My vonage box has been broken for about a month now (long story), so I haven’t been able to keep in touch with many of you back home. The new box has been shipped out and will hopefully get here soon.

Today’s quirky fact is this: My friend’s company had some workers go home for the holidays. He needed to find some part time workers to fill the night shift from 6pm to 10pm. He decided to advertise at the local university, and found many students willing to take the job at the offered salary. He was able to pick and choose the best of the bunch, and when one didn’t work out, he brought a different one in. The stated salary, however, is what cracked me up. For 4 hours of labor, the students were paid 5 RMB. That works out to be $0.16 US an hour. I was shocked when I found this out, and didn’t believe that there were that many students looking for that type of work, but I guess there are, and they were happy to have the salary!!!???!!!!

IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 1157N Make/Model: MO20 Description: M20, M20A/B/C/D/E/F/G/J/L/R/S, M20K/M (T
Date: 09/17/2006 Time: 1806

Event Type: Incident Highest Injury: None Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Minor

LOCATION
City: TEMECULA State: CA Country: US

DESCRIPTION
ACFT ON LANDING, NOSE GEAR COLLAPSED, TEMECULA, CA

INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 0
# Crew: 1 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:

OTHER DATA
Activity: Unknown Phase: Landing Operation: OTHER

Departed: Dep Date: Dep. Time:
Destination: Flt Plan: Wx Briefing:
Last Radio Cont:
Last Clearance:

FAA FSDO: RIVERSIDE, CA (WP21) Entry date: 09/18/2006

I put a call into my buddy Chuck and found out that the new owner drove the plane into the ground. Normally when you land a plane, you pull up the nose when you get close to the ground to make the plane fly parallel to the ground. This is called a flare. Apparently the new owner neglected to do this when landing. OPPS!

The flight was also not full and I had an aisle seat in the middle with no one sitting next to me. I was able to sleep a bit on the flight and we made it to Beijing right on time. I got my bags, and met dandan from my school and the drivers who were going to take me back to Shijiahzuang. I decided that since I was getting in so early and had sooo much baggage that I didn’t want to hassle with the train. Normally taking the train home winds up being 6-7 hours from the time you leave the airport. Taking a car made the trip a much more comfortable 3 hour ordeal, with no baggage lugging at all

I got back to Shijiazhuang and saw Shenqi after nearly a month and a half apart. It was the longest we had been apart since we met back in December 05, and we had a lot of catching up to do. My maid Wu Jie came by and cooked us a big lunch including my favorite shrimp dish. Being in the states, I didn’t get Chinese food anywhere near as good as the stuff she cooks.

I was shocked at how quickly I feel back into the Chinese language groove. During the first hour speaking was tough, but within a day I felt I was roughly at the same level as when I left. Sweet.

Since then, I have been busy catching up with everyone and getting back into my routine.  I am trying to get started doing some business out here, which has kept me REALLY busy. Things are just begining, and I am thus not going to post details here yet, but I will be sure to do a full write up with all the details once things get locked down

After the lottery, we made our way over to the Mirage to see the new Cirque du Soleil show, LOVE. I really liked the show. It had great music from the Beatles (of course) and excellent sound quality. The costumes, dancing, actors, and overall flow were great. Several of the members of our group thought the acrobatics were not on the same level as some of the other Cirque du Soleil shows like O and Mystere. I would have to agree with that, but that doesn’t mean that the stuff in LOVE was not quite good. I thought that they had a few acts that were on the same level, and that the whole show definitely held my interest.

On Saturday, the guys had the football draft which went well, even if no one really seemed to have a stand out team.

A lot of the guys hadn’t changed at all from last year, but the trip was definitely much less wild than it had been in the past. Several of the guys brought families with kids, and most everyone seemed to go off and do their own thing.

After the draft, we went to Cesars to see the Celine Dion show called A New Day. This wasn’t my cup of tea at all, and had the entire group not gone, I wouldn’t have bothered with it at all. I decided, however, to give it a try and see if I enjoyed it. Turns out my initial reaction was right and I didn’t like it too much. I guess I was the only one there who didn’t as everyone else seemed to LOVE it….go figure.

On Sunday, we went to a BBQ and concert at the house of one of my dad’s friends. It was great and everyone performed a little something.

On Monday, we flew back to L.A. The weekend on a whole was a great trip with some great company. We had wonderful meals and drank excellent wine. The gaming didn’t go so well and we closed out down a ton, but all in all, it wasn’t the end of the world. I now have two days in L.A. before I head back to 中国 (China).

During my time in China, I didn’t manage to see a single team sporting event, and going to the Dodger game really reminded me of how much I enjoyed it. It was great to watch the game, eat a dodger dog and choclate malt, and spend time with my Dad and Sister. The game was a great game that went until the 15th inning. We didn’t stay until the end, but it was fun nonetheless.

• Seeing my family (dad, mom, sister Rachel, step mom Krista, step brother Mikey, Grammy Elaine, and Grandma Alice)
• Seeing a number of my friends – Justin Klein (you can read his take on our get-together here), John Medina, Jeremy Sultan, Susanna Hyatt, Chuck McGill, Ross, Davide, Madeline, etc. and talking with many others
• Flying my old airplane
• Taking some great pictures
• Riding horses with my sister and Dad up at Will Rogers’ park
• Swimming at the Brentwood country club
• Taking a family trip up to Telluride, Colorado
• Eating some In-N-Out and many other things that I had been craving
• Shopping for all the stuff I can’t find in China
• Visiting the Getty Center
• Showing everyone pictures of my girlfriend Shenqi, and seeing everyone else’s pictures
• Drinking some good Italian wine
• etc.

While all of this has been really nice, I miss China, my friends, my house, my girlfriend 申琦, and my life there. The U.S. and everyone here just seem so foreign to me now. I am having a lot of trouble getting used to the slower pace of life in general here, the MUCH higher price of everything, and, I can’t believe I am saying it, but how inefficient many things are. When I first got to China, I would have never dreamed of saying that America was less efficient, but in some aspects it is quite true. I can’t stand how long it takes to wait in lines here, shop, pay for things, wait in restaurants, etc. Having an unlimited cheap labor force really makes many things run faster in China. I had to valet my car today when I went to visit my dad’s new office, and the valet took 5 minutes to get to me, get me a ticket, and take my car. I couldn’t believe it, but it wasn’t like it was anything weird by U.S. standards. That situation just doesn’t occur in China. I then waited 30 minutes for a table, only to get served SLOOOWWWWLY by a waitress who was overloaded and couldn’t handle all her tables. It took forever to order, get our food, get a check, and get change. I missed China.

Also, making plans with people requires much more notice and planning than it does in China. If I want to meet with someone in China, it happens that day, not a week later. There is no telephone tag, schedule checking, planning, etc. It just happens. Everything for the most part is on a much more accelerated schedule.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am definitely not saying that everything about China is better. All I am saying is that there are a few things about life there that I really really miss.

I have a few more days here in L.A., and then Labor Day weeked in Las Vegas before I fly back to China. I intend to savor every minute of my time here in the states, but will definitely be happy to get back to 中国 (China).

Here is an excerpt from the article. This excerpt is nowhere near as funny as some of the other examples in the full article:

Dad, I got you the chicken McNuggets. I got you the little cup of ketchup for them. I got you a hot fudge sundae. I then watched in amazement as you dipped each of your ten McNuggets into your hot fudge sundae. I explained that the ketchup was for dipping, the sundae was desert. You slathered each McNugget in hot fudge and ice cream anyway. Dad, you rock.

Click here to read the rest of the article. It is well worth the read.