Tania in China

Fri-Sat, Nov 17-18: Work, Work, Dance

Now things are getting really serious at work - I will probably be in both days this weekend getting ready for the big install. The rest of Ford will be doing the actual upgrade over the weekend, but since we are not connected yet we can wait until Monday and learn from everybody's mistakes. I spend Friday running around making sure I have everything I need from the local employees for the weekend since I will be the only one in on Saturday or Sunday. Things go smoothly, we finally receive the packages we need, install what needs to be installed before the upgrade, and I complete the backups of the systems.

For lunch, the guys take me to a local steak restaurant that is really good and really cheap. I wish I had found it earlier! The whole menu is also in English.

I am so tired Friday evening that after my trip to the lounge I curl up with my laptop in bed, watch another Simpsons episode, then read for an hour or so and go to sleep.

Saturday morning, even though I am up at 5:30 with a headache, I take drugs and am able to go back to sleep until almost 9. Boy, does that make a difference! I am so much peppier all day. I take my laptop up to the lounge and find out that the wireless in the lounge is over 4 times faster than the "broadband" I have in my room, so I use it to have a really nice long phone talk with my Mom. I wish I had known this earlier! It would have made a lot of difference. We talk for about an hour, and it almost feels like I am home. After the phone call and putzing around my room a bit, I finally head over to work. I have a bunch of files I need to download before Monday, and I also find and a whole bunch of new instructions have been posted, so I spend the next 4 hours downloading files and printing out instructions for both me and for Flins. As I get to the last two files that need to be downloaded, I find out they are huge - they are going to take around 90 minutes each. I fire one off, then decide it is time for me to go shopping.

It has been raining all day, my plans for walking around Nanjing have been pretty much shot, so instead I take a taxi over to Carrefour, the French version of Walmart. One of the most unique things about this particular store is that it is completely underground, with just a tiny glass entrance to the escalators leading to the store. I can tell as soon as I get in the store I am going to like it better than Walmart - the aisles are wider, there are fewer crowds, and it seems to have better stuff. Still no glow-in-the-dark digital clocks, though! I buy a few small Christmas presents and some stuff for me to take home, like chop sticks and Chinese ceramic soup spoons, and I do quite a bit of browsing through the food floor. I always find it so facinating! They carry quite a few foreign food items, but it is not going to be that long before I get back to the US, so my only indulgence is some Skippy peanut butter. As I leave the store it is barely sprinkling out, so I decide to walk back to the hotel. It is maybe 2 miles, gives me a good workout, and I finally get to see a little bit of the city up close. Some of the things I am not going to miss about China are the traffic, the crowds of pedestrians, or the car horns. The drivers here are like little kids who need to have their noisy toy taken away because they are not using it properly. I did not notice nearly so much honking in the other cities I have visited, and I don't think I barely heard a horn at all in Beijing - it must just be a local thing.

I walk up to the office before going to my room and fire off the last download I need to do, then watch one more episode of The Simpsons before a light dinner in the lounge, and a phone call to my brother and niece. My niece is not very chatty today, although I get a nice strong "Bye!" from her, and I don't talk too long to my brother because I am going to a benefit this evening.

Ford is involved with a local charity called "Hopeful Hearts" that pays for treatment for children with heart disease, especially orphans (http://hopefulhearts.info). It is a local group, and supported mostly by the expat community. Started in 2003 by a couple of women who found a baby abandoned by the side of the road because he was born with heart disease, they have now helped 30 children receive medical treatment, and also helped quite a few either be adopted or moved from the orphanage into foster care. The fundraiser was held at a local bar/restaurant, and had a dj, reduced price drinks and an auction of items and services from local establishments. They had hoped to raise enough for one operation (50,000 RMB - about $6300) but instead raised over 100,000 RMB! Most of the people that I work with were there, including a number of the locals, and a lot of the people that I met at the hash were also there. I even got myself invited to somebody's house for Thanksgiving! I had just been planning to eat at the special Thanksgiving buffet they are offering at the hotel, but eating at somebody's house will be much nicer. I have to bring wine - I need to figure out where to buy a decent bottle of wine in Nanjing!

The auction was fun, and lasted about an hour. They had basketball shirts from several national teams that had played in Nanjing signed by all the players, including one from the Chinese Team with Yao Ming's signature. The Sheraton offered a 6 month membership at their gym, Ford offered a weekend use of a Navigator with a driver, and two of the organizers even offered themselves as waiters to serve at a dinner party at a location of your choice. The most unique item may have been the offer by a bridge engineer to take 3 people on a tour of the big bridge in Nanjing over the Yangtse River, with a picnic at the top. Not for me with my fear of heights, but a really unique opportunity.

After the auction the music started getting really loud, so I headed out shortly afterwards. I have never been a loud music kind of person, and am becoming less so in my middle age. It is 11 by the time I get back, so instead of more DVDs I just read a bit before going to sleep. This is the weekend I have to get caught up on my sleep! Big things are ahead!

posted by Tania @ 11:43 AM