Day 12 in Daqing

What should have taken only 3-5 days took a total of 12 days!!! This includes a night-long fight against the elements yesterday... sigh.

While I should be glad that this first part of the work is completed, I am to remain here until the second part begins, hopefully in 4 days' time. From there, I would need to put in at least 5 more days... So many days to be spent here.

Day 6 in Daqing

Though technically the 7th day in China, I had only arrived in Daqing past midnight into the second day, with the incredible delays at the Beijing airport.

Progress at work had been slow, with delays from other areas. This is unfortunately a typical aspect of my job. While it is great to have the time to skive once in a while, this is getting ridiculous. I wonder how much more patience I have in myself.

A nice thing about work today was that on leaving, some folks whom I am not familiar with invited me to have dinner together. They were very warm and friendly, and of course, they were curious about Singapore. It was a good exchange of information, with some steamboat food. It certainly beat my previous idea for dinner (just drink milk in the room) hands down.

It was nice, as these people were very human. Some of them had to leave in the middle of dinner to go home and settle stuff. And no one really minded. It was so free and easy. I guess this is the best kind of dinner affair, without a clear need for hierarchy at the dinner table.

During the course of dinner, I purposedly dropped a familiar name to them. It was one of their (ex-)colleagues. She was a very kind and responsible person whom I had worked with a year back, but had been "out of action" since late last year. The problem with this information was that no one had given me a very clear picture. Even the person closest to me seemed very unwilling to tell me more, and had most recently changed topics when I asked about her. What I had understood was that she was ill, and had to rest at home. In a normal situation, he should have offered me her contact information, so that I can decide whether I want to reach her. But nothing.

The people at the dinner table began discussing excitedly for a while, about someone hurting another person, and was thus held in custody, awaiting trial or something like that. It sounded like a really complicated situation, and I had the feeling that my dear friend could be in trouble for something that she did. There was a bit of a sinking feeling, cos she had been a wonderful person, a responsible supervisor, a doting mother, and a loving wife to a colleague. But as the people at the dinner table mentioned, that was not a glorious thing, and it would be best if I did not know exactly what happened.

But that made me a little apprehensive over the other people whom I had been very close to at this site. Perhaps I am still a foreign visitor that they feel obliged to show off only their best, or at least not to show anything problematic and potentially shameful. Perhaps the level of "friendship" or 关系 is nothing to speak of proudly... Perhaps it is just as well, to avoid feeling too much, feeling too sorry.

Daqing - this may be a long trip ...

What had initially appeared to be a simple 2-3 week work is now becoming increasingly unclear in terms of schedule. Why, there is even a chance that this may extend for a month. Much as I like this place, being away for a month, with many unproductive periods in between, isn't the way I would like to spend time.

This hotel is not particularly posh, but it is certainly good enough, with a working desk, and stable internet connection. Of course, the rooms are kinda bare, and the surrounding does not provide any distraction for the free and wandering mind, the sorta state I will be in for many days during this period.

And there is hardly any place to do any exercise, besides jogging... Did a short jog in the evening, to a park of some sort. In a way, it is good that this is the summer season, and T-shirt with shorts makes appropriate attire for outdoor sports. Imagine trying to exercise outdoors at sub-zero temperatures in the other seasons of the year at this nothern location.

Will pop by at the mall tomorrow. Might as well try to enjoy time here while waiting for the work activities to unfold.

Before ...

Just weighed myself last night ... 66.5 kg. It has been like a bullish market, being up, up and away, with each work trip. Even after a month of frequent cardio workouts, I could only cut 0.5 kg. Perhaps it is just healthy mass! I would certainly like to believe that. Being away for the next 2-3 weeks will definitely be a test on my perseverance to workout and keep fit despite disturbances in my routine. However, it is not as easy as if I were staying in some posh hotels with gyms... it is probably not even good to do outdoor jogging where I am heading for.

Will have to switch to a channel 8 mode soon. Gotta become fluent again, and hope not to stumble too much on technical jargons. At least I am not unfamiliar with this work location, and there are very friendly people there.

Home for a month

It had been a nice month, staying in the country. During the previous trips out, I had thought that there were plenty of stuff that I should do when I returned. Stuff like catching up with old friends, doing more sports/exercises, going to explore other places in Singapore, explore other eating places ... How much I did was another matter altogether... The sloth that set in was incredible.

Did meet up with a few old friends, and it was good. And I am opening up slowly to people around me. Perhaps it is about time, about time especially when I am about to reach the big 3-0...

Gonna leave for a China trip again. Was going to call it a "China-Korea storm" but the legs of the trip are not confirmed as yet. Sigh... that is my life. Hope to be back before the National Day holidays though.

And this is the link to another song that has been trapped in my head for the past few weeks.