Updates

I am sick at home today. :-( That gives me the opportunity to update my blog, which has been idle for a month, or since coming back from the U.S. I guess it's bad timing to get sick on the Valentine's Day. I had a lot of plans - big plans - and now I had to cancel them and break some hearts. (Just kidding. :-)

This reminds me that I almost didn't get sick at all the entire year of 2007! It was my lucky year.

The past month seemed very long to me; it happened to be a month sandwiched by the New Year and the Chinese New Year. You can imagine how busy one could get.

Early in the Morning

I didn't need to make any adjustment for the time-zone difference when I returned, since immediately I had to work on odd hours, like early in the morning or late in the night, to have meetings with our U.S. client. The following picture of a taxi receipt showed that one day I went to work at 5:30 AM. It wasn't the only day that I went before 6 AM.

But guess what happened when I showed it to our finance department to get reimbursement for my overtime work? "Big deal!" one gal said, "Another department reported that they went home at 7 AM!" Gee, I won't get into competing for that. Okay, no more bragging.

Singapore

Then I spent a weekend in Singapore. The weather was just perfect, and my winning streak of "bringing good weather to a city" continued. Oh wait, did I just say no more bragging?

I met some wonderful friends who went on the summer orphanage trips with me the past few years. I heard more stories from the NW. As I looked ahead to a new year, if anything, this trip seemed to tip the scale between whether to stay put at where I were, or was it time for me to move toward the NW. I kept asking myself, "Your best years are right in front of you. How and where do you want to spend them?" My friends, are you asking the same question?

Of course, there was the food of Singapore. I was treated with some incredible local delicacies.

The Hostel

Shortly after returning from Singapore, I continued to be busy at work. Then some friends began to going through Shenzhen, mostly en route to Hong Kong. I tried my best to be a nice host. Picking them up at the airport, showing them around the city a little bit, having dim sum or other food that they preferred, and even pointing to them my apartment.

But I would not actually take them to inside! My excuse was, "Oh, it was so messy, and you don't want to see it." Most of them politely complied. This particular friend, however, had "booked" my place two months ago. I thought I would have enough time to clean up my little apartment, but I never really got the time - or I was just not motivated - so two days before he came, my place was still not ready.

Then, another friend arrived ahead of him, and he booked a hostel in Shenzhen. I took him there, and I was very impressed by the accomodation. It was not very spacious, as you wouldn't expect from a hostel, but it was very clean and neat. In other words, much better a place than my place to spend a night. (Okay, my bed is quite all right, but I am not going to share it with anyone. Or, he can sleep in my bed and I go to the hostel. There was just no room for two.) So after settling down that friend, I went back and emailed the friend who was about to come, "Please?" He finally agreed.

Next time you know what to expect when you go through Shenzhen. :-)

Project Management

Since I returned to China, I assumed the official role of the project manager for a key project. It was a bit overwhelming, but I held on two things: 1) Be nice to my engineers. No matter how much pressure I was getting from above, I wouldn't dump it directly to the team. I shared the situations with them, but our focus was on the solutions, not the problems. (Of course, that's a lot easier said than done.) 2) Be honest to my upper management. Not in a direct way, but just like I wouldn't dump all the pressure to my team, I wouldn't take in all of it by myself either.

There was an interesting scenario when the Chinese New Year was near. Most people wanted to go back to their hometowns. But for the project, we really needed some people to stay behind. It was very difficult for me to refuse their application for time off; I wanted them to have a good rest and return to work with more energy (well, that might be a bit of wishful thinking, but hey, it's holiday time). As it turned out, the biggest snow storms in decades attacked most parts in China, and some of my engineers ended up changing their plans and stayed in Shenzhen. They came to office to join me, which was quite fun. (Really.)

Rest in Hong Kong

A bunch of us (including the friends mentioned above) went to Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year. We stayed at an absolutely gorgeous university campus for a few days. The program was great, and we got some much needed rest. The only complaint was that it was a bit too cold, even in Hong Kong. Actually, people in the south have a much harder time to cope with the cold weather because they typically don't experience it.

