I wanted to write an entry devoted to the things that I've learned to be grateful for while living in China.
Let's start with bathrooms. First, squatters are no longer an issue. As long as we find a clean, flushing squatter I'm grateful. The second thing I'm grateful for is toilet paper. If I walk into a bathroom and find a roll of toilet paper outside of the stalls, I'm grateful. (Or if I remember to pack toilet paper with me, which I rarely forget now. It's a complete luxury when I find toilet paper in a stall.) The third thing I'm grateful to find in a restroom is soap. This is very rare. I think most Chinese people think that if they rub their hands together fast enough and long enough, the germs will run away. (I always keep hand sanitizer with me now. Another thing I'm grateful for.) Lastly, I'm grateful if their is a way to dry your hands after rubbing them vigorously under the water. Sometimes there will be an air dryer and on very rare occasions you'll find paper towels.
I'm grateful for our driver. I would have no idea how to get around without him. There is no way I could drive around China for several reasons. Number one, and probably most importantly, I can't read most of the street signs. They are written in Chinese. There is pinyin on some signs but not all signs. Number two, the crazy traffic patterns. There can be 3-4 lanes on one side of an intersection, and then when you go through the light, the amount of lanes will have decreased by 1-2 lanes. All of the cars just merge together as they cross the intersection. (There are no signs to warn you of this fact either. At least, none that I can read.) Also, something interesting in the traffic patterns are the left turns. At a lot of intersections there are 2 lights for left turns. Everyone stops at the line like we do in the U.S., but then there is a second line in the middle of the intersection. When the light for people to go straight turns green, the cars all pull up to the second line in the middle of the intersection. Then when the left turn light turns green, the cars make their left turns. These are two of the "organized" traffic patterns in China. I haven't even gotten into the people driving on the wrong side of the road, down the bicycle lane, and into pedestrians crossing crosswalks.
Next, I'm grateful for the crosswalks in the U.S. When you see the green light to cross in a crosswalk in the U.S., you know you can cross the road safely (most of the time). In China, when you get a green light to cross the street, the cars also get a green light to turn left across the crosswalk. You have to be extremely cautious when you cross the streets here. I've had several of my children almost get hit as they cross the streets on their bikes. I think we're starting to get the hang of crossing the street though.
I'm grateful that I can read. Living in China, has given me the opportunity to understand what it would be like to be completely illiterate. It has been difficult not being able to read product labels, street signs, store names, receipts, menus and contracts. (Just to mention a few things I can't read.) The contracts are translated into English, but I know the meanings are not always exactly the same. Also, our Ayi give me receipts at the end of each week so that I know how much money she has spent. Everything is in Chinese, except the numbers. So, I know how much she spends, but I have no idea what she's spending the money on. I'm trying to learn some Chinese characters, and our Chinese tutor will start teaching some to us as the school year starts.
I'm grateful for our Ayi. There is so much work to do here. For one thing, we don't have a dishwasher. I spend several hours each day doing dishes and even more on the weekends when our Ayi is off. Also, our washer and dryer are at least 1/3 the size they were in the U.S. Our Ayi does 4-5 loads of wash a day and I do just as many. Our Ayi mops the floors everyday as well.
I'm grateful for carpet. This is something I greatly miss in China. Almost all of our floors, including the stairs, are marble. We do have wood floors in some of the bedrooms and tile in the bathrooms. The only places that really have carpets in China are Hotels.
I'm grateful for clean drinking water. In China, no one, including the Chinese people, drink from the tap. Luckily, we have a filter on our kitchen sink. A lot of people use water bottles or have large bottles of water delivered to their home. People in China like to drink hot water. So, it can be difficult to buy a water cooler. You can buy a stand for the big bottles of water. It's just difficult to find one that can actually cool the water. So, I'm grateful for our water filter and fridge. We keep at least 2 pitchers of water in our fridge at all times.
I'm grateful for the weeds in Utah. Crazy, huh? Just hear me out. The thing is, I have no idea what is a weed here and what is a plant. In Utah, at least I knew what to pull and what to leave. The people before us planted some things. I hope I'm leaving the right plants in the ground and pulling the right ones out.
I'm grateful for technology. My kids have been able to visit with their friends on skype. We've been able to access netflix, amazon prime, hulu plus and several other movie networks through our Roku box. We've been able to keep in touch with our friends and family through facebook and this blog. We've been able to access church talks and manuals. Technology has definitely made this transition much easier.
I'm grateful for ice cream! The heat here is crazy! As we go places, we are sweating before we even get started. Every tourist sight in China has some form of ice cream or popsicle. I'm extremely grateful for this. Ice cream has helped us survive all of our adventures. It's amazing how quickly a cranky child (or adult) can calm down once they have ice cream.
I'm grateful for the opportunities this move has provided. My children and I are learning a language I doubt any of us would've ever attempted to learn without this move. Our family has seen things that I know we would've never seen without this move. My children are going to have the opportunity to attend an amazing school with children from all around the world. Boyd is getting to work at a job that he loves and work with people that he loves working with.
Overall, this is an amazing experience for our family. It has not been easy, and we have not always had bright sunny days (literally). But, we're making it through, and having fabulous adventures along the way.
Alauna
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Chicken Foot
It was a good week. We opened two new Best Buy Mobile Stores so we have a total of four. We will open two more this week.
We went over to our neighbor's house Saturday night for dinner. They have a daughter that is just younger than Trevon. Her name is Alice. Lately in the evening after Alice gets out of school the kids have been playing together, so they invited us over for dinner. Alice's mom, Xiao Chen, asked us what the kids liked to eat. The kids told her and when we got there almost everything they said was on the table. It was really good food. They have a lot of vegetables growing around their yard so we had fresh beans, cucumbers and greens from their garden. They also had an egg dish with eggs from their family farm. It reminded me being home and eating from the garden. Back home we would have many meals that we or someone in our family grew. Between our garden, Brian's eggs and honey and Craig's beef we could make some pretty good meals.
