I’ve Only Been Here for Two Weeks??

I feel like I have been here for a few months. There has been so much to get used to. First of all, the language barrier is a lot more difficult than I thought. I constantly feel like I am in my own little bubble of which only my travel mate Eric and our friend Wendy can penetrate. I am used to catching every third word or so that passers by say in the office or on the streets, but all I get is strange noises that my brain cannot process. The bubble feels like it is physical too because its week two and folks are still staring. I know most of them are just curious and probably mean well, but I’ve never really been looked at like this before, so the more primitive part of me cannot help but interpret this as threatening. However, when people do approach me and talk, all they really want to do is say hi, which I think is cute and hilarious. Watching grown men approach me like a 12 year old approaches a celebrity grinning wildly and finally mustering up the courage to say “hello” gets me every time.

In other words, Eric and I ventured out of the R&D lab and finally began our work on the ERP system. We have been given mock bills of materials and we must input them into a computer system called Yonyou. This system categorizes all materials, both raw and finished, in one data base. Thankfully, the computer I am working on comes with an English version of Yonyou. The catch? All of the spreadsheets for the materials are in Chinese. So far, I have been getting along pretty well. I can recognize the symbols for color, dimensions, and name. We have just finished up our “demo” bills and our manager says the company has a huge order coming in soon, so yours truly will actually be working with real life stuff. Man, I could accidentally cost this company A LOT of money… I hope you chose wisely, Tanya!

Lastly, being more in the country side than we thought has been getting to me physically. Eric and I are both athletic folks and sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day loans a particular challenge to staying fit. With not so much as a bar in sight to do pull ups on, Eric and I have found ourselves in a bit of a pickle. For me, it’s not so much as staying physically fit as it is releasing energy and tension built up throughout the day. I am not a fan of running, so I have taken up the next best thing for distressing: yoga. I plan to do some sort of yoga three times a week for an hour a piece. So far, it’s amazing, so I hope my people going to India (GChou, Megan, Aly, Riley McShenanigans, etc) are practicing too. Well, that’s all for me folks, see you at the half way point!