I landed in the US at 9:30 AM. With jet lag, a new little cold picked up along the way, and a junky hotel to stay in (yeah, I’m ruined by these gorgeous Asian hotels), I picked up a case of reverse culture shock. Lots of cars, lots of big portions of food, big people….but nice fresh air and lots of green!

So, my China trip is over.   I’ll spare readers from any summary of my trip since I’d be writing on and on, paragraph after paragraph.   It suffices to say that I’m very happy I made the choice and am hoping that I return someday…

Back in the US…

I tried to hook up with Robert for a hike, but my alarm clock (a GPS sort of thing) changed time by itself sometime in the night. I ended up oversleeping by an hour, Robert forgot his cell phone and couldn’t call. So, he went home and I went out to meet him…and ended up going alone. Was nice to get out and smell some real fresh air. Just going up to the lake, Melakwa Lake, was enough for me. I didn’t really feel the urge to scurry up the scree slopes to the peak and just hung out around the lake:

(above) Panorama of Melakwa Lake

(above) Big ole Northwest Slug, Denny Creek is a popular place to hang out.   Bring your kids!

Also, some of the China packaging team is in Redmond now. They got a recommendation on a Chinese restaurant in town and so we went down together Friday after work. I was really excited when we found Hunan Cai on the menu, but when the waiter brought it out, I proclaimed to my tablemates, “Bu shi Hunan cai!” No, it wasn’t anything like we could get in China so, my hopes were dashed.   Just a rather bland dish of sliced pork with onions and green peppers and smothered in something akin to that nasty sweet and sour sauce.   At least the fish was pretty good, but atypical:   completely boneless.   That was welcomed modification.

I embarassed the waitress and myself by calling her a “liang nu” (“pretty girl”, a common way to refer to waitresses in southern China).   She actually was a little too old to be called that (plus you never see any old waitresses in China) and I could see in her reaction the embarassment.   Dang.

We also practiced some American table manners, hearkening back to my training to the team in China on that.   These guys did much better than the others I accompanied to Steak and Ale…they were abject failures.   A refresher course for them!

(above) Despondent at false advertising