Most of the team was back together again last night at a gathering at the house of Dr. Lyles. Li was the only one unable to attend and I wished she were there. All of the previous China Trip participants were invited because Faye was making her first trip to the US after being unable to get a passport after so many attempts in the past. Because there were some many people there, some of whom may be going on the trip this next summer, our group wasn't able to talk with one another all that much and it just make me miss them even more. We definitely need to get together as a small group soon, especially before Li moves to Delaware.

During my recent trip to China, I was surprised at how the internet kept me in such close touch with the US. In both hotels in which I stayed, broadband internet was available. Neither was close to being as fast as the cable connection I have at home, but I was able to check e-mail, post blog entries, and make and receive telephone calls. The Vonage softphone allowed me to call my wife Nicole about every day; she was able to dial a local Indianapolis phone number and talk to me when she wanted. It really cut down on the long distance costs. Unfortunately, the X-Pro software provided by Vonage didn't work very well. I had to re-start it every time I reconnected to the internet, the phone book feature was worthless, and there was no incoming or outgoing call history. They could definitely benefit from a better software package, but it worked well enough to keep me in touch with the US and was easier than using Yahoo Instant Messenger.

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 to compose the message because I have so much to say. I miss everyone in the group as well as the friends we made in China and a part of wants to be back in China again. In fact, the longer I sit at my desk at work, the more I wish our group had another upcoming trip and project in front of us. Readjusting to the US wasn’t a problem; readjusting to my daily / routine life is and will continue to be difficult.

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 on time as we were cutting it a bit close on time. The driver scurried around the car, flailed through the trunk, stood in the road while using the jack, and was back on the road in 7 minutes! Garrett and I parted ways, said a quick goodbye, and headed to different ends of the terminals.

The flights have been uneventful so far with a quick changeover in Tokyo and some painful entertainment during the flight back to Minneapolis. I was shown the same episodes of Trading Spaces Family, some other shows, and a thinly disguised infomercial about teeth. Are you kidding me? The next movie was Mooseport. How horrible must a movie be for Northwest to play it on a flight?

I’m looking forward to getting back home because I miss my wife Nicole and it’s been much too long since I’ve seen her beautiful face. However, I am missing China as well. Not nearly as much, but the growth, excitement, and opportunity in the large cities in China is unlike anything in the US. Will I be back? I’m sure I will. Will I be working there? I’m not sure. It would be a major commitment and would require me to leave a lot behind. Not seeing friends and family would be very difficult. Leaving our pets behind would be sad. I’m sure Nicole and I will discuss it more over the next year. There is much to much to consider to discuss and consider in this forum.

In the Minneapolis airport, I met-up with six Cummins employees on their way back from a meeting. I’d been up for about 27 hours at that point, needed both a shave and a shower, and was starting to have trouble forming sentences. Not really an ideal situation for talking with director and executive director level co-workers, but I made the best of the situation and talked about interesting portions of my trip as much as possible.

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 me the least. Edward Williams of Daker and Daniels had a quote that impressed me the most. “I didn’t want to be a lawyer in the 1800s that saw all of the opportunities and growth in the West and still decided to stay in Philadelphia.� Jun went with us and drove half the team; they had some difficulties finding all of the destinations.

We met at the VIP lounge upon arriving to the hotel and exchanged pictures. We have about 750 MB worth! Dinner wasn’t necessary because of all of the snacks. Brian, Garrett, and I finally visited the Sauna for some heated relaxation therapy – highly recommended the day after the wall. We’d talked about “Sauna� so many times at 21stCentury; it was nice to finally indulge. Afterwards, we headed to the hotel bar and met up with new friend from Bakers and Daniels again; he bought us drinks and provided us with some very interesting conversations. We headed back to our rooms, looking forward to a day that would allow us to sleep late.

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 locals were selling “100% cotton T-shirts� made of polyester and “100% silk scarves� make of nylon. The prices started very high and dropped to about 1/10 of the initial level. Doug purchased some post cards from someone on the wall and received 20 Bot instead of 20 RMB as change. The Bot (if that is even what it is) is worth about 1/100 of an RMB. So, he lost about $2 US and had a great story tell, because he was scrutinized when he tried to buy beer in a restaurant. But I couldn’t believe how motivated the locals were to climb all the way to the top of the great wall every day just to sell junk to tourists. The climb alone shows determination; the gorilla sales techniques shows their desperation for income.

We napped during the ride back to Beijing and then saw Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The history and stories about past emperors were interesting. I was surprised by all of the homeless families in the tunnels under the road ways. <>

We headed back to the hotel afterwards and everyone took another nap before heading to Da Dong’s Peking Duck restaurant. It was great food; I wished we’d had that type of food in Dalian. Afterwards, in the hotel bar, we met a partner from Bakers and Daniels, the law firm in Indianapolis. We weren’t that far from home after all.

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 definitely get what you pay for.

Brian was exhausted and it was nap time for him; the rest of us went shopping at a couple of the markets and I spent the whole day looking for gifts I thought my wife would like. I bargained everything to about ¼ the original asking price. I’m not sure if I got the best deals possible, but I definitely paid much, much less than was possible in the US.

Everyone met with Daniel’s better half for dinner. It was quite an experience, with dancing women, martial arts demonstrations, a woman with a snake, and whole-restaurant dance party at the end of the meal. We were dancing on the tables on which we had just eaten but only pictures can do the experience justice. (The music was so loud that my right ear is intensely ringing.) Brian and Doug were both stars of the show, performing dance moves and push-ups on stage during the meal.

