Spring time in Narita, Japan

Where has the time gone? The two weeks return to the US went by so fast and I am heading back to Dalian today. I was fortunate to meet Gale on the flight from DFW to Narita. Gale is a church friend from Dallas and also is the #1 flight attendant on this flight. She run the flight! And Of course, Gale gave me a special royal treatment on this flight. After we arrived to the Narita airport, we went to downtown Narita for dinner at an Italian restaurant and visited the Jet Lag Club nearby. This is the place where the flight crews from many airlines get together to fix their "jet lag".

In the picture was me, Gale and Mike. Mike is one of the flight attendant whom I also met on the flight.

This is the cherry blossom tome in Narita. Unfortunately, it must be still in hiding at the end of March. I was able to spot a few around the Hilton hotel area.

Birthday celebration in the US

My birthday is today and since I missed both Timmy and Joel's birthdays in February, the picture of the three of us was taken together today. Timmy is 21 and Joel is 17 and is becoming a real charmful boy and a joker. Of course, Timmy is always trying to mess with Joel. I think I came out ahead as I get to celebrate my birthday in three different countries this month -- China, Mexico and US. Somehow, those colleagues from Guadalajara knew about my birthday during this week. Anyway, I got some more nice shirts and ties.

Here also those February pictures taken by their granddaddy.

Guadalajara, Mexico

The weather here in Guadalajara is very nice this week, 90 F. Unfortunately, the Mexico trucking union went on strike this week. They not only stopped operate their trucks but they also parked their trucks on the right lane of the main highways causing significant traffic jams every day. Many of my employees had to work from home this week. Today, it took me 90 minutes to get from the Hilton hotel to the IBM site. Here are the pictures of the city from the hotel window. Also this is the picture of me standing in front of the IBM cafeteria. They love to paint their building with bright colors!

The Guadalajara airport is very ordinary. There is no jetway to the airplane. We either walk to the plane or being bused to the terminal for custom.

The Streets in Tlaquepaque and downtown Guadalajara

This week I visited my IBM team in Mexico. My colleagues from the Guadalajara site, gave me a tour of Tlaquepaque, the main tourist attraction in downtown Guadalajara. I really enjoy the historic landmarks especially the marvelous Opera Theater and the Catholic Cathedrals where Pope John Paul II visited a few years ago. I think he visited this place at least twice. There were two huge Catholic Cathedrals right next to each other in this small Tlaquepaque community. A statue of the Pope was built in front of the Cathedral. There were a lot of Arts shops here and the streets in Talaquepaque were well maintained. The walkways were paved in very unique patterns of stones and bricks. I love Tlaquepaque.

I am fortunate to know the IBM colleagues Cesar, Gabriel and Emmanuel. They're extremely generous and accommodating. Without them I would not be able to maneuver around this part of town especially with the traffic situation in Guadalajara this week as a result of the trucking industry on strike.

College visiting at Trinity University, San Antonio, TX

Here are some pictures taken during the college visiting trip at Trinity University in San Antonio. It's a one of the best Liberal Arts school. This is the springbreak week and many highschool students from everywhere also visited this college today. Joel seems to like this school.

San Antonio Riverwalk and College visiting trip

Here are some pictures taken at the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Carol, a friend of Marietta from school also came along to show Joel the Trinity University here in San Antonio. We were waiting outside of the restaurant to be seated for dinner. Everything is green today including green beer, green sprites. You have to ask Joel what make him laughing !

Narita Airport --Going home for US Springbreak

The weather today in Dalian was pleasant. My dear friend Li Ting and her boyfriend dropped me off at the airport. They insisted to drop me off as I normally take the city bus to the airport. It's really sad to wave goodbye to a friend. But at least I know I would still return to Dalian at the end of the month.

The flight to Tokyo was a bit choppy and it was delayed about 20 min. This is the picture of Narita airport terminal in Tokyo. It's rained all day and temperature was not nice 10C (or 40F). I was feeling sad sitting in the plane as it arrived to the gate. I guess the the wet weather, the wet runway, and the lonely feeling in Tokyo really made me sad. I was thinking about Dalian and was wondering what all my friends -- They loves their Victory Plaza shopping mall! I would have done the same if I was in Dalian now :)

Getting ready for my home trip for Springbreak

Today is Friday the 13th (My lucky day!) and I am ready to get ready to go home tomorrow. The team took me to a local dinner place for a send off meal. The food was wonderful. As I have been here a little while now, I begin to taste a lot of different dishes from the local restaurants. The picture here showed the many dishes prepared by the local restaurant when we arrived tonight.

I know I will really miss Dalian and special friends from work when I am in the US and Mexico for the next two weeks.

US Custom and Lynn's Rolexes

Lynn sent me an email today to give me a special warning about my plan to shop for gifts to be taken back to the US. Apparently, the Rolex watches he bought in Dalian are now the property of the US custom. They apparently was very nasty to Lynn for buying too many of them. According to Lynn, they treated him very badly.

He was really disappointed by it.

March Birthdays at IBM Dalian

The team celebrate employees' birthdays every month. And the team arranged for a special celebrated birthday for Hao, Selena, Joe and of course Me. This a significant milestone for me in China. I made it through the first quarter of 2009 in China and I even celebrated my very first birthday in China.

Special banana delivery truck in Dalian

I could not resist to take this picture of the Dalian Special Banana delivery truck to the local farmer market.

Typical recreational activity after lunch

After lunch, most employees participate in some sort of exercise activities. Many would walk 100 steps (so they said!) so that they would live a long time.

Some as you see on the picture here would play special chinese volleyball. Instead of a volleyball, they made (or bought) an object made up from a piece of round and heavy weight with three large "chicken" feathers plugged into it. And they would use their feet to try to kick the "object" over the net. If the object falls on the ground, the opposite team would get a point.

Also, on other playing areas, the employees would spread around in a circle and they would kick this similar object to each other and the name of the game is not to let the object hit the ground. Female employees also participate actively in this game.

They are skillsful with this game.

Special bus ride in Dalian

Lynn and I rode the city bus on his last day in Dalian and we also had a farewell lunch at one of the local "hot pots" restaurants near Xinghai Park. Our China team will miss Lynn around here!

Shopping and bargaining in Dalian

Lynn Peterson, a colleague from IBM Rochester (MN) location and I went shopping this weekend. This is Lynn's last week here in China. He has spent the last 3 weeks transferring project knowledge to his Dalian counterparts. Anyway, we took along additional Mandarin speaking colleagues to help bargain. Lynn picked out 8 Rolex watches and several handbags for his US friends and relatives (it took awhile !). And he let the other colleagues to haggle prices for him while he was acting very uninterested in the items other than shaking his head a few times. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the bargaining session with the lady who owns the shop. Lynn got a great deal today!

The 3 weeks time he spent in Dalian passed by so fast. I will miss Lynn !