My most memorable experience during this retreat was some of the life stories that I heard, including those from the guest speaker, whom, incidentally, I had met more than 3 years ago before I moved to China. She was blind, but she could "see" a lot better than many of us.

Parents' Health

While I was in Hong Kong, I received an email from my sister in San Jose, saying that the hospital spotted something in my mom's kidney. Initially (this was before I left the Bay Area) they thought it might be kidney stone, but they weren't sure, thus my mom wouldn't go for an operation. (She was actually quite irritated by all the different check-ups by the hospital.) But now, after another check, it appeared that it was mostly like a tumor based on the size and location of it. It had about 90% chance of being cancerous, but it would be in really early stage, and an operation would eliminate it.

I called my mom a couple of times since then, and it wasn't conclusive yet. She sounded fine, but once an operation is set, I will decide what to do - maybe making a quick home trip. Of course, I already started doing something. Would you please join me in pr*yer.

My dad, meanwhile, is doing quite all right.

Valentine's Day

So that brings you up to date. I am making adjustments during this new year season, and the biggest challenge is still how I should focus. "How and where to spend my best years" is a big question, but "how to spend each and every day" is just as crucial a question - and perhaps more practical.

Finally, again, this is the Valentine's Day. Here is a little poem that I'd like to share with you.

It's that time of the year again,
Let's forget all the pain.
O, warriors of the brave hearts -
Victories are yours to gain.

Every year every where at this time,
Young and old celebrate the Valentine.
O, when will peace come to heart?
Until you find yours I find mine.

70 and Counting

Just arrived in Hong Kong, entering this entry while waiting for shuttle going to Shenzhen. It was my 70th time flying across the Pacific Ocean. More than half of the flights were business trips to China between 7~10 years ago; I have been going between the two continents at least once a year since. After moving to Shenzhen, two home visits a year add 4 times across the Pacific to the total. By this rate, in 7~8 years I shall reach the number 100.

In addition, I've flown over the Atlantic Ocean twice, the Indian Ocean zero times, and the Arctic Ocean zero times. Now you see that I don't really have much to brag about. :-)

Year 2008 in Preview

(The above is a drawing of Christmas trees and gifts by my niece Kadia. She will be 4 years old in a month.)

Year 2008 is one week old, and we already know everything that is going to happen this year, right? Actually, when I was doing the review list for Year 2007 (previous post), I realized that 3-4 out of the 5 things, I didn't foresee. Nonetheless, here are 5 things that I look forward to this year.

1. Olympics volunteering

It has always been one of my dreams to be part of the Olympics, and of course the opportunities come again this year. I registered to be an international volunteer, but so far I haven't heard anything back yet. (The cutoff date for international registration is March.) I probably will be more proactive once I get back to Shenzhen, giving them a call or two to express my desire.

Perhaps I will have a better chance to volunteer for the Special Olympics, which is right after the Summer Olympics, also in Beijing.

2. More traveling - to the NW

My weekend traveling will likely continue (since I now have mastered the art). In fact, I already booked a trip to Singapore in January, meeting a bunch of friends from the summer orphanage programs. It seems that we won't have a summer camp this year, however.

On the other hand, I most likely will go on my other annual trip, the English teaching trip in October. Oh, in case you haven't heard yet, in China they will take out the May holiday "golden week." Instead, they will have all the traditional holidays including Mid-autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Qing Ming (Tomb Sweeping Day) as public holidays.

I should make at least one other trip to the NW in 2008 since now I have friends living there.

3. One more province

And I look forward to adding another province to my list of "places in China that I have been to." The last three years since I moved to Shenzhen, I added one province each year: Guangxi in 2005, Qinghai in 2006, and Hainan in 2007. In total I have been to 24 provinces (or regions and cities at the same level) in China, with 10 to go.

Which one is the next? Yunnan? Hunan? Hubei? Or one of the northeastern provinces?