Xiao Chen did have a chicken dish that had the entire chicken cut up in the dish. I know most of you are thinking ok the breast, thighs, and drumsticks. Don't forget the chicken feet. One foot was sticking out and the kids were a little freaked out about this. I told the kids that I would pay them 100rmb ($15usd) if they ate chicken foot. The Chen's don't speak English so they didn't know the kids were getting bribed. Tiana was strongly considering it and Brannon recognized this. He realized 100rmb was a lot of money for him and this seemed to be a pretty easy way to earn it. So he jumped on the opportunity, grabbed his chopsticks and plucked the chicken foot out of the pot. He then asked how to eat it. He wasn't quite sure what to do. He did make a good effort to eat the skin, tendons and what little scraps of meat might be on a chicken foot. He even shared a bit with me. He did a great job eating the whole thing and was even very Chinese in the way he spit out the bones. Surprisingly he fished through the pot to find the other foot and eat it as well. And no, he didn't get another 100rmb.
We are feeling the summer heat in all it's glory the past few weeks. It has been at or above 100 F/37 C every day the past few weeks. It's also a bit more humid than Utah so the sweat glands are working overtime. We took a quick trip to the zoo and the sun was beating down on us. The zoo is nestled into some small hills. This provides a beautiful green backdrop for the zoo and a great workout walking up and down the hills pushing a stroller in the heat and humidity. I completely sweat through everything, and I mean everything. Trevon even knew he was sweating a lot because his "sweat was squishing in his armpits". The amazing thing is that there are a lot of Chinese that don't seem to sweat at all. I guess when you are raised in the heat you acclimate to it. We did see some sweating just as bad as us and that makes you feel a bit normal.
It has been good to go to church here in Nanjing. Today when church started there were only 12 people there and 8 of them were our family. Within a few minutes another 10 people arrived. That was a big contrast to when we went to church in Beijing a couple of weeks ago and there was probably 300+ people there. Today I prepared and blessed the sacrament and gave a talk. Mikayla led the music and said the opening prayer and Alauna played the piano and taught primary (just our three boys today). We have enjoyed serving in our local branch and it always brings a lot of joy and perspective.
The kids start school in two weeks. I think they are getting really excited for this. A lot of the expat families are making their way back to Nanjing. The kids have started making some new friends. They will meet a lot of new people in the next couple of weeks. The kids school requires everyone 6th grade and higher to get a Macbook. So the three girls got their Macbooks. They are loving having their own Macbook.
We hope all that read this enjoy hearing about our adventures. We are having a great time. There have been many challenges and hard times but overall we are doing well. I know the kids still wish at times they were in Utah, but they also are grateful for the experiences they are having here. We missed being home in Utah this summer, especially seeing Steve, Priscilla and Nick. We always have great summers in Utah and it was tough to be away. Oh well. We'll be back in Utah at some point and until then we will have great summers in Nanjing.
Boyd
We went over to our neighbor's house Saturday night for dinner. They have a daughter that is just younger than Trevon. Her name is Alice. Lately in the evening after Alice gets out of school the kids have been playing together, so they invited us over for dinner. Alice's mom, Xiao Chen, asked us what the kids liked to eat. The kids told her and when we got there almost everything they said was on the table. It was really good food. They have a lot of vegetables growing around their yard so we had fresh beans, cucumbers and greens from their garden. They also had an egg dish with eggs from their family farm. It reminded me being home and eating from the garden. Back home we would have many meals that we or someone in our family grew. Between our garden, Brian's eggs and honey and Craig's beef we could make some pretty good meals.
Xiao Chen did have a chicken dish that had the entire chicken cut up in the dish. I know most of you are thinking ok the breast, thighs, and drumsticks. Don't forget the chicken feet. One foot was sticking out and the kids were a little freaked out about this. I told the kids that I would pay them 100rmb ($15usd) if they ate chicken foot. The Chen's don't speak English so they didn't know the kids were getting bribed. Tiana was strongly considering it and Brannon recognized this. He realized 100rmb was a lot of money for him and this seemed to be a pretty easy way to earn it. So he jumped on the opportunity, grabbed his chopsticks and plucked the chicken foot out of the pot. He then asked how to eat it. He wasn't quite sure what to do. He did make a good effort to eat the skin, tendons and what little scraps of meat might be on a chicken foot. He even shared a bit with me. He did a great job eating the whole thing and was even very Chinese in the way he spit out the bones. Surprisingly he fished through the pot to find the other foot and eat it as well. And no, he didn't get another 100rmb.
We are feeling the summer heat in all it's glory the past few weeks. It has been at or above 100 F/37 C every day the past few weeks. It's also a bit more humid than Utah so the sweat glands are working overtime. We took a quick trip to the zoo and the sun was beating down on us. The zoo is nestled into some small hills. This provides a beautiful green backdrop for the zoo and a great workout walking up and down the hills pushing a stroller in the heat and humidity. I completely sweat through everything, and I mean everything. Trevon even knew he was sweating a lot because his "sweat was squishing in his armpits". The amazing thing is that there are a lot of Chinese that don't seem to sweat at all. I guess when you are raised in the heat you acclimate to it. We did see some sweating just as bad as us and that makes you feel a bit normal.
It has been good to go to church here in Nanjing. Today when church started there were only 12 people there and 8 of them were our family. Within a few minutes another 10 people arrived. That was a big contrast to when we went to church in Beijing a couple of weeks ago and there was probably 300+ people there. Today I prepared and blessed the sacrament and gave a talk. Mikayla led the music and said the opening prayer and Alauna played the piano and taught primary (just our three boys today). We have enjoyed serving in our local branch and it always brings a lot of joy and perspective.
The kids start school in two weeks. I think they are getting really excited for this. A lot of the expat families are making their way back to Nanjing. The kids have started making some new friends. They will meet a lot of new people in the next couple of weeks. The kids school requires everyone 6th grade and higher to get a Macbook. So the three girls got their Macbooks. They are loving having their own Macbook.
We hope all that read this enjoy hearing about our adventures. We are having a great time. There have been many challenges and hard times but overall we are doing well. I know the kids still wish at times they were in Utah, but they also are grateful for the experiences they are having here. We missed being home in Utah this summer, especially seeing Steve, Priscilla and Nick. We always have great summers in Utah and it was tough to be away. Oh well. We'll be back in Utah at some point and until then we will have great summers in Nanjing.
