Happy Birthday Chelsie Belle!

THIS IS NICOLE :)

I cannot believe it is already Wednesday here! Yikes! As we predicted, the week has gone by very, very quickly. It is very pleasant in Shanghai - it is in the 50's here, much better than at home. Poor KH is freezing though...this is a little rough for his Singaporean/Malaysian blood. He talks about it being so cold..and the rest of us are actually quite pleased with the temperature, knowing that our poor compadres in Ohio are absolutely FROZEN. I picked a good time to leave - the coldest spell we have had all year. More importantly, I have my furnace set very low. :) Just high enough so the poor kitty does not freeze.

Today is little Chelsie Belle's 5th birthday! I cannot believe she is 5 years old! She was 9 weeks old and 15 squirming little pounds of fur when she came home - she has grown up into a very sweet and wonderful girl who mom cannot wait to get home to! Gammie, please make sure that little Belle gets an empty ice cream cone as a birthday treat. Mom will get her a new birthday toy when I get home next week. It will be so wonderful to get home to her..it is so cold at home it is unlikely she will reject my requests for bonding time. She generates a lot of body heat. :) Happy Birthday Belle, mom misses you!

I tried to post some pictures, but was not successful. I was about to hit "publish" on Sunday night when I lost my connection, and lost my post. I was very disappointed, as it was a pretty good post in my mind. I will do my best to reconstruct the highlights of what I wanted to share with you.

On Sunday, I went back to the plant to finish up my observation. The plant had resumed operation, and I was allowed to go back in, look around and take pictures. Man, what an eye opening experience that was. The pictures I previously posted did not do the plant justice. You cannot imagine how hard these folks work and how efficient they are. This process is a very, very manual process - some processes require 2-3 people working in sync. None of them, not one of them, ever missed a beat. This is not easy work, I will say that much - it is very tedious, monotonous work. Yet these people here are so focused and so diligent - and very motivated, as they are paid by the piece. Therefore, the more they get done, the more money they earn. Money talks, and people listen. It was quite amazing. I had to be sure to stay out of their way - they had things to do.

More than anything, it has made me very appreciative for the things I have. These workers have left their hometowns and their families to work in a factory 6 days a week, far away - lucky to get home to their families twice a year. They live with 5 other people in a bunk on site at the workplace. There was really not much around the plant I was at, except the little "town" or "village" that I described in previous posts that was rampant with poverty. However, as unappealing as it seems to me, this is a better life than they would have in their hometowns, most of them. They have a decent roof over their head, a warm place to sleep (assuming the dorms are heated - the office sure wasn't) get three meals a day and are paid by how much they produce. It is all in what you define as normal. By the time I am finished typing this blog, some workers will have produced hundreds of surgical drapes and gowns.

This trip has also made me much more empathetic to the people that come to our country every day in search of a better life (legally, preferably). Adjusting to everyday life can be a challenge - from figuring out what to eat, how to wait in line, how to cross the street (which is ALWAYS and adventure here) and just how to function in everyday society. When I have gone to Europe in the past, I always knew enough of the language to get by, or could read and guess what signs meant. Not here - I have no way of being able to read anything or communicate with anyone, other than please, thank you and "no more".

This was not exactly what I had wanted everyone to know after my experience this weekend. Such is the curse of modern technology - you love to hate it. Last night in the elevator Bruce was joking that Charna and I "hate to love him". We all laughed - and Charna and I rolled our eyes at each other. There is very little doubt that this whole experience has profoundly changed us in a number of different ways. Despite being together for the last three weeks, we still find many things to talk about in regards as to how this experience has changed us. While there is no substitute for being here, the challenge for us will be to effectively communicate our experience to our colleagues back in the US.

I hope everyone is managing to stay warm. Gammie, give Chelsie an birthday hug from mom. As usual, we are doing fine.

Still a queen with a shining crown,

Nicole