Hi Everyone,
This week has definitely been a week of ups and downs. I found out this week that my Grandmother (Mom's Mom) is in the process of passing away after having been in the hospital for the past month with lung complications. It was very hard news to receive especially being so far away, but as I have thought about it more and spent time in contemplation, I realized that even though I am so far away on spiritual terms we are still close. One of my friends said, "Oh Rachel, you are so strong", but really I feel that my strength at this point comes from the support of so many friends and prayers. It is hard to make it through a time like this by yourself. Death is like birth, it is painful in the process, but the outcome is more beautiful than could ever be expected.
On another note, I am preparing to go spend a month in Inner Mongolia working at the wind farm. They are in the process of putting up the wind turbines and it is an interesting process. I hope that I can survive, with the cold and hard work. I will living in the padded work clothes which are sometimes called "bread" clothes. Life is an adventure, and sometimes you just have to ride the wave. However, as I am trying to arrange things at this very moment I am having to wait for all my paper work for my work visa to go through and the office that it has to be done at does not pick up their phone.
I went swimming at the local pool last night, it is quite nice. You have to do a health skin check before you can use the pool, although it is not very rigorous. Then the pool has an appropriate amount of chlorine, I can tell by how my skin felt afterwards and the smell of my swimsuit-dry. It is nice because it is a 50m pool so you don't have to change directions all the time. Although everyone was swimming lengthwise, there were no lane lines. There was a kids swimming class going on and one of the boys was about in the same lane with me. At one point I was passing a lady an the little boy happened to be swimming towards us. Neither of us saw him and we all crashed into each other. These are the hazards of swimming in China.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Friday, November 24, 2006
It is has been a really long time since I have been able to update my blog. For some reason recently it has been hard to long on to the blogging website, but here it goes....
My mom said that she has been keeping it updated in the comments section, so check those out if you have time.
Since leaving Beijing so much has happened. I am now in Urumqi working for Goldwind. I asked if I could do a rotation there, but really I have to know what I want and then ask for it. A rotation according to the company is to spend about a week in each department. On one level this is useful because you get to know who is who in the company, but on another front it is a waste of time because you don't really have any work to do for the weeks that you are rotating around. As I am starting to get to know how the company operates, I am realizing what skills I want to develop.
For the first two weeks I was in the assembly workshop helping to put together the wind turbines. I was rather overwhelmed w
ith how large they are the first time I saw them. I don't think that I had ever considered how big wind turbines are and I had never really been up inside one to really know. All of the new engineers and many of the new employees will spend a month working in the workshop, most of them have never had any practical experience in university so they are learning from scratch how to screw in bolts and choose the correct size. Really the assembly plant is like a big puzzle. All the pieces come in and you follow the directions to put it all together. There are only a few parts which require some higher level skill for example the pressure pipes and aligning the rotor. I asked about how well the rotors align and about 20% don't fit correctly so they have to change them out and try another one. The picture is of me standing in front of one of the wind turbines. I think the orange suit is fantastic. The other foreigners in the company said that if my work suit was not dirty then I wasn't doing my job. Well, I found that the Chinese workers do a lot to keep theirs clean, so in the picture mine is in good shape. It isn't in the best of shape right now though, since I have started going to the wind farm and climbing up the towers.
About two weeks ago I had my birthday. I do
n't think that I have celebrated my birthday so much in such a long time. I went with one of my friends to her boyfriend's hair salon to get my hair cut and then she treated me to having my nails done, then we went out to dinner at a Brasilian resturant. This is the closest I can get to latin music in Urumqi, so I wanted to go for my birthday. It is buffet style then they bring around large skewers of meat for everyone. I was most excited about the beans, rice and fresh vegetables. We then went out dancing until about 3am. It was quite fun. Usually, my birthday isn't that exciting when I move to a new place because I still haven't made lots of friends, but it has been pretty easy to make good friends since I have arrived. The same weekend I got a Chinese room mate. She is from Xian and has come to the company to do an internship, she is a phd student for engines, but has also studied quite a bit about wind energy. She has taught me a fair amount about the possibilities of wind energy in China. The company asked if she could stay with me since I have an extra room and the girls dorm is full. (I stayed in the guys dorm the first week that I arrived, it is a bit annoying to have to wait until the shower is completely empty then put up a do not enter sign to take a shower). It is good to have a room mate now because my house has more people coming over and it doesn't seem so lonely.