Boyd
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Beijing July 12-16 2012
Greetings from China. We just spent a long weekend in Beijing. It was awesome. Very tiring but we really enjoyed it. Beijing is so full of history. It has been the capital of China since 1421 when the Forbidden City was completed and the Emperor moved the Capital from Nanjing to Beijing. We loved learning about the culture, history and eating the food. It was a great trip. There is so much to write about the trip. I don't know if it will all get written in one blog. Hopefully Alauna and the kids will also add their perspective.
There were so many highlights of the trip. It's hard to say there was one that topped the others. I would say that for me personally it was hiking on the Great Wall. That is something I have wanted to do for years and do to it with my entire family together was a really special experience. It's amazing being on the wall and think of the work that went into building the wall. You have to understand that this wall is located in the mountains. Not hills but very steep mountains. For my Utah readers think of building a 25' high and 10-12' wall on top on the Wasatch Mountains. Now extend that wall from the West Coast of the US to the East Coast (it would actually be longer but you get the point.) It truly is amazing. For most of the time on the wall I was carrying Declan in our kid backpack. It provided a good workout for me. Declan did get down walk for a bit, but I think he enjoyed being carried around. The kids had a lot of fun on the wall. They were pretending that they were the guards and keeping watch and defending the country. We went to the MuTianYu section of the Great Wall. We rode a cable car up to the wall. I'm glad the cable car was there. It was a good hike just to get up to the cable car. We then hike along the great wall for a couple of hours and walked over to where you go down the mountain. They actually have and Alpine slide down the mountain. It was a lot of fun. I'm still in awe by the experience of being on the Great Wall with my family. It's amazing how steep it is. It was also refreshing to be up in the mountains again.
After hiking the wall we went through the souvenir alley that exists at almost every tourist site. The kids loved shopping at these places. They always found a ton of things that they had always wanted. The kids loved having me negotiate for them. There are a couple of ground rules of negotiating. You have to see what their floor is. You do this by giving your price which is usually 80-90% lower than their original price. They will always say no and then then you can adjust your price if you want. At some point you have to walk away. If they let you walk you know they won't go lower and you've found their price floor. They you buy. With six kids there were always "bulk" purchases so that came into the negotiation as well. It becomes a bit of a game to see how low you can get. At some point you are haggling over pennies. At this point I always give them the few extra rmb. After negotiating and buying the latest in Chinese souvenirs, I was talking to another vendor. He was asking me how much I paid for stuff. He said that I was a tough negotiator and actually got a couple things cheaper than he would sell them for. I felt good about that.
One of the biggest attractions in Beijing last weekend was Declan. He had his picture taken everywhere. The locals loved to take pictures with all of our family but Declan was the star of the show. At one point we were in front of the Forbidden City and one person wanted to take their picture with us, so we did our normal line-up and a couple of people jumped in to take pictures with us. Next thing we knew we had 40-50 people in a half circle taking pictures of us with others jumping to the side of us to be in the pictures. This was the most people we had at one time, but this happened all the time. The kids were really good about letting others take pictures with them. At times I think they even enjoyed it. They also saw how happy the Chinese were to take pictures with us.
There are street vendors all over the city. They sell anything from tours to the great wall to 1 RMB (15 cents) popsicles. The popsicle vendors are all over in front of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden city. The walk around with a box of popsicles hawking their goods. The kids loved them so we ate our fair share. Plus, when it was 90+ degrees the popsicle was a nice treat. The popsicle vendors, water vendors, and a lot of the street souvenir vendors are not licensed so when the police would come they would scatter. It was kind of funny to watch them. You could tell the police were coming because all of a sudden people were jumping on their bikes or scattering with a box hidden under their arm. As soon as the police were gone they were back calling out 1 rmb, 1 rmb. I talked to one of the vendors and asked them what happened if they got caught. He pointed to a big police van about 40 yards away. He said they would take them to the van and they would get a fine. He said the fine was 50-100rmb. $8-$16 USD. That was probably more than they made in a couple of days. After watching them for a while it seemed like a dance between the police and street vendors. Both seem to know exactly where the other was and as long as they didn't get too close to eachother everything was fine.
Beijing has a very different feel than Nanjing or Shanghai. You could compare Bejing with Washington DC and Shanghai with New York City. Beijing is the government seat of China and Shanghai is the business center of China. There is a strong presence of military and police in Beijing. After spending time in Shanghai and then Beijing, Nanjing felt like a small town. Amazing that you can say that a city of 6-8million people could feel like a small town. We went to Tiananmen Square our first night there to watch them take down the flag. It is a pretty cool ceremony with the military taking down the large Chinese flag. It was pretty crowded so it was hard to see, but Marissa, Trevon and Brannon worked their way to the front of the crowd so they had a great view the ceremony. Afterwards the flag ceremony the square closes and immediately the military are there to clear everyone out. It's amazing how quickly they can empty the place out. Also there is a bit of a feel that you don't want to linger too long and have them force you to leave.
When we went to the Forbidden City there are many people that approach you to offer to be a guide for you. We ended up deciding to get a guide and we met Jimmy Mu. He was a great guide. I'm so glad we had him. He offered a ton of insight and historical context to the visit. The Forbidden City is a huge palace. It is where the emperor lived from 1420 until the last emperor in the 1920's . It was really cool to see all the history and hear the stories that live within the walls. It is massive. It is over a half mile long. While there Jimmy took us to a room that had the last emperor's nephew there. He is now a famous calligrapher in China. He has not official title other than as a calligraphy professor. The government has taken away any connection to the emperors in title or even family name. We had him write our Chinese name on a scroll for us. It was pretty cool.
We ate some great food while in Beijing. The most interesting was scorpions. The entire family including Declan ate a scorpion. Our favorite was the Beijing Duck. We had Beijing Duck two different nights. Both nights were delicious. Beijing Duck is probably on of my favorite meals in China now. They take the duck meat and skin and put it on a small thin pancake (looks like a tortilla) along with scallions, cucumber and a brown duck sauce. They then roll it up so it's almost like a small softshell duck taco. It is so tasty. It was funny because the kids now just call it duck tacos instead of Beijing duck. The first night we at it a a famous duck restaurant. The second time we just got a duck to go and ate it in our room. I was surprised at how much the kids loved it. We also went to Hot pot. There is a pot of broth in the middle of the table. They serve you raw meats and then you cook the meats and veggies in the broth. It is pretty tasty. We went to Haidilao resturant. It is famous for it's service. When you order noodles a guy comes in and gets them ready for the hotpot in a very interesting and entertaining way. Check out this link. Noodle Dancer at Haidilao hot pot.
