Friday, September 25, 2009

Thinking about blogging


For whatever reason, I haven't had the dedication to keeping up this blog the way I did the one in India, where I posted every week. I was thinking over the past week that I should change this--it's really only a matter of discipline and observation, and there are certainly enough things to comment on here. I haven't written at all about Korea, for example. In part it may be because I spend a lot of time at work and I don't like to blog much about work for confidentiality reasons. However, as I have been out here for about six months I'm also feeling the need to take stock.

The last week I spent in Germany, near Heidelberg where the company I'm working with has its European headquarters. I really enjoyed this a lot, especially meeting colleagues from France, Poland, Italy and the UK in addition to Germany. The shot above--taken with my phone since I left my camera behind--- is Heidelberg Castle, during a more than 2 hour evening tour, which was quite interesting (though long). Heidelberg, partly for its cultural heritage, was spared bombing during World War II, and is really a beautiful city. One of my colleagues is French and we spent a long time talking about how the history of the war, especially the Vichy collaboration with the Nazis, still plays out in labor management relations today. All in all, a very rich week of learning and discussion.

Back in Shanghai now literally for a pit stop, then to Korea tomorrow for the balance of a short week, as beginning October 1 it is a major holiday festival in both China and Korea --Mid Autumn Festival in China and Chusuk (Bountiful Abundance) in Korea. I'll travel back to the US again to avoid racking up tax days in China so will miss this celebration.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Back in China

I returned to China about three weeks ago and got the cast off this past weekend. My wrist is pretty stiff and doesn't have a lot of range of motion yet, but I'm seeing some progress since the weekend. The doctor did not even want to give me anything to wrap it with, but agreed to put on an Ace bandage, which I wear during the day. (It is a good thing I got him to do it, because I haven't seen wrist supports anywhere in Shanghai, even though I'm guessing most of them are made here). On Saturday I am supposed to have a physical therapy session, though I've mostly figured out what to do on my own. No lifting or strenuous activity with the wrist for at least two weeks, though I should be able to swim pretty soon when the stiffness goes down a bit more.

In the meantime, I moved to a service apartment in the Hongqiao area, which is where a lot of expats live. This place is convenient to the work locations I need to go to as well as to the domestic airport, which is only about 10 minutes away. It's been nice to have a kitchen and take advantage of some of the produce that China has to offer--last night I had several kinds of mushrooms sauteed in garlic, olive oil and wine, and tonight stir-fried some greens. There is a special washing solution you can get to rinse everything, but it all tasted quite good and very fresh.