The flight was also not full and I had an aisle seat in the middle with no one sitting next to me. I was able to sleep a bit on the flight and we made it to Beijing right on time. I got my bags, and met dandan from my school and the drivers who were going to take me back to Shijiahzuang. I decided that since I was getting in so early and had sooo much baggage that I didn’t want to hassle with the train. Normally taking the train home winds up being 6-7 hours from the time you leave the airport. Taking a car made the trip a much more comfortable 3 hour ordeal, with no baggage lugging at all

I got back to Shijiazhuang and saw Shenqi after nearly a month and a half apart. It was the longest we had been apart since we met back in December 05, and we had a lot of catching up to do. My maid Wu Jie came by and cooked us a big lunch including my favorite shrimp dish. Being in the states, I didn’t get Chinese food anywhere near as good as the stuff she cooks.

I was shocked at how quickly I feel back into the Chinese language groove. During the first hour speaking was tough, but within a day I felt I was roughly at the same level as when I left. Sweet.

Since then, I have been busy catching up with everyone and getting back into my routine.  I am trying to get started doing some business out here, which has kept me REALLY busy. Things are just begining, and I am thus not going to post details here yet, but I will be sure to do a full write up with all the details once things get locked down

• Seeing my family (dad, mom, sister Rachel, step mom Krista, step brother Mikey, Grammy Elaine, and Grandma Alice)
• Seeing a number of my friends – Justin Klein (you can read his take on our get-together here), John Medina, Jeremy Sultan, Susanna Hyatt, Chuck McGill, Ross, Davide, Madeline, etc. and talking with many others
• Flying my old airplane
• Taking some great pictures
• Riding horses with my sister and Dad up at Will Rogers’ park
• Swimming at the Brentwood country club
• Taking a family trip up to Telluride, Colorado
• Eating some In-N-Out and many other things that I had been craving
• Shopping for all the stuff I can’t find in China
• Visiting the Getty Center
• Showing everyone pictures of my girlfriend Shenqi, and seeing everyone else’s pictures
• Drinking some good Italian wine
• etc.

While all of this has been really nice, I miss China, my friends, my house, my girlfriend 申琦, and my life there. The U.S. and everyone here just seem so foreign to me now. I am having a lot of trouble getting used to the slower pace of life in general here, the MUCH higher price of everything, and, I can’t believe I am saying it, but how inefficient many things are. When I first got to China, I would have never dreamed of saying that America was less efficient, but in some aspects it is quite true. I can’t stand how long it takes to wait in lines here, shop, pay for things, wait in restaurants, etc. Having an unlimited cheap labor force really makes many things run faster in China. I had to valet my car today when I went to visit my dad’s new office, and the valet took 5 minutes to get to me, get me a ticket, and take my car. I couldn’t believe it, but it wasn’t like it was anything weird by U.S. standards. That situation just doesn’t occur in China. I then waited 30 minutes for a table, only to get served SLOOOWWWWLY by a waitress who was overloaded and couldn’t handle all her tables. It took forever to order, get our food, get a check, and get change. I missed China.

Also, making plans with people requires much more notice and planning than it does in China. If I want to meet with someone in China, it happens that day, not a week later. There is no telephone tag, schedule checking, planning, etc. It just happens. Everything for the most part is on a much more accelerated schedule.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am definitely not saying that everything about China is better. All I am saying is that there are a few things about life there that I really really miss.

I have a few more days here in L.A., and then Labor Day weeked in Las Vegas before I fly back to China. I intend to savor every minute of my time here in the states, but will definitely be happy to get back to 中国 (China).

After clearing customs and getting my bags, I met Dad and Krista, who were waiting for me just outside. It was great seeing them again, and they really hadn’t changed.

Our first stop was In-n-Out Burger. I couldn’t believe how different it was from a Chinese restaurant. We waited in line patiently, no one screamed at the waiters, and then we waited around for our food.
Once I got used to the fact that everything was different, I really enjoyed the burger, which I’d been craving for so long. It was great to sit outside and watch the airplanes landing at LAX while we ate.

The very next morning, at 4 a.m., we caught a flight to Telluride, CO. We had to first fly to Denver and then take a very small airplane (Beech 1900) into Telluride. I really enjoyed the flight because the cockpit didn’t have a door and I could watch what the pilots were doing and see the view ahead.

