I forgot how polluted Shenzhen area in China is. Very different than what I've grown used to in Taiwan. Hard to imagine that when I "miss home" like I do right now, I mean that I miss Taipei:) Although the hotel is very nice (built last year) and you can sort of see the China Sea through the smog from my hotel window.... Plus the traffic is horrible here (even worse than I remember). Too many cars, nobody follows the traditional rules of driving (stay between the dashed lines for lanes, don't cross the yellow lines for direction), and you honk the horn the second you disagree with what's going on. Because honking as the 15th car at a stop light is the best way to get people moving.
I also learned from my Taiwan colleague who is here for the week with me - how to ride in a taxi. You do NOT look out the front window at the things you could hit, or that could hit you (like the informal game of Chicken that was played this morning). You look out the side windows, but make sure you look in the distance. Look at the mountains, the birds, or anything besides the traffic coming at you or scraping up to the side of your cab. Please keep your hands inside the vehicle at all times. Makes the driving rules in Taipei much more rational.
It's now June.... means I'm less than a month from returning home and seeing Sarah again. Also means it's going to be hot and humid here for the next couple of months. Still raining in Taipei - smoggy and warm (85% humidity) here in China. Also means I missed the 3 weeks of Spring in Rochester:) Congrats to all the educators back in the US who are enjoying the end of another school year. The problem children in the classroom are now somebody else's problem. Wish we had that in the corporate world sometimes!
Red Wings couldn't pull off the 3OT win last night so they will play again on Wednesday night to try to finish this on the road. I would rather not play a game 7 (even if it's at home), just want it over with!
This week for our discussions, we have folks from Taiwan (speaking Taiwanese-Mandarin), China (speaking China-Mandarin), and one guy from Singapore (official language is English but also Mandarin speaking). It's funny how the dialects are slightly different. They can understand each other, but the Singapore and Chinese discussions require a lot of explanations:) So when they say that Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world, you need to understand that even in China - the difference between Western China and SouthEast China where I'm at is very different. We also try not to speak politics (similar to business lunches in the US) since that is a topic of NO agreement:)
They have Mountain Dew in Singapore though!!!!!
Enjoy your "Final Primary Day" on Tuesday - let's hope the first round of this crap is over on Wednesday but we all know it will get worse as we get closer to November. Yet another thing I don't miss while I'm here in Taiwan.
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