For those of you who are new to my blog, if you are interested in this post and would like to comment. Please click on the “To Comment” page for instructions
If haven’t subscribed, please do so! You’ll receive an email each time I post a new entry. You can subscribe by entering your name and e-mail on the right side of each page. If you have trouble subscribing, contact me and I will add you directly.
If you’re enjoying this blog and haven’t told me, comment and subscribe!
Life in Shanghai
As noted in my last post, I have my resident visa! On Monday, I used this visa to setup my bank account at the Bank of China. Doing so, finally allowed me to access the wonderful, and magical, world of mobile pay! In China, everyone uses mobile pay. There are even street vendors that won’t even accept cash. Up until this week, I was stuck in the past, paying for everything in cash. Now, I have access to Alipay and to WeChat pay, which are linked directly to my bankcard. To use them, I just simply click on the app and scan the QR code! This makes shopping and eating at restaurants so much simpler! I don’t need to carry around an oversized wallet (except that I still need all my ID cards). I literally pay for everything on my phone (from groceries to fruit, to my water filters). For those of you in America, this is the way of the future! Nobody uses credit cards (the notion of credit and debt is frowned upon in China). I hope that in a few years these kind of systems become more commonplace in the US.
I also got my university ID card and an SJTU e-mail. So, I can now pay for my lunch at the cafeteria, instead of mooching off my colleagues. By the end of the week, I finally felt like a “real” person in Shanghai because I, like everyone else, could use the same pay systems.
To get the bankcard and campus ID card, I spent a lot of time wandering around the SJTU Minhang campus. The campus is huge! I only stay in a tiny corner of the campus. There is some really cool graphiti in an overpass on the campus as well!
In terms of Astronomy work, this was a productive week. We started our AstroCoffee program. This is a 3x per week meeting where 2 people present recent papers posted on arXiv. It was really cool seeing the work I spent organizing it come together. I can’t wait to see how it grows and evolves here. I also made more progress on my DES research (the last chapter of my dissertation) and am writing that up. In terms of new work, Prof. Ying Zu (my mentor) and I spent time discussing different research avenues for me to explore. I’ll be spending some time in the coming week(s) figuring out what I’ll be working on. For those Astronomers, topics include: the splashback radius, the lensing is low problem, the luminosity function of galaxies, and tracing halo formation.
There’s also a gym in our building, which I got to use for the first time! It has ellipticals, bikes, rowing machine, a bench press and free weights, and now a ping pong table It’s been really nice to get back into an exercise routine!
I also got my water filters installed! For those of you who haven’t been to China, the faucet tap water is not safe to drink because of old pipes and the large amount of Chlorine used to clean the water. As those of you who’ve known me for a long time know, I always carry a reusable water bottle with me, so it’s been a huge relief not to have to rely on bottled water anymore! Yay tap water!
My adventure for the weekend was to visit the Shanghai Museum, which I managed to miss twice on my visit to Shanghai in the summer. So, I was really excited to visit! This is an art/archaeology museum.
On my way there, I ran across a theatrical performance, where people were dressed in a variety of traditional Chinese outfits and practicing a routine. I’m not entirely sure what I watched, but the clothing was magnificent!
The Shanghai Museum is about a mile from my apartment, so I was easily able to view the four floors of exhibition halls. There was so much to see! Pottery, Bronze works, Buddhist statues, jade, coins, calligraphy, drawings, paintings! Below are some highlights from my visit! Definitely stop by if you visit me in Shanghai!
The Shanghai Museum 
A dog statue 
A stone Buddha 
A wooden Buddha head 
A stone Buddha 
An Axe 
A wine vessel 
A demon statue 
A beautiful flower 
A Jade ornament 
Traditional string instruments 
Bamboo armor 
A Tibetan Mask 
Another Tibetan Mask
Visiting the Museum was overwhelming (in a good way). I was surrounded by so much art and history. I really want to go again and do a guided tour (if those exist in English) so I can learn more about the culture. While my photos don’t show it, the Museum was incredibly crowded and mostly just locals and native Chinese, not tourists. It’s great to see that they are interested in their own history just as much as I am!
The grounds near the Museum are also incredibly beautiful! So, on Sunday, I came back to the area, and the nearby People’s Square park for a 5.5 mile run! It’s still very warm here (today it was almost 80). However, the temperature will start to cool into the 50s/60s this upcoming week. Here are highlights from my run!
The Gates of People’s Park 
Yes, there’s an amusement park for kids in People’s Square
In addition to all of these cool sites, I did see very cool advertisements as well!
Food in Shanghai
I’ve been able to cook in Shanghai. However, this weekend, for the first time, I ordered groceries online through a company called Kate & Kimi, which features specialty vegan products like seitan and vegan cheese! Everything was delivered in bags and boxes to my apartment right on time and it was much more convenient than schlepping to the grocery store. Overall, my order came out as advertised. According to Ying, this is the common way most people shop for groceries in Shanghai.
I still go to the fruit stand that is near my apartment. This week, I tried pomelo. It’s kind of like a grapefruit, but is much sweeter in taste. You also have to remove the white part before you eat it. I’ve also been trying different apples, Asian pears (or just pears here), oranges, and honeydew. Everything is still in season here! 🙂
I got a super refreshing watermelon/dragonfruit juice, which was served in a lightbulb? I’m not sure if it was actually a lightbulb, but it looked like one!