One of the highlights of the trip was spending an evening in a hutong. A hutong is an old neighborhood. Some are 700 years old. Most of the houses don't have bathrooms so there are public restrooms that they use. Jimmy took us to the hutong and gave us a quick tour and then left us on our own. He dropped us off at a famous dumpling place. I think it was the Cafe Rio of Beijing dumplings. The place was packed. You would wait in line and then get to the front and quickly tell them what you want and then jockey around to find a place to sit. There was not seating for 8 so we got our dumplings to go and ate them on the street. After dumplings we went to a local shop and got the kids soda's and yogurt drinks. Many times in China I know they are giving us the foreigner discount. I had a feeling that they were at this shop as well. I proved my hunch right when a local came in and they charged her about 30% less. Because I spoke Chinese I could hear what they charged her. The lady said it was because we were American's and get paid a lot more than the local Chinese. I tried to plead my case that I was "local" and living in Nanjing. She still felt we deserved the American discount.
After the sodas and yogurt drinks we went to a small courtyard where the locals congregate in the evenings. I found a little shop that made hand cut noodles. They are so tasty. They have a large block of dough and then have a rounded hand blade and hand-cut the noodles off of this large ball of dough. They were a hit with the kids. The courtyard also has exercise equipment around the outside of it and the kids were having a lot of fun on it. They even had a back massager that you ran up and down your back. They had a large open space that the couples come out and dance. Marissa and I started dancing and then Alauna came and joined us. Alauna and I started doing a couple of country dance moves that she taught me when we were dating. The locals were watching pretty closely so I asked if they wanted me to teach them, so I started dancing with them to teach them our signature move. It was such a fun night. It really was about enjoying time together as a family. Everyone enjoyed that night.
It was such a fun trip. Sunday afternoon, after we got back from church we were exhausted and everyone took a nap. I'm really glad that we were able to experience so much of China's history and culture as well as spend some great family time together.
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| Great Wall |
After hiking the wall we went through the souvenir alley that exists at almost every tourist site. The kids loved shopping at these places. They always found a ton of things that they had always wanted. The kids loved having me negotiate for them. There are a couple of ground rules of negotiating. You have to see what their floor is. You do this by giving your price which is usually 80-90% lower than their original price. They will always say no and then then you can adjust your price if you want. At some point you have to walk away. If they let you walk you know they won't go lower and you've found their price floor. They you buy. With six kids there were always "bulk" purchases so that came into the negotiation as well. It becomes a bit of a game to see how low you can get. At some point you are haggling over pennies. At this point I always give them the few extra rmb. After negotiating and buying the latest in Chinese souvenirs, I was talking to another vendor. He was asking me how much I paid for stuff. He said that I was a tough negotiator and actually got a couple things cheaper than he would sell them for. I felt good about that.
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| Taking pictures at Tiananmen Square. The grandma holding Declan is almost 90 years old. |
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| Declan getting hugged. |
Beijing has a very different feel than Nanjing or Shanghai. You could compare Bejing with Washington DC and Shanghai with New York City. Beijing is the government seat of China and Shanghai is the business center of China. There is a strong presence of military and police in Beijing. After spending time in Shanghai and then Beijing, Nanjing felt like a small town. Amazing that you can say that a city of 6-8million people could feel like a small town. We went to Tiananmen Square our first night there to watch them take down the flag. It is a pretty cool ceremony with the military taking down the large Chinese flag. It was pretty crowded so it was hard to see, but Marissa, Trevon and Brannon worked their way to the front of the crowd so they had a great view the ceremony. Afterwards the flag ceremony the square closes and immediately the military are there to clear everyone out. It's amazing how quickly they can empty the place out. Also there is a bit of a feel that you don't want to linger too long and have them force you to leave.
When we went to the Forbidden City there are many people that approach you to offer to be a guide for you. We ended up deciding to get a guide and we met Jimmy Mu. He was a great guide. I'm so glad we had him. He offered a ton of insight and historical context to the visit. The Forbidden City is a huge palace. It is where the emperor lived from 1420 until the last emperor in the 1920's . It was really cool to see all the history and hear the stories that live within the walls. It is massive. It is over a half mile long. While there Jimmy took us to a room that had the last emperor's nephew there. He is now a famous calligrapher in China. He has not official title other than as a calligraphy professor. The government has taken away any connection to the emperors in title or even family name. We had him write our Chinese name on a scroll for us. It was pretty cool.
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| "Duck Taco" Beijing Duck |
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| Scorpions on a stick. Pretty tasty when roasted. |
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| Ducks roasting in brick oven. |
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| Trevy eating a forbidden popsicle at the Forbidden City. |
After the sodas and yogurt drinks we went to a small courtyard where the locals congregate in the evenings. I found a little shop that made hand cut noodles. They are so tasty. They have a large block of dough and then have a rounded hand blade and hand-cut the noodles off of this large ball of dough. They were a hit with the kids. The courtyard also has exercise equipment around the outside of it and the kids were having a lot of fun on it. They even had a back massager that you ran up and down your back. They had a large open space that the couples come out and dance. Marissa and I started dancing and then Alauna came and joined us. Alauna and I started doing a couple of country dance moves that she taught me when we were dating. The locals were watching pretty closely so I asked if they wanted me to teach them, so I started dancing with them to teach them our signature move. It was such a fun night. It really was about enjoying time together as a family. Everyone enjoyed that night.
