Before we delve into the weekend of Chinese karaoke and gun turrets, you need to know about the crew.
Voila!
From left to right, you will see Olivier, SB, Fabian, and (laying in their arms) Galina. They work for a French company called Axens, one of UOP's global competitors.
Not pictured here and still very much a part of our Chinese introduction is Brice. He was here temporarily to relieve Olivier, who went home for vacation.
Brice, Fabian, and Olivier are French.
Galina is from Serbia and contracted by Axens to go on jobs all over the world.
(I'll get more into their individual stories with installments of The Road Family.)
They are a merry band of traveling engineers.
Each of them worked in China before, on different jobs in different cities. Between the four of them, they have over a decade's experience living and working here. It's been invaluable for us.
When we arrived in Zhangpu, we didn't know if they would welcome us. Axens designed most of the Dragon Aromatics chemical refinery, while UOP only designed one small unit. SB's currently the only UOP employee here. We are Americans invading their territory.
To my joy and relief, however, they were more than welcoming.
Our second night in Zhangpu, they invited us to eat with them. Afterwards, they took us into the city to play pool and drink at their favorite bar.
Over the course of the next couple days, we ate, drank, talked Franglais and Mandarin, and discussed politics together. They showed us more bars and restaurants and where to buy our living necessities while in Zhangpu. They taught us how to use taxis and tuk-tuks, order at restaurants, and speak the bare-bones Mandarin we use to survive.
When I first heard we were going to China alone, I thought we'd spend a lot of time in the hotel watching TV, not getting out much. The opposite is true. We go out more than usual thanks to them.
They even organized the weekend we spent in Xiamen.
Each of them worked in China before, on different jobs in different cities. Between the four of them, they have over a decade's experience living and working here. It's been invaluable for us.
When we arrived in Zhangpu, we didn't know if they would welcome us. Axens designed most of the Dragon Aromatics chemical refinery, while UOP only designed one small unit. SB's currently the only UOP employee here. We are Americans invading their territory.
To my joy and relief, however, they were more than welcoming.
Our second night in Zhangpu, they invited us to eat with them. Afterwards, they took us into the city to play pool and drink at their favorite bar.
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| Remember this photo? It was from our second night. From left to right: Galina, Brice (blurry, sorry), Fabian, and SB. Olivier had yet to return from vacation. |
Over the course of the next couple days, we ate, drank, talked Franglais and Mandarin, and discussed politics together. They showed us more bars and restaurants and where to buy our living necessities while in Zhangpu. They taught us how to use taxis and tuk-tuks, order at restaurants, and speak the bare-bones Mandarin we use to survive.
When I first heard we were going to China alone, I thought we'd spend a lot of time in the hotel watching TV, not getting out much. The opposite is true. We go out more than usual thanks to them.
They even organized the weekend we spent in Xiamen.
We've been spared a lot of frustration thanks to the Axens crew. We learn the language together by sharing new and useful phrases. We encourage each other to go deeper into the lives around us and comprehend what's happening. Sometimes we fail, and that's OK. On numerous occasions, I've heard each of them say "Eh, that's China."
It's fun and unique to be an American living like the French in China.
Being with the Axens crew is a result of the job, but I like to think we spend so much time together because we enjoy each other's company. I certainly enjoy theirs and have a lot to learn from them.
The group dynamic is about to change, though. Two UOP employees, SB's chief and a trainee, arrive this week. In a couple weeks, the Axens crew will also increase from three to maybe ten or fifteen.
I hope the dynamic doesn't change too much, because I like spending time with them and am deeply grateful for what they've done for us.
Next post, I'll try a multi-media blog about our trip to Xiamen and Gulangyu Island.
Great!!! Meiyou wenti for the coming days... the dynamic is here and no way to change that :-P
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog posts Tom.
ReplyDeleteHow are you adapting to different food, and is the smog as bad as reported?
The food does require some adapting. They cook with a lot of oil, even for the meats, so sometimes it can be difficult. We've tried a lot of different types of food, too, which makes finding what we like easier. We eat every night with the crew here, so they also helped us figure out what's worth the money.
DeleteAs for the smog, oh yeah it's bad. There are hills right outside our hotel window that we can't see in the mornings and evenings because the smog is so thick. On over cast days, it's worse. SB marvels at how warm it is here despite no sun. The sky almost always looks like that of a gray winter due to all the pollution. I wonder if there's a generation of Chinese people whom have never seen the stars?
The smog has been mentioned in our news recently. It looks that way in the photos. That's probably why you stay in the bars... You can tell your new road family, and Chinese friends that state where you are from has as many bars as all of China.
ReplyDeletehttp://flowingdata.com/2010/03/02/where-bars-trump-grocery-stores/
I just did the quick math. If China had the same per capita bars as Wisconsin (1 for 1862 people) then you would have 721,874 bars to check out in China.
ReplyDeleteor in other words, a different bar every day for almost two thousand years.
ReplyDelete