These days I am going to the wind farm. The closest wind farm is about an hour away and really it looks almost exactly like Nevada. The tumble-weed like grasses, the mountains on both sides, it is uncanny. The only thing Nevada doesn't have are domesticated camels roaming around. I have been going out with the customer service teams to do repairs on the wind turbines. It is interesting to see how they go about repairs and see what kinds of problems the wind turbines have. One of the biggest problems is that their is oil leakage from the gear box, although I haven't worked on fixing this problem, it is noticeable because there are puddles of oil inside some of the towers and the ladders get rather slimy. I went with teams to realign the shaft between the gear box and generator, adjust the break pads, and replace one of the yaw gear motors. I am not sure if that is exactly the right English name because I am learning the names of these things in Chinese and sometimes, I don't know exactly what the name would be in English. My vocabulary is definitley becoming more specialized. Changing the yaw gear motor was the most interesting, because we had to set up a pulley system to get it up into the nacelle (the housing for the wind turbine at the top). The motor that lifts things into the nacelle was too small to hoist up the yaw motor. We used a truck to lift it up and once it was up there we found out that it didn't work properly, it took 6 people about 4 hours to get the work done and then it had to be done again the next day. Now, I know to alway check a head of time.
I am trying to go to Inner mongolia to work for several weeks at a wind farm, because they are putting up the towers now. But the process is in the works, so I'll have to see in the next few weeks if it all goes well.
As far as Thanksgiving goes I had a good one. I didn't think that I would be able to do much for Thanksgiving but it turned out pretty well. I taught an advanced English class that evening and I usually go out with my students for dinner (they are mostly people who work in the R&D department). That night beyond Thanksgiving we talked a bit about IPO's and renewable energy. Afterwards, when we went out for dinner we had a few more people join us because one of the students is leaving for a month (he is actually a manager), so it was not only Thanksgiving but a going away party. We had carmelized sweet potatoes, corn and pine nuts, green beans with chilies, greens, and chicken with potatoes. I think that is pretty close to what I would eat at home, and perhaps from a vegetarian's point of view even tastes better. The only thing missing was pumpkin pie, but I had some of that in Beijing before I left, so I can't complain.
That is about all the news I have these days, I will try to post more often as the internet allows.
Until next time...
My mom said that she has been keeping it updated in the comments section, so check those out if you have time.
Since leaving Beijing so much has happened. I am now in Urumqi working for Goldwind. I asked if I could do a rotation there, but really I have to know what I want and then ask for it. A rotation according to the company is to spend about a week in each department. On one level this is useful because you get to know who is who in the company, but on another front it is a waste of time because you don't really have any work to do for the weeks that you are rotating around. As I am starting to get to know how the company operates, I am realizing what skills I want to develop.
For the first two weeks I was in the assembly workshop helping to put together the wind turbines. I was rather overwhelmed w
ith how large they are the first time I saw them. I don't think that I had ever considered how big wind turbines are and I had never really been up inside one to really know. All of the new engineers and many of the new employees will spend a month working in the workshop, most of them have never had any practical experience in university so they are learning from scratch how to screw in bolts and choose the correct size. Really the assembly plant is like a big puzzle. All the pieces come in and you follow the directions to put it all together. There are only a few parts which require some higher level skill for example the pressure pipes and aligning the rotor. I asked about how well the rotors align and about 20% don't fit correctly so they have to change them out and try another one. The picture is of me standing in front of one of the wind turbines. I think the orange suit is fantastic. The other foreigners in the company said that if my work suit was not dirty then I wasn't doing my job. Well, I found that the Chinese workers do a lot to keep theirs clean, so in the picture mine is in good shape. It isn't in the best of shape right now though, since I have started going to the wind farm and climbing up the towers.About two weeks ago I had my birthday. I do
