For years I have walked up the hill to get to my office at Agilent Technologies.  I really enjoy the walk, especially in the summer when my hands aren’t freezing.  Walking up the hill has always been a little bit of a challenge, but it always felt so good to get to the top.  Several months ago I began having some chest pain when I hit even the slightest uphill stretch.  It got so that I was walking slower and slower to get up the hill.  I thought it was just indigestion and that some day I’d have to lay off the salsa I really enjoy on my eggs for breakfast.

Just a couple of months back we ended up making an emergency trip to China.  There weren’t any major hills to walk up and down, but enough that there were times when my chest hurt enough that I had to stop.  However, stopping for a few minutes always seemed to fix the problem.  I know now how blessed I am to have not had a heart attack while there.  God was gracious and kept me going in spite of my need for treatment.  The pain did get severe enough on a few walks to the bus that i decided I had better have it checked out when I got home.

When I went to see my doctor she confirmed that my lungs were fine and gave me some pills to deal with indigestion.  However, she didn’t stop there.  She took and EKG and had me schedule a treadmill test with a cardiologist.  She was being cautious and I’m very glad she was.  I took the treadmill test on Monday and failed.  I made it through the 3 minute warm-up without any pain, but 1:56 into the first part of the real test the pain became too severe to continue.  I recovered quickly, so the doctor decided that he would let me go home.

On Wednesday morning I checked into the hospital for an angiogram.  The procedure was practically painless.  It always hurts a little to get an IV put in, but the most discomfort came from one of the spots where they shaved my leg.  I was pretty much awake through most of the procedure, but didn’t feel a thing.  The procedure was over before I knew it and the doctor let me know that I had a 95% blockage that required a stent.  The staff at Memorial Hospital took excellent care of me and I was able to come home the next day.  I’m taking it easy today to make certain that the place where they went into the artery in my leg has a full chance to heal.  I fully expect to be up and about next week and walking to work again the week after that.

Except for the grace of God I have no explanation for my not having a heart attack while in China.  Once again God has worked in ways I never could have imagined.  However, if you ever experience chest pains that cause you to stop walking, then don’t wait.  Get yourself checked out as soon as possible.

A few last pictures from China and one from our arrival in San Francisco.

Regular shuttle flights run between Qingdao and Beijing about every two hours, but we decided to pursue one more adventure and took the train instead. We’re glad we did. It did make for a much longer travel day, but it was worth it. We said goodbye to everyone the night before and woke up around 4:30a to prepare for the trip to the train station. Unfortunately, Corban woke up with diarrhea and wasn’t able to go with us to the train station. J.D. did go along and it was great to spend a few final hours with him.

The trip to the train station took us through some older sections of Qingdao that we hadn’t seen before. Qingdao was originally a German outpost and there are still large sections of the city dominated by German architecture. We’ll do more exploring when we return in the spring and it is cooler outside. We only had two small challenges to our travels home and they both came at the beginning of the trip. We needed to call Flight to find out exactly where to meet her and discovered that my phone was out of credit. J.D. ran off to top up the phone and while he was gone I went searching for a restroom. We had gotten up early, but my body hadn’t gotten through the morning routine and I was a little anxious. I headed for a local hotel next to the train station, but discovered a public restroom on the way. It wasn’t as clean, but it met the need.

We headed into the train station at about 6:30a. There was security at the entrance, but we were all able to go through. It was great that J.D. was able to go with us all the way to the waiting area. There was enough English on the notice boards that Shirley and I could have gotten there on our own, but it was very reassuring to have help. Our train left from the South waiting room and we went down several floors and entered this huge room with beautiful gold chandeliers. It wasn’t crowded and there were very clear directions on an electronic notice board letting us know which door we were to go through. Shortly before departure time we got in line and went back up an escalator to get to the platform.

You can find pictures of the Inner City Express train at http://www.qingdaochinaguide.com/news/living-essentials/qingdao-beijing-train.html. I had made a small mistake when purchasing the tickets and had failed to get a window seat for Shirley. The seating was four across and we sat down in two seats together with Shirley next to the window anyway. We were in someone else’s seat, but she and the train staff graciously allowed us to stay. There was a place for our luggage when we got on board and Shirley found a spotless restroom with an American style toilet. The train accelerated slowly out of the station and rocked a little as we moved through the city, but quickly settled down to a very smooth and quiet ride. The maximum speed we saw was 303 kmh. That is 188 miles per hour. I think that is the fastest I’ve ever traveled on the ground.

