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Monday, May 11th was the day for Jim to start his position here in China. Leah and I were invited to join him in the morning, we thought just for a tour - WRONG!
Horton took us to Jim's office first. Jim is excited to have an office of his own, and it's big! I thought our "tour" would be fairly quick, so I hadn't brought my purse or anything, so while Jim talked to people, etc, Leah and I played tic-tac-toe, hangman, drawing games, a couple computer games, etc to keep ourselves occupied.
There was a welcome meeting planned - the fact that Leah and I were part of it was quite a surprise to me! We entered a door and were standing at the front of a room filled with 30-35 people who all started clapping! Horton made a welcome speech for Jim, then asked Jim to say a few things. When Jim was finished, Leah and I were asked to talk - Leah was shy and didn't say much, but, although I wasn't prepared, I managed to come up with something to say!
Then each person in the room introduced themselves to us and gave us their personal
welcome.
Afterwards, we went back to Jim's office for a break. Leah and I went to the restroom, and another girl there greeted me with "Hi Mrs. Walsh" - I knew this girl was not one who had been in the meeting, so I was taken by surprise and started wondering if eveyone in this place knows our names and who we are????
The tour was quite impressive, the company is a much larger business than I expected. Everything was clean and orderly and everyone was working hard. These people work Mon - Fri from 8AM until 10PM with breaks for lunch and dinner. Jim had been told that he isn't expected to work those hours, but he feels a little quilty about not going back in the evening. I expect once Leah and I leave, he will work some evenings.
After the tour, we again had some time in Jim's office, and then Horton took us to lunch. Afterwards, Leah and I were glad to get back to the apartment to do a little school. Part way through the afternoon, there was noise in the hall and a knock at the door. It was a whole group of people
bringing a wardrobe for Leah's bedroom. As they were bringing it in and setting it up, they were in and out so left the apt door open. There was an older lady (probably a Grandma) with a baby that just kind of wandered in to watch what was going on. The babies really like Leah! By the time they all left, we hadn't accomplish much school for the day!I guess lots of lessons in how the Chinese live!
For dinner, I cooked from scratch for the first time since being here. I have very limited equipment compared to what I'm used to, but I managed just fine. What I have is way more than the Chinese here have! We Americans are definitely spoiled!
After dinner, Jason, Jim's assistant brought his wife and 1 1/2 yr old daughter over to meet us. The baby entertained us all for awhile. Leah was taking pictures of her and she loved looking at them!
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Tenley Long
non-member comment
What cute babies!
Linda and Leah we are enjoying your blog so much. You seem to be settling right in. It is amazing to me that there are so many "American" restaurants there. It also sounds like the company is treating you all like royalty! Are you going to want to come home?! The tadpoles are growing legs...but they still miss you guys :)