China: The First Email

My boss just got back from spending a week in China. Although he didn't bring me with him this time, he did bring me back my favorite candy...Hi-Chews. While eating these delicious peach flavored treats, I began to reminisce about my trip this past September. Instead of boring you with my scattered memories, I thought I would share the emails I sent to my family while I was abroad. Here is the first of four. Don't judge me, being a foreigner is hard. 7:42 PM CST on Monday, Sept. 13th, 8:42 AM HKT on Tuesday, Sept 14th Good morning from China! Hope you had a good Monday! The hotel I am staying at is amazing!! I have a bathtub on my balcony?!? You know those 'happy pill' commercials where the people always somehow wind in a bathtub in the woods? If I use it, it will be like, but I will be alone on a balcony overlooking a river. This place is insane. Today we are going to visit two factories, I will take pictures. I haven’t seen much of China yet, so I don’t have a lot to report, except that everything is in Chinese. Not sure what I was expecting, but there is very little English, even Google shows up in Chinese! Basically, I am going to smile and nod a lot. I can’t even understand anything when they speak English to me. It’s worse than getting a manicure at Precious Nails. For example, I wanted my AC turned off last night. So, when the bellhop brought up my bag, I asked him to turn it down. Instead, he showed me how to connect my computer to the Internet. I had to show him I was cold my rubbing my arms and saying brrrrr. Oh, one last thing. I was chatting with this girl who was waiting for the Dongguang ferry with us. I casually asked her if she was from the area. She was from Mexico. Not sure how I confused a Mexican with an Asian, but I am learning…SLOWLY. Love you! Lauren (or askdflsajfh in Chinese)