So China continues to be quite the experience.

Work is difficult because a large precentage of the equipment we shipped was damaged or not tested properly back at home. This = bummer. BUT, all of the equipment that I designed seems to be working great and I have no doubts that my stuff will rock China harder than communism.

We are brought by bus to the mill each day, our working time is strictly 8am to 8pm. This is good because we’re guaranteed to be out by 8pm. It’s bad because sometimes we stay late and don’t end up leaving by 8pm.

FOOD UPDATE
things I’ve eaten:

unknown vegetables
pork intestine
cow’s stomach
octupus legs
snail (different than escargo)
quail egg
the hotpot (yes!)
duck face
rice maggots (no!)
fish head

Other things that are really really strange:

Tonight we were taken to a Karaoke place. But wait, this was no normal Karaoke place. The five of us were dropped off by the vice president of our customer. We walked up stairs and were taken to a small room with large couches, two coffee tables, and a large Karaoke TV. San immediately picked up the mic and started singing. We passed around the mic a bit and then the door opened. Suddenly about 15 girls filed in. We were told to choose one (awkward?). Then that girl came over and cuddled against us as we sang.

wait? cuddling? huh?

They also refilled our tea and gave us slices of watermelon on napkins.

It was really weird. BUT, I assure you, the weirdness did not prevent me from ROCKING unchained melody as it has never been rocked before. I sang it to my little Asian. She laughed, but inside, I think she swooned.

I sat down with the President and Vice President of my company before my departure and my trip to China happened to come up.

Immediately, the horror stories started coming up. Here are some bits of the conversation.

President: “and they strung the live cat up by its neck and threw it screaming into the boiling water for about 30 seconds”
Vice President: “like a lobster.”
President: “just like a lobster. And then they pulled it out and pulled off all the fur.”

Vice President: “DO NOT EAT ANYTHING NOT SOLD AT A RESTAURANT. You’ll go home, and die before dawn.”
President: “well, that might be an exaggeration.”
Vice President: “Barely! When I got sick I was out of comission for four days. Couldn’t move.”

Vice President: “If the meat isn’t labeled, don’t ask what it is.”
President: “Duck tongue is pretty good though.”
Vice President: “oh yeah. Eat the duck tongue. The dog is rough.”
President: “yeah, I don’t know about the dog.”
Vice President: “cat is decent. ”
President: It’s the giant raw squid that’s bad.
Vice President: you might get to try scorpion.

President: “feel free to use the cell phone to call if you need anything.”
Vice President: “yeah, if you go to jail or something.”
President: “ha ha! he’s not going to jail.”
Vice President: “you never know.”

Qingdao, in addition to being one of the few destinations that Andy recommended, is a unique port city in the Shandong province. It was taken over by the Germans in 1897. The German’s started laying down the groundwork for an impressive city and the resulting architecture is odd. The German’s occupied Qingdao until 1914 when it was taken from them by the Japanese who hoped to expand into mainland China. This didn’t last however as there was a huge uprising on May fourth 1919 where students demanded that the government rid the country of foreign controllers. The uprising was so substantial that all of shanghai went on strike.

Despite this, Japan held onto Qingdao for three more years until 1922.

Qingdao is most famous for brewing Tsingtao beer. Made with mineral water from a local mountain, the beer was originally created by homesick Germans in dire need for boos.

This city is rapidly expanding and is compared to Shanghai in its growth and ambition. I will do my best to get here for a weekend. Though I think it’s probably a solid 4 or 5 hour drive from my workplace.

Rock Stopped, day three

The Rock Stopped
An MSPaint gallary by Mike D.

Title: Child’s nightmare.
Comments: I had a hard time drawing the transition from forehead to hair on this little girl. I was thinking about going the bangs route (bangs = A+) but didn’t. Instead, it kind of looks like her hair was drawn on with a highlighter.