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 persists throughout the US and around the world, 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 once the recovery 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 as I have.
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Life in Shanghai
I hope that this latest post finds all of you, your family, and your friends continuing to stay safe and healthy. As the vaccine roll out continues slowly, please remember (even if you’ve been vaccinated) to wear a mask, wash your hands, and continue to follow social distancing guidelines. While I’m sure that the combination of covid-19 social distancing and cold weather have likely made it more difficult for you all to do fun things, I hope that you’re all able to do some things that bring you joy, whether it’s reading a new book, binge watching the latest Netflix series (I finally watched the Queen’s Gambit, it was great), or going for walks and runs.
While it is promising to hear that more vaccines are being developed and that the vaccine roll out has already begun, I still remain quite concerned about the situation in the US. The US has over 26 million cases, almost 25% of the global cases. I’m happy that the Biden administration is emphasizing the importance of tackling covid-19 head on (as opposed to hoping it will magically go away) and putting in mask mandates in federal buildings. However, I’m fearful that it may already be too late and that it will take a lot to more to undo the damage done by the Trump administration. So, I’m curious, for those of you in the US, are more people wearing masks now?
In terms of the situation in China, the situation seems to have gotten back under control. As I mentioned last week, in Shanghai, there was a minor outbreak (< 20 cases). However, as a result a few neighborhoods were locked down and thousands of people were contact traced and tested. I find the level of contact tracing to be very comforting given how easy the virus can spread. There are still many active cases, particularly in Northern China (north of Beijing), but the spread appears to have slowed greatly. Overall, in Shanghai, there are 125 cases (17 are local cases, the rest are imported, mostly Chinese nationals returning from abroad) and the recovery rate is 92.2%. In Beijing, there are 50 active cases and the recovery rate is 94.3%. For China as a whole, there are currently just ~2600 cases (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) and the recovery rate is 92.63%. So, you can see that there are strong benefits of contact tracing. However, despite the small number of cases, the government remains particularly vigilant with the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday.
On thing I didn’t mention last week was that I had to be tested for covid-19. As you all know, I went to Harbin around New Years. Shortly after we returned (~ 1 week) there were cases in the Heilongjiang Province (where Harbin is) and later some other cases in Harbin. This resulted in the Snow and Ice festivals being shut down. With the local cases in Shanghai last week, SJTU asked me to be tested, just to be safe. First, you may be wondering, how did SJTU know I went to Harbin. Well, all students/staff are required to tell the department any time they leave Shanghai (this is a virus precaution). So, they were already well aware of my trip (plus the department secretaries and my research supervisor, Ying, all saw my WeChat post about my trip). Thankfully, it’s rather easy to get a covid-19 test in Shanghai (the city is also upping its capacity in anticipation of travel for Chinese New year). Thanks to help from Hannah Maia, I was able to schedule an appointment at a clinic (where English was spoken), booked entirely through WeChat text messaging. On Monday morning, I got the throat and nose test. Then, on Wednesday, I thankfully got that my test came back negative. I do want to note that because of the influx of people getting tested prior to Chinese New Year, the test results took longer than normal. So, overall, this was just a precaution. However, I’m glad I now know how to do this, in case it’s needed in the future.
As I just noted, since I needed to get a covid-19 test, I was unable to go to the office this past week. Combined with the Chinese New Year vacation, I won’t actually be going to the office for a while (the bus schedule is quite different now and few people are actually on campus). So, I’ll be working mostly from home for February. Despite that, I was able to be productive. I’ve continued re-running my Dark Energy Survey Stellar Mass-Halo Mass relation analysis to address the referee’s comments. So far, all of my results have remained consistent, which is great! Additionally, I’ve started working on my higher redshift intra-cluster light measurements as well. I’m also starting a new part of my Luminosity Function analysis and will be attempting to generate my own mock galaxy catalog for the first time (this is a skill set that Ying thinks would be very good for me to add to my arsenal).
One benefit of working from home, was that I got to go running 5 times this week! It’s also warm here (mid-50s or warmer), so it’s nice to go running a lot and wear shorts! 🙂 Below, you can see some of the cool Chinese New Years decorations (as well as some other things) that I saw around Shanghai this week. And yes, those are oranges growing outside!
The main highlight of my week was on Friday, when I had my friends Hannah Maia, Kate, and Ilan over to my apartment for Shabbat Dinner! Kate and Ilan also brought their friendly and fluffy dog, Pina (my favorite animal in Shanghai)! 🙂 This was the first time I’ve had a dinner party in my new apartment! I really liked how the space worked. 🙂 So, hopefully this is the first of many such fun gatherings in 2021!
