March 14, 2005
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…the many faces of water…
The scariest thing happened today. So I woke up late this morning at around 11:30 am, then went to my business law class at 2:30 pm, got out at 5:30 and met up with James to work out at Shaw at 6pm. All without having eaten or drunken anything the whole day–not good. Needless to say, after a 1.5 hour work out, I was quite dehydrated and started to black out.
Thank goodness James was there because I totally started to feel the shivers, but was still profusely sweating, and I couldn’t do anything about it. Apparently, I had fallen asleep at the leg press and James was talking to me from the rowing machine, but I wasn’t responding. He came over to me to check on me and I just wasn’t looking good, so he tried to help me over to a chair, but I wasn’t conscious, so I couldn’t really walk. He helped me over to the chair though and I just sat there as the room just kept getting colder and hotter all at the same time. It was totally freaky. Anyhow, he went and got me some water and I couldn’t even hold the cup up myself. Once I got some water into my system though, I started to be able to see again though. By the second cup, things were getting clearer, but I gave the attendant one hell of a scare. He was apparently asking James if I needed an ambulance. Thankfully, I was able to walk on my own after the water–crazy shit! James said that I had suffered a heat stroke; I never really knew what it was before, but after that, I don’t ever want to experience it ever again. Thank goodness for work out buddies though, I don’t know where I’d be if James hadn’t been there. Thanks James! 
In better news, I went to Shenzhen this past weekend with Jenny, Don, Lucy, Nikie, James, and Abraham.
Jenny, Abraham, and I had to go there on a field trip for our Japanese Economy class, but we met up with the rest of the group after our trip was done. The field trip was to Zhong Shan where the Japanese company was located. The owner of the company was a close personal friend of our professor, so he totally gave us the red carpet treatment. He came to pick us up at the University and rented a tour bus to take us there instead of having us train it in. It was a pretty cool company, and totally gave us a glimpse into what globalization was all about. The company makes cell phone antennas for companies like Samsung and Sony, and owns 70% of the market share in Japan, so it was pretty cool. The factory was pretty good in terms of working conditions, not quite the sweatshop I was anticipating. The workers, mostly women, lived in quarters that were provided by the company. They generally slept in bunkbeds with about 6-7 people per room. It was cramped and all, but I guess you do what you have to do right? Anyhow, after the factory visit, the owner took us to lunch at this magnificent restaurant and we had an amazing lunch! 
I was seriously full after that meal. Anyhow, here’s me and the CEO of the company, a pretty cool guy to know.
After lunch, we started to head back to the border of Shenzhen, where Jenny, Abraham, and I were going to get dropped off to meet the others. On the ride there though, the professor’s daughter, Madeleine just kept bugging us the whole ride. I had stayed up playing Risk with Nikie, Christie, and Don the night before and was hoping to catch up on my sleep on the bus ride, but Madeleine would have none of that.
She’s a Hapa girl: her dad’s Japanese and her mother is British. Anyhow, throughout the whole trip, she grew an affinity for Jenny and me. When we got to the Sun Yat Sen museum, she clung to us and the three of us all walked around together. So picture this: Jenny (White/German), me (mixed looking Asian), and Madeleine (Hapa girl) all walking together everywhere sharing just one umbrella. Needless to say, everyone thought we were a family. People were staring at us the whole time, and the professor even thought it was cute so he took a picture of us and called us a family, lol. After that though, everyone started to call Jenny and me mommy and daddy respectively, even Madeleine. By the end of the trip, the whole class on the bus was calling us mommy and daddy–so embarrassing, if they only knew, lol. 
Anyhow, here’s a picture of my “daughter,” lol.
So after we met up with the rest of the group, we had an amazing dinner at this really great restaurant. It was awesome not only because it was cheap, but also because we were given our own room. Apparently, in good Chinese restaurants in China, you get your own room, complete with a bathroom, a dinner table, a kids table, and a relaxing tea area with a TV inside. It was simply put, craziness!
The meal cost all of $10 US for each of us, and we were really pampered. After that, we headed over to this massage place where for only $25 US, we were able to get a 3 hour massage that included a facial, manicure, a fully body massage, and a shuttle back to our hotel! 
Man, this is the life! I’d show pictures, except we weren’t allowed to take any pictures. Anyhow, here are some random pics of us goofing around in our hotel though. It was a 3 bedroom suite for really cheap, less than $100 HK per night…Me and Nikie doing yoga
Aww, we got the order wrong, but you get the phrase…
Watch out! It’s Shenzhen’s Angels
Don diving onto Jenny
The boys putting away all the DVD’s we bought, hehe
Aww, it’s the circle of friends
The Pyramid: Nikie makes it look as though I weigh a ton, lol
So a recap on Shenzhen: despite the freezing cold weather and being stopped at the Immigration checkpoint and then being released even after they caught me with my fake DVD’s, Shenzhen was a blast and I can’t wait to go back for more. China is such an interesting place. From driving on the wrong side of the road, to nearly getting killed from all sides, it was definitely an experience. I got to brush up on both my Cantonese and Mandarin, and I’m quite sure I confused a lot of people with switching back and forth between the two languages so darn often, but hey, they should know both languages pretty well anyway, it is southern China after all. Anyhow, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to live there, but it’s a fun place to visit every now and then. I’m heading to Guangzhou this coming weekend, so we’ll see how that compares to Shenzhen…
Oh the places I’m gonna go…