n't think that I have celebrated my birthday so much in such a long time. I went with one of my friends to her boyfriend's hair salon to get my hair cut and then she treated me to having my nails done, then we went out to dinner at a Brasilian resturant. This is the closest I can get to latin music in Urumqi, so I wanted to go for my birthday. It is buffet style then they bring around large skewers of meat for everyone. I was most excited about the beans, rice and fresh vegetables. We then went out dancing until about 3am. It was quite fun. Usually, my birthday isn't that exciting when I move to a new place because I still haven't made lots of friends, but it has been pretty easy to make good friends since I have arrived. The same weekend I got a Chinese room mate. She is from Xian and has come to the company to do an internship, she is a phd student for engines, but has also studied quite a bit about wind energy. She has taught me a fair amount about the possibilities of wind energy in China. The company asked if she could stay with me since I have an extra room and the girls dorm is full. (I stayed in the guys dorm the first week that I arrived, it is a bit annoying to have to wait until the shower is completely empty then put up a do not enter sign to take a shower). It is good to have a room mate now because my house has more people coming over and it doesn't seem so lonely.These days I am going to the wind farm. The closest wind farm is about an hour away and really it looks almost exactly like Nevada. The tumble-weed like grasses, the mountains on both sides, it is uncanny. The only thing Nevada doesn't have are domesticated camels roaming around. I have been going out with the customer service teams to do repairs on the wind turbines. It is interesting to see how they go about repairs and see what kinds of problems the wind turbines have. One of the biggest problems is that their is oil leakage from the gear box, although I haven't worked on fixing this problem, it is noticeable because there are puddles of oil inside some of the towers and the ladders get rather slimy. I went with teams to realign the shaft between the gear box and generator, adjust the break pads, and replace one of the yaw gear motors. I am not sure if that is exactly the right English name because I am learning the names of these things in Chinese and sometimes, I don't know exactly what the name would be in English. My vocabulary is definitley becoming more specialized. Changing the yaw gear motor was the most interesting, because we had to set up a pulley system to get it up into the nacelle (the housing for the wind turbine at the top). The motor that lifts things into the nacelle was too small to hoist up the yaw motor. We used a truck to lift it up and once it was up there we found out that it didn't work properly, it took 6 people about 4 hours to get the work done and then it had to be done again the next day. Now, I know to alway check a head of time.
I am trying to go to Inner mongolia to work for several weeks at a wind farm, because they are putting up the towers now. But the process is in the works, so I'll have to see in the next few weeks if it all goes well.
As far as Thanksgiving goes I had a good one. I didn't think that I would be able to do much for Thanksgiving but it turned out pretty well. I taught an advanced English class that evening and I usually go out with my students for dinner (they are mostly people who work in the R&D department). That night beyond Thanksgiving we talked a bit about IPO's and renewable energy. Afterwards, when we went out for dinner we had a few more people join us because one of the students is leaving for a month (he is actually a manager), so it was not only Thanksgiving but a going away party. We had carmelized sweet potatoes, corn and pine nuts, green beans with chilies, greens, and chicken with potatoes. I think that is pretty close to what I would eat at home, and perhaps from a vegetarian's point of view even tastes better. The only thing missing was pumpkin pie, but I had some of that in Beijing before I left, so I can't complain.
That is about all the news I have these days, I will try to post more often as the internet allows.
Until next time...
Thursday, October 19, 2006
There has been a lot that has happened since I wrote last. First off about the wind company thing. I had a meeting with the president of another wind development company who had offered me an internship and then taken it back, the president, Chris, said that working for Goldwind would give me invaluable experience and insight into the goings on of the wind industry in China. He was pretty impressed that I ended up getting connected with them. He also offered to help me in any way that I needed once I got on the ground out there, whether that be information about the international wind industry or the goings on of the one in China. Having a perspective that is beyond my limited view at this point was very useful, so now I am getting really excited about going to the far northwest. It is funny how your perspectives can change when you hit the ground. I will probably move out there in the next 5 days. I still need to buy my plane ticket.
I spent most of the week in Xian visiting my good friends Michelle, James, Shomace, Sophia, and Dayyan. For Shomace and Sophia it is their first time in China and they are settling in very well. Even though it is a bit rocky at times: finding and moving into an apartment, getting things fixed, establishing their job they are handling it very well. Yesterday we went to Xian's big wholesale market and bought just about everything you could need to start a new home. I have also really appreciated being with Michelle, because I have so much to learn from the way she lives in China. She is so good at making friends with people from all walks of life, it is funny to hear her joke in Chinese. I hope that I will be able to joke in Chinese soon. I will be leaving Xian today, so I will see Dayyan and James before I go. Other than hanging out with friends, what I have found exciting is that you can have down coats made in Xian, the cost is very reasonable ~$30 US. So I had a long green coat made. It is good quality and it fits very well. I don't know if it will be entirely warm enough for Xin Jiang, but it will at least keep me warm until I find something more.
