I can't begin to tell you how important the Olympics are to China. Not only do they want to make a great showing in sports, but they are on the world stage and everyone is watching. This is their chance to stand up and show that they can play with the other 'big countries'. And based upon the opening ceremonies, I have to say they are doing a fantastic job! I just happen to be typing this blog post on 8/10 and watching the USA and China men's basketball game. It's almost the end of the 1st quarter and it's only 16-16, both teams seem to be nervous and playing a little "tight".
Friday afternoon, my HP team had a small celebration. Roman, a Boise engineer living in Shanghai for two years organized the party. It consisted of pizza and drinks for lunch and we watched "Witless Protection" with Larry the Cable Guy. It was fun trying to figure out how an English slang blurb was translated to Mandarin. Roman did make the disclaimer prior to the movie that the local engineers "should not use this movie to learn English". Then we had a Foosball tournament. Let me tell you, these guys/gals are really good and take it very seriously. The winners, Justin and Sophia (their English names), were awarded matching shirts.
On Saturday (8/9) I went with one of my co-workers, Hernan, and his family to Yiwu (eewoo), a city about 250 miles southwest of Shanghai. We rode the "bullet train" and it only took about 2 hours to arrive in Yiwu. It is one of the commercial capitals of China, meaning, if you own a business and need to import goods from China, there's a strong chance it could have come from Yiwu. You can get any kind of goods, from jewelry to tires to clothes to toys. Now I didn't say they were the best quality, but hey, were in China!
Hernan and his wife, Alejandra, are native to Guadaljara Mexico. They have three incredible children ages 9, 6, and almost 3. I must tell you, our little family of 6 (including me) must have looked quite interesting to the Chinese. When I pushed the stroller I would get the funniest looks from the locals. I'm sure they were thinking, "That little girl doesn't look anything like her. A blonde woman pushing a stroller with a brown eyed, black hair little girl. " I am very greatful that Hernan's family took me with them, they are truly wonderful people, "la familia"!
On the way to my new apartment today, it started to rain really hard. It's hard to describe what I mean by "really hard", something like your in the shower and you can't turn it off. An umbrella doesn't do much. My driver, John and I were sitting at a stop light waiting to turn and we saw a big flash of light then quickly followed by a very very loud bang. Yup, lightening and thunder. It startled both of us and we started to laugh which is always good (icebreaker), since my Mandarin is lousy and his English is better than my Mandarin, but not by much. Remember earlier in this paragraph I mentioned "new apartment"? Well, I finally have the keys! I'll start moving in tomorrow once they finish cleaning, install phone, Internet and satellite TV. The apartment is on the 35th floor of the Xiang Mei Gardens complex and has a fantastic view of Century Park.
I'm looking forward to seeing my family, only 5 more days!
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