A few sights around town-

Hello all,

I have a few of you requesting some pictures of the local sights. As I have been working a ton, I don' t have many tourist like pictures. However, I did take the initiative of taking my camera with me today on the way to work and to several meetings. These were taken by me today.

These were a couple of typical intersections. I still find it amazing that there is no real since of yield here, but somehow they work. You will also see one picture with a small bike in the upper right. That was a bike that we passed that was carrying at least 12 large bags of what appeared to be Styrofoam. You could not even see the driver as we approached, and I have no idea how he could see. There is also a man on a bike who had what appeared to be 3 large containers of some sort of sludge attached to his bike. (Again, nothing remarkable, but just a few local sights for your viewing pleasure.)

I personally think a few of you might have just thought I was vacationing in key west...

The hospitality continues to be wonderful in China. As I have said, one example lies in the gracious hospitality displayed in meetings. You are almost always served a beverage, normally tea, and it often comes on formal china. I am having to be much more careful with my words and mannerisms. While I have talked about how literal the Chinese can take messages, there are other issues. The body language and formality of certain situations lends itself to sending the wrong message if you are not careful... while I have many examples, they are much more sensitive to who sits where, who is introduced first, how you greet etc...but most certainly remain friendly and helpful. I have drank so much tea over the last few weeks, that I am visiting the washroom hourly. (I feel like you have to drink at each, or it is insulting.)-Much like at several friends homes...when in Rome...