Bard College Faculty Training

I was accepted as a faculty at the Citizen Science Program at Bard College (No, it is NOT a permanent position - I am still a postdoc at University of Chicago). I am supposed to introduce first year undergraduates (both biology and non-biology majors) to the wonders of science. I will be teaching these students in January 2018 for three weeks. This week, together with all the other faculty members (from different institutes, ranging from Associate Professors to PhD students), I was at Bard College for a week's training. We were briefed about the course, what to pay attention to, how to structure the syllabus etc...

Bard College is a liberal arts college and has a long history of education. It is located just south of the Hudson River. The campus is very pretty, and all the faculty members made sure that we enjoyed the scenery because in January, it will be covered in snow! So.. here.. enjoy :) 

Diving Haigh Quarry

We went diving on Sunday (07/16/2017)! Haigh Quarry was holding a Jim Haigh Memorial Dive event, and we decided it would be a great opportunity for us to test out our gear. It had been nearly a year since we last dove, and we wanted to make sure everything is in working order before we jump into Lake Michigan to visit the wrecks :) And it is good that we did because there are definitely a couple of things that need to be service.

Haigh Quarry is also known as the Caribbean of the Midwest :) The owners of the Quarry have purposefully sank some items (such as fire engine, boat, small plane etc) for divers to enjoy. The first dive we visited the fire engine (or at least we think). The visibility was horrible (less than 3 feet), and it was VERY COLD! My computer registered 8 degC at the bottom (12 meters). Hannah and I were not ready for this cold water diving, and we suffered a bit of "ice-cream headache". The dive didn't last long.. 10mins :)

We thought maybe the visibility and temperature would be nicer at the second site. We swam over to the second buoy, and started out decent down the line. At around 6 meters, there was a "hand" that was tied to the decent line :), and passing through the thermocline at around 8 meters, we could see that we were descending onto a small boat! We did a swim around the boat, went into the cabin and out through the front. All the windows were open making it safe for divers to do a easy swim-through. Again, I didn't last long - I was cold, and my hands were freezing (I should have wore my gloves :/)... 

Finally, after two dives, we were ready for some food. A nice food truck "Big John" was there selling BBQ items! We enjoyed our order - "Comeback pork with fries" and "Burnt tips"  very much after all the exertion.

Hannah said we should go back to the Quarry again, and this time, we would just stay next to the wall and swim around the quarry... Until next time.

Hing Kee Restaurant

Hannah and I have always been searching for the perfect soup dumpling since we had the best ones in New York Chinatown years ago! We had tried a few places in New Zealand, but were disappointed with the quality of those dumplings. Unfortunately, we didn't have chance to try some while we were in Taiwan (land of dumplings :P).

Hannah's colleague had commented that soup dumplings at Hing Kee Restaurant in Chinatown, Chicago are very delicious. Naturally, we had to try :) So, we went to the restaurant with her colleague on Wed evening. The place was simple and clean, and there wasn't much people. It could be because it was a weekday, and Hannah's colleague said it is jam-packed with people during weekends! 

The soup dumplings were NICE! It was so good that we had two orders of dumplings. I personally think it is the second best dumpling we have tried :) Of course, the best ones are still in NY... We also ordered pineapple fried chicken, Mao Pao spicy tofu and fried spring onion pancake. It was pleasantly affordable.. all these food (including two "basket" of soup dumplings; and tips) cost us $50.

Will definitely go back there again. But the search for the best soup dumpling continues.

Hing Kee Restaurant

2140 S Archer Ave, Chicago, IL 60616

Tel. 312 808 9538

https://www.zomato.com/chicago/hing-kee-chinatown/info

Independence Day

Happy 4th July :) 

Jet in his "safe space" when he didn't want to interact with the other dogs

At the farm....spend most time on the weekend around the fire place

Grace and Hannah admiring the new VW 

Highlight of the weekend...riding a four-wheeler, and running the dogs... I think I can get used to be a red-neck :)

Firing off roman-candles

There they go!

More fire and beer

Big fireworks time!

July 4th parade

Oh yeah.. I forgot we went to the Iron Mine tour - http://ironmountainironmine.wixsite.com/ironmine