Day 15 (Monday February 28)

Thank God for goodbyes. One of my co-workers is leaving to join another firm in Beijing. Some (if not most) people aren't fond of goodbyes, but I've never really been affected by them, one way or another. I tend to think of all goodbyes as "see you laters" and with our current technology (IM, skype, facebook, w/e) it's easier than ever to keep up with people that you want to keep up with. But one great thing about goodbyes is that it affords people the opportunity to celebrate the good times they shared together.

A few people in the office grabbed dinner together yesterday and just hung out. I think more than anything, I'll miss the fact that I won't be able to hang out with her as easily as before... or sneak into her office to bitch and moan about my job.

Day 14 (Sunday Februray 27)

Thank God for the warmer weather. Spent most of the day reading, but I had a party to attend in the afternoon. It was so nice to be able to walk outside in only a sweater and a light jacket. I really don't like the bulk of heavy jackets, but Shanghai winters demand them. Although the air quality has been going down ever since the Expo ended, it was still nice to walk around outside.

It's funny... Shanghai is a great city to walk in, but has terrible air. Orange has much much cleaner air, but you can't get anywhere by walking. NYC has the best of both worlds!

Day 13 (Saturday 2/26)

Thank God for relatively healthy knees. I had a very very long run on the treadmill. It was pretty awesome. I have gained quite a bit of weight since coming back from the US for CNY break and from eating and driking with Chinese executives in Changsha.

Need to lose weight, and the best and most proven method (personally for me, anyways) has always been running. Now to see if I can actually run any faster...

Day 12

Thank God for work days without bosses. The partner was in Beijing this whole week closing a deal. I would have been in Beijing along with the rest of the team had I not been assigned to go to meetings in Changsha. The office always feels different when the partner isn't there. I mean, it's not like I do anything different, and he is definitely one of the most chill and reasonable bosses that I've worked with before, but still...

I'm approaching my 1 year mark in the Shanghai office and I still feel a difference when the boss is not in the office. Wonder when that will change, if ever?

Day 11

Thank God for legal assistants. While flying back to Shanghai from Changsha, I had two different people asking me for urgent help. As soon as I landed I knew I had to go back into the office to do work. Thankfully the legal assistant Jay was still around so I basically forced him to help me out. I'm also super blessed that Jay is a pretty reasonable guy and is always willing to help out. I do owe his wife an apology for making her husband stay until 4 in the morning though...

Day 10

Thank God for math as a universal language. I was acting as a translator for our meetings here in Changsha. In the middle of the meetings, the Chinese side had some questions for us that were completely over my head, fortunately, the American engineer understood why they asked the question and proceeded to explain with math. Communication is so much easier when both sides understand each other.

Day 8 & 9

Thank God for on-time flights. I flew to Changsha for some meetings on Sunday. My flight got in on time. My client's? Not. So. Much. They were scheduled to arrive at 8 pm. They didn't get in until 5 am. You gotta appreciate when things work out they way they are supposed to.

Thank God for engineer work hours. Or maybe it's just State-owned Enterprise work hours. The SOE we were working with basically told us that they could stay late... but only until 6:30 pm. Are you kidding me?!?!?!? JOOOOOY.

Day 7

Thank God for small groups! I hosted the small group in my tiny apartment for the first time today. It was a bit cramped, but I was really happy to see so many people visit and worship God in my home. We even had a video chat with Cindy from Singapore! I can't wait to try it again next week. Hopefully we have even more people!

Ooooh... and I get to keep the leftover snacks! So much for trying to lose weight.

Day 6

Thank God for dancing on tables! Had a great time hanging out with friends and celebrating a birthday and an office departure. Was a pretty crazy night at Prive. We ended up being the last people at the club and on a whim, I asked if I could jump up on the stage that the dancers go on and the security people said ok. Proceeded to act a fool and let loose to some bad hip-hop/pop songs. Oh wells, it's always necessary to let loose and have a little fun... like dancing on a table.

Day 4 & 5

Thank God for non-smoking hotel rooms. I had to travel to Hong Kong to get my Chinese visa renewed. What a crazy process that is! Anyways, the place they booked me in was pretty nice, but when I got into the room, I could smell cigarette smoke and I knew then and there that I wouldn't be able to sleep in that room without getting a bad headache. Thankfully the hotel had another room available. The new room didn't smell like smoke, but the hallway leading to my room smelled terribly of mold. Either way, thank God I didn't have to sleep in a smoky room.

Thank God for dinner with old friends! Met up Shelly (actually a blood relative - second cousin, I think) and got some Belgian food in Central. We had a good time just eating and chatting. Seriously, I have no idea how those Lu sisters do it. They eat and eat and eat and are rail-thin. It's ridiculous! Need to catch up with old friends more often! Each friend is such a blessing from God, and I truly believe that distance and absence truly does make the heart grow fonder. Those little things that perhaps you didn't like about your old friend just seem that much less obvious when you finally catch up.

Day 3

Thank God for space heaters. It is ridiculously cold in the evenings here in Shanghai, and my A/C unit just wasn't cutting it by itself. Although I pretty much hate cold weather, there is nothing quite like sleeping in a warm room during a cold winter day. With my trusty space heater, I am ready to tackle the next step of human evolution... hibernation!

Day 2

Thank God for readily-available cabs.

Work ended at 3:40 AM tonight. Left the office with my co-worker and there was a cab waiting right outside the building.

Day 1

I want to thank God for my friends who are single. As most of you know, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Now I've never really been one to dwell or be upset by the fact that I don't have a significant other to share Valentine's Day with. To be honest, most of the Valentine's Days in my life have been spent without a significant other.

But in all those "Single Awareness Days" (as my friend would call them), I never really felt alone. And today I realized why exactly that was. After church, a bunch of us went to grab dinner and we started making plans to "combat" the fact that we would all be dateless come Valentine's Day tomorrow. We ended up deciding on dinner together and maybe follow that up with a movie.

It may be the simplest of plans, but it makes ALL the difference. Now I'm not saying that I wouldn't be happy (happier?) if I had someone to share Valentine's Day with, but it seems to me that a fun dinner with some good friends and a movie to follow is not a terrible alternative. Thank God for blessing me with great single friends who have helped me pass all those "Single Awareness Days" in the past and who will help me celebrate another one tomorrow.