We didn’t eat any corn while we were in China, but we sure saw a lot of it between Qindao and Beijing. It was the only crop we could really recognize and the corn fields went as far as we could see on both sides of the train and were only interrupted by an occasional city. The view was less varied than we expected and I was mostly struck by the immense amount of food that was obviously being grown. At one point the corn fields were broken by mile after mile of greenhouses. These were simple structures that appeared to be covered with plastic. We couldn’t see the end of them.

We have lived most of our life in the suburbs. Santa Rosa is called a city, but doesn’t really qualify after seeing the cities of China. As the train traveled along one minute we’d be viewing corn fields and then as the train slowed for a station we’d see the high rises and construction cranes. The concept of a suburb may exist in China, but we certainly didn’t see it.

It was a great trip and I would highly recommend it. The extra few dollars we spent for first class tickets were well worth it. We were very comfortable and the quiet gave us some time to debrief a little as we prepared for the long flight home. The signs at the Beijing South train station were very clear and we had no difficulty finding a taxi. Shirley had her printed card all ready and the driver clearly acknowledged that he knew where we wanted to go.

Check-in at the airport went smoothly and we ate our snacks before heading out to the gate. While we’ve been in China we’ve often felt like celebrities with people staring at us, especially when we were with the boys. On this day we were not the celebrities. Apparently a very famous Chinese singer was going to be flying out of Beijing. The entrance to the international departure area was lined with people, mostly young girls holding fans with pictures of the singer on them. It was a mad house and took us a little while to figure out how to make our way through. We got through and the flight home was uneventful. It was wonderful to have another American sitting next to us. He was a young software engineer on his way home from Shanghai. We talked a lot during the flight and this is something we usually don’t do. I don’t know how much this experience has changed us, but I have no doubt we have changed. It is great to be home, but we look forward to returning next spring.

The weather is cooling off and that has opened up opportunities we haven’t had before to do things together. On Sunday morning we left the house early and Shirley and I rode the bus together to church. By the time we got there it was a little warm, but the ride was actually much easier on Mom than the typical taxi ride. After church we all went together to McDonalds for lunch. The picture isn’t great, but does prove we are there. My challenge with the food was not that we were in China, but that we were at McDonalds. The hamburger didn’t begin to compare to In ‘n Out, but the boys love their hamburgers and Chicken McNuggets. The restaurant was really crowded and incredibly noisy. J.D. said it was a light day.

We finished our lunches before Josiah and went outside to get a little cool next to the ice rink in the mall. Corban came out and joined us and began a game of ‘Simon Says’. We began playing and immediately began to attract a crowd. It feels really strange to be so visible, but I’ll do things for my grandsons I wouldn’t do for anyone else. The celebrity experience continued as we strolled through the mall after lunch. A Chinese couple wanted to get pictures of their daughter with Josiah. They needed a faster camera. This happens to Corban and Josiah all the time, and they’ve never really gotten used to it. I can’t blame them.

The family often gets ice cream at McDonalds and we wanted to treat them, so we started that direction and then changed our mind and went to a new frozen yogurt store that Jenny had wanted to try. I’m not an ice cream fan, but everyone else said that it was really good. The yogurt was self-serve and they had 10 different flavors, with 30 different toppings. It was a very good end to a Sunday outing.

On Monday morning we went to the immigration office. We left the house a little after 9A and the buses were all way too crowded for Shirley. We thought of getting a taxi, but when we asked Flight how far away the office was we found out that it was close enough to walk. Shirley adopted the Chinese style and carried an umbrella to keep the sun off. The immigration office was not very crowded and very organized. We scanned our passports at a self-service machine and then picked up a number that would show us our assignment to an immigration officer. We had a short wait and then went to the counter. Flight had all of our paperwork together and about 30 minutes later we were able to pay for our extended visas. We won’t be able to pick up our passports until Tuesday, but now we could relax and finalize our travel plans.