After dinner, everyone went to the Hard Rock Café. All of the students were ready to go back to the hotel but Professor Lyles suggested we go out after dinner and we weren’t going to let our professor show us up. The four marrieds danced in a circle while Doug scoped the women. We arrived back at the hotel at about 12:30, later than expected but we’ll still be able to get at least 7 hours before heading to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City tomorrow.

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 returning it to the stairwell in which we found it.

I took a nap during lunch because I didn’t get enough sleep the night before. The presentation went well; Li and I were well-prepared and it showed. The management met to vote on the best group and we were not surprised to be the first group called. A part of that is due to us being so well prepared and the rest is due to us traveling half way across the world. I felt embarrassed when all of the Hong Kong students were congratulating us because I had a clear advantage: I was speaking in my native tongue. True, Li translated perfectly into Mandarin, but I was receiving some of the praise as well and I had no language barrier to overcome.

Afterwards, we everyone met for dinner at the Korean Barbeque restaurant at the to of the Dalian International Hotel but we were quickly finished and the meal wasn’t exceptional. Still, I had a great time talking to Wilson, Sharat, and Samuel. Afterwards, a smaller group went out to the same Augustus bar that we visited earlier in the week. I learned the Chinese dice game, played it for a while, and then decided to talk with John for a while. We’d spoken several times but never really gotten to know one another. The music in the bar was much too loud and I was ready for an early departure. I could tell that Li, Profess Lyles, and Professor Yan were ready to depart as well and were receptive to the idea when I approached them.

On the way to dinner, Garrett spotted something we all hoped we’d never see. The crazy driving was scary to those in cars and we were always fearful that a pedestrians would be severally injured. We were pulling up to a stoplight and noticed that a van was pulled over to the right hand side of the road. As we stopped, we noticed a woman in front of the van on the ground. Her ~8 year old son was lifting her upper torso from the ground but she was not moving. Garrett started to get out the taxi driver started yelling at him so he got back in. The driver of the van was on his cell phone. We were all hoping that he was calling an ambulance and that the woman was merely unconscious. I closed my eyes and prayed that this was the case.

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 by this point. We wanted something different and Pizza Hut sounded like a perfect solution. Daniel and his son Harry were back in town and we met them for dinner there. Pizza Huts are nice in China! The restaurant was large and nicely appointed; the pizza was as expected (we skipped the trout pizza). The salad bar was one-serving-only and we were surprised how much food the Chinese customers piled onto their plates. One girl created a 8-inch round circle of cucumber slices and stacked them lego-style about 5-inches high, taking about 10 minutes to do so!

Garrett, Brian, and I were up late printing our presentation and I didn’t get to sleep until after 12:30. I felt nice to be almost finished.

Day 10: Wednesday the 21st
We split-up the final slide preparation process. I built the main presentation, Garrett took the lead on the direct internet booking model. Doug made several slide on bundling. We frantically work all morning and declined a presentation to Professor Chan just before lunch and deferred it to after lunch. We worked frantically, skipping our meal, and started finalizing and collating. About 15 minutes before our presentation, everything was combined and we suddenly had a presentation! The planning and structure that I had started the previous day came together and we had some very solid analysis and strong recommendations. Our presentation with Professors Chan and Yan went very well. There was basically agreement that reinforced the work we had performed. There was a bit of questioning our methodology by Professor Yan until we showed the detailed regression analysis. The questions quickly ended and we were told “good job�. While the Hong Kong groups practiced their presentations in Chinese, we made some minor fine-tuning changes. We returned just after these presentations finished and were the first to present during the English language presentation/critiquing process. I presented by myself and we received very minor and somewhat forced recommendations for our presentation because it was clear that we had performed so much analysis and had clear, data-based recommendations. We were not surprised because we knew our presentation was strong. What did surprise us was the strong criticism of some of the Hong Kong groups. Content, layout, public presentation skills were all sternly criticized. It became that my past experience in preparing and presenting information was a major strengths that some other teams did not have. In fact, there were many strengths within our team that became apparent. Li’s ability to speak English, Cantonese, and Mandarin fluently was a huge asset for both the interviews and the presentations. Here Mandarin is better than that of most any other student. Brian has a great attitude, keeping everyone motivated and involved; he did a great job of identifying any background work that was being ignored and quietly starting it. Garrett can take anything and put 110% into it. He started with a idea to identify profits gains from direct internet booking through the hotel website and ended up with a comprehensive model that included many facets and complexities. I pasted his graphs and created a couple of slides and that is all I needed to do for the section. Doug did a great job keeping everyone laughing, helping us integrate with the Hong Kong group, and drafting the bundling section. I don’t think any other group came together and highlighted individually strengths the way ours did.

The translation of slides into Traditional Chinese characters began at 8:30 that night. For the first time in 3 days, I was free of any responsibility. I invited Garrett to share a beer with me. Doug and Stephanie walked by and were asked to join us. The four of us stayed up until 3:30 in the morning talking about life, dreams, and goals. It had been a long time since I had last done that with anyone. I was great to get the perspective of 2 guys I was just getting to know well and a girl from Hong Kong with a new and diverse perspective. We talked about future career and life goals, (I was unanimously counseled to look into starting my own business now rather than later), the longest time we’d spent alone, and our childhoods. Garrett and I both talked about how great our wives were and how lucky we were to have them. It was interesting to hear that Stephanie, a young and independent Hong Kong native, valued and was looking for many of the same things. The more we talked, the more we realized the less-different we were. The cultural backgrounds are different, but the individuals are surprisingly and amazingly similar.