To help celebrate Shabbat, Hannah Maia and I made vegan challah for everyone to enjoy!
We had a fantastic spread for all of us to enjoy with the Challahs. I made homemade vegan almond feta cheese, West African Peanut soup, and crispy cauliflower with sticky sesame sauce, along with Jam squares (my Mom’s signature cookie) for desert, using my homemade pear and strawberry jam! Additionally, Kate and Ilan brought vegan tacos, which were made from hibiscus flowers. We even had authentic Mexican tortilla made from nopales (Ilan is Mexican). One nice benefit was that to make the hibiscus “meat”, you have to soak the hibiscus flower, which resulted in a delicious tea that we all got to enjoy!
If you’re interested in any of the recipes that I made, let me know!
As you can see below, we weren’t the only ones who had a great time! Pina also enjoyed exploring my apartment!
Along with delicious food, it was so nice having my friends over to hang out! It was great catching up with everyone, talking about TV (Kate, Ilan, and I all watch Prodigal Son), listening to music, and relaxing. I look forward to having everyone (and maybe even a few more friends) over again soon!
Food in Shanghai
In addition to my own culinary adventures, on Saturday, I had another fun meal with friends. I got lunch with Heather, Shimi, and Yael. We went to a middle eastern restaurant, where I got to enjoy a Falafel Pizza! This was new to me, and I felt like I should share it with all of you! 🙂 It was great catching up with them and chatting about politics, the covid-19 situation in China and around the world, as well as different places that we’ve all visited around the world.
Overall, this was a much calmer week (though there was a little stress with having to be tested for covid-19). Hopefully this upcoming week will be quite productive, though I’m sure there will be some fun activities to share with everyone as well.
I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my week and seeing the food that I made. If you have any questions about life in Shanghai, please let me know!
In peace,
Jesse
P.S. Here are the answers to my trivia questions!
TRIVIA
Introductory Astronomy
1). At the Center of the MW is Sagitarius A*, which is a what?
— Super Massive Black Hole
2). These two dwarf galaxies, seen in the Southern Hemisphere, are the Milky Way’s nearest neighbors
— The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
3). In ~ 4 billion years, the Milky Way will merge with this other massive nearby galaxy?
— Andromeda
4). When the sun dies in ~ 5 billion years, it will explode as a Planetary nebulae. However, the core will remain as this type of star?
— White Dwarf
5). To the nearest 1 billion years, how old is the Universe?
— 13.8 Billion Years
6). In the MW, the hottest type of stars are what color?
— Blue
7). How long does it take light to travel from the sun to the earth?
— 8 minutes
8). Which phase of the moon is in between a waxing and waning gibbous?
— Full Moon
9). Which Astronomer used the earliest telescopes to discover that Jupiter has moons?
— Galileo
10). What is most of the Universe made up of?
A. Dark Matter
B. Dark Energy
C. Normal (Baryonic) Matter
City Statistics
Choose the city that describes the prompt.
1). Which was the last city to host either the summer or Winter Olympics?
A – Beijing
B – Tokyo
C – Sochi
D – Rio de Janeiro
2). Which city has the largest metropolitan area population?
A – Tokyo
B – Shanghai
C – Mexico City
D – Delhi
3). Which city has the highest elevation?
A- Denver
B- Mexico City
C- Addis Ababa
D- Nairobi
4). Which city has the most top 200 Universities?
A – London
B- Paris
C – Berlin
D – New York
5). Which Capital City is farthest North?
A – Helsinki
B – Oslo
C – Moscow
D – Talinn
6). Which city has the tallest building?
A – Dubai
B- Shanghai
C- Taipei
D- New York City
7). Which city has the most skyscrapers?
A- Shenzhen
B- New York City
C- Hong Kong
D- Shanghai
8). Which city has the highest percentage of public green space?
A- Moscow
B- Singapore
C-Sydney
D-Vienna
9). Which city has the most Michelin starred restaurants?
A- Tokyo
B- Kyoto
C- Osaka
D- Paris
10). Which US city has the most professional major league (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) sports teams?
A). Salt Lake City
B). Buffalo
C). Kansas City
D). Tampa Bay
Statues and Sculptures
1). Much to the disappointment of Trump, there are only 4 presidents on Mount Rushmore, name them.
