that was quarantined. The Kabbalat Shabbat service was led by two of the teenagers who had recently done their b’nei mitzvah. Following the service we had a delicious Shabbat dinner and a lively conversation discussing topics ranging from Astronomy (If I’m there, someone always asks me something. :)) to the Kaifeng Jews in China, to the China-US relationship. Overall, it was a lovely Shabbat and I look forward to going to more community Shabbats in the future!

This was a quieter week, which after all the stress of the election was exactly what I needed. This upcoming week will again be largely research focused (hopefully with a bit more tangible progress). Additionally, I also wanted to note, that despite my best efforts, I haven’t been able to figure out how to make it so you can be notified when I respond to your comments. However, I always do read them and respond, usually within 24-48 hours.

I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my week and seeing the cranberry relish. If there’s anything you’re curious about with regards to my life in Shanghai, please let me know.

In peace,
Jesse

November 8, 2020

Election Week in Shanghai!

Welcome to Astronomer in Shanghai! Thank you for following my blog and for your interest in my adventures in Shanghai! As covid-19 continues to plague the US, and you are (hopefully) wearing masks when you go outside and are social distancing, I hope that my blog highlights that the world can recover from covid-19 by following these practices. Once things improve, I hope you’ll look forward to small interactions with friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find these interactions meaningful and enjoyable. In Shanghai, life has returned mostly to normal. Since outbreaks may still occur, it’s important that you wear masks and cooperate with social distancing guidelines so things improve.

Life in Shanghai

I’m sure this latest update finds you at what feels like the end of an exhausting and incredibly long week. Throughout this stressful time, I hope that all of you are staying safe and healthy. If you voted in person, I hope that you wore a mask. Moreover, I hope that you continue to wear masks, maintain social distancing, wash your. hands, and generally follow smart and safe guidelines.

A lot of this post is my thoughts and feelings about the 2020 election. While some of this is unique to my experience in Shanghai, others are my own personal opinions. However, after discussing the election, I will share fun highlights from my week.

It’s hard not to look back at the week and realize that the 2020 presidential election dominated every aspect of my week. Whether it was WeChat messages with friends or talking with my family, almost all my conversations (even those with my Chinese colleagues) were about the election. I want to start by saying that I’m relieved that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won! I’m excited to have a return to honesty, integrity, morality, and trusting of science in the White House. Moreover, I hope that they work to end the systemic racism that exists within the United States as they have claimed that they will.

For me, this was a very stressful week. Remember that I am 13 hours ahead of you. So, when you were watching the results come in on Tuesday night, it was Wednesday morning. When things looked bleakest on Tuesday evening, I had to nervously work through the day fearful that Trump would win. Thankfully, my former home state of Michigan (along with Wisconsin) came though that evening. Although I wasn’t super concerned about Michigan because I understood that the votes from Wayne County/Detroit were still being counted, I was happy for my friends and colleagues back in Ann Arbor! Moreover, because of the time difference, information would trickle in throughout the day. Sometimes, like when Georgia and Pennsylvania first went blue, it was when I was awake (and my family was not). Others, like when Biden and Harris won, it was when I was asleep. The 24 hour news cycle has never felt more apt for me.

Regardless of how stressful it was, it was wonderful to wake up to such good news on Sunday morning! Getting joyful messages from friends in Shanghai and family abroad, made me so happy and optimistic for the future. I hope that you share in my optimism and hope that electing Biden and Harris is the first step towards recovering from covid-19 and from the systemic problems that exist in America.

While I personally am thrilled with the election results. I also still feel a great deal of shame and embarrassment in being American. Given that over 200,000 people have died as a result of the Trump administration’s arrogant and inept handling of covid-19 combined with the racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and generally derogatory rhetoric spouted by Trump and his acolytes, it’s hard for me to rectify how 70 million people voted for Trump. If you voted for Trump, I think you really need to look in the mirror and ask yourself why you are comfortable with this kind of behavior. While you may claim that you are not a racist, by supporting this administration, you are complicit in the racism that they are advocating for. Moreover, the violent and dangerous rhetoric that Trump and his followers are spewing about a rigged election is incredibly terrifying and I pray that nothing happens in the coming weeks. While this national nightmare may be over, and some things can be quickly changed (like re-entering the Paris Climate treaty or a covid-19 national mask mandate), America must spend time reflecting and understanding that Racism, White Supremacy, and Intolerance are alive and well in America and that for many people, they are perfectly okay with this sort of offensive behavior. I believe that we can be better, we must be better, and that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can begin to lead us on this path. The first step on this path is self reflection and realizing what we all, regardless of who we voted for, can do to be better, more caring, more accepting, and more loving human beings.

