So my last day of work was Friday - kind of! I am going back into the office Monday morning to deliver a brief presentation, but I'll be heading out straight from there to be a total tourist and be OFFICIALLY on vacation....thank GOD! The 20-hour-work-day is highly overrated let me tell you...I will not miss calling New York at 4AM. At all. I told my boss not to even think about me for 2 weeks and if I HAPPEN to throw my blackberry into the Yanksee River during my travels, well, "oops!".
Seriously, its been such an incredible experience working here and I haven't even fully processed it all yet - I've learned more professionally and personally here 2 weeks than I think I have in the last 2 years. I'm sure the team here won't miss my 600 inane questions a day about life in China, but they have been so gracious and polite in answering them (this is without a doubt the most gracious and polite cultre I have ever come across....every time I turn around someone is handing me a gift or inviting me to dinner or thanking me for some simple thing...its overwhelming) and have asked a lot of their own in return about what Americans think of China, what do we know about their country aside from the reports of human rights violations and Communist government...well, not much frankly, I told them. We discussed how the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will be a great chance for the world to see this city, as most of us (myself included before I came here) don't even have a picture in our minds of what this country really looks like aside from horrible images of the Tineman Square massacre or maybe of the red wall of the Forbidden City and the portrait of Chairman Mao....
So - as I said - I may or may not be posting much for the next 2 weeks but we'll see. I am actually enjoying keeping this as a "travel log" for myself so maybe I will keep it up...though the idea of totally "disconnecting" for 2 weeks sounds pretty f-ing sweet!
Either way Mike arrives tomorrow and I am SO psyched to see him and have him here to share all of this with! And also psyched to converse with someone in my normal way (fast-paced and slang-heavy) without having to be worried about whether they understand me. Plus I have hit and entertainment-low here....I am actually watching the World Rugby Finals as we speak....help.
