Greetings all,
Since my last post on our vacation, things have been fast and furious. We are starting to commission machines in the plant and so things are getting busy on that front. We're still scheduled to make our first tire this summer counting on all the schedules to hold at this point...that could be a big assumption in some areas! We've been here almost 3 years as I write this and I'm sure it seems strange to some of you that we've been here that long and no plant output yet to show for it...trust me, sometimes that seems strange to me to! You can believe me when I say there is alot to putting a manufacturing plant in operation...everything from getting approval for the money, then building and equipment to hiring and training the staff to getting all the quality systems in place to be ready to rampup the production when we start! The amazing thing is that the date we set for 1st tire when we got the final approval of money 2 years ago is the date we're still holding to! No pictures of the site yet...I'll take some of the outside in the summer when the snow has finally melted and we may have some green grass!
When we got back from vacation, we went straight back into the Lantern festival (1st full moon after the Chinese new Year) and we were invited to our Drivers house for dumplings. It's always a pleasure to share a meal with them...even though we still can't communicate well, I'm getting better little by little
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| Rod and Sarah with the Driver's family for Lantern festival...note the food is just piled up on the table! |
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| Mr Sun (my driver) and Sarah |
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| Mr's Sun's family outside his apartment with his family, just after lighting firecrackers for Lantern festival (the last day of the year that Firecrackers are allowed until Chinese New Year the next year)! |
I can always count on Rod to take some interesting pictures around town...if you've been reading the blog for any time, you know, he seems to always have his camera ready around the toilet...and there are some interesting examples of toilets here...the good news is for readers is that smell doesn't come through the written word! One of Rod's pet peeves is the men's toilet and hygiene thereof...this picture of the sign below shows that there is someone who is trying to change the distance away from the mens urinal that a man stands...which, if successful, would change the state of cleanliness and smell around the toilet...'nuff said!
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| Evidently, One big step for a man in China! |
From the toilet to the deli...that's how this blog is going...strange things happen when I write early on a Sunday morning! Just when you thought you had seen all the strange food pictures from China, I add another! Havn't had any of these, and don't plan on it...but if it's like other boney things I've seen eaten here, there won't be much left to spit out...seems to go mostly down the hatch.
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| Duck heads...get'em while they're hot! |
As many of you know, I've signed up to run a marathon on the Great Wall of China...yes, a running marathon. 42k, of which 32k is actually on the Wall..I've been training all winter and even during vacation running and doing steps etc...and all was going well until last weekend with a long run (32k). It was cold and windy and not the best day to run, but to get the long runs it, it takes time, and the only time I have time is on the weekend, so we take it when we have it! Anyway, I felt my foot a hurting more than normal after the run and the next day, my knee was actually sore to the touch...so I didn't exercise much at all during the week. Slowly the knee is getting better, but it is still a little sore a week later, so I decided to go get a Chinese massage where they also do some traditional chinese medicine. She gave me a 90 minute message from the knee down and really worked me over...in a good way! Then, she did a thing called 'cupping' on me, where they stimulate blood flow to an area by drawing a suction on that area. They have these little glass globes, kind of like a small fish bowl and it has alcohol in it. They light it with a fire, then stick the globe on your skin and ask that fire burns out and cools, it draws a vacuum on the skin and sucks it up into the glass globe. They leave it on there for 5-10 minutes. I can't say it hurt, but I can't say it was comfortable either! Here are a few pictures of me getting this treatment! Today (the day after) the knee still hurts a little, but continues to heal...I don't know if its the rest, or the cupping, or a combination of both...but I figured it was worth a try...and for 39 yuan (about 6 USD), it was worth it!
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| the 1st suction cup placed strategically on my knee..she knows this from her reflexology training and massaging my foot! |
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| More balls sucking my skin as they cool |
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| I think Rod was enjoying taking the pictures! |
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| Not sure exactly how she knows where to stick these things...I think she's looking for the excess fat on my legs to get something that will pull a vacuum...it worked...got plenty of fat to find there! |
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| As my skin is getting sucked up under the cover, Rod takes a picture with the massage therapist! |
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| My leg after the balls have been removed...some of the places are still here today (where they really got a good vacuum), but most are already faded |
Hard to followup after that! Here's hoping everyone has a great week! We're doing OK..ready for Spring to spring...but other than that, we're passing our 3 year anniversary here rather quietly!
Thanks for your continued thoughts are prayers.
Sarah & Rod
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