The next thing to do was to pick up train tickets. You can only get them 10 days ahead of your trip, so on Thursday Flight and I went to the ticket office. Flight works for J.D. and has been an incredible help to us from the day we arrived. We got on the bus and we eventually worked our way to a standing position in the back of the bus. I had been wondering why people seemed to congregate in the back of the bus and Flight explained. It is simply a matter of increasing the odds of getting a seat. In the middle of the bus there might be 15 people standing and only 16 seats available. In the back of the bus there might be 10 people standing and 25 seats available. Shortly after we worked out the math we came to a stop and the person sitting next to where I was standing got up. I got to sit and Flight gave me a big smile.

The ticket process was really simple as long as you could speak Chinese and since I had Flight along there was no problem. We have first class soft seats on the inner-city express from Qingdao to Beijing. I’m really looking forward to the trip.

I’ve also included some pictures of a birthday celebration we had in the office. All of the birthday boys got noodles to eat because they symbolize long life. The menu was incredibly varied. We had a whole fish, noodles, rice, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, and hash browns. For dessert Shirley had made a chocolate cake and I had picked up ice cream. This was the first time some of the office staff had ever had cake and ice cream. We put candles on a cake and then sing happy birthday and the honored guest blows out the candles. The process is a little more elaborate here. The candles are a mini-fireworks display that is really hard to describe. It looks like a flower and the inside is lighted. It sparks for a while and then it opens up and each of the pedals of the flower has a candle on it. The candles are all rotating around the center while music plays. The three birthday boys blew out the candles and everyone enjoyed the cake and ice cream.

On Thursday night we also went to the mall and ate at Subway. Shirley and I went grocery shopping after dinner and then walked home. I was exhausted by the time we got back and worked from the apartment on Friday. When I look back it is easy to see why I was so tired. It has been a very full week and a very good one. It has been nice to slow down a little today. We watched the movie “Invictus” today. If you haven’t seen it, you should. It is an incredible picture of what visionary leadership looks like.

Top to bottom and left to right.

J.D. and Jenny’s apartment as seen from the corner by the car wash on the way to school.

The shoe repair shop across from the grocery store.

The construction site that Shirley has been watching closely from the apartment.  We still have no idea exactly what they’re building.

Jenny, Elijah, and Shirley.

Ayi and Elijah.

Corban listening to his teacher read a book just before I picked him up from school.

Corban and J.D. with Corban’s brand new violin.

Grandma and Grandpa with the boys.

J.D. and I have made it a habit to go to lunch on Friday’s.  We had a nice relaxing walk along the harbor to Marina Village after he slowed me down.  We’ve both been so caught up in what we’re working on that it is hard to slow down and just relax.  On the way we talked a lot about the language training software project.  We had noodles for lunch and then headed over to HiSense (a shopping mall with a grocery store) to get Shirley some baking soda.  As we headed into traffic to cross the street I was struck by some of the little things that have changed in me since we arrived.

That morning I had gotten on a bus in the middle and passed my bus fare to the front of the bus.  There was barely room to stand, but I was grateful for the space I had.  It was actually less crowded than the bus I got on the day before.  When we first arrived I couldn’t have gotten the nerve to get on that bus.  Crossing the street in between the cars has also become routine.  I’ve learned to go with the flow.  The car drivers anticipate that you are going to step into the street and even though they have the right of way everyone keeps moving without anyone hitting anyone most of the time.

So, some things I’ve gotten used to and take for granted.  However, there are constant reminders that I am still in China and have a long way to go before I even begin to figure out the culture here.  At the grocery store I am able to push my way through the crowd of older ladies to get my fruits and vegetables weighed.  If I didn’t I would never be able to buy fruits or vegetables because I would never get them weighed.  I admit that I buy most vegetables pre-packaged and weighed to reduce the amount of jostling that I have to do at the scales.  I still haven’t stood in the egg line.  Eggs don’t come in boxes.  Instead they come unpackaged in crates that are about one foot square.  They are place in plastic bags and weighed.  Can you imagine carrying 40 eggs in a plastic bag?  Yesterday I felt very fortunate because there were small quantities of eggs that had been placed in plastic netting and already weighed.  I picked them up as soon as I saw them and said a big thank you that once again I didn’t have to stand in the egg line.

