I have been in Guangzhou for five days now and I started work on Monday. I have been very busy and I have been unable to post pictures because I have not had access to a computer for a long enough time. This weekend I am going to post many pictures and I will send out an email. Since I last wrote on my blog I have seen so many new things. The Great Wall was mind blowing. You just cannot believe it until you see it. I took many many pictures that will hopefully be posted this weekend. The pictures do not do it justice though because the smog of the city shows through the picture. In Beijing and Shanghai there is very bad smog, you never see blue sky. Guangzhou is not as bad.

I have so much to say about Beijing but I must move on to Guangzhou! My family is amazing. There is a mother, father, and daughter. Only the daughter speaks a little English so it has definitely been interesting. I sleep on a straw mat and there is only two window units which have yet to be turned on. It sounds bad but not really at all. I am use to sleeping on a mat with a bean pillow. My host mother is a great cook and when we eat, Chi (the daughter who is my age) and I sit with our mandarin-English dictionaries and we have slow conversation. It is not awkward, just very funny. We learn words together and laugh at the way eachother pronounce them.

Work is going to be very intense. My head boss from Hong Kong is in until Thurs. Our project was originally made for MBA students and they did not know we were only undergraduates until we arrived! We will do a good job though. So this is my third day of work. The first day was spent doing very intense review of the project and it made me nervous. Then they took us out to an amazing lunch in a big private room with a chandelier. We worked intensely after lunch and then we went to dinner! We ate dinner on the Pearl River and then afterwards they surprised us with a 2 hour fairy boat ride down the river which is lined in huge, Vegas style lighted building.

My second day second day of work was even better. We went on site visits around the town to view competitor stations and our own service stations. When driving on the edge of town I made mention of the nike outlet we were passing and on the way back in, they insisted we stop! We had a great lunch at a Tai place. They say that Tai has 3 flavors, sweet, sour, and spicy! It was good and way too much food. After lunch we visited more site, taking pictures and observations. We passed Safari Park on the way back into town they decided they must take us there! We will go tonight. It is a park where you ride in a cart and only a water moat separates you from the animals. We will go there on Wed. After work on tues though, we went to play badminton! I did really well which was very surprising! Of course we had a great dinner before they dropped us off at home.

Today, my third day of work has yet to disappoint. We went on more site visits this morning and we had a nice lunch at the restraunt in our building. Afterwards, they showed us places around the area we might like to eat or shop. They have made a big effort to assure our safety and convenience eventhough it is not their responsibility. They said they will help set up our weekend trips for us! We will go to the Safari Park tonight and I am very excited. But tomorrow after lunch, my Hong Kong boss will leave and we will have to start real work. No more rides home, or fancy lunches. Just hard core work. I am ready though.

Just to tell you a few things about China that you might find interesting. At many restaurants, they have over 10 kinds of fresh juices. I had watermelon for lunch and Phil had coconut. In Beijing, many women wore socks or pane hose socks with their sandals but not in Guangzhou. The traffic is too aggressive for me to every drive in. During all of our transportation, Phillip and I will constatnly gasp out of fear but they do not even flinch at a close accident. We are getting use to it. It is not rare to see a family of 4 on one motorcycle. That is, a mom, dad, toddler, and new born,weaving in and out of cars. Also, they eat sooo much and we drink tea with every meal at a restaurant but at home we do not drink anything. Soup at every meal. There is much more but I must work now!