Last Full Day in Xi'an...

My day started off in a very interesting way when one of the team, right after my arrival in the office, asked me if I would give them the link to this blog. (I had not even mentioned it to them for fear of making them self-conscious about it.) I later learned that it was Andy who had spilled the secret! (Thanks, Andy! :-) ) Anyway, I did promise to give them all the link, but not until I had safely exited the building! That was also good for a laugh. (Right, Team? YEEEEESSSSS, PAAAAATTTTT. Hey! Life is GOOD! And Team, please complete this series: "WHAT is it?...")

The next thing I knew the testers and several others were discussing with me a whole laundry list of topics that had absolutely nothing to do with work. We shared favorite movies, talked about "chick flicks", big stars, popular television shows (Lost, Desperate Housewives, American Idol, and 24 are all very popular here), and even talked about American movies made by or starring prominent Chinese personalities. (Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" or Jackie Chan's "Rush Hour", anybody?)

Along about 11:00, we got the logistics for our big team lunch. So we took care of a few things and then headed on out for a fine time dining on a wonderful Chinese meal. The details follow...

We had three large, round tables for everyone, which amounted to almost exactly 30 people. The table in the background here struck a really natural pose for me when I took this. :-) Actually, if you look closely you'll see that they're all "quoting" something for me, just like I taught them!















Looking back in the direction from which I took the last shot. Keep an eye on that guy in the back corner with the big arms...he's something else!















This is the third table. I sat about where the hostess is working at the table. Andy, Jenny, Shelen, Duncan ("DUNKIE"), Alex, and Joe were also at our table.















This is me (of course) showing off my skills with the chopsticks. Andy's taking notes in case he can learn something. I let Joe take this picture not long after he priaised my chopstick skills!















Me again (of course). I made Joe wait to take this picture until I had finally wrestled this slippery noodle onto my chopsticks. That noodle made me sweat! I was relieved when a couple of the folks at my table said they also have trouble holding onto some things. Notice the can on my right? That's right, Pepsi. I retract my words from yesterday, when I said I had never seen a Pepsi in a restaurant. :-) Some of the folks also had 7-Up today, too.















I received a special request for photos of some of the food. Here's a whole chicken, cut up. Note the (dark) head at the upper left corner of the basket. I think they do this just in case there's any question of this being an authentic bird. :-)
















More of our feast. Shelen is holding up a plate of some kind of long, thin fish. Note the heads and mouths hanging over the bottom end of the plate. These poor guys also had a bamboo skewer run through them from head to tail! The beheaded chicken is left of the plate of fish. At left-center is a bowl of seaweed. At bottom is a plate of Lotus root. This dish was prepared a little differently than the other Lotus root I've had. The cavities in this root were filled with rice and the whole root was cooked. The others I have had were all just pickled and their cavities were hollow. At right is a half-consumed plate of pork ribs.















This is the whole fish our table ate. This particular unfortunate soul (or maybe it should be "sole", because this was, after all, a flatfish) was displayed to us in a shallow bucket, flipping around a little, about 30 minutes before he showed up on the table, considerably less active by that time. And it was really good fish, too!















This is another table's flatfish, after most of the damage had already been done.















This is a picture of two of those "Lion's Head" meatballs I mentioned in a post a few days ago, only these two weren't in soup. They were still big honkin' meatballs, though! The first photo is how they looked before they were destroyed as in the picture below that. What's left of the meatball is at the top left. And below it is some sweet and sour pork.
















This crock is full of pork, at another table. The "unique" thing about the way this was served is that it included hunks of skin and fat too. Yum.















These guys are all drinking yogurt. From left, going clockwise, is Raul and Rhett in orange, then Leo, then Vincent in yellow, then a gentleman from WorkSoft whose name I didn't get, then Max. I not sure whose head we see the back of.














These folks are showing off their own chopstick skills. Any day, you guys, we can go toe-to-toe in a chopstick competition! From left, going clockwise, is Rocky in blue (I think he's the ringleader of this bunch!), then Sunny peeking out from behind Rocky, then David, Iris, a very nice young lady from WorkSoft whose name I didn't get, Helena, Magus (making a point), then Shawn and Lisa (barely in the picture), then the receptionist, a very nice young lady whose name I never did get.














