Greetings from Guangzhou – Day 02

*gets out of Guangzhou arrival hall*
Local man: Hey…
Ang Chuan: Yes?
Local man: Ni yau xiao jie ma? *translated: You want a girl?
Ang Chuan: *dumb-founded and rushes off*
Juan: Eiii… you should have pointed at Grace and me, “U want these 2?”
:P

Once we got out of the airport, there was an old lady begging for money. Wow, 2 incidences and we haven’t even been in the country for more than 10 minutes!!!

Looking on the bright side, we touched down in China with very good weather; 25 degrees. Apparently, the weather rose just in time to welcome us. Tomorrow, the temperature is forecasted to drop 6 degrees….. brrr.

We arrived at Wanglaoji at around 2+ pm. Beautiful working environment. Reminded me more of campus life rather than being at work. Grounds are spacious and there was a big Koi pond right outside our workplace. We got there just in time for a status meeting…

Project Manager: *giving presentation* bla bla bla bla…
Ang Chuan: Oh my god….
Grace: *deep, slow breaths…*
Juan: What?
Ang Chuan: Do you even understand a word that he’s saying?

Hahahahah… this is what happens when you send three bananas (referring to our skin color – yellow on the outside, white on the inside) to China. All three of us have minimal Mandarin vocabulary plus zero Chinese written knowledge. Everything on the slides were in Chinese *snicker*.

Had our first dinner in Guangzhou in some restaurant near our workplace. So, what did a party of 11 have for dinner?
1) Vinegar drink – supposed to give us good appetite, tasted like vinaigrette coke
2) Roast duck
3) Huge flour-battered oysters
4) Sweet and sour pork
5) Braised mushrooms with vegetables
6) See-weed soup
7) Fried sour fish
8) Cold pork legs
9) Scallops – served on shell with a bit of glass noodles sprinkled on top

What a spread, and this was their normal everyday dinner. Everything was very tasty, but extremely oily *urgh!* Was kind of cute when initially, the pot of Chinese tea server was used to manually wash our plates (washed contents were poured to a bowl that was at the middle of the table). Only after the utensils were washed, a separate teapot was brought out for drinking. Then, when we did a “Cheers!!!” on our vinegar drink, everyone knocked on the turn-table instead of clashing cups.

Very interesting… very interesting indeed…

Had some trouble with the accommodation, so Grace and I ended up in a separate apartment at a quieter, more dangerous location. Should be moving in with the rest of the team on Saturday when another two team members moves out onto another project. Meantime, My God is my protection, and with him I am safe – 2Sa 22:3. Mm-hmm… *hugs self*.