In addition to my own cooking, I went out for a fantastic meal on Sunday at another nearby vegetarian restaurant! Everything was fantastic and I’ll definitely be back!
A very spicy stir fry of seitan, mushrooms, cauliflower, potato, celery, and lots of chiles 
Seitan and bamboo in an Apricot Sauce (my favorite) 
Dumplings with a sesame sauce
Jewish Life in Shanghai
To celebrate Shabbat this week, I joined the Moishe House for Shabbat services and dinner. I arrived early, so I got to help prepare dinner (I mostly chopped and diced vegetables, but also got to make a pear/apple crumble!). It was great fun getting to spend Shabbat with other Jewish young professionals. Most are in Shanghai for either business, school, or as teachers. Since I’ve gone to so many Kehilat Shanghai and Moishe House events, I’ve met some of the other people who regularly attend. It’s been nice seeing familiar and friendly faces and getting to know people. Albeit, whenever I meet new people at these events, they are always shocked to meet an Astronomer. Since I’m usually the first they’ve ever met! 🙂
I hope that you enjoyed reading about my latest week in Shanghai, This was a relatively normal week and I finally started to feel like a resident of Shanghai. Since I now have all of these things in order, hopefully I’ll ease into a routine here. Although, I’m sure there will be many more interesting things this upcoming week. I’ve enjoyed getting and answering your questions and comments on my blog, so if you’re curious about anything I said, let me know!
Until next week!
In peace,
Jesse
It sounds like a great week Jesse! I’m glad you were able to get everything with the bank set up! The vegan food looks amazing! And the pictures from the Shanghai museum reminded me of the cultural artifacts at the MfA. Also, the people in the traditional Chinese armor look really cool!
Thanks Emmet! The Shanghai Museum reminded me of visiting the MfA as well! The food was fantastic, especially the seitan with apricot sauce.
What a great post, Jesse. I agree with you that mobile pay is in our future in the US. The idea of carrying around fewer cards is very appealing! I am glad you are making progress on the DES research and that you are carving out a new project with Ying. And I think the AstroCoffee Program is really a wonderful way to form a community and to advance your research. What time of the day do you meet? Do you have equal attendance on all three days? Is it Monday, Wednesday, and Friday? This sounds a little like the writing groups we have at Skidmore (which I have led and now attend) with the added advantage that everyone is in the same field and can really provide great feedback.
Great pics of the museum and food. The apricot sauce for the seitan and bamboo dish sounds amazing. I am thinking of using my apricot jam to try out a sauce like that; what do you think? What other spices were in it?
Thank you for sharing your life in Shanghai, and congratulations on adjusting so well. Lots of love, Mom
Hi Mom! It’s really nice needing to carry around less for spending. AstroCoffee meets on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday (the grad students have class on Wednesday). I’m not sure what spices were in the apricot sauce, but I’ll see if I can find a recipe online and share it with you!
Way cool Jesse!
Loved the Tibetan Mask especially!!
And to just happen upon those people in costume… perfect timing!!
Thanks for all the interesting news!
XoPam
Thanks Aunt Pam! I think you’ld really like the Shanghai museum.
Hi Jesse,
China had never been on my travel list, but after seeing your photos, I just might have to get there!
What a mix of modern (advanced technology) and old (traditional costumes and art).
Glad your work is going well too!
I look forward to your next post!
Susan
Hi Susan! I’m glad that you’re enjoying seeing the photos of Shanghai! It’s a really interesting mix of hyper modern and older buildings and culture. If you and Steve do want to visit while I’m here, let me know. I’d be happy to show you the city!
I’m glad you’ve been able to run some more! And that is awesome that everywhere does mobile pay. I got an Apple Watch recently, and I love using it to pay places I can (like Starbucks) because it’s so nice to not have to carry around a bunch of stuff -I can go for a run with only the watch, end it at a Starbucks, and grab something before I walk back. It would be awesome to get to do that everywhere!!!
I do think that choosing what to work on as a postdoc is REALLY hard – I also have several different projects that I could work on, and it’s hard to choose what to focus on and not overextend myself. I don’t think I’ve totally decided yet what I want to focus on working on, so I’ll look forward to hearing what you decide.
Hi Juliette! I completely agree about the mobile pay. It’s really nice just needing my phone to pay for stuff. Hopefully apple pay will catch on because it’s really nice that every place uses it.
Thanks for the advice about picking a project. I’m spending the week reading papers to help me figure out what I find most interesting for me to pursue. When I decide, I’ll let you know! 🙂
I enjoyed learning about Alipay/WeChat. The pics of the museum brought back fond memories of Shanghai. Glad you had Shabbat with others. I really appreciate this blog, it’s the first one I ever followed. I can’t wait for the next entry.
Hi Dora. I’m glad that you are enjoying the blog and that it reminded you of you’re visit to Shanghai!
Go Blue!
All the food looks delicious! The museum looks pretty cool too! It’s funny that Shanghai and Santa Barbara seem to have the same weather. It’s been 80 the past few days here too. Are you very close to the coast?
Thanks Ryan! The food has been fantastic. When you visit, I’ll make sure to take you to some of my favorite places! 🙂 Shanghai is a port city, so it’s right on the coast (although I don’t live near the coast). It’s already a little colder here now though (in the 50s). So, maybe Winter is coming?