Time is flying

So Today is Thursday -  actually Thursday evening for us so it has been two weeks since I kissed John goodbye at the airport.  I would be lying if I said I didn't miss him horribly, because I do.  But we are so busy with the project commitments and fun side trips that time is flying by.

My daily work routine is like this.  I usually get up around 5:40 unless I can't sleep then it is earlier.  I catch up on the computer do some blogging and then head out for a morning walk.  There is no traffic in the morning which is nice so you don't have to worry about taking your life in your hands while crossing the street.  The activity in the park and on the harbor is very entertaining in the morning.

You have the park cleaners with their bamboo brooms.  You have various groups of people doing all sorts of exercise.  You have the shop keeps setting up for the day.  You have people singing in the music square or just dancing there.   Lots of walkers and joggers. People walking dogs.  People stretching or hitting themselves repeatedly -  not too sure about why. Some people are just plain sleeping.  All at around 6:00AM.  Today the tide was very high so the shop keepers had to actually relocate all their goods to higher grounds so they were busy moving it all back.

Next I head home shower and get ready for the day.  Breakfast is provided by the hotel and the good news is that there is a good variety and COFFEE!!!  Then we all break into our various teams and head to the office.  Our client Phoebe usually meets us at the hotel and hails an Uber for us -  we appreciate her doing this as it isn't easy to enter the Chinese characters on our Uber apps for us.
Qingdao is what they define a tier 2 city so only about 6 million live here but there are not many westerners so we as a collective team attract quite a bit of attention.  One time our Uber driver tried to sneak a picture of us but we busted him so we very willingly posed for him.  (This is pretty common - people ask to take their picture with us all the time)  Another driver was so nervous about having us in his car we were a little worried he would actually get us there.

We usually get to the office around 9 and are working thru all the steps to come up with a valid and sustainable development plan for our client.  This includes many interviews, visits to the locations, applying design thinking and agile practices.  Doing competitive analysis, defining SMART objectives, coming up with the Finance analysis etc. So we are busy.   We sometimes go our for lunch sometimes we order in.  But the day flied by before we know it.  Today we did a field trip to a couple of the competitors and were able to collect a bunch of info from them which was pretty surprising for us.

Then we get an Uber back to the hotel where we grab a bite to ear,  some of us take walks, some swim.   Yesterday I went and got a Chinese Massage.  The modesty level was a little less than I am used to but the massage was great.  They also did the Cup therapy which was also quite different and now I have a bunch of big round hickeys on my back.  I am hoping these go away quickly.

Then back to the hotel where I crash and start all over again.  Now the weekends are a little different.
More on that later.