Name:
Kelly Jackson
Year:
Senior, Class of 2017
Location:
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
Internship:
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding- Animal Behavior Research
Taryn and I have been enjoying our
time in China and have had new adventures each day! Last week Sunday we went
out for breakfast, drank boba tea and went to the panda post to send postcards
back to our friends and families at the Panda Post. Eldora had taken Macie and
I there last year, and all of the workers had spoken English very well while we
were there. Afterwards we came back to the school to do laundry. It was very
nice out so I decided to read one of the books I brought outside while my
laundry dried in the sun. Our neighbors saw me and talked to me for a bit! They
are very nice people. :)
We started off last week by watching
the pandas (of course). They had brought the pandas in because it was too hot
for them outside. Once they brought them in, one of the keepers, Mei Mei, asked
us if we would like some watermelon. So we took a break from the pandas and ate
the delicious fruit with them! In the afternoon we also had the opportunity to
see them put the pandas back outside from the back area (it had cooled off a
bit). It definitely helped a lot when trying to figure out who was who!
The following days at the panda base
were some of the most exciting ones thus far. On Tuesday, Ju and I decided to
walk around the panda base during lunch while Taryn watched Game of Thrones.
While this is my second time being at the panda base, I still haven’t explored
the whole area because it is very huge. As Ju and I were wandering around the
panda base, we ran into an enclosure that had a familiar sign…it was the cubs
from last year! Finally found them! All five of them were inside and SO BIG! It
is crazy to me just how big they get in such a little time. Unfortunately, I
could not tell who all of them were, except Shuang Hao. :P Ju and I also walked
to Bird Lake, and took lots of pictures of all the beautiful birds.
On Wednesday, Taryn and I had the
chance to help out with some enrichment! A lady had donated enrichment items to
the panda base and James had asked if we could give it to the cubs. The
husbandry department gave us the okay and off we went! Pandapia, the official
photographing company of the panda base, decided they wanted some video footage
of the pandas playing with the handy dandy enrichment item, otherwise known as
“the amazing graze” (it is for horses!). Taryn recorded video and I used my
camera to take some great pictures! The cubs absolutely loved it. :P
The rest of the week we actually had
off due to the Dragon Boat Festival Holiday. On Thursday I decided to go ahead
and explore the east side of the campus. I ended up walking to a place called
the Jiulidi Site. According to the writing (it was in English), the area was
built in order to protect Chengdu from floods. However, most of the area had
been destroyed and now it is much smaller. I also found a pet store too that
had puppies and kittens for sale! Later on in the day Taryn and I went to the
art market. My favorite part of the market is the beautiful paintings artists
create. The extensive detail that is put into each piece is so precise; you can
tell they put so much effort into it. We then met Ju later for dinner at the
Shangri-La. :)
The next day we spent the whole day
with Ju. We went to a sandwich place (recommended by James) for lunch which was
SO GOOD and got boba (yum!). We headed on over to the Sichuan Art Museum for a
good majority of the day. Almost all of the signage at the art museum was
translated into English, so we could read a lot of the descriptions of the
pieces. I really enjoyed reading the signs, and learned a lot about the history
of the sculpture, painting, or object being displayed. One of the several I
personally enjoyed was the Tea contrast. When designing certain pottery items,
the sculptors took into account the tea that would be poured into them. The
color and the uniformity of the tea, as well as whether or not the foam
disappeared, determined who would win “the game.” I’m not sure what “the game”
is, but it sounds mysterious! :P After the museum, we went swing dancing with
Ju again! I had the chance to dance with several people this time, and felt a
whole lot more confident in my swing skills!
On Saturday Taryn and I hung out
with our new friends Andrew and Melody! We had met Andrew on the campus one day
and she wanted to spend the day playing with us. :) And what better place to go on
your day off then the panda base? ;P Andrew had never been there before and we
wanted to show her around, and give her the full panda experience! She was so
happy watching the pandas, even though most of them were sleeping by the time
we got there. Melody and Andrew even got us selfie sticks so we could take
pictures of the pandas later on! We went to lunch next and ate delicious hot
pot! The two of them had to go and so we said farewell. I decided to go to the
track and dance Zumba with the ladies there! They were so much fun, but it was
definitely a workout! :P
Sunday we went back to the panda
base, where we were thrown for a loop. The keepers had put some of the cubs
with the moms! While it was exciting we were not sure what to do, and whether
or not this would affect our data. After discussing it, we determined that it
would still be okay to watch the cubs with the moms. It will be exciting to not
only be able to watch the cubs, but to also watch the adult pandas a bit too,
and see how the cubs interact with their moms. :)
Taryn
and I have started collecting our actual data this week, which is also awesome! :) We’ve talked with
James about entering data into excel and what in theory our results should look
like to support our hypothesis. Each day we still continue to watch the cubs,
and each day they do something crazy and/or cute! :) Hopefully, they will continue to
be highly active so we can get a ton of social interactions between them!
Even
with watching the pandas every single day, one of the highlights of the trip
would have to be when I walked to the mall the other day. I decided to explore
the road on the opposite side of the mall, and see if there were any cool new
food places there Taryn and I could try. There was not a lot of restaurants,
and mainly clothing stores so I ventured back to the mall. I was curious to see
the roof of the mall, and made my way up to the top. There was a quaint little
tea shop surrounded by a garden of greens and various crops. I continued to
walk till I found myself alone, sitting on a marble ledge just looking out into
the horizon watching the sun. It was getting dark, and I figured I might as
well stay and watch the sunset. It was absolutely breathtaking. I had never
seen a sunset in the city before, let alone in China. You could barely hear the
cars and the busy street down below; the only sounds were the planes flying overhead
and above you. Yes, I love so many things about Chengdu. From the food to the
people, China will always have a place in my heart. But in reality, it’s the
little moments like this that make me realize why I really truly enjoy being
here. It makes me sad that almost half of our time is gone here. :( I am looking forward to what the
rest of the trips brings for Taryn and I! :)
P.S.
James also surprised me by bringing the best mangos in the world to lunch
yesterday. Needless to say, Kelly’s Belly was VERY happy. :)