On the way out of the store I noticed that there were people sitting on the sidewalk across the street from the store.  I hadn’t noticed them before and stopped to pay closer attention.  I didn’t figure out all the activities, but it was clear that one of the men was a shoe repairman.  He didn’t have any machines, but it was clear by what he was doing that he was doing more than shining shoes.  As I began the walk up the hill I passed a man who was unloading some kind of grain in big sacks.  I’m certain he was taking them into the outdoor market that is across the street from the grocery store where I shop.  Maybe when we come back we’ll venture into that market.  I’m certain the prices will be lower, but beyond that I have no idea what that experience will be like.

I bought some frozen, skinless chicken breasts at the store.  They are piled on a six foot square table and you pick them up with your hands.  Actually, you try to pick them up with the plastic bag you will use to transport them.  The first thing that happens when I get them home is that Shirley washes them off before putting them in the refrigerator.  They have been frozen so we needed to use them right away.  Shirley cooked them up into a wonderful stir fry that we all enjoyed for dinner.  She still has her stir fry with rice noodles while the rest of us eat rice, but she’s becoming quite a good Chinese cook.

We have less than two weeks to go and tomorrow we’ll get to experience the immigration office as we have to apply to extend our visas.  Every day there is a new experience and there are many we probably won’t even recognize until we get back home.

I took the keys and left for work early this morning in the hope of a less crowded bus.  Any thought of a jacket had disappeared when I stuck my hand out of the window in the shower this morning.  It was hot and raining.  For some reason as bus after bus crammed full of people stopped I just couldn’t work up the courage to force myself on board, so I started to walk.  It is a downhill walk to the bus stop that drops off much closer to the office.  I was walking slowly and it took me almost 30 minutes to get there and when the first bus pulled up I felt like I had made a really bad decision.  The bus was as crowded as any I had seen, but I did force my way on crammed between the door and the fare box.  By the time I got to work I was drenched with sweat and very glad to be at work.

The fun part of the day is captured in the pictures.  J.D.’s partner has been managing a project to create an early childhood center.  It was incredible to see what they’ve done in a relatively short time.  There were two fascinating sites for me that I didn’t get pictures of.  The first was of the electrical box.  Jerry says the wiring is run in the slab without conduit, but the wiring in the box was as neat as any I’ve ever seen.  It certainly looked better than the main panel at the Ark.  As we were leaving there was a man cutting a circle in a counter top.  I don’t know what the material was, but it appeared to be some hard synthetic.  He was cutting the circle free hand with a 4” circular saw.  The circle looked really good.  I can’t imagine how long it would have taken me to do that.

After touring the preschool we headed to a new restaurant called Canvas.  It is across the street from the Grand Theater.  The pictures don’t begin to capture how beautiful this building is.  We were greeted in English when we walked in and it was clear this was a different kind of place.  The menu was in English and Chinese and featured burgers, burritos, and other typical American fare.  We all had burgers and fries.  The burgers were as good as I’ve had anywhere and that is apparently very rare for China.  They even had Heinz catsup for the fries.  The food was good, and it was even more fun to listen to J.D. and Jerry talk about culture and the business.  On the way back we enjoyed some great scenery and conversation as we drove along the seashore.

On top of all that I had a couple of successes at work today.  I was tired by the end of the day, but it turned out much better than it started.

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.

The other sign is fireworks. They began on Saturday evening. It sounded like we were living in a combat zone. We couldn’t see anything, but it seemed like from every direction there was the popping of strings of fire crackers. They were loud, but then came the big booms. I have no idea what they were exploding, but the noise was really loud in the apartment where we rarely hear anything. This continued all through Sunday and then really picked up as the sun went down. Down by the harbor we could see flashes of color in the sky. They were interesting to watch, but not very impressive. I was reading, and not really paying much attention, but finally got up to take a look. About a block away someone was setting off an aerial display. Before that one ended another one began in another apartment complex.