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| Picture with a soldier. He was pretty low ranking. His superiors wouldn't get in the picture with us but made him. |
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| Two cute girls peaking out of the great wall. |
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| Declan catching some ZZZZ's on the great wall. |
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| Jimmy our guide. He did a great job. |
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| Tiana worn out. |
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Shanghai
Yesterday the whole family went to Shanghai. Hopefully it was the first of many travels through China. We had an early train and the whole family was up at 6 to leave at 7 for our 8:19 train. We has our tickets purchased online but had to show them our passports to pick them up. So when we got to the train station we saw two huge lines at the ticket window. We jumped in line and I quickly looked at my phone to see how we were doing with time. We had gotten to the train station plenty early so I wasn't too worried. The line actually moved very quickly. Their system is built to get a lot of Chinese people through the line very quickly. It was working and within a few minutes we were at the window. That's when the speed and efficiency we previously experienced came to a grinding halt. Their system is not built for a family of 8 with foreign passports. The guy behind the counter knew what to do, but it just took a lot of time. He had to pull up our reservation numbers (four of them, two for adults and two for kids each way) and then match the passports to the reservation numbers and then enter the passport numbers into systems and then print the tickets. We waited in the line for about 5-10 minutes to get to the front of the line and then it took about 10-15 minutes to process the entire ticket order. I always hate when I pick the wrong line and there is someone up there slowing the whole line down. Now I was that guy!!!. There were multiple people coming up and asking if they could get their tickets because their trains were about the leave. However, because the agent was in the middle of our transaction he couldn't help them and so he would just point them over to the next line. They would then jump to front of that line and slow it down a bit. So not only did I bring one line to a standstill, I also slowed the other line down as well. After all the reservations were entered he printed off all the tickets and happily handed them to us. He was not phased at all by the line or the customers. He was there to print tickets and he would do that all day until he was off and then go home. He was not there to do anything else but print tickets. He didn't let anything around him upset or bother him.
We got our tickets went upstairs to the security and waiting area, grabbed a quick KFC breakfast to eat on the train then got on the train. We made it without rushing too much. Hopefully others made their trains as well. The train is a fast train from Nanjing to Shanghai. With no stops it takes about an hour. We had 4-5 stops so it took almost two hours. The train travels at about 185 MPH at it's top speed. It is really convenient to take the train. It is a four hour drive in a car, so the train is much nicer. When we arrived in Shanghai there is a subway station right at the train station so we jumped on the metro and 5 stops and one transfer later we got off in Lujiazui. Lujiazui is in the heart of Pudong (east of Huangpu river). When I first started travelling to Shanghai our office was in the Aurora building in Lujiazui. In the past few years so much has changed. Buildings that were just foundations are now complete and buildings that were just a dirt lot are not almost done. It is great to see all the new buildings. That area of Shanghai is the financial center of Shangai.
First thing on the agenda was lunch after we arrived. I originally planned to take the family to Blue Frog. It was a pretty popular place with Westerners and the kids look forward to some good Western food on the weekends. Blug Frog however was gone, so next choice was Elements Fresh. For those of you from Utah Elements Fresh is similar to Blue Lemon. We went to the Super Brand Mall to eat but quickly discovered that Elements Fresh was closed for a remodel. In the end I am really glad that neither of those places worked out because we ended up at Din Tai Fung dumplings. They are some of the best dumplings in the world. Their Xiaolongbao dumplings are so delicious. The dumpling has a small amount of broth in it. You poke a hole in the dumpling, drink the broth and then eat the dumpling. It is so good. The kids were really disappointed they weren't getting Western food until they ate their Xiaolongbao. Then they were hooked. I ordered a sampling of many different types of dumplings and almost every dumpling was eaten. It was such a good meal. We also had our own private room overlooking the Huangpu river. It was a great lunch. To all my former Shanghai colleagues reading this the dumplings still taste as good as ever.
After lunch we made our way over to the Pearl TV Tower. I have admired the tower many times but never made the trip to the top. The start of the tour felt like hurry up and wait. You buy your tickets and then you wait to go through security. Then after security you wait to get in the elevator. Then as you go up you wait to get in the next elevator. After 2-3 elevator rides we were at the very top viewing area. At the top viewing area you are 1148 ft up in the air. It's a pretty awesome view of Shanghai. I think the best area is the second level. It is 863 above the ground. The best part about it is that part of the floor is clear plexi-glass. So you are looking straight down to the ground. I was freaked out. All of the kids were running and jumping on the glass. I could barely get one foot out there. Even Marissa was walking around on it, and she is nervous about everything. I started walking out and my goal was to grab the handrail about six feet away. I took two steps, baby steps, and just froze. This 9-10 year old chinese boy saw me. He was standing next to the hand rail I was trying to get to. He reached out his hand for me to grab. He has this sweet look like, Don't worry. I'll help you. I grabbed his hand and slowly took the steps to reach the handrail. I made it!! Even if it took the help of a young Chinese boy I still made it. Looking down was an amazing view. It was so cool. We took quite a few pictures. Alauna was also pretty nervous but she did really well. I'm not sure why I was so scared to walk out on the glass. By the end, I was able to walk around to the exit on the glass. I am still a little freaked out now thinking about it.
There are a lot of tourist attractions in that area of Shanghai, but I think one of the most photographed attractions of the day was the Westover Family, especially Declan. We would just be walking along and people would take our picture. Some would do it secretly, and some would come right out put their camera two feet in front of my kids faces and snap a picture. I couple of times I returned the favor and stuck my camera in their face and took a picture. My favorite was when the parents would have their kids pose with our kids. If we were stopped people would grab their kids and walk them over and have them stand next to one of the boys and start snapping away. The best one was a set of parents that grabbed their son and had him stand by Trevon. They snapped a picture and then told them to shake hands. It was like a international symbol of peace. It was funny and cute. The kids were all good sports about it. Towards the end of the day Declan was doing a super big cheesy smile when people would take his picture. I think when we go back to the US he will be disappointed when people stop taking his picture.
We finished off the day at the Shangrila Cafe Yi dinner buffet. It was so good. It has to be one of the best buffets in the world. They have an amazing assortment of food. Typically with buffets you get great assortment of food but the quality is not always great. At this buffet the food is all top quality. I filled up with Indian, Mexican, Italian, Sushi, Pizza, Fruit, and some amazing desserts. They made fresh Nan bread there on and the kids loved watching them make it in the big clay oven. I love the kids getting exposed to different kinds of foods and cultures. Mikayla has learned to love Indian food minus the spice. I think everyone loved the crepes. They made them fresh for you and they were so good. They had every kind of dessert imaginable. Their mango ice cream was so flavorful. I loved the mango ice cream. Declan loved the marshmallows and the chocolate fountain. At the end of dinner they give you a small box (Tiana was disappointed by the size) that you can fill with gummy candies. The kids loved that. The buffet is amazing. If there are not already reasons enough to come to China, like visiting us isn't reason enough, then going to the Shangrila buffet might be reason enough.
