Dalian, a love of the NBA, and a drinking cabbie

Hello everyone! I'm sorry I haven't posted in a couple days, but I'm finally at my job site. It's been like drinking from a fire hose the first couple of days. Just trying to write down everything I hear, and make sense of it at night. It's going to be a challenging job, but fun. The plant manager is an Ex-Pat from Chicago. He has been really nice to me. He's gone out of his way to visit with me, and make me feel welcome. I think we've started out on the right foot! Now I just have to deliver what he wants.

It can be a little crazy with the with the Chinese. They tend to run with nuggets of information. Here's what I mean, I start to explain a concept, someone understands a piece of the information I'm delivering and starts to explain to the group in Mandarin. 10 minutes later someone looks up and says, "OK, got it." Now, I know they didn't get it yet, because I haven't fully explained it....but they try hard and they are all anxious to learn! It's fun to be a part of.

Oh Yeah! I saw the bathroom at the plant this week. I was warned by my friend Greg, who has also been to this account. Warnings don't help in this case! First the smell is so revolting that you think your going to throw up. (It hurts to breathe) The urinals are on the wall, but I'm not sure if they do anymore than just drain into the ground. The stalls are holes in the ground, but what's worse than that, is that they throw the used toilet paper in a basket next to the hole. It is something to behold!

Dalian is a nice city. It's small by China standards...meaning it's the size of Chicago. It's a lot cleaner here than in Shanghai. It doesn't have the tourist stuff, but I think it's nice.

This next part goes along with some questions that BK asked. Do the Chinese like the NBA? Ummm, yeah! They love it! They know more about it than the average American. They all love Yao Ming, that's a no brainer. Then it's usually Kobe or Lebron. However they all struggle to say Lebron's name. Most of them say Lebberrin James. The first question the head of engineering asked me was, "Do you like Yao Ming or Tracy McGrady more?" I've been asked some interesting questions, but usually they have to do with the job. It's crazy! You should see how excited they get when I tell them about an going to an NBA game. They're like little kids! Their eyes just light up!

I'm going to try to use the NBA craze to help install some of our processes. I'm having a co-worker from the States send me boxes of NBA cards. I'm going to give them out to people that complete the processes correctly! I think it's going to be a big help, they are that crazy about the NBA. They don't like baseball though...at least no one that I've talked to.

Last but not least, just when you thought a cab ride couldn't get anymore exciting, it did. When I left the plant today, I got in a cab and smelled booze. At first I thought maybe it was the former passenger, then the cabbie turned around and starting talking Mandarin, WHOA! Big old wiff! I almost got out, but then I thought, "Screw it, let it ride!" I think they drive better with a few cocktails in them. It sedates the inner rage. We only almost crashed twice. I listened to Welcome to The Jungle, just to spice it up more! I also saw another cabbie pulled over by an under pass. He was just standing there taking a leak for the whole highway to see. I was cracking up! More soon!