10:35 PM
We leave for Kenting in the morning as planned. It could be an interesting week with the weather! This morning, after leaving the hotel we took the metro to a ferry station. It was a short boat ride to the island where the company was located.
Today I learned a valuable lesson. I am not rich, nor do I particularly desire to be so rich I waste my money on things like yachts. Don’t get me wrong, the yachts were fabulous. They were everything you would expect a 30-60 million dollar yacht to be, but I couldn’t help thinking of all the other things I would have done with my money.
The presentation was given by the son of Jade yacht’s founder. He was nice but definitely had an air of ‘rich kid’ surrounding him. At first I had a hard time seeing the point of his presentation because it seemed like an account of his latest camping trip. Although, I will grant that his story about trying to catch a goat was pretty funny. It took me the majority of the presentation to draw the analogy of catching goats to being successful in business.
The tour of the yachts was just as breath taking as you would think. I thought it was cool to see them actually building the boats in front of us. After the tour we headed out for lunch. This time I was prepared for a multi-course meal so I didn’t get sick. On the way into the restaurant we walked past stands of fish, tanks with live creatures in them, and some really odd looking food. It wasn’t until after the fact that I realized that was what our lunch was made from.
Professor Peng’s friend (another teacher that he used to go to school with) took us to her university. It was one of the nicest campuses yet! They bought us shaved ice on the way, which I didn’t want because I was full from lunch. After trying one bite I decided I would make room for some. It was fresh fruit on top of ice shavings with a little milk…so healthy and good tasting I was in heaven. Next we tried to get on the beach but they had it closed off because of the incoming typhoon. It was pretty windy.
By going through a beach resort we were able to get on the beach anyways. It was lovely! The weather was delightful and the smell and sound of the water was relaxing. I even got a little tan.
I was feeling good today, but you could tell the rest of the group was dragging. Some didn’t feel well and others were just too tired. After an overwhelming vote to spend the evening in at the hotel we headed back.
I enjoyed a little nap and then went with Pat and Diane to do laundry. Instead of doing it ourselves we took it to a shop just down the road. Everything I had needed rewashed because it had sat in my bag wet…the smell was a little too much. We loaded everything in the washer and grabbed some delicious pizza hut while we waited. When we went back to put it into the dryer we found it wadded up in a basket waiting for us. Normally this would have been fine until Dion walked in behind us and they handed him his clothes dried and folded. All the boys got their laundry back that way while the women were expected to do it ourselves. I keep telling myself not to be offended by cultural differences, but it does get under your skin a bit.
I’m tired of the mosquitoes so I went on a mission to find bug spray. You get some amazing looks when you try to explain bug spray to someone who doesn’t speak English. Thankfully the famous mosquito buzz seemed to get the point across, even though they don’t buzz here. I also got some soothing cream for my bites. If you read the box it is apparently really good stuff because it can heal almost anything. I wonder what it can’t do!
I’m off to bed for the night (hopefully without the bugs!).
We leave for Kenting in the morning as planned. It could be an interesting week with the weather! This morning, after leaving the hotel we took the metro to a ferry station. It was a short boat ride to the island where the company was located.
Today I learned a valuable lesson. I am not rich, nor do I particularly desire to be so rich I waste my money on things like yachts. Don’t get me wrong, the yachts were fabulous. They were everything you would expect a 30-60 million dollar yacht to be, but I couldn’t help thinking of all the other things I would have done with my money.
The presentation was given by the son of Jade yacht’s founder. He was nice but definitely had an air of ‘rich kid’ surrounding him. At first I had a hard time seeing the point of his presentation because it seemed like an account of his latest camping trip. Although, I will grant that his story about trying to catch a goat was pretty funny. It took me the majority of the presentation to draw the analogy of catching goats to being successful in business.
The tour of the yachts was just as breath taking as you would think. I thought it was cool to see them actually building the boats in front of us. After the tour we headed out for lunch. This time I was prepared for a multi-course meal so I didn’t get sick. On the way into the restaurant we walked past stands of fish, tanks with live creatures in them, and some really odd looking food. It wasn’t until after the fact that I realized that was what our lunch was made from.
Professor Peng’s friend (another teacher that he used to go to school with) took us to her university. It was one of the nicest campuses yet! They bought us shaved ice on the way, which I didn’t want because I was full from lunch. After trying one bite I decided I would make room for some. It was fresh fruit on top of ice shavings with a little milk…so healthy and good tasting I was in heaven. Next we tried to get on the beach but they had it closed off because of the incoming typhoon. It was pretty windy.
By going through a beach resort we were able to get on the beach anyways. It was lovely! The weather was delightful and the smell and sound of the water was relaxing. I even got a little tan.
I was feeling good today, but you could tell the rest of the group was dragging. Some didn’t feel well and others were just too tired. After an overwhelming vote to spend the evening in at the hotel we headed back.
I enjoyed a little nap and then went with Pat and Diane to do laundry. Instead of doing it ourselves we took it to a shop just down the road. Everything I had needed rewashed because it had sat in my bag wet…the smell was a little too much. We loaded everything in the washer and grabbed some delicious pizza hut while we waited. When we went back to put it into the dryer we found it wadded up in a basket waiting for us. Normally this would have been fine until Dion walked in behind us and they handed him his clothes dried and folded. All the boys got their laundry back that way while the women were expected to do it ourselves. I keep telling myself not to be offended by cultural differences, but it does get under your skin a bit.
I’m tired of the mosquitoes so I went on a mission to find bug spray. You get some amazing looks when you try to explain bug spray to someone who doesn’t speak English. Thankfully the famous mosquito buzz seemed to get the point across, even though they don’t buzz here. I also got some soothing cream for my bites. If you read the box it is apparently really good stuff because it can heal almost anything. I wonder what it can’t do!
I’m off to bed for the night (hopefully without the bugs!).
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