sick

We go through some interesting areas to work every morning. At one point we go over this bridge and as soon as you get to the other side it instantly smells like fish poop. There’s this other area right next to work that straight up smells like garbage….weird.

So I got sick…yep. I was a this little local place that I’d eaten at a few times before, so I thought it was safe. I had what I thought was tea (I had Coke all the times before this) and apparently the tea wasn’t boiled all the way…ohh, it’s like the Shanghais Shakes or something. I guess everything is made in China, even dysentery (ok ok, so it’s not as bad as that). Anyway, takin meds and stuff…yea for UOP doctors making us carry that medical kit.

What else, oh, there’s a big Economic conference in town this week. Must be a big deal because I can’t open my windows the entire time it’s here. Only thing I can figure is because my windows face the main road where all the hotels are and there are some big wigs and they're afraid somebodys gonna get shot or something. Either that or they’re afraid all the crazy Americans would moon all these big shots and bring bad press down on the city…hmm…probably the latter...sad but true.

k, I’m gonna try and take in some culture this weekend (no no, hold the crazy, stomach churning bacteria please)...let ya know how that goes.

Ps. Someone eat a Quizno’s sub for me (honey mustard chicken)…I’ve got a cravin.

Day at the beach

Let me first just say that I love that when people drive here, they use the lines on the roads more as guidelines, than as actually lanes, lol…

It’s funny how G-d is right there when we need him isn’t it…I think this new hotel is going to work out pretty well. I just happened to move in the one weekend of the year that the staff takes all of the guests (it’s a pretty small hotel) out for an outing to the beach.

Today, we went to Golden Pebble Beach (which literally has NO sand…only golden pebbles). Anyway, we all met this morning and headed out…in the rain (great beach weather). But G-d stopped the rain for us when we got there and kept it away all day…it was actually kinda nice to not have the sun blaring down on us all day – especially seeing as I forgot sunscreen. OH, and can I just say that the people here can eat! Granted, it’s mostly rice, noodles, and sea food, but I don’t see how the people here aren’t bigger, lol.

After lunch we started playing a friendly game of volleyball…and you’d think that the populace of a country where ping pong and badminton are considered national sports (haha, as in, literally, shown on TV) would be good at volleyball….they aren’t, lol. Anyway, we were playing around, just having fun when this group of guys came up to us and asked if we wanted to play a friendly game. Let me just say, that these guys were H U G E…all of them were taller than me…I mean, these guys looked like the national volleyball team, lol. I thought we were going to get our butts handed to us…but we reluctantly agreed. Long story short…we showed them what America was made of!! Ok, ok, just kidding…especially because only three of us were from America, the rest of the guests were Chinese…but honestly, we DESTROYED them – it was awesome…one of the most dominating volleyball performances ever! Seriously, stories will be told, movies will be made, children’s coloring books will be printed…legends have been created.

All over-exaggerations aside and all things considered, it was a pretty fun day. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still ready to come home…but it’s really nice to know He’s listening and knows when I need a pick-me-up (and then provides one, lol).

China

So, my first work week is finally over…and all in all it went pretty well. I won’t bore you guys with all of the gory details (haha, just most of them ;-). So first thing’s first – business class = awesome!! haha.

K, some things that caught me by surprise: this place is not nearly as crowded as I thought it would be, and I’m not the biggest person here, lol (just bigger than most…ha). Hmm, oh and I haven’t been able to find any crazy cheap market places…but that’s on the agenda for this weekend, lol (that and McDonalds).

So far, my days are kinda boring – wake up, work out, go to work, work out, get some food (ha, at this little place down the street where I point at the pictures on the menu to order b/c no one speaks English), maybe go to Starbuck…and then watch a movie till I fall asleep. A little boring, but it keeps me sane ;-). My hotel is pretty nice…hmm, moving to a new place today b/c the one I’m at now is booked solid in like a week. But all is good b/c the new place has free internet and free breakfast…haha, which brings my total food expense to about 3 USD a day, lol…gotta love it.

Some downsides…I’ll probably be here for a while…the refinery is already a little behind. I’m hoping to be back by early November, which kinda sucks =(.…right now, just trying to get settled-in. So if anyone feels like giving me a call, my skype stuff is set up just call the number on my facebook profile and it’ll forward to my cell here (only costs me like 2 cents a min). I’m like 13 hrs ahead of you, so don’t call between 10 AM – 7 PM Chicago time (well, you could call…but you might not like how I answer the phone, lol), Or you could send me an email…I got plenty of time.

Aight, I’ll put up some pictures later…for now I’m think I’m gonna go to the American Embassy (i.e. Starbucks, lol) and then maybe get some Subway for lunch =).

K, as Joe’s Crab Shack says “Peace, love, and crabs”…well, ok…not the crabs part, b/c that’s just gross. ;-)