Chinese Field Trip!

 One of our translators was nice enough to offer to be a guide to us for a morning the other day.  We went to a nearby reservoir to get away from the city.  I had to give up sleep to go.  Normally I come home from work around 8:45am and then get ready for bed.  Not on Thursday!  The reservoir itself was nice.  It was quiet and I’m sure if there had been less haze it would’ve been beautiful.  I don’t understand how one country can pollute the air so much.  It really is insane.  Anyway, Robert and I hiked up a hill while our translator washed her car.  Then we drove to the other side of the reservoir where there was a park type area. 

At one point we made a bathroom break.  From far away the restroom building looked like a little church chapel.  Sadly as you approached it, it did not smell like a church chapel.  You know it’s bad when the Chinese girl rolls up her pant legs to go in.  I decided not to brave it.  I was informed it was just a hole that led to no where, hence the smell.  Gross…

We ended our field trip with lunch.  A rather interesting lunch.  The first part was a bean paste type dumpling that was wrapped in an oak leaf.  Some of you may not believe me – but yes it was an oak leaf.  I was surrounded by oak trees for a good portion of my life, so I know what the leaves look like.  You had to peel the dumpling-like thing out of the leaf and eat it.  It didn’t taste too bad.  There were also fried shrimp – the whole shrimp.  And you don’t pick it apart.  You eat the whole thing.  Same goes for these fried fish we had.  Those actually were really tasty when dipped in soy sauce and garlic.  There was a plate of vegetables, which looked more like a plate of weeds to me.  There was meat gelatin.  I decided to skip out on that one.  I did like the scrambled eggs with onion and cabbage.  I survived the lunch – that’s what my goal was.  Go me!

Up front and to left - Meat Gelatin.  Front right - scrambled eggs with green onion. Center - whole fried fish

Googley Eyed Shrimp

Sex in the City Parallels

As some of you may know, I like watching Sex in the City.  A few years ago I didn’t understand the draw to the show, but now I get it.  Recently I watched the series finale when Carrie goes to Paris with Aleksander Petrovsky.  At one point she calls Miranda and the conversation she has is exactly how I feel about traveling sometimes.  Those two episodes I can really identify with – she gets homesick and I feel like I’m in a constant state of homesick-ness.  I wonder how I did it when my parents moved.  I guess it helped that I could pick up the phone and call whenever.  Here I have to schedule when I call and then hope that my internet connection will allow me to make the call.  And when I was in Chicago I had most of my friends close by.  Here, I have a few work friends.  But it is not the same. 

I miss my Kankakee friends – especially since I’ve been reminiscing about Purdue’s Homecoming last year… J  I miss my Purdue friends even thought they’re scattered all over the country/world.  I remember our trips to the winery and the crazy times at Devonshire.  Ahhh the good ole days… 

The Good, The Weird, and the Uglier than Ugly

Alright - I've been trying to stay positive during my week in China, but I need to vent.


I'll start with the good...
- I really like the people who do my laundry.  They are the cutest little couple and are trying to learn one word of English every time I go in to drop off or pick up my laundry.  
- I love my hotel bathroom (you'll see why later on..)
- The food is pretty good most of the time.  I found a new favorite restaurant.
- I'm probably going to lose a good amount of weight for Stacy's wedding.
- Right now I'm working nights, so I get cooler weather and don't sweat as much.
- The Korean restaurant owner is pretty cool - she sits and drinks and tries to learn English with us
- I get to see the sunrise when I work nights.


The weird...
- I saw a guy riding a banana cart around town today.  
- I get stared at all of the time.
- There was a flock of sheep being herded down the highway the other day
- It's so loud here! I didn't think it was possible for a city to be louder than Chicago, but it is.
- I can't get used to brushing my teeth with bottled water.  I always go for the sink first.


The really really really ugly...
- The eastern toilet at work is so gross.  I think an outhouse looks better at the moment.  There are no doors on the stalls.  The only positive point is that it is winter = cold and the odor of the remaining excrement probably would smell worse in warm weather.  Oh and I guess the other "positive" part is that I'm on nights so there are less people and I have more privacy. 