The view, once we got to Telluride, was amazing. The air was extremely fresh and my jaw kept dropping at the beautiful mountains and natural features of the countryside. We had a nice Mexican lunch, which I hadn’t had in forever. Our hotel, which was more of a house than a hotel, was huge and amazing. It had a wonderful kitchen, huge TV, wireless Internet, and a private Jacuzzi. I unfortunately wound up spending a lot of time there, as I got sick on the second day. Everyone actually got sick, including my little brother Mikey.

My sister Rachel arrived three days later. Dad, Krista and I went to pick her up at the airport. I couldn’t believe the reaction I got when she saw me. She let out a huge scream, ran over and gave me a great hug. She was visibly excited, as was I. We quickly caught up, discussed our lives, and got right back into our old routine.

Over the next few days, we spent many hours watching movies, playing games, taking pictures and just catching up. It was a great trip, great environment, and the company was great. It is very nice to be home, but I definitely miss China, my apartment, my Chinese friends, and definitely my girlfriend, 申琦.

After the hike was over, we had lunch at one of the restaurants there. 申琦 (shēn qí) and I both managed to find seats in the one indoor area. It was much cooler inside and just the break we needed.

After lunch, we went to get on the bus and found out that the air conditioner was broken. DOH! Not cool considering that it was ROASTING outside. The bus company, however, was smart enough to fill one of the cargo bays with extra parts and after thirty minutes, the two drivers managed to have the problem fixed.

We then proceeded to 西柏坡 (xī bǎi pō) which was supposedly the birth place of the modern Chinese communist party. There were three different areas of 西柏坡 (xī bǎi pō) that we visited. The first was a hall with a bunch of old calligraphy. I could actually read some of the characters which was cool. The second stop was the most interesting part, a museum with original documents and videos about the founding of the current government. We spent nearly an hour looking through here and taking pictures. The last stop was one of the original meeting halls and Chairman Mao’s old house. This was probably the least interesting of the 3.

We then headed back to 石家庄 (shíjiāzhuāng), all totally exhausted from the hiking and sun-exposure. Shenqi rubbed some aloe on my burns and we called it an early night.

The school seems like it wants to do a few more of these field trips. I really hope they are serious about it as I had a great time. Shenqi even went so far as to call it a mini-vacation

I had to independently apply to the law and business schools of each of the schools I was considering. This meant that since there were 4 universities I was interested in, I had to complete 8 applications. You can see the ultimate results here:

Needless to say, I was not too happy with the results. I got all my applications in around the 1st of the year, and the decision schedules all indicated that I should hear from schools around March or April at the latest, which would have given me plenty of time to plan and return to the U.S. from China. I was very confident with my applications as my GPA was extremely high (3.925) which put me at the top of my UCSD graduating class and earned me membership in both Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi. I had worked steadily for the UCSD CSE department as a TA for over 3 years. I had started my own business and acted as CTO of an internet startup. My entrance exams went well. I got a 160 on the LSAT which put me in the 82nd percentile, and a 730 on the GMAT which put me in the 97th percentile with a perfect score on my writing sample. My essays got praise from everyone that I showed them to, and I had a good group of supporters writing letters of recommendation for me.

When the rejections started rolling in, I really had no idea what had happened. On the law school side, the only dark spot was my LSAT score, which while it wasn’t perfect, was decent. Everything other than my LSAT score would have been tough to beat. On the business school side of things, I had no dark spots except for the fact that I had no post-university business experience. I, however, only applied to schools that specifically stated that they accepted students with no post-university experience. Given that type of statement, they must have accepted some people with no post-university experience, and it would have been tough to have beaten my credentials.

By the time April had rolled around, I had been rejected by every school except USC. I was even rejected by UC Berkely, the school my mom attended for her undergraduate education. USC was first choice, so I still had my fingers crossed. I quickly got rejected by their law school, but had still heard nothing from their business school. I started calling and emailing frequently trying to explain to them that returning to the states from China was not an easy thing. By the time June rolled around, I finally got a response from one of their admissions directors telling me that I had been accepted by the business school, and to wait for an admissions packet that they would mail to me. This packet was postmarked on the 5th and didn’t arrive at my U.S. address (my dad’s house) until around the 9th. They were out of town for a few weeks, but when the got back, they told me that the packet stated I needed to respond by the 15th, a date that had already passed. I couldn’t believe that they had waited SOOO long to send me the packet if the date was that close. I had my dad send the packet to me here in China, but it still hasn’t arrived yet. I called the USC admissions office over 8 times but couldn’t get a call back. I sent a number of emails to them but still didn’t get a response.