I asked J.D. if these were group efforts. They are not. He said that at Chinese New Year every household buys a box that creates a display equivalent to a few minutes at our public 4th of July celebrations. I can begin to imagine what that must be like as we listened to our neighbors light up the sky. We went to sleep to a serenade of explosions that were still going when I made my nighttime visit to the bathroom. It has been quiet today, so we’ll see if there is a repeat performance this evening. It has been a beautiful day. The rain of the past few days has cleared the air and we’ve actually seen blue sky.

That certainly wasn’t true this morning, but I still wished the bus would go faster.  I wasn’t concerned for myself, but there was a couple on the bus with their son who was obviously very ill.  I was reminded of J.D. and Jenny traveling across Beijing in a taxi with Elijah in their arms.  When J.D. and I discussed this at lunch he reminded me that at least in Qindao there is a hospital.

The other interesting sight this morning appeared at the intersection near the park.  Several women in bright yellow vests stood on every corner with little flags.  There was also an officer in the intersection directing traffic.  They were all there to make sure that people and cars flowed smoothly through the intersection.  Later in the day we found out that this was all part of a competition between cities.  The inspector was in town today so jay walking was definitely discouraged.

The pictures are from lunch.  We took a taxi to another food court where they served Turkish food.  It was easy to find a seat because the manager of the restaurant had 4 tables reserved just for his customers and Turkish food doesn’t appear to be a big hit with the Chinese.  Like most places the menu was graphic.  The food was delicious and a nice break from stir fry eaten with chopsticks.

The trip home was much more interesting and frustrating.  The bus was almost empty by Chinese standards when I got on and I thought I would be standing around at the boy’s school waiting for them to get out.  Forty-five minutes later we were still in downtown and I was calling Shirley to ask her to pick up the boys.  The good news is that this is the coolest day we’ve had since we’ve been here and she could do that.

The first scene is really hard to describe.  Traffic is stopped in both directions.  A gap opens and a whole series of cars from the other direction begin to make left-hand turns into a side street.  There is no light at this point.  Once they establish that flow the cars and buses begin to flow out of the side street turning right into the lane our bus is in.  We aren’t moving at all.  I can tell the driver is very frustrated.  Our forward progress depends on someone in a little red car who must force his way into the stream and stop it.  Eventually there is a gap and we begin to move.  It probably took another 15 minutes to make it through the light and we finally saw what the problem was.  There was a bus stalled in the left hand lane.

The next scene is easy to describe, and hard to understand.  A young man on crutches with one leg much shorter than the other knocked on the bus door and asked to get on.  The driver refused to open the door.  To the young man’s credit he didn’t get angry and headed out in the direction of the next bus stop.  He easily got there before us.  I was grateful that when he got on the bus someone quickly got up and let him sit down.  I was in one of the raised seats and I’m sure he could have made it into it, but a person in one of the few side seats moved first.

I finally made it to the school and met Shirley walking toward me with one of the school teachers holding an umbrella.  It was pouring and I had the umbrella.  We hadn’t left one with Shirley because we never anticipated that she might pick the boys up.  The final challenge was attempting to keep two energetic boys under the umbrella.  They kept trying to get under the drips coming off the edge.

We took a little time off today and went to the zoo.  We caught a taxi a little after 9 A and wound our way through the tail end of rush hour traffic out to the zoo.  The zoo is one of several parks on a mountain in the city.  There is a television tower on the top and parks all around.

The animals weren’t very interesting, especially after being spoiled by some wonderful time a few years ago with J.D. in Kenya.  Animals in cages just can’t compare with animals in the wild.  The boys still enjoyed it and it was great to get away from our normal routine.

It is hard to describe how big the parks are, but J.D. said their first experience at the park there were 800,000 people there.  I’ve got more pictures, but assumed that pictures of the boys and some of the park would be the most interesting.  If you look closely in one you can even see my reflection in the window.

As usual, the animals weren’t the only ones getting camera time.  I know I’m not the only one who came home with pictures of two very cute blond boys.

We took the bus home and the ride took us about 45 minutes.  We did get to sit down most of the way and traveled right through the center of the city.  This is an amazing place and I look forward to our return in colder weather when I can really share it with Shirley.