I decided to come back here, a place where I can record the ups and downs I experience in this crazy country. I certainly do hope that there will be more ups than downs, but for now that's just wishful thinking.
Today is my last Friday on the road for this project (before the National holiday at least), and probably my last Friday in this city. My first project on the road has been a rather easy one - very light hours and certainly no work past midnight or on weekend. My biggest fear/obstacle is dealing with the local people. I have no idea what anyone from the company is really saying in the heavy Chinese accents, and a lot of the times I don't understand a word because of the culture and slang terms. My interview notes are all over the place. I just hope I can get a ME (Meet Expectations) for the engagement review.
I'm really looking forward to going back and not having to eat what I don't like to eat - gross, dirty, weird food like pig brain, donkey meat, horse meet, pig blood in intestine membrane, overly seasoned/MSG-ed vegetables and hard-as-rock beef. This is definitely an unforgettable experience working in tier-3 cities in China and for state-owned enterprise clients who do not care anything but their own power.
My social life for the rest of the year looks very exciting, including a trip to Taiwan in October, a trip to Seoul over Thanksgiving, and possibly Hong Kong or somewhere else in Asia for Christmas. On top of that, Kaidi is finally moving to Shanghai to make me miss Taipei less! And I might see Sara in October/November. Anita *might* also be moving to Beijing for work (*crossing my finger*) Woot!
Finally the picture of the day is pig brain for hot pot, our Friday team dinner @ Xiao Fei Yang (Little Fat Sheep), a HK-listed hot pot restaurant chain. They also serve bull's brain and other weird stuff. I didn't eat any but the broth probably got some of that flavor already. Gross! ><
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