IBM Corporate Service Corps: China 12 Team Blog

Sunday, March 13, 2011

It's really funny to walk in the streets and everybody looks at you like they're wondering witch kind of "beings" are they? "Are they humans?" Or… "Where is the flying source they came from?" Our conclusion is that we really are Aliens in Chinese lands… but they don't need to worry, we are peaceful and came for a good reason: the volunteerism.

Everywhere and the most crowded a place is, the most we are observed by "wondering faces", maybe they believe we are a soccer team or western celebrities – Ryan really looks like a Rock Star. About him, it was so funny when some young girls told they had never met a handsome guy like him... he is also famous in here and, in a few days, I believe he will provide the first autographs : ))

Olivia`s blond hair is also the focus of many curious faces, sometimes they look at her and talk with his partners, maybe asking if she is our leader or not (???) or, "it could be a great idea to attack her first, maybe she is the most dangerous one"….

As tall as Felippo is, certainly he is in charge of providing security to the weaker aliens… he also got many male fans in Quiao's garden… I think their fans just wanted to show their friends how brave they were taking a picture beside of the tallest and strongest strange.

Bruno,

red china

red china

Uploaded by photomistic on March 12, 2011

Pingyao ancient walled city

this wall is not tall enough for Filippo

Sara

Bruno

Ryan

Radha vs. the Qiao courtyards vendors

Vendors outside Qiao's courtyards crumble when faced with Radha's master Mandarin bargaining skills

Team's wishes.... the famous Caipirinha

The caipirinha is a national cocktail of Brazil, and is enjoyed in restaurants, bars, and many households throughout the country. Once almost unknown outside Brazil, the drink has become more popular and more widely available in recent years, in large part due to the rising availability of first-rate brands of cachaça outside Brazil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caipirinha

Bruno,

Friday, March 11, 2011

IBM China

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Massage, Client, and Shijiazhuang hotel living

I have made it to Shijiazhuang and have adjusted to hotel living life with my teammates. Our hotel is plain, but clean and we are all on the same floor so that is nice. I am having a good time, Filippo and I met with our client, a testing machines manufacturer, yesterday and the day before. They seem nice, but don't speak much English, our main contact speaks some English. We are learning that when you are working with Chinese people we should ask a lot of questions because they don't share much until you ask. So I am asking them a lot of questions. Also I am writing the questions in emails so they understand exactly what I am asking. We were able to find a problem to work on for them, they want to export to other countries and expand their scope, so we are going to help them with an international marketing and support plan.

English speakers are not common, so it makes it difficult when you want to order something or find something, especially since they use characters instead of letters. It is really funny to walk around town because everyone stares at us, I think they look up to people with western culture. Today we worked today and then this afternoon we went to a massage parlor for a $10 massage that lasted 80 minutes. You leave your clothes on and friends, boys and girls, are put you in the same room private room with couch-like chairs. They do a lot of work on your feet because the Chinese believe that your feet are a pressure point to the rest of your body. They had a TV on the whole time, it was interesting, but relaxing. The massage place is right around the corner so I think I am going to take advantage of it while I am here.

We went for a walk after we got done with our massages and through a park where everyone was doing Tai Chi, it's like Yoga but standing. Then we found a huge fruit and vegetable market, it had live fish, all sorts of vegetable, noodles, different types of dumplings and rolls, it was really neat. People are very polite and they are also really helpful. I feel really safe here, so that is a relief. You just have to be careful crossing the street because there are a lot of motorized bicycles and cars running around and they seem to have the right of way. The bikes even have their own hand warmers which I think is ingenious, see my picture.

We are starting to plan many trips around the country to see as much as we can. It is really great that we are able to go to a city that does not have a lot of foreigners and really immerse ourselves in the culture as well as learn about the cultures of the people that are with us.

Sara