We had a great day as a family. We laughed, we cried, we ate, we drank lots of bottled water, we then found the bathroom and most of all we had a great time as a family. Which is the most important thing anyway.
Boyd
We got our tickets went upstairs to the security and waiting area, grabbed a quick KFC breakfast to eat on the train then got on the train. We made it without rushing too much. Hopefully others made their trains as well. The train is a fast train from Nanjing to Shanghai. With no stops it takes about an hour. We had 4-5 stops so it took almost two hours. The train travels at about 185 MPH at it's top speed. It is really convenient to take the train. It is a four hour drive in a car, so the train is much nicer. When we arrived in Shanghai there is a subway station right at the train station so we jumped on the metro and 5 stops and one transfer later we got off in Lujiazui. Lujiazui is in the heart of Pudong (east of Huangpu river). When I first started travelling to Shanghai our office was in the Aurora building in Lujiazui. In the past few years so much has changed. Buildings that were just foundations are now complete and buildings that were just a dirt lot are not almost done. It is great to see all the new buildings. That area of Shanghai is the financial center of Shangai.
First thing on the agenda was lunch after we arrived. I originally planned to take the family to Blue Frog. It was a pretty popular place with Westerners and the kids look forward to some good Western food on the weekends. Blug Frog however was gone, so next choice was Elements Fresh. For those of you from Utah Elements Fresh is similar to Blue Lemon. We went to the Super Brand Mall to eat but quickly discovered that Elements Fresh was closed for a remodel. In the end I am really glad that neither of those places worked out because we ended up at Din Tai Fung dumplings. They are some of the best dumplings in the world. Their Xiaolongbao dumplings are so delicious. The dumpling has a small amount of broth in it. You poke a hole in the dumpling, drink the broth and then eat the dumpling. It is so good. The kids were really disappointed they weren't getting Western food until they ate their Xiaolongbao. Then they were hooked. I ordered a sampling of many different types of dumplings and almost every dumpling was eaten. It was such a good meal. We also had our own private room overlooking the Huangpu river. It was a great lunch. To all my former Shanghai colleagues reading this the dumplings still taste as good as ever.
After lunch we made our way over to the Pearl TV Tower. I have admired the tower many times but never made the trip to the top. The start of the tour felt like hurry up and wait. You buy your tickets and then you wait to go through security. Then after security you wait to get in the elevator. Then as you go up you wait to get in the next elevator. After 2-3 elevator rides we were at the very top viewing area. At the top viewing area you are 1148 ft up in the air. It's a pretty awesome view of Shanghai. I think the best area is the second level. It is 863 above the ground. The best part about it is that part of the floor is clear plexi-glass. So you are looking straight down to the ground. I was freaked out. All of the kids were running and jumping on the glass. I could barely get one foot out there. Even Marissa was walking around on it, and she is nervous about everything. I started walking out and my goal was to grab the handrail about six feet away. I took two steps, baby steps, and just froze. This 9-10 year old chinese boy saw me. He was standing next to the hand rail I was trying to get to. He reached out his hand for me to grab. He has this sweet look like, Don't worry. I'll help you. I grabbed his hand and slowly took the steps to reach the handrail. I made it!! Even if it took the help of a young Chinese boy I still made it. Looking down was an amazing view. It was so cool. We took quite a few pictures. Alauna was also pretty nervous but she did really well. I'm not sure why I was so scared to walk out on the glass. By the end, I was able to walk around to the exit on the glass. I am still a little freaked out now thinking about it.
There are a lot of tourist attractions in that area of Shanghai, but I think one of the most photographed attractions of the day was the Westover Family, especially Declan. We would just be walking along and people would take our picture. Some would do it secretly, and some would come right out put their camera two feet in front of my kids faces and snap a picture. I couple of times I returned the favor and stuck my camera in their face and took a picture. My favorite was when the parents would have their kids pose with our kids. If we were stopped people would grab their kids and walk them over and have them stand next to one of the boys and start snapping away. The best one was a set of parents that grabbed their son and had him stand by Trevon. They snapped a picture and then told them to shake hands. It was like a international symbol of peace. It was funny and cute. The kids were all good sports about it. Towards the end of the day Declan was doing a super big cheesy smile when people would take his picture. I think when we go back to the US he will be disappointed when people stop taking his picture.
We finished off the day at the Shangrila Cafe Yi dinner buffet. It was so good. It has to be one of the best buffets in the world. They have an amazing assortment of food. Typically with buffets you get great assortment of food but the quality is not always great. At this buffet the food is all top quality. I filled up with Indian, Mexican, Italian, Sushi, Pizza, Fruit, and some amazing desserts. They made fresh Nan bread there on and the kids loved watching them make it in the big clay oven. I love the kids getting exposed to different kinds of foods and cultures. Mikayla has learned to love Indian food minus the spice. I think everyone loved the crepes. They made them fresh for you and they were so good. They had every kind of dessert imaginable. Their mango ice cream was so flavorful. I loved the mango ice cream. Declan loved the marshmallows and the chocolate fountain. At the end of dinner they give you a small box (Tiana was disappointed by the size) that you can fill with gummy candies. The kids loved that. The buffet is amazing. If there are not already reasons enough to come to China, like visiting us isn't reason enough, then going to the Shangrila buffet might be reason enough.
We had a great day as a family. We laughed, we cried, we ate, we drank lots of bottled water, we then found the bathroom and most of all we had a great time as a family. Which is the most important thing anyway.