Same table. I think Rocky is plotting something...:-) Clockwise, from lower left: David, Iris, the lady from WorkSoft, Helena, Magus, Shawn, Lisa, Rocky, and Sunny.















Clockwise from center: Tim (in blue) then Johnson eating something, then Raul. As for the other folks, all we see is the back of their heads!















Shelen and Duncan ("DUNKIE") clowning around for the camera!















This is me (of course) toasting the whole team and thanking them for being so polite for laughing at all my stupid jokes! Then, incredibly, for some reason they toasted me back!















This is Rocky demonstrating how I taught him to "quote" things. This guy's definitely up to something... :-)















I snapped this on our way to the car when leaving the restaurant. This guy has white gloves on and is helping the people park their cars on the street. We guessed he was from the restaurant. Note the wide sidewalk and the style of the blocks in it. This is a typical one, although some are twice as wide or bigger. On the other side of the street, you can see an SUV parked on the sidewalk. I mentioned this curious practice the other day.














So ended our big team lunch. It was a lot of fun and the food was delicious!

Late in the afternoon, we brought a more formal closure to my two weeks of training the team. I gave the teams some work assignments for them to do over the next week, before Nathalie arrives. And I got sentimental for a few minutes as well, thanking them for how comfortable they made me feel and how memorable my two weeks were. I closed it all by reminding the team that they can contact me for any question, any problem, any time.

After work, I had a final dinner in Xi'an with Jenny and Shelen. We ate at a dumpling restaurant that is literally just across the alley from the hotel. (It's also worth pointing out that in my two weeks here, I never ate a dinner or lunch at the same restaurant twice!) Anyway, the food at the dumpling house was excellent! We had several dishes, and of course, two of them were dumplings. These were fried, because I had learned that I like the fried ones best. Excellent stuff! And the restaurant was a little unique, as well. The tables were all light pine and the "seats" were all chunks of a log that was standing on its end. Not uncomfortable, but heavy to move! There were also posters of past Chinese emperors on a nearby post. I correctly guessed on the first attempt that a very old photo (in a poster) was of the Last Emperor. I'm going to have to rent that movie and watch it...

Some final observations of some of the sights in the area. First, I haven't mentioned it before because I've forgotten to do so. But there are, in many areas, these HUGE, long billboards along the sidewalk. Some of these billboards are arranged in long lines and stretch for a few blocks. I've noticed that many are erected in front of construction projects, maybe some form of beautifcation attempt. I guess a 15-foot high, 45-foot long full-color advertisement WOULD be better than all that construction debris, after all... :-) Anyway, there are a lot of these and I sort of got used to them after two weeks, although they were one of the first things I noticed on the way from the airport to the hotel.

Also, I've noticed that many of the places of business have strips of plastic (maybe 9 inches wide and many strips hanging side-by-side) hanging vertically over their doorways, instead of a real door. I saw this at the mall, the grocery, and some restaurants. I've seen it in a number of stores. It does keep the warm air out, though.

Thus ends my final day in Xi'an. I'm 99% packed and ready to make the 15-hour journey to Bangalore, India, starting with a 9:30am flight on Saturday.

So, I'm done. (And also done in!) My final day in Xi'an, China. I have to admit it's a little bittersweet, for so many reasons. Although this is definitely not my permanent home, the folks in the office here have made me feel so much AT HOME that I feel a part of things here already. The team has begun their training journey, and I feel honored and incredibly lucky to be a part of their beginning. They've learned so much in the last two weeks. (Not all of it was in the agenda, either... :-) ) The team and I have become so comfortable working together. We've talked so much about things unrelated to work that it's become obvious that even with the language and cultural differences, we still share so much in common. Through it all, we found a way to demystify both China for me and America for them, to such a large extent. And we laughed so much and had so much fun! What an awesome EXPERIENCE! I know I will be anxious to return to Xi'an!