Today Koz leaves for Chicago to go back home, and I leave for Shanghai. His flight left at 7:20a and mine left at 7:30a. It was nice because we were able to hang out until we both walked to our gate. It was really hard saying bye, but made it a bit easier knowing that I would be home in 3 weeks.
As I was walking to my gate, I received a nice surprise phone call from my mom. She called to let me know that she and Aunt Judy had decided to come visit me before I came home. Fastest decision ever! They would land in Singapore the same day I land in Singapore from Shanghai. This was such a great surprise.
My week in Shanghai was crazy busy. Monday I took a train from Shanghai to Bengbu with Nancy, one of my coworkers from Shanghai. It was supposed to be 2 hours away, but due to a fog delay 1 hour into our trip, it took us over 3 hours. I visited a supplier in Bengbu, which was really interesting, and fun to see manufacturing in China. We had a good traditional lunch with our suppliers, and then headed back in the train to Shanghai. This time Nancy and I were in a sleepover train with 6 other people from China. This was really strange as we were all just staring at each other the whole time. I am so glad that Nancy came with me, as nothing in China is in English, and I would have been completely lost. Monday after we got back to Shanghai Nancy and I went shopping to the markets. I love them!
Tuesday - Nancy and I were picked up by our driver to visit another supplier in Nantong. Nantong is 3 hours from Shanghai. We had meetings all day with our supplier, were able to see their manufacturing, and then went out for a very traditional Nantong meal. We had crab that you had to crack by using your teeth, frog legs that still had the feet attached, frog eggs, which I thought were chickpeas, and many other things including Chinese wine. A very fun dinner, with very interesting food.
We spent the night in Nantong, and took the 3 hour drive back to Shanghai on Wednesday morning. We worked in the Shanghai office on Wednesday afternoon, and then back to the markets for more shopping! This time Nancy took me to a bigger place with more stores - just what I need!
Thursday morning I met up with my coworkers from Singapore who flew into Shanghai on Wednesday night. They wanted to go to the new market that I had been to on Wednesday, and I also needed to buy a new suitcase to bring all of the stuff I bought home with me.
Thursday afternoon and evening we had a supplier conference for Asia. We had 200 people at the conference including a few Director's and VP's from North America. It was a great conference, and we had a huge dinner after with about 15 different courses. It was a really nice event, and great timing for me to attend.
Friday I was originally supposed to leave Shanghai at 1p.m. arriving in Singapore at 7p.m. However, I was able to get on the 8a.m. flight out of Shanghai, and surprise the mom's who were already at my apartment at 3. They were so surprised to see me, and even tried locking me out of my own apartment!
Nancy and I visiting our supplier! They had our names on their board!
With our suppliers
All the Mopeds
Chinese Dinner
Frog Legs - if you look closely you can see the toes, and the eggs
Nantong River
My Singapore Team at the Conference in Shanghai
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