January Trip to China - Day 2

Yesterday was a challenge from the weather.  I didn’t realize the smog would be so bad, the air is thick with smoke when we are outside and it’s making my eyes burn.  I wish I had brought a face mask at minimum. 

I worked in our China sample room and it was a typical day.  I work at a table with several others and during the day they bring me samples to review.  It’s so much easier than reviewing them in photo like I do from the states. 

We had lunch at their favorite local Chinese restaurant where it’s still okay to smoke in the dining area.  I forgot to bring eye drops, it always hurts my eyes.  I ordered what appeared to be Pepper Steak and was pleasantly surprised when it was as it appeared!  Afterwards we went back to the office to finish working.

By 6pm I was very tired, no afternoon coffee had dropped my levels to almost 0% and they decided to drop me off at the hotel and go back to the office to finish working.  I ordered a pizza that I’d had last time and went to my room to read and wait.  It arrived by 7 and afterward exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks.  I was reading and nodding off while thinking it’s too early to sleep.  I couldn’t fight it.  By 9pm I was in bed and then thankfully I slept until 5am. 

Internet in this hotel has been spotty at best.  Before I go to bed, it turns off so I can’t say goodnight to my husband on WhatsApp.  I hate that.  Then in the morning it comes and goes like a flicker, so I send messages out when I have it and finally give up.  I can’t download my email so I really can’t work until I get into our China sample room.

I can’t access Facebook (I thought I could the last trip), or Pokemon Go, and Tsum Tsum game.  My 3 primary sources of wasting time, I mean entertainment, gone!   Surprisingly Pinterest works here, which I use for private design boards on some of our projects. 

I used to love reading books, but I’ve had to retrain my brain to stop looking for the short term entertainments and sit and read for 2-3 hours.  My ride is not ready until 9:30, so from the moment I wake up, I have 4.5 hours to get ready for work, eat breakfast and read – or write a blog post that I will post when I get back to Hong Kong since I can’t access my blog either because Google is still banned in China and my blog is Google based. 

Please understand, I’m not complaining at all.  I just like to outline my experiences as they happen for my own future reference.  Just think how thankful I’ll be when I’m back in a place where all my apps work and I can independently walk to wherever I want to go!