Easter 2008

Wedding Reception - More Photos

Two happy brothers (and our next groom-to-be): The next woman to join the Rammel clan, with her future in-laws:
Little Maddie was cutting a rug out on the dance floor, looking stunning in her champagne gown. I got a video, but I don't know how to post it or edit it yet. Hopefully I can figure that one out soon...
Maddie, Lexie, and Sticky all welcoming Brandy to the family!
And of course, the gorgeous wedding party. What a beautiful night!

Savannah Wedding

Sticky and Brandy got married in Savannah on February 23, 2007. Savannah is a beautiful city. The downtown area is laid out in squares and it's a traveler's delight to navigate. The newly renovated homes in the historical district are a delight to see. Here are mom and Uncle John from the view of their hotel balcony, overlooking the Savannah River. We watched the huge cargo ships churning up and down the river, sea containers as large as semi trailers stacked 5 high upon each other.
Grandma came on a trolley tour of the city with us. We couldn't have asked for nicer sight-seeing weather. Or a better trolley guide.
The morning of the wedding, we managed to catch a glimpse of the groom at breakfast at Hueys! You didn't look too nervous the morning of your big day...
And here's Grandma Joan with 6-week-old great-granddaughter Josephine, catching a little quiet time at the wedding reception. Chuck and Mel, you did good... In all, it was a lovely weekend! Frankly, I got spoiled by so much one-on-one time with Grandma! I usually have to share her with the other 32 grandchildren (and I've lost count how many great grand-children we're up to now) at the Rammel family holidays.

Happy New Year!

As I prepare to fly home to the US, China is preparing to celebrate their New Year. February 17 is the last day of the year of the dog, and February 18 marks the beginning of the year of the pig.

About a week ago I began to notice potted trees for sale on every street corner. These trees were 3-6 feet in height and 2-3 feet in diameter, and covered with mandarin oranges. Some trees had a smaller citrus fruit growing on them that was slightly yellower in color. Soon they were everywhere I looked. So I asked my taxi driver about them. He wasn't familiar with the words 'mandarin orange' so I asked if he had a tree in his home right now. He said yes. They're called Yuen Bau trees. The Chinese word Yuen sounds like the Chinese word Yuan, their currency, or it can also mean 'circle.' The word Bau means 'money.' And oranges come from gold, according to my taxi driver. So the Chinese place these 'gold coin' trees in their homes during the new year and decorate them with red and gold new years cards to bring good luck and fortune to their families in the next year. Sorry for the big white blobs in the first picture. It was raining when I snapped the photo.
The second picture was a leafless variation of most trees that I saw. This tree was in the lobby of my hotel. All of the employees laughed at me for taking the photo, but I was intrigued.

I have one more day of work here and then I fly home! The Japanese are all returning home as well. The plant here will shut down for a week. Many people have already started their vacation and traveled to other provinces to visit their families. All of the international travelers here are looking forward to the break as well. Our last hurrah Friday night will be at the nice Italian restaurant here in town.

Hope all is well back home. I heard there's been some interesting weather lately. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois made international CNN weather news a few days ago. They mentioned Elyria OH by name, as well as the city in New York that received 4 meters of snow... hard to imagine because it was 60 here today!

Happy New Year... Again!

Climbed a Mountain

I've attached a few pictures of Baiyun Mountain.
It's a large hill north of the city that has several walking trails, a tram, and a temple. The Chinese 'climb mountains' for weekend exercise to get fresh air. It took me about 45 minutes to take the stairs from the bottom to the top, so it's not a large mountain at all. It's starting to feel like summer here. It warms up to 75 Fahrenheit, sunny and humid in the middle of the day. Along parts of the trail there were two sets of stairs. The second set contained smooth stones about 1" in diameter. Many people took their shoes off and tried to walk the stone stairs instead of the cement. Not quite a foot massage, but meant to be therapeutic.

The temple that I toured was in the process of being cleaned. Many gallons of water had been dumped inside at the foot of the buddha statues, and workers were shoveling the dirty water out the front door. Just outside, women were worshipping by burning incense.

Only in China...

... can you play inside a giant beach ball in January!! I took my coworker out to explore a nearby park on Sunday. We discovered a swimming pool complex that was selling tickets for $3, but we weren't sure what it was for. So of course we had to check it out. Jim twisted my arm. :) So for $3 you could get zipped up in a giant beach ball and try to run around in the swimming pool until you exhausted yourself or ran out of oxygen. How fun does that sound?! :) Claustrophobic, anyone? Feel like a little suffocation? But we tried it anyway. Surprisingly, the beach balls were watertight.
Jim went first (otherwise there would be photo and video of Libby looking like a crazed gerbil trying to do cartwheels). I had to sit down, I was laughing so hard. Jim calmly walked himself off the dock, and immediately fell over. Once I composed myself, it was my turn...
I can only describe the sensation as a combination of being on a trampoline, weightlessness, and being on rollerskates. The locals there started taking pictures of me. I think maybe I'll be famous in China someday for perfecting the human gyroscope!
Afterward, we went to dinner at a Szechuan restaurant. Emiko, myself, Jim, Okita-san, and Candy came. Candy ordered us some hot spicy fish soup, followed by a hot pot. The bowl sits in the middle of the table over a gas burner, and the prepared raw food is brought out for us to cook right at the table.

Another great weekend... And next weekend I think I'll try to make it over to Hong Kong again.

Miss everyone back home!!! Love you!

Name that Fruit...

I think three of the four are pretty obvious. :)

Things are going well here in Guangzhou. It's been a busy week. I'm actually the expert during this equipment installation, which is a terrific feeling. For once, I have some of the answers. Yeah! Things are going very well for me here in Guangzhou. Work has been busy, but a relative success compared to the last trip. I'm actually the person most familiar with the equipment being installed, and it's nice to be able to provide some answer to the project team. What a great feeling!

I've been spending time with one of the other women who is working here. She's a new hire with the company, here from Japan. Her name is Emiko and she's five feet tall and very knowledgeable. It's been a joy working with her so far. We've been carpooling to and from the plant together. Unfortunately, neither of us speaks Chinese, but we've been having a lot of fun together this week so far.

Oh - and the weather here is very mild. The breeze is humid and it's been close to 60 during the day and 50 at night. I'm disappointed that I missed the Ohio snowfall, but here we've been able to walk to lunch during the day and not worry about jackets. People haven't stopped staring at me, though. Emiko calls it 'gazing.'

Enjoy the snow if there's any left!

Back in China

I'm back in China for a 3 week business trip. I arrived late Thursday night. Sorry but there won't be any pictures posted for a few weeks... someone forgot to pack the cable needed to download photos from her camera!

So was here for a total of 24 hours before getting back to my old tricks. I had the chance to sample the famous poisonous blow fish, prepared by one of the few qualified Japanese chefs in Guangzhou. The organs and blood of this fish are poisonous and it needs to be fully 'drained' (?) otherwise the dish is extremely dangerous to eat. It had a rubbery texture and was served cold with green onions and a balsamic vinegar marinade. One of my Japanese coworkers got a promotion so we threw a dinner party for him. The managers chose two fine bottles of Japanese sake for everyone to share. Served hot, it's just delicious.

Oh, and I tried the local food at the plant cafeteria for the first time. I chose a dish that looked something like mushrooms. But I think maybe it was some kind of liver... But to everyone's surprise, I made it through the day without getting sick! Apparently this is a significant accomplishment for any out of town traveler to the plant.

Monday was a busy day at work. We got a lot accomplished. I'm hoping to be home in time for the Superbowl. In the meantime, I'm working hard and enjoying the spa while I'm here!