Ah, some time in Fuqing China

Per usual, my blogging record has been less than stellar. Once again, my apologies. I was chatting on the phone the other day with my mom (and by "phone" I mean Skype), and she started telling me how much everyone LOVES my brother and sister's blog because theirs are so interesting, and they always update it, and their lives are so exciting, yadda yadda, but since I don't update mine, none of her friends read it. No pressure. So this one is for all of you who aren't reading.

Life in the Zhongguo has been really busy lately, but really good. Of course, as I'm gearing up to leave Beijing, things start going really well--I'm starting to really enjoy Chinese and learn a little more (although my teacher might strongly disagree), work stuff is really starting to fall into place, and I've been busy with buddies. It's one of life's funny ironies. Anyway, busy but good.

Last Wednesday and Thursday, my boss Bruce and I took another trip to explore some business opportunities. This time, we went down south to a city called Fuqing (yes, really, foo-ching, laugh all you want) in the Fujian province. Fuqing is right off of the ocean, and right across the sea from Taiwan, so pretty far south. It was actually a really great trip. In all honesty, I was dreading the trip a little bit. I'm coming to the end of my time in Beijing, and just felt ready to stick around here and really soak up life. But, something nudged me a little bit, and I decided to make the time (and significant financial) commitment to take the trip to Fuqing. AND... I'm really glad I did. Out of all the business options that I've explored, I think this one holds the most potential for the goals we want to accomplish. So hopefully, I can whip up a quick business plan to bring home (and to prove I was doing a little bit of work while here).

In addition to being a really exciting business opportunity, the trip to Fuqing was just really interesting. We stepped off the plane in Fuzhou (the nearest large city) and were greeted by green grass, palm trees and ridiculously humid air. I felt like I was on a tropical vacation. Our contact, Jeremiah, led us across the parking lot, past all the beautiful, shiny black cars (that surely had air conditioning) to an old, beat-up, Gordy Wilson-style Ford van, complete with the rusty wheel wells and Chinese driver sleeping with legs on the dash. After a swift bang on the side of the van, the driver was quickly alert, and greeted us with the biggest smile I've ever seen. Seriously, this guy was just happy. So, we piled into the van, backed out of the spot, drove over a few sidewalks to avoid waiting in line (really, no need to wait when you can just hop over a sidewalk), and were soon on our way, bouncing down the road to Fuqing. Now, I've heard China driving horror stories, but have really yet to experience anything that I would consider "unbearable"... until now. If one thinks that Beijing traffic is bad, you have another thing coming. We're driving down this highway, two lanes with a grass median, and naturally one would assume that one lane is for traffic going one direction, while the other lane is used for traffic going the other direction. But, this is China, and as we've noticed, the rules are never quite "the rules". We are whizzing down this highway, much faster than anyone else, and cars and motorcyles and bicyles and oxen and goats and people are just wandering lazily down this road (the motorized vehicles drive in either lane, there isn't quite a rhyme or a reason). Keep in mind, this is a legitimate highway, like I-35 or something, with people and cars and animals going every direction. So, we're speeding and bumping along with no AC, dodging whatever is in our way, with the driver grinning the whole way. Needless to say, we're thanking the Big Guy we're still in one piece.

All in all, Fuqing was just a really interesting experience for me, because it presented a side of China I haven't seen yet. It was rural, but in a different way than the rural I saw in Taiyuan, or the China I've seen in other smaller cities. It had this bizarre combination of extreme wealth and poverty (massive, and ugly, 6-7 story houses built for one family, right next to a family living in a shack that is falling apart), of modernity and old ways (beautiful cars and buildings and every sign of progress, surrounded by animals walking in the streets, men leading their oxen on ropes and people carrying water on their back through the fields). It was a really great and intriguing experience.

So, now that I've rambled, I better get back to... everything else I've been missing out on the last few days. Hopefully more to come before I fly back to the Meiguo.