At this point, I had already been leaning towards spending another year in China. I have an amazing life here that I am extremely happy with. I have a wonderful girlfriend who I am totally in love with. I am learning new things every day and constantly find interesting things about this culture. My Chinese is improving rapidly, but it is clear that due to the complexities of the language, it will take far longer to learn than Italian or Spanish. I spent 6 months learning Italian to get to a level that I was pleased with. I think that 8 or 9 months with Chinese is nowhere near enough time to get to a similar level, but that 18 or 24 months might be a better estimate. I also am just beginning to understand what it is like to do business out here and still have yet to get my feet wet.

All that being said, I was slightly leaning towards spending another year here in China when I finally heard back from USC and they agreed to grant me a deferral. This way I can spend another year here in China and then decide what I want to do. I can go back to the states and attend USC business school. I can stay on here in China on a more permanent basis. Or I can do something entirely different. The bottom line is that I now have more options than ever, which is a great feeling.

So I will be staying here in Shijiazhuang for at least another year. Shortly I will be updating this website a bit to reflect this change. I would like to thank all the people who helped me with my applications including Susan M, Chuck M , Justin K, Geoff V, Jeff W, my Dad, and especially my Mom.

I feel very happy now and I feel very happy about the road ahead

Rough Translation for all you English speakers:

My girlfriend Shenqi wrote this. You can see what I wrote here.

This was my first time using Andrew’s Canon 5D. I still sometimes call it a D5 instead of a 5D. When Andy finished the photo assignment, I knew that he was very tired. I was curious about his camera so I paid more and more attention to it. It is a camera that has more than 12 megapixes and is thus quite specialized. This was my first time to experience being a photographer.

He very carefully put the camera strap around my neck and gave me the camera. He then seriously told me how to use it. There was no way, however, to fully understand such a specialized camera in such a short amount of time. Even though it was so complex, I gave it a shot. He already setup the lights and distances, and dialed in the camera settings. He was so tall, however, that at the begining the pictures were not very good (The lights were adjusted for my head, which was at the same height as his chest).

I started by trying to copy how he setup each picture, moving the umbrellas and flashes around, and then instructing Andrew on where to stand and how to pose. Ha Ha. Just like a special photographer. The world may never have another female photographer as good as me (Kidding of course). I just used my own way of takeing pictures of Andrew, a very handsome man.

I hope a lot of people can give me some positive feedback.

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As the deadline quickly approached for assignment 2, I decided to go and take my girlfriend 申琦’s picture on the top of 联邦名都 (Lian bang ming du) in 石家庄 (Shijiazhuang), China. I figured that I would plant her against the wall, use a snooted flash to get a nice ray of light going across the wall leading up to her face, and use a flash with an umbrella to cross light the sun.

Things didn’t quite go as planned. There was a strong wind and every time I got the umbrella positioned correctly, the wind would grab it and try to pull the light stand over just as I caught the stand before it hit the ground. It was just the two of us, so there was no one to hold the light stand as I shot.

I then went to plan “B”. I positioned the umbrella up against a door so that the wind couldn’t blow it over. This, however, was at an odd angle so I added a snooted 580EX throwing some hard light right on her face. This seemed to create a nice halo of light on the wall right behind her head, and an acceptable shadow. I had some problems with my snoot as I couldn’t find any Velcro in all of 石家庄 to secure it to the flash, and it kept shifting positions on me…but nothing too unmanageable.

I got a number of pictures as I had origonally intended–with the city in the background–but decided to take a few with the tiled wall behind her. When I got home and reviewed all the photos on the big screen, I liked this one the most. Funny how sometimes even after a whole session getting a city shot right, it is that stray odd capture that works best. Glad I saved it.

This is what the final setup looked like:

On camera left was a Canon 580EX firing into an umbrella. On camera right was a snooted Canon 580EX firing directly at 申琦’s face. They were both triggered with a shoe-mounted Canon ST-E2 wireless transmitter. I used my Canon 5D with a Canon 24-105mm F/4.0 L IS USM lens. Shutter speed was 1/125 at f/18, ISO 160 at 55mm. Both 580EXs were in manual mode, but I didn’t record their settings.

After downloading the photo, I tried flipping it since this was for the left page of a hypothetical publication, but it didn’t work as well.

Comments and feedback are encouraged. I would love some constructive criticism on what to do next time as I spent a lot of time on this shoot experimenting.

Technical Details:
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Digital
Lens: Canon 24-105 F/4.0 L IS USM
Memory Card: Ritek Pro-2 8GB
Wireless Transmitter: Canon ST-E2
Flash(x2): Canon Speedlite 580EX in slave mode
All images shot in RAW
Used Adobe Camera RAW to convert to JPG