Monday 31 July: back to work...

Today we got back to work at the office, continuing the training I'm here to conduct. So, today's update will be lots shorter and I have no cool pictures to share today. :-(

This was also the first day I've had to take the taxi to the office by myself, as Cathy has left and is headed to the U.S. after a stop in Beijing. Before she left, she had given me some notes that I could show the taxi driver saying "I need to go to the Software Park" or "Take me to the Sheraton". The second one is actually pretty easy because you can just say "Shee-lie-don" and that means "Sheraton" and the taxi driver can get you there. But the Chinese for "Software Park" is quite a bit more complicated. I used Cathy's note and had the attendant at the Sheraton tell the driver where to take me. And I got there without incident. On this trip I've been very, very observant by design, so I could pretty well tell we were heading to the office properly at all points.

The training has gone well again today. I am not pushing too hard, although we did cover a lot of material today. I remain totally on schedule, even though I've found it works best if you can give the team a lot of breaks. Wednesday and Thursday are both going to be very full days, though.

Today the training was about types of testing (black/white box, unit/integration/system, etc), and test targeting. That took us through the morning. This afternoon we discussed test planning and started test case details. We'll finish that one up in the morning. It's gone pretty well, but I really had to work to keep them interested because the level of interaction was naturally low with this round of material. I think I succeeded, and I was told later it wasn't me or the material that caused the morning to seem like there was lower energy, but rather the fact that it was a Monday morning. I like that answer better than the more likely alternatives... :-)

The afternoon went better and I got some good questions. One question was really amusing and stands out. When I asked at the end of the session if there were any questions, one of the team asked if I could explain a gesture I'd made, apparently without even thinking about it. The gesture: both hands in the air, doing the little index/middle finger gesture with each hand signifying "quotes". We all had a real good laugh at that question. It made me realize again that often the communication challenges aren't just about the words I say, but also about the way I say it.

For lunch today we actually had brought-in Western food: Pizza Hut. It had rained hard during the morning so rather than going out, we just went ahead and had the pizza brought in. It was pretty good, but I missed using chopsticks! For dinner, it was Duncan (he drove), Shelen, Jenny, and me and we went to another hot pot restaurant, and I got to use chopsticks again! This one was not the fast-food buffet style at all and the pots in this restaurant were more like a small real pot. The food was ordered just like at any other restaurant I've been to here, and they brought the uncooked food out on trays and you dropped it into the water in the pot just like at the buffet on Sunday. The food was quite good.

So that's really all there is for today. Sorry it isn't longer and tons more thrilling, but it is a workday after all...