I’ve been a little under the weather this past week. I caught the bug that has been making its way through the whole family since before we arrived. It settled in my chest and after a week of battling has moved into my normal sore throat and head congestion. This is when you notice that you’re away from home. We can get almost anything here, but it just isn’t the same.
I’ve still been working, but haven’t gone into the office quite as much. On Tuesday this was very frustrating as the Internet connection in the apartment was up and down all day. On top of that my PC back in California decided to lock me out. This is when the difference in time zones really hits. If I had been feeling better I would have called someone on swing shift to fix it, and I did do that later in the week.
Actually, it is amazing that I can be doing work in Santa Rosa while sitting in a chair on the other side of the world. We’ve really come to take this ability to connect for granted. I’m even beginning to understand how to use a cell phone. Early morning calls to California are normal now and with WebEx the conferences with people at work are really productive. Actually, I can see better this way then if I was sitting right next to the person I’m working with.
There were some real positives this week. J.D. and I had a really good conversation this week. We’re working on developing a language learning program and we’re getting close to having a working prototype. I’m spending time with members of the team finalizing the data that will power the application. Unfortunately, I’m not picking up much Chinese in the process.
There have been some real positives this week. On Sunday we went to fellowship and while J.D., Jenny, and the boys went to McDonalds for lunch Shirley and I came home in a taxi. There are at least two different classes of taxis in Qingdao. They are distinguished by the minimum charge for a ride. The cheapest are 9 RMB and the more expensive ones are 11 RMB. The ones that come into the hotel entry area are typically the 11RMB variety. In our experience the drivers are less friendly and they typically take their passengers on longer trips to and from the airport. Jenny thought we should avoid this, so we went across the street and caught a 9 RMB taxi.
Our driver was a woman, the first time that has occurred, and a total delight. Shirley sat in the front and for the next 20 minutes these two women chattered away. The driver could speak a little English and Shirley speaks almost no Chinese. In spite of this they had a great conversation and I think they managed to communicate a little about each other. The certainly laughed a lot and the ride went by very quickly.
On Friday Shirley got a cooking lesson. When she did her workshop the ladies there had prepared what we call pot stickers. We all enjoyed the leftovers for dinner, so one of J.D. and Jenny’s friends came by on Friday to teach Shirley how to make them. If you want the full explanation check out this article on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiaozi. Ours were made with pork and cabbage. Shirley did use purchased wrappers. We had boiled pot stickers for lunch and then Shirley fried and baked them for dinner. They were really good and we all ate more than we should have. Not even chopsticks slowed us down. They aren’t spicy hot as the cuisine from this region is very mild.
I did get one spicy meal this week. The family went to dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. Shirley and I stayed home, Mom because of the heat and me because I wasn’t feeling well. I really enjoyed the leftovers. The salted peanuts were tasty and the kung pao chicken was really spicy hot. It was also really salted which means that it was probably loaded with MSG. Apparently it is almost impossible to get Chinese food here without MSG in it, so Shirley will be getting be cooking her own.
It is Sunday morning and everyone just left for fellowship. I’ll enjoy the quiet and catch up on some rest hoping that I’ll feel like heading into the office tomorrow.