Now that I’ve taken the time to reflect on the election, I want to discuss the covid-19 situation in the US. While I feel hope as a result of the election, I still feel incredibly fearful about the number of cases that are being reported each day. It’s terrifying that the US is moving toward 10 million cases. It scares me that these increases are being seen around the world. It terrifies me that over 100,000 cases are being reported every day! That is anything but slowing or halting covid-19. I hope that all of you are taking this seriously. I hope that you will not be traveling for Thanksgiving or Christmas. While I’m sure not seeing your families may be hard, think of this from my perspective. Every time you take an unnecessary vacation, more people get sick. For people like me, who aren’t able to fly home, we will have to wait even longer to see loved ones. It’s already been over a year since I saw my family. Please act smart and safely and as an American people stop being selfish and work towards the greater good, which is a recovery from covid-19.

In terms of covid-19, in Shanghai, the situation is under control. All the cases that have occurred this week were imported cases (the US must mandate a real 14 day quarantine when people travel — A quarantine where you do not leave a hotel room for two straight weeks). In total, there are 98 cases (down from last week). There are 7 in Beijing. The recovery rate is 91.5%. For China, that rate is 94.2%. This is very much the status quo.

In terms of the rest of my week, despite the added stressors of the election, I was able to get some work done. We’re nearing completion on my Dark Energy Survey paper (which I’ve been saying for a while, but we’ve been enhancing the statistical analysis). Additionally, I started work on the actual science data for my Luminosity Function analysis! I also spent a bit of time reading the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) proposals and meeting with colleagues to discuss them this week (though very late at night — thank you daylight saving time). It’s a weirdly fun and interesting process and I’m glad to be a part of it (It’s the first real professional service I’ve done, which is neat!). I’ve also been working on my DES-ACT project, on high redshift clusters, which is cool! Overall I’m spreading my research resources thinly, but enjoying the research! 🙂

Other than work, I did take time to go for 3 runs this week. This was a great way for me to relieve a lot of the stress that I’d been feeling about the election, plus it got me away from the computer screen or my phone for a while. In the walks and runs I took, I also took a few more photos of Shanghai to share with you! A bunch of the photos are in the nearby Xujiahui park, which I enjoy running in/around!

I also took some time for some fun stuff! On Thursday, I went to another Unravel storytelling event with my friends Hannah Maia, Heather, and Shimi. The theme for this show was superpowers! Since these are all real life stories, these were not superhero stories, but rather stories about ways parents had inspired the storyteller or helped them overcome grief. One story focused on dealing with the death of a parent and another focused on recovering from injuries to return to marathon running. Overall, the stories were very interesting and enjoyable. The event is somewhat like a This American Life podcast, so although not all the stories matched the theme perfectly, it was a very enjoyable night!

On Saturday, I also went to the foreign language bookstore to pick up some new books! I just finished Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson, so I was down to my last book. Just Mercy is an excellent book and is a very moving narrative detailing much of what is wrong with the criminal justice system in the US. I decided to get some lighter books this time and I ended up getting Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, Anthony Horowitz’s Moriarty, and The Girl in the Spider’s Web (the 4th book in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series). So, I’ll definitely have some fun fiction books to read for a while! It was a really nice experience getting to peruse aisles of books knowing that I could read them! So, I look forward to return visits when I finish these!

My favorite part of the bookstore is that on the top floor, they have manga! Although all of it was in Japanese (I think), it was really cool getting to see a lot of my favorite titles! I even bought a few volumes for the collection that Emmet and I share!

Food in Shanghai!

On Wednesday evening, following an exhausting election day, my friends Hannah Maia and Anton joined me for a fantastic vegan dinner! We went to an event sponsored by a new vegan plant based protein, Zee-ai.

We had a great four course meal of lentil and artichoke soup, vegan chick’n nuggets, mushrooms with zee-ai, and coconut cake! The soup was my favorite! It was a great way to unwind after a stressful Wednesday.

On Thursday, before Unravel, I got dinner with my friends as well!

We got spicy peanut noodles, stir friend sword beans — both of these are favorites of mine, steamed vegetables, shuijiao — dumplings, and boazi — bao buns. Everything was really great! Special thanks to my friends for making sure everything was vegetarian!

Jewish Life in Shanghai

As part of the Tov! religious school that Kehilat Shangahi runs, we are doing adult learning sessions. The idea of this is to discuss topics of interest (sometimes Jewish, or related to Judaism, others not), each week presented by different community members. This week’s session focused on Jewish Gangsters! Josh, the Kehilat president, gave a really interesting presentation on the history of Jewish gangsters in the US (Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Seigel,…) as well as how there were also Jewish gangsters in Shanghai! We then had a long discussion about how we should feel about these gangsters. Should they be admired for standing up to Nazi’s or condemned for still committing crimes. Overall, it was an interesting discussion and a fun way to spend a Sunday morning. And yes, I plan to give an Astronomy talk at a future session!

This was a stressful week, but thankfully, it had a happy ending! I hope that all of you are equally relieved that the election has finally been called. I hope that this upcoming week will be a little bit more relaxing. Also, before I forget, Lucky safely made it home to Israel and is back with her family!

I hope that you enjoyed hearing my thoughts about the election. If you have any thoughts on the election, please share them. I also hope that you enjoy seeing all the delicious food I tried this week! If there’s anything you’re curious about, please let me know.

In peace,
Jesse