There has been a whirlwind of change in my life in the past week. On Dec. 2nd my grandmother (maternal) passed away, she had decided that she was finished with all of the tubes and treatments at the hospital, so then it was time to go home. On that Monday when I walked into work I mentioned this to my boss and her immediate response was that I should go home. I hadn't decided at that time what I was going to do. I was still considering the trip to Inner Mongolia. However, after talking with my family and in particular my sister Sarah, I realized that in life there is always work and it is important to take time for the people that you love. So, I made that decision Monday at 12pm and was on a flight to Beijing at 9am the next morning with a direct flight to Chicago following. It really amazes me that it all came together so quickly and it was only because of the international date line that I made it back in time. I just have this feeling that sometimes in China when something is meant to happen it does. We had the funeral on Wednesday and it was so special to be able to spend that time with my whole family. It was definitely much harder to say good-bye by myself in China being there at the funeral brought closure to the process for me. I think that it also meant a lot to them that I came all the way from China for the funeral.

I will be in the US until at least mid-January. In the mean time I need to start thinking about which area of Gold Wind I want to be working in. There are so many options, but unless I have an idea of where I want to go I won't be getting much work to do. It is funny, but that is the way it works for the foreigners at my company. The options range from international marketing, technical development and problem solving, wind farm development, research and development, and quality to control to name a few. If you have any opinions let me know....

Cheers.

By poplular demand I am posting some pictures of the "Pea in Her Pod", yes the green down coat made in Xian has come out of the closet. While the picture below is not the first time the coat came out of the closet , it is often worn in the taxi. Although it is not after 10pm in Urumqi after 10pm only girls can sit in the front seat. The reasoning is that at night men are more likely to be drunk than women and make it dangerous for the taxi driver, however I have had a spontaneous marriage proposal from a taxi driver and only choose the front if I am traveling in a group. Behind me you can see my friend from work, Qiaoyuan, peeking through.

Here I am really putting my coat to use at the International Bazar in town. The largest minority in Urumqi is Uyger and this is the biggest place in town to buy representitive arts and souveniers, there is also a huge mosque. I don't think that most of the arts and crafts are made by small time business folk, but it is a fun place to visit. Outside you can get fresh squeezed pomegrante juice, sheep butter, and all kinds of nuts and dried fruits. This was a fun day other than it took us over an hour to find a taxi in the freezing cold, I don't think that I want to venture that trip in the evening again because when the sun goes down it is too cold and too hard to flag down a taxi. The poor guys with me, Thomas my german friend was not wearing long underwear and my Chinese friend Qiaoyuan had wet feet from a busted water main earlier in the day at the company.

Now for the "Pea coat" with hood action....


The "Pea coat" in a group setting...unfortuanately slightly out of place as we are in an underground sport equipment retail area.

There we have it folks, the custom made green coat in its full glory. My friends at work have said that it is too early to be wearing a down coat, but it is cold (-13C or 8F) and more layers can be added later.