Wow, today is the halfway point of my time in China. It seems like as good a time as any to reflect on how my experiences in China have differed from my expectations. I think the single biggest surprise has been the fact that working on Saturdays is expected, which has limited my ability to travel around China. However, given my experiences going between Hangzhou and Shanghai, that might not be the worst thing. Traveling around China is hectic, especially when you don't speak the language well and I think I would have significant trouble navigating it by myself. As much as I would like to see all over southeastern China, I think most of the sights would be lost on me due to my lack of understanding of Chinese history. One of the things I love about visiting cities is comparing the differences between any two cities; however, I've found Chinese cities to be sufficiently foreign to me that I'm having difficulty formulating different impressions of them, which is softening the sting of not visiting many cities. A large limiting factor of my travel has been the payroll system of my company, whereby they pay me two weeks after the end of the month, which has left me relatively strapped for cash (as I am trying to minimize the amount of money I pull from my bank account). I think my biggest regret is going to be not seeing the Great Wall or the Forbidden City; however, if my experience with tour groups in Shanghai and Hangzhou is any indicator, I would probably be frustrated by the crowds. I am planning to make one or two more trips to Shanghai before I leave and I fully intend to see the Expo, so I think I will try to get to know Shanghai and Hangzhou before I go. I'm facing the dilemma between breadth and depth and it appears that I've chosen depth. Well, depth has led me to the best hamburger in Hangzhou.
I also think it would be a good time to recognize the people who have made my time in China survivable. First and foremost, Michael my mentor from Allied. He has been with me almost every day I've been here, he's taken me shopping every time I needed things for my apartment and he's been my de facto translator. I couldn't have done this without him. Second, Denise Chu has been my Chinese mother making sure that I'm okay and that I'm enjoying myself and that I'm making sure to thank people properly. Last and certainly not least, the other interns. Phil and Ricardo for hanging out with me almost every weekend and looking out for me with their superior Chinese speaking skills. Susan, Alex and Chris for showing me fun times in Shanghai and Hangzhou and planning more to come. I'm excited to visit the Expo with y'all and I'm grateful for all the money I've saved by crashing with y'all.
Now, a recap of the work week
July 27
I got to watch a piece being machined today and I'm pretty much in love with CNC mills. They are impressive to watch and these are especially impressive, cutting through cast steel as if it were aluminum. I'm really, really sad that I can't operate a CNC mill here (it takes 3 months to obtain a CNC operators license in China). Later today Dr. Sun (the company president/founder) dropped in on me at work (the first time he's done this in a month) with a customer from Pennsylvania. I was caught a bit off-guard, but I exchanged pleasantries with him. It turns out that he has family in Gilroy, so that's something.
July 28
Not much going on at work today. I played around in CAD a bit and was unsuccessful at trying to extract an assignment from Michael. We watch some more machining in the shop today, but I got kind of tired from all the standing around and not being able to do anything or communicate about the problem. I think Michael's getting the impression that I find the workshop boring, when in fact it is quite the opposite. I will say, being in the workshop and not being able to do anything is kind of boring.
After work Michael took me out to dinner and to see the university district of Xiasha. I wasn't sure what the occasion was until I realized this was a reaction to me taking him out to dinner the previous night. I wanted to thank him for taking me out to dinner so many times, but it seems that he prefers it that way. I don't think it's that he wants me in his debt, but rather that's just the culture of hosting guests. We had wonton soup and boba for dinner (I ended up with a huge blister inside my lip from eating a deceptively hot wonton) and then went for a walk through the university district, which turned out to be 3 or 4 large universities situated adjacent to each other, each surrounded by a huge fence. The feel of these universities is entirely different from that of American universities: these felt entirely sterile and perfunctory, like they were built solely so that there would be colleges for graduates of Chinese high schools to attend. Even though it was summer, there were no signs of life, except for the guardhouses at the entrances. It was a whole dispiriting visit, topped off by the sudden, but forceful downpour. Monsoon season sucks.
July 29
Again, I spent some time in the workshop today with Michael as he prepared a prototype of a workpiece in the CNC machine. I was able to maintain focus for a bit longer today, but I couldn't do it all day. At lunch Michael's boss, Mr. Mao, suggested that I give a speech on Saturday to some Chinese college students about my life as an American college student. I said sure, what's the worst that could happen? If I totally blew it in the speech at least there would be a Q and A session, which I'm usually much better at.
I also found out today that there will be a team of American/Canadian engineers coming to Allied on August 10 to teach the company how to use the new CNC mills we just acquired. I think I'm going to be rolled out as the western welcome party, this could get interesting.
July 30
I found out today that my speech has been publicized on the company bulletin board as an open invitation. I definitely do not know enough Chinese to give my speech in Chinese, maybe they are planning to have someone there translating? Either way, I also learned that Dr. Sun will be attending the speech, so no pressure there. I guess I'll just have to put those PWR2 skills to the test.
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