— George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt
2). While not Michaelangelo’s most famous biblically inspired sculpture, this sculpture, located in the Church of San Pietro in Rome depicts this biblical figure with horns of light emanating from his head.
— Moses
3). Located in Xi’an, the Terracotta warriors were sculptures depicting the armies of Xin She Huang. Who was he?
— The First Emperor of china
4). Though now in New York, the Statue of Liberty was originally supposed to be in this location?
— The Suez Canal
5). Standing tall in Brazil, Christ the Redeemer is located in what city?
— Rio de Janeiro
6). Located in Fuxing park (in Shanghai), is a statue of these two communist thinkers?
— Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
7). In Burbank, California, there is now a statue of this superhero?
— Batman
8). Located in Copenhagen is a bronze statue of this fictional character created by Hans Christian Andersen?
— The Little Mermaid
9). Recently, in Japan, headlines were made when a moveable full size version of a robot/machine from what anime franchise was displayed?
— Gundam
10). Although best known for his sculpture the Thinker, one of August Rodin’s other well known sculptures, which incorporates the thinker, depicts the opening scene of Dante’s Inferno. Name this sculpture.
— The Gates of Hell, La Porte de l’Enfer
Hi, Jesse!
On this freezing cold morning in upstate New York, I enjoyed waking up to your post with a picture of oranges growing outside and hearing about you running outside in shorts!
Your dinner party looked like a real success. I must get your vegan Challah recipe! The loaves you and Hannah Maia made look delicious. I am so glad that Pina could join you all. Everyone looked so happy in the pictures, including Pina, and the food looked wonderful, including your jam squares with your own homemade jam. I am proud of the great jam maker you are becoming.
Speaking of jam, I made two batches of marmalade this week. I used several different types of oranges—Cara Cara, blood oranges, and tangerines—as well as a pink grapefruit and lemons. I call it triple citrus!
I am pleased to see how disciplined you are in working from home. It is great to hear about the progress you are making and the interest Ying is showing in your work, too. As COVID-19 rages here, I take comfort in knowing you are in a safer place! However, the three of us here and the cats all miss you.
In addition to making marmalade, I completed academic projects and did some other house chores, too. I polished all the silver I inherited from my grandmother and mother! I have a talk coming up on February 11 on Zoom, and my classes begin this coming week.
Trivia wise, I am pleased to tell you that I did very well on the statues category and even got a few of the Astronomy questions right, like the color of the hottest stars and the inside of the Milky Way!
Keep on enjoying life to the fullest. Much love, Mom
P.S. Can you explain the picture with various types of waste recycling?
Hi Mom! I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed this post! Hope it warms up a little in Saratoga. I’ll e-mail you the vegan Challah recipe that Hannah Maia shared with me, it was really easy! I’m glad that you enjoyed seeing me with my friends!
The marmalade you made sounds delicious! Especially the orange one! I’m glad to hear that you are also able to be productive. I hope the start of your semester goes well as well.
Glad you enjoyed the trivia questions and were able to get some right!
In terms of the picture, there are three types of waste in China. Household waste ( on the right), food waste (center), and toxic/hazardous waste (left side). It’s a new system (last few years), so they’re still trying to get everyone on board.
Hi Jesse,
I’m glad to hear that China seems to have their outbreaks under control. Hopefully that will remain the case in the coming weeks as Chinese New Year occurs. I’m glad that you were able to get a COVID test and that it was negative. I know a lot of people were complaining early on here that getting results was taking forever. I’m glad you remain productive even when working from home! That’s great that the changes from the referee aren’t impacting your results too much. Also, keep me posted on the ICL at high-z work. I’m interested what you find. If you get the e-mails for the CfA cluster talks, you should check out last weeks video, since it was on the ICL (if not, I can send you the link). I’m glad you had such a fun Shabbat dinner. You all look like you had a great time and all of the food looks wonderful! I’m glad you were able to do something fun with your friends. The falafel pizza looks great! I had one at Veggie Crust, the vegan pizzeria in Brookline, that was great. It reminded me of the crazy pizza toppings at Antonio’s. I’m definitely a bit envious of your running. Dad and I have been running , but it’s been super cold here (especially on Friday, when it was under 10 degrees). I also really like your running pictures and the pictures of Pina! Have a great week! Stay safe and healthy!
Love,
Emmet
Thanks Emmet! I hope that the situation remains the same over the next few weeks as well. I agree about the covid-19 test as well as the referee comments. There’s just a few more things I need to do (as well as 1-2 that I asked Chris to do). I’ll definitely keep you up to date on the ICL research. Thanks for letting me know about the ICL talk. I actually just read her most recent paper, so I’m definitely going to watch the talk.
