Piggie parts

· 535 words · 3 minute read

It was fun in the taxi on the way to the venue where we were to talk, FUDAN Uni. I felt quite 'up' by then, excited and positive. I felt like I kept noticing small details around me, as if I was very attentive, but lacked impulse suppressive skills. Like a kid on speed. Poor Alexa had to answer many insightful and nuanced questions about electric mopeds, trees dressed with ropes etc.

The audience for our talks were around 60-70 persons, mixed about 50/50 industry/students&faculty. Great mix! I was third out and held a talk that thanks to my efforts went really well! The title was "IoT with Contiki" and the topic was how IoT could be realized in WSNs and the like, and how far Contiki has gotten from that perspective. (dictionary: IoT = Internet of Things, Contiki = an operating system, WSN = wireless sensor networks). People really liked when I connected to a sensor node in Zurich from my web browser (work of Matthias Kovatsch et al). I later got the feedback that I seemed energetic. Haha, yeah….well…

Poster one.

Poster boys. Prof Lu had forgot the other in his wifes car. Thank god, cause that one had large pictures of us that they had gotten from the web, ie small ~200*150 pixels big, and mine is not the best either :S .

Thiemo talks.

We ate lunch with some faculty members and Alexa + Alex in the school dining hall, but in a separate room. Again around ten dishes, now eg pig feet, pig ear, fermented eggs. I tried them all (ok, nasty but nice to look at, really good!). (Here I deleted a text about a dog-related mishap that was here earlier) One of the (student-)guys told us about the concept of "Gengaboys" (or X-boys, don't remember what it was, just that X was the name of the district where FUDAN uni and a lot of other techie schools and companies are located, like a Shanghai Silicon Valley). Gengaboys are becoming more and more popular with girls now because they work hard and they are smart so they are rich and have no interests (ie, as they work hard, their job is their interest and not drinking, bars, games etc), thus they will be good family providers and stay out of trouble.

Hosts, students, guests and foooood!

Fermented egg.

Ear of pig, delicacy. Apparently.

Lunch hall for students

The tutorial went really well, people were interested albeit silent and not very interactive.

Thiemo at hands-on

After everything, we were taken back for half an hour relax and shower and then Alexa and Alex took us to a restaurant for a goodbye dinner. Yet again, around ten different dishes, beer etc. Only 100rmb per person! The event paid for it. Really nice food! An observation, in China the "little people" are treated quite differently than in Sweden. I was a little shocked at how the waiters attention was called for. It was rude (to a Swede). Culture shock. "This is China".

Just some of the food we had for dinner.

Then, a short walk around the neighborhood, continuing with my many questions about Chinese culture and society.

Lastly, collapsed in bed.