First day on the job

So today was the first day at work and the result of the first night's sleep. I am a completely different person after 4 hours of solid sleep. The mattress is Asian(?) which translates loosely to thin and hard. Other folks stuggled a bit with it. I took it as I was camping. Easy enough.

Breakfast in the hotel was a massive buffet. The other Americans ate American food. I tried all the new stuff