I spent most of the week in Xian visiting my good friends Michelle, James, Shomace, Sophia, and Dayyan. For Shomace and Sophia it is their first time in China and they are settling in very well. Even though it is a bit rocky at times: finding and moving into an apartment, getting things fixed, establishing their job they are handling it very well. Yesterday we went to Xian's big wholesale market and bought just about everything you could need to start a new home. I have also really appreciated being with Michelle, because I have so much to learn from the way she lives in China. She is so good at making friends with people from all walks of life, it is funny to hear her joke in Chinese. I hope that I will be able to joke in Chinese soon. I will be leaving Xian today, so I will see Dayyan and James before I go. Other than hanging out with friends, what I have found exciting is that you can have down coats made in Xian, the cost is very reasonable ~$30 US. So I had a long green coat made. It is good quality and it fits very well. I don't know if it will be entirely warm enough for Xin Jiang, but it will at least keep me warm until I find something more.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Hi there everyone,
I know that many of you have been wondering what I have been up to in my first few weeks back in China. I should rewind a little bit because I have only really been in China since the 7th. I flew with Shomace to Hong Kong where we spent two days hanging out in a jet lagged way. There are few moments that need some sharing, first and foremost is that while we were on the ferry another tourist as we were getting ready to get off stepped on my toe. This doesn't sound so bad, but since my toe nail was hanging on for dear life anyway it got totally pulled off except for the small corner where it was still attached. Too bad it was the middle of a big shopping day, so all that could be done was put a band aid on it and keep going. It didn't actually hurt.
On to more interesting things, Shomace and I had a great time in Macau where we were for a week. It was so much fun, everyone there was a youth either in spirit or in actuality, so we had a great time. I think we laughed more than anything else. I actually knew 7 of the 20 people who were there, but then I got to know everyone else. We also probably put on a few pounds, because the bakery where they make the world's best egg tarts was around the corner. People literally come from mainland China to get them and this place is kind of out in the boonies, by Macau standards. Coloane Village is quite interesting because of the Portuguese influence it looks like a small village in Brazil. Tropical with a slightly Spanish style architecture and a bit of a plaza.
I am in Beijing now as of 4 days ago and it is great to be in China again. I am staying with one of my good friends from Stanford Naree. It is so wonderful to have such a good friend that you can drop in on. Naree is teaching English for the year at Beijing's Science and Technology University. I am in Beijing for a little while to meet with two companies that I have been in contact with via email. Although I am 99% sure that I going to take the job in Xinjiang with Goldwind the wind energy company, I still wanted to touch base with these other folks. I'll give more updates on that later, so until next time...
I know that many of you have been wondering what I have been up to in my first few weeks back in China. I should rewind a little bit because I have only really been in China since the 7th. I flew with Shomace to Hong Kong where we spent two days hanging out in a jet lagged way. There are few moments that need some sharing, first and foremost is that while we were on the ferry another tourist as we were getting ready to get off stepped on my toe. This doesn't sound so bad, but since my toe nail was hanging on for dear life anyway it got totally pulled off except for the small corner where it was still attached. Too bad it was the middle of a big shopping day, so all that could be done was put a band aid on it and keep going. It didn't actually hurt.
On to more interesting things, Shomace and I had a great time in Macau where we were for a week. It was so much fun, everyone there was a youth either in spirit or in actuality, so we had a great time. I think we laughed more than anything else. I actually knew 7 of the 20 people who were there, but then I got to know everyone else. We also probably put on a few pounds, because the bakery where they make the world's best egg tarts was around the corner. People literally come from mainland China to get them and this place is kind of out in the boonies, by Macau standards. Coloane Village is quite interesting because of the Portuguese influence it looks like a small village in Brazil. Tropical with a slightly Spanish style architecture and a bit of a plaza.
I am in Beijing now as of 4 days ago and it is great to be in China again. I am staying with one of my good friends from Stanford Naree. It is so wonderful to have such a good friend that you can drop in on. Naree is teaching English for the year at Beijing's Science and Technology University. I am in Beijing for a little while to meet with two companies that I have been in contact with via email. Although I am 99% sure that I going to take the job in Xinjiang with Goldwind the wind energy company, I still wanted to touch base with these other folks. I'll give more updates on that later, so until next time...
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