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| Me taking a picture of someone taking a picture of Declan. |
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| Kids in from of Pearl TV Tower. |
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| Dumplings. I love the green beans on the plate. They are slightly deep fried and a bit spicy. So Yummy! |
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| Dumplings and Sprite |
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| This was the kid that they shook hands with. |
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| Dec is so cute |
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| Xiaolongbao--Dumplings with the soup inside |
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| Kids with the Coke bear. Love Dec's smile |
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| Mango Baobing. Shaved iced under the milk. |
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| Pearl TV tower |
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| Dumplings |
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| Dumplings with rice and shrimp on top |
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
4th of July
Let Freedom Ring!!! Happy 4th of July. Quick question. Does China also have a 4th of July? Of course they do. Every Country has a 4th of July. It comes the day after the 3rd of July. And while for 1.3 billion people in China today was just the day after the July 3rd, for a handful of Americans, a Brit, a Canadian and a Malaysian it meant burgers and dogs (hot dogs, not the real thing) on the grill and an awesome fireworks display.
We had some of my co-workers over tonight for a bbq. We just got our grill. It was it's maiden voyage tonight and it did a great job. I bought some charcoal when I bought the grill. It was the kind of charcoal that I see the street vendors so I assumed it would work. However, I could not get this charcoal lit. I used lighter fluid, paper, and some charcoal starters. I was in a bit of a panic. Marissa, Brannon Trevon and I jumped on our bikes and rode to the Suguo to get some normal charcoal briquettes. Luckily they had some. We raced home and got them going. The timing actually worked out perfectly. We got the briquettes lit and they had a good ash right as the people got there. We threw the burger and hot dogs on the grill and they cooked perfectly.
We had cheeseburgers with bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, ketchup, mustard, pickles, mayo and they were even on a hamburger bun. I'm sure you are all thinking what's the big deal. Why is he going into detail about an every day burger. Because we are in CHINA!!!!!! We went to 3-4 different stores just to get these everyday burgers. One of the stores is 30-40 minutes away. It really makes you appreciate a burger, baked beans, corn, salad, chocolate cake and apple pie when there is so much effort involved. It tasted so good. It was also a lot of fun to have friends over to celebrate.
We also had an amazing fireworks display. As with assembling a burger, finding fireworks outside of Chinese New Year is no small task. We asked a few people where we could get fireworks. Everyone could tell us where to get them during Chinese New Year but didn't know where they are available now. Finally we asked our driver Yang Ning. He said there was a little shop in his neighborhood that still had some fireworks. He called his wife to run down to the shop to make sure they still had the fireworks and make sure they would still be open when we got there. We got there and while the selection was minimal there was enough to fill the sky with lights. While we were buying them, I asked the owner if we could light one right then. He took it out into the street and set it off. A couple of the neighbors came over and asked what the occasion was. He explain about the 4th of July and that we were from America and were buying fireworks.
We had the fireworks loaded up in the back of our van. We didn't want to do them in the compound because houses are pretty close so we had Yang Ning drive them outside the compound. When we walked out there he had all the boxes set up and ready to go. Brannon and Yang Ning lit all the fireworks. As soon as Brannon lit it, he turned and took off running. His little legs were moving so fast. It was fun to watch him get so excited about the fireworks. I think Yang Ning really enjoyed it as well. We really were amazed at the quality of the fireworks. They were very impressive with their height, colors and size. We even had a roll of 8000 firecrackers. When we lit it, it took one minute thirty seconds for all 8000 fireworks to explode. It was so much fun. It was great to see all the smiles on peoples faces. Alauna even played Stadium of Fire music during some of the fireworks. We even had a couple of local old Chinese come watch the fireworks. One of them had a little handheld radio an he had it cranked up with Chinese music. So the fireworks were "synchronized" with music.
We really miss being home and with family today. We would probably have gone to a lake or swimming or smoked some ribs or something awesome like that. Even though we missed all that we still had an amazing time. Tonight was a great example of our family really enjoying each other while living in China. So much was different about this Fourth of July but our family being together made it an amazing Fourth of July. I also was thinking constantly about all those battling the fires in Utah. I have been amazed by the pictures I have seen on Facebook. It's surreal to see the fire and smoke so close to home. We pray for those that are affect by it that they will be ok.
I have also thought a lot about what freedom means. I am writing this blog by using a VPN because Blogger is blocked in China, as is Facebook and You Tube among other things. So in order to write this blog I have to work around the system. I have always loved America. I am always proud to say I am an American. Not in a boastful way, but in a respectful way of America being a great place. Not a perfect place but a place where you express your thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. My freedom of religion, speech, right to assemble, right to vote, right to bear arms have all been removed or infringed upon while living in China. I want my kids to understand that while these are rights, they also come with responsibility to protect and defend those rights as well as a responsibility to exercise those rights so they are not taken away. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be living in China right now. I am even more grateful for the privilege that I have blessed to be born in America. I am also grateful for those who serve in our Military to defend my Freedoms. Specifically to my older brother Steve, my Grandfather Beeston and the many others in my family who have put our Country first and served with honor. While there are many things we as Americans don't agree upon please let us all agree that we blessed to be Americans.
I hope everyone else out there has a great 4th of July and it is not just the day after the 3rd of July.
Boyd
We had some of my co-workers over tonight for a bbq. We just got our grill. It was it's maiden voyage tonight and it did a great job. I bought some charcoal when I bought the grill. It was the kind of charcoal that I see the street vendors so I assumed it would work. However, I could not get this charcoal lit. I used lighter fluid, paper, and some charcoal starters. I was in a bit of a panic. Marissa, Brannon Trevon and I jumped on our bikes and rode to the Suguo to get some normal charcoal briquettes. Luckily they had some. We raced home and got them going. The timing actually worked out perfectly. We got the briquettes lit and they had a good ash right as the people got there. We threw the burger and hot dogs on the grill and they cooked perfectly.
We had cheeseburgers with bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, ketchup, mustard, pickles, mayo and they were even on a hamburger bun. I'm sure you are all thinking what's the big deal. Why is he going into detail about an every day burger. Because we are in CHINA!!!!!! We went to 3-4 different stores just to get these everyday burgers. One of the stores is 30-40 minutes away. It really makes you appreciate a burger, baked beans, corn, salad, chocolate cake and apple pie when there is so much effort involved. It tasted so good. It was also a lot of fun to have friends over to celebrate.
