I am personally in a much better mood today than I was yesterday. I have no idea why. Yesterday I was given grape soda and a Blackberry to stay in contact. Today, we were all given another type of candy. While this candy is delicious, it isn’t a phone. General Dave and I had caramel wrapped chocolate. General said it was like a reverse roll-o, which is pretty spot-on. If General Dave makes an observation you can bet your ass its right. Paula had a hard candy that was coffee flavor. Paula loves coffee. She drinks it all day long. If I had that much caffeine I would be bouncing off the walls like Beavis on a sugar high, a la Cornholio. Maybe she just internalizes all that energy, I don’t know. She claimed to be tired today, but you wouldn’t know it.
I got to lead off the day with the thoracic lecture of ITLS. Yep, there goes the energy. It was a 2 hour lecture. I am glad I wore my Skechers instead of the dress shoes. My feet would be killing me and would want a foot massage. A foot massage that they can’t have because they are too ticklish. So, the Skechers were brilliant. Since we are on the subject of clothes, Paula, General Dave and I all essentially matched for the first time. We all wore tan pants and a dark blue NCTI shirt. It was not planned. But aren’t we cute?
The class was as expected, but was broken up very well between lecture and skills. I think we have really set the schedule in a very productive way, and future projects, whether in China or elsewhere, will definitely benefit from us being the guinea pig. You are welcome!
And then it happened. We received a package from home. Finally our ACLS cards had arrived for the first class. But that wasn’t all. Jenn had decided to send candy for all of us to share. She really is amazing. It completely rejuvenated at least me. The interpreters and Pu also got to share in this. They all mentioned how this was a sweet gesture and that I am a lucky man to have someone who thinks of little things like this. I certainly am lucky! There was also a card from her and the boys both drew something for me and wrote a message. I love those boys! She even sent her US weekly and People magazines. In the back of every People is a cross-word. She always starts them, but never quite finishes. Since I remember everything I end up finishing them for her. Its kinda like one of our little things we do. And the People that was sent had a crossword that needed to be finished. Have I mentioned that my wife is amazing and how she can bring me the comforts of home from over 6,000 miles away? With a little over a week left to go until I am home, this was the perfect thing to make me excited about it!
We decided to go to the Japanese restaurant again, but this time we would be armed with Jesse. What a difference this made. Tons of food, great service and he even got special sashimi for them. The lao-may got nothing here. Jesse also took this opportunity to educate us further on the Chinese drinking culture since the banquet is tomorrow. Apparently my ability to pound a beer was showing my hand too early and I have made myself a target. He said to attach myself to one of the hosts and tell them since I am their guests they must drink when I drink and to up whatever challenge they throw at me. He swears that they will back off either from me challenging them to hard or the fact that I make someone drink with me. Sound advice. The culture here really is different. So let us see if it works.
Baseball season started today, or rather yesterday back home. Giants lost. I didn’t get to see it obviously. It is just another little thing about home that I cannot wait to get home too. There are so many of those little things…. I actually started packing today. Can you tell I’m ready to come home? There are several articles of clothing that I won’t wear since class is almost finished. Plus, I need to start seeing how much room I have for all the gifts. So far, so good. I think I will have plenty of room, but it is less than half of what I brought that I have packed. The real worry is the weight. Several gifts that were given to me are heavy. If I go over 50 lbs. I pay a fee. I suppose I really won’t be paying it, I can just expense it, but that is not the point. No fees! It’s good to save the company money, right?
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