The Shabbat dinner was a lot of fun. Hopefully once you’re in China, I’ll be able to have one so you can meet my friends! The Falafel pizza was great. It was a little bit like an unrolled falafel though, so I think that there is some room for improvement, but it was a fun concept. It did remind me of Antonio’s though!
I’m glad to hear that you’re still running! I know it’s more fun when it’s warm, but I’m sure it’s a nice way to get out of your house. Glad you liked seeing Pina! Hope you have a safe and healthy week!
Thanks for your very interesting blog, Jesse. Your Friday night dinner sounds delightful. Cannot get that hibiscus taco out of my head. Do you have the recipe?
I made some sour dough bread this week from a sour dough starter that Lisa’s son, Misha had given her a couple of months ago. Lisa had made one batch of sourdough from the starter and we had put the remaining starter away at the back of the fridge. I wanted to see if I could use it without any additional feeding except for the first cup of flour and water to make the sponge. And it worked. Amazingly, it worked. I brought out a delightful loaf (baked in a bread pan) after about 36 hours of rising and punching down and shaping. Great flavor (and wonderful flavors when toasted) and lots of large bubbles in the body of the loaf.
Of less interest, perhaps, because vegetarian and not vegan, I started a blue cheese this past week, too using a slice of commercial blue cheese to inoculate the milk Won’t know for about 10-14 days how successful the inoculation was but the cheese is ripening in a cold pantry we have in Saratoga.
Queen’s Gambit: Lisa and I loved that series too. The NY Times TV critic was less than enthusiastic but I thought the idea of making a story around chess games while not focusing on the games but on the characters was well done. We also watched last night a really thought-provoking documentary – called My Octopus Teacher about a South African movie maker who befriends an octopus. The central idea (for me) is that he connects species to species and not as a human who dominates or who is in control. And it strikes me that the narrator’s approach is perhaps a model for how we may want/need to approach life forms on other planets should we encounter them. The practical intelligence of this octopus is staggering – staggering for a mollusc whose life-span is about a year and who only connects with others of its species to mate and giving birth to millions of eggs, dies shortly after. Cannot recommend this film more highly.
Last point, on a political note – the failure of the GOP to censure nutjobs who have been elected and who espouse QAnon fantasies is beyond belief. Trump has them terrified that they will be opposed by fascist and insane Trump clones at the next election and they appear to view their titles as congressmen and women or senators as far more important than a refusal to gaslight or represent the people. I am really afraid that we are heading towards what looks like a great deal of street violence, if not a pseudo civil war.
OK one other point so as not to end on such a dismal thought: I am in NYC over the weekend with Lisa (she teaches in Manhattan and we have an apt in the Bronx so pre-Covid I routinely travel to the city Thursday evening and back to Saratoga Sunday afternoon). For the first 2/3 of the pandemic Lisa was in Saratoga teaching from home and since the new school year she has also been teaching in class a few days a week and online a few days) but and here’s the point, NYC is expecting about 16 inches of snow Monday thru Tuesday. Sixteen inches in Saratoga is maybe an issue but in NYC… they have no place to move the snow. Arghhhhh . Let’s hope I can locate the sidewalk to park when I drive back next Thursday…
Thanks Bernard! I’ll ask Ilan if he can send me the recipe for how he made it. It was really nice! I had never had anything like it before! The Sourdough bread you made sounds really nice as well! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the Queen’s Gambit. I know my family did as well! Thanks for the recommendation for My Octopus Teacher, it sounds interesting!
I completely agree with you about the GOPs lack of censorship of the QAnon conspiracy crazies. It’s really problematic how the GOP (both elected officials and constituents) refuse to recognize the real world and reality we live in. I sadly agree with you that the level of division among the country is terrifying.
I hope that you don’t end up getting 16 inches of snow in NYC. Your parking situation reminds me of when I lived in Ann Arbor where they would plow one strip down the street. Then the parking spots would be where people had previously parked and there was just piles of snow with holes for cars in the street each winter. 🙂
Hey Jesse! Thanks for the pictures of Pina! There were also some pretty interesting pictures from your run. I hope you enjoyed the falafel pizza – it looked interesting. I hope you have another nice week!
Thanks Ryan! Glad you liked the pictures of Pina! She’s a lovely dog. 🙂 The falafel pizza was great! I’d definitely have it (or a version of it) again! Hope you also have another safe and healthy week.