4. Three Kingdoms movie

I am a big fan of the Chinese classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Three Kingdoms to Chinese people is like Lord of the Rings to the English-speaking people. That's why I am so look forward to this movie they are going to push out in summer called Red Cliff, which tells the story of one of the major battles of that era. It's directed by John Woo. They have just finished the filming a month ago (you can tell I am following it), and it's in post-production. It is the most expensive Chinese movie that has ever been made.

How big a fan I am of Three Kingdoms? Way back in the early 1990's, when the Internet was new (no World Wide Web yet) and Chinese language first appeared on the Internet, the first electronic version of the novel (partial) was published on the Net by a computer science student in Northwestern University named Jim. I typed in 23 out of the 120 chapters character by character, including 8 chapters on the Battle of Red Cliff.

5. Balanced lifestyle (or...)

Maybe I should put something specific here instead of a general phrase like "balanced lifestyle." Well, you all see that the way that I have been working, including doing His work, is not entirely healthy. I don't regret for any of the effort that I put in, but I've got to remember that this is for the long haul. In fact, you all know that I am a marathon runner, not a sprinter.

So, anything specific? How about going on a date? I didn't do that during the whole 3 years in Shenzhen. Maybe that could be a goal for 2008? One date? Two? Two and half? Sometimes you could have one that's counted as "negative one," in which case you will need a couple more to end up positive. Yeah, dating should definitely put some balance into my life. (Pause) Or is it going to actually throw me further out of balance? :-)

Kidding aside, my dear friends, you know what's on my heart. Thank you for your prayers!

Reviewing Year 2007

We have now entered a new year. Time to look back the past year a little bit.

1. Weekend traveling

I did a lot of weekend traveling during the year 2007, especially in the second half. A typical trip would be leaving SZ on Friday night or early Saturday morning and returning to SZ on Sunday evening. What can one accomplish for such a short trip? Plenty, if you focus on a particular purpose instead of trying to do too much. I think I am mastering the art of weekend traveling, and I am getting really good at finding cheap airfare in China. :-)

Almost all my weekend trips were to visit friends (with occasional sightseeing as a bonus).

2. Journey to the West

I made three trips to the far west in 2007. Summer trip to the orphanage, autumn trip to teach English, and a Thanksgiving trip during which I covered both BJ and LZ in one weekend.

3. Managing projects

My workload continued to increase in 2007, and more than before, I had a deeper sense of the pressure that almost all the software engineers in my company were constantly under, especially when I was directly involved in project management on top of handling the communications with the U.S client. I had hoped that I could show a different way, but before long, I realized that I wasn't doing any better when it came to keep balance in life and work. The best I could do was to show the teams that I treated them as real people instead of mere "resource" and that I valued them more than the projects or products. That was, of course, when I began to have conflicts with upper or other managers. Thankfully there had been no direct confrontation. After all, I have a heart for them (directors and managers) too. I don't really think that I know much more about management, and I am just observing and learning. And pr*ying.

4. Home visits

I couldn't be more thankful about my home visits in 2007. I was able to stay in the Bay Area for three months from April to July, working mostly from home. The catch was that I was on Chinese pay during my U.S. stay, but hey, I knew what was more precious.

My parents moved to San Jose in July (and had their old Berkeley house sold by September), much closer to my sister and brother-in-law. My father is doing better physically, and during the current home visit, I had made a few more friends (both Cantonese and Mandarin speaking) and invited them to visit my parents.

5. Baby boom!

There were about 10 ladies in my company who had babies this year! In addition, 3 ladies in my home group back in the Bay Area also had babies this year.

There were of course also new "babies" in the spiritual sense. More than a dozen Chinese coworkers made the decision in 2007. PTL!

Auld Lang Syne

(Well, this is not original at all. Lyrics of a song that many of you are familiar with...feel like singing it as 2007 leaves and 2008 arrives.)

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?
And here's a hand, my trusty friend, and give us a hand o' thine.
We'll take a right good-will draught for auld lang syne.

Happy New Year, everyone!