Carlton Bale

I’m now back at work, starting to settle into my routine again, but I’m not ready to be in this routine again! I’ve had a few days to relax and adjust to being back in the US and that was exactly what I and Nicole needed; last weekend was the most time the two of us had spent together in months. All I wanted to do was relax, watch movies, and play video games. Unfortunately, the work week has now begun. I’ve received e-mails from everyone else who was on the trip. I’m anxious to reply but I know it will take a while toRead More →

My alarm went off at 5:40 am and I quickly prepared to leave the hotel. Garrett and I met with Professor Lyles, who was very kind to awaken so early to see us off. We had a very quick breakfast, gave her a hug goodbye, and climbed into the taxi. On the way to the airport, Garrett looked toward me with puzzled expression. I quickly began to understand why. A roar from the left rear tire grew louder and the driver turned on the emergency flashers and pulled off to the shoulder. Garrett and I were both worried about making it to the airport onRead More →

Doug and I got up early to see Li off. It was so sad having the first team member depart because we’d grown so close over the past few days. Just before she got into the cab, she gave Doug and I a hug. It was an extra long hug, which made it more endearing. Everyone in the group missed her during the day – and not just because she was such a great interpreter. We had meetings with the Indiana Department of Commerce, Bakers and Daniels, Pacific World Trade, Visa, and Alison Transmission. Baker and Daniels impressed me the most and Alison impressed meRead More →

We were tourists for the day. We awakened early, loaded into our van, and headed to the great wall. Sally from Grayline Tours (formerly Panda Tours) was our guide and was very professional and informative. The ride to the wall took about an hour; we visited the Ba Da Ling section. There were two sections, one that was flat and crowded and one that was steep and less traveled. We chose the last one and had a fairly decent workout getting to the top. The scenic views were amazing. The “independent merchants” were absolutely annoying. I didn’t buy anything but everyone else did. The localsRead More →

Everyone was up at 6:00 to check-out and leave for the airport. I got about 5 hours sleep and I think that was the most of anyone in the group. We arrived in Beijing without incident. It was such a relief to get into the Traders Hotel. Unlike the 21st century, which is “pending 4-star approval” (a.k.a. 3-star), Traders truly earns the ranking. The air conditioning works well and everything is spotless. All of use decided to pay the extra $30 per night for the upgraded rooms, which brought the cost / night to roughly 3 times that of the 21st Century but you definitelyRead More →

The presentation was complete, I had nothing to do, but I still woke-up early. Li, Brian, and I practiced a couple of times but we were getting experienced and the practice became boring. We had a late breakfast and meet in Brian’s room (our team room) for one last time. It was sad knowing that this phase of the trip was coming to an end. We performed a tremendous amount of work in that room but also had quite a bit of fun and really grew into a team in there. It was sad starting to break-down the large table we were using before returningRead More →

Day 11: Thursday the 22nd The presentation is basically complete at this point but we all basically wasted the morning creating slides that were suggested even though I knew we would not be within our time limit if they were included. We practice our presentation again but didn’t make any notable changes. It was basically Li and I practicing our coordinated swap between English and Mandarin with Brain advancing the slides as necessary. The food at the hotel and the restaurants has been of very high quality. Unfortunately, we had experienced about every creature and flavor Chinese seafood had to offer several times over byRead More →