Liaoyang China

Well I made it.  However, if you read my blog regularly you may not know where I am because I've been pretty bad about updating.  I am now in Liaoyang China.  I made it here on Thursday October 7.  It took a few days to get here.  I left from Chicago on October 5th at 8:40am, landed in San Francisco around 10:40 or so - still on October 5th.  Took off for Beijing around 11:50am (San Francisco time) and landed at 3:00pm on October 6th.  Somewhere I skipped a half a day.  Spent the night in Beijing, took another plane the next day to get to Shenyang and then someone from the company we are working with took us to Liaoyang.

China is.... well... interesting.  The first thing you notice is how overcast/smoggy it is.  In Liaoyang you can normally see the sun, which is nice.  But it is smoggy.  You can't see the hills just outside of town.  I didn't even know they were there until we drove by them on the way home from work yesterday.

Liaoyang is a "small" town in China, only a population of 1.7 million.  A lot of the stores close around 6pm and the streets are empty by 11pm.  There are hardly any quiet moments during the day.  There is constant honking.  The driving here is absolutely insane.  Any chance that you have to get ahead of someone else, you take.  I think that pretty much sums up how people drive.  Oh - and lanes mean nothing here.  It is scary.

Going to do a little sight-seeing today.  I'll take lots of pictures.

So about the new assignment...

Alright - life in FOS can be really up in the air.  And here's a perfect example.  I found out Monday morning that I am no longer going to Panipat India.  I found out today that I might be going to China at the beginning of October.  But even that assignment is not necessarily going to happen.  It could be delayed, or because I'm already in the office and convenient for short assignments, they might send me somewhere else.  So who really knows?  No one.

I'll keep you posted...

The one about food and the enormous spider

There are moments when I really love my family.  Ok, for the most part I love my family.  This weekend we celebrated my grandma's 89th birthday!  Today is actually her birthday - so happy birthday Grandma!  She didn't give my aunts and uncles any ideas for dinner and what she wanted to eat, so I told them what I wanted.  I asked for fruit, corn, and beef.  And what did I get?? Shrimp, corn, beef, fruit, veggies, more corn, and of course there was birthday cake.  I asked for corn on the cob, and there was a ton leftover.  It tasted so good!  Over Labor Day weekend I visited my immediate family in Missouri, and my dad grilled hamburgers and bbq chicken and it was sooooooooooooooooooooooo good.  The sad part was that they left the extra chicken in the microwave (it didn't finish grilling when my dad ran out of gas) and Lillie didn't like the alarm reminding us that something was done cooking.  So she turned it off.  And because she did that we forgot to get the chicken out of the microwave and put it in the fridge.  My leftovers were ruined. :-(

The other totally unrelated note is regarding this HUGE spider I saw in my hotel room this morning.  And no, I am not in India yet.  The spider's body was freaking ginormous.  And with it's legs it had to be about 2 inches long (if it were a circle, it would have a 2 inch diameter).  Just thinking about it gives me the creeps!  Seriously - I could've died this morning.  I just hope he doesn't scare the cleaning lady as much as he scared me.  I didn't kill it with a shoe because I was scared he would take the shoe out of my hand and start beating me with it.

Next Assignment

For those of you who do not know yet - I am going to Panipat India next.  I'm not sure when I leave yet and I'm not sure how excited I am about the assignment.  I am excited to see India.  I've wanted to go there for quite some time.  I hope to make it to the Taj Mahal and spend a few days shopping and wandering around New Delhi.  I've heard really good things about some of the markets in New Delhi.  I plan on buying lots of beautiful fabric!  Hopefully I get the chance to explore things.  Panipat isn't really that close on Indian roads.  The roads are supposed to be pretty terrible... :-/

I will be sure to take lots of pictures when I'm not at work and to write blogs when I can.  I can't promise a blog every week or anything.  I was told that the power cuts out 6-10 times a day unless I'm staying in the refinery guest houses.  It will definitely be an interesting few months...