We also had an amazing fireworks display. As with assembling a burger, finding fireworks outside of Chinese New Year is no small task. We asked a few people where we could get fireworks. Everyone could tell us where to get them during Chinese New Year but didn't know where they are available now. Finally we asked our driver Yang Ning. He said there was a little shop in his neighborhood that still had some fireworks. He called his wife to run down to the shop to make sure they still had the fireworks and make sure they would still be open when we got there. We got there and while the selection was minimal there was enough to fill the sky with lights. While we were buying them, I asked the owner if we could light one right then. He took it out into the street and set it off. A couple of the neighbors came over and asked what the occasion was. He explain about the 4th of July and that we were from America and were buying fireworks.
We had the fireworks loaded up in the back of our van. We didn't want to do them in the compound because houses are pretty close so we had Yang Ning drive them outside the compound. When we walked out there he had all the boxes set up and ready to go. Brannon and Yang Ning lit all the fireworks. As soon as Brannon lit it, he turned and took off running. His little legs were moving so fast. It was fun to watch him get so excited about the fireworks. I think Yang Ning really enjoyed it as well. We really were amazed at the quality of the fireworks. They were very impressive with their height, colors and size. We even had a roll of 8000 firecrackers. When we lit it, it took one minute thirty seconds for all 8000 fireworks to explode. It was so much fun. It was great to see all the smiles on peoples faces. Alauna even played Stadium of Fire music during some of the fireworks. We even had a couple of local old Chinese come watch the fireworks. One of them had a little handheld radio an he had it cranked up with Chinese music. So the fireworks were "synchronized" with music.
We really miss being home and with family today. We would probably have gone to a lake or swimming or smoked some ribs or something awesome like that. Even though we missed all that we still had an amazing time. Tonight was a great example of our family really enjoying each other while living in China. So much was different about this Fourth of July but our family being together made it an amazing Fourth of July. I also was thinking constantly about all those battling the fires in Utah. I have been amazed by the pictures I have seen on Facebook. It's surreal to see the fire and smoke so close to home. We pray for those that are affect by it that they will be ok.
I have also thought a lot about what freedom means. I am writing this blog by using a VPN because Blogger is blocked in China, as is Facebook and You Tube among other things. So in order to write this blog I have to work around the system. I have always loved America. I am always proud to say I am an American. Not in a boastful way, but in a respectful way of America being a great place. Not a perfect place but a place where you express your thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. My freedom of religion, speech, right to assemble, right to vote, right to bear arms have all been removed or infringed upon while living in China. I want my kids to understand that while these are rights, they also come with responsibility to protect and defend those rights as well as a responsibility to exercise those rights so they are not taken away. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be living in China right now. I am even more grateful for the privilege that I have blessed to be born in America. I am also grateful for those who serve in our Military to defend my Freedoms. Specifically to my older brother Steve, my Grandfather Beeston and the many others in my family who have put our Country first and served with honor. While there are many things we as Americans don't agree upon please let us all agree that we blessed to be Americans.
I hope everyone else out there has a great 4th of July and it is not just the day after the 3rd of July.
This video is of a string of firecrackers. Each one is about the size of a M80.
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| Steve graduating from schooling in San Antonio Texas a few years ago. |
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Best Buy Mobile open in China
This was an amazing week at work. We have been working for the past few months to open Best Buy Mobile stores inside of our Five Star stores in Nanjing, China. We opened our first two stores this week. The first was in Liu He on Wednesday and the second in Xin Jie Kou on Friday. Liu He is a rural part of Nanjing about an hour North of downtown. Xin Jie Kou is in the heart of Nanjing. It is the busiest store in the Five Star chain. I was so proud of our Best Buy Mobile team and our Five Star team for all that has been accomplished. It was amazing to see how hard our team worked to accomplish major milestone. My family has been amazing to support me in this. I couldn't have done this without them. I know move to China has been extremely hard for them. I have been working a lot since they have been here and they have been surviving China in large part without me. Hopefully now that the first two stores are open I will be able to spend a little more time with them.
I am extremely blessed to work with on an incredible team. Our team consists of people from all over the world. We represent China, USA, Canada, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, India, and Pakistan. We have been able to accomplish so much in such a short amount of time. I also have an amazing team that works for me. Ken, David, Louis, Victor, Hood, Mandy and Cherry and our store teams have worked tirelessly to get everything in place in order to open the stores. It is such a pleasure to work with such great people. Seeing our stores open is definitely top three proudest moments in my work career. Even better than seeing these stores open is to see the great results that we are getting. This is because of great strategies developed by the team and then many people executing the strategies at a high level.
Our business model and company culture is very different than what exists currently in China. There has been much resistance and struggle to get to where we are today with two stores open. There has also been much support by people realizing that things need to change. These past few months have really been an exercise in change management. We have been aligning support for the work we are doing and helping others to move from resisting the work to supporting the work. In any change this tough work and also continuous work. I have learned so much over the past few months. We have so much more work to do and we have proven we can do it.
Short post this week. I've also attached some pictures of our team and stores.
Thanks to Steve Brown for the pictures. Steve is the Supply Chain Director on our team and an amazing photographer.
Boyd
I am extremely blessed to work with on an incredible team. Our team consists of people from all over the world. We represent China, USA, Canada, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, India, and Pakistan. We have been able to accomplish so much in such a short amount of time. I also have an amazing team that works for me. Ken, David, Louis, Victor, Hood, Mandy and Cherry and our store teams have worked tirelessly to get everything in place in order to open the stores. It is such a pleasure to work with such great people. Seeing our stores open is definitely top three proudest moments in my work career. Even better than seeing these stores open is to see the great results that we are getting. This is because of great strategies developed by the team and then many people executing the strategies at a high level.
Our business model and company culture is very different than what exists currently in China. There has been much resistance and struggle to get to where we are today with two stores open. There has also been much support by people realizing that things need to change. These past few months have really been an exercise in change management. We have been aligning support for the work we are doing and helping others to move from resisting the work to supporting the work. In any change this tough work and also continuous work. I have learned so much over the past few months. We have so much more work to do and we have proven we can do it.
Short post this week. I've also attached some pictures of our team and stores.
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| Ribbon cutting |
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| Liu He Store |
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| Eric (District Manager), Boyd, Sunny (District Ops Manager) |
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| Sheri Ballard (President Best Buy International) Stephen Mackarel (CEO Best Buy Mobile China, also my boss) |
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| Proud of the work the team has done. |
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| Celebrating the ribbon cutting |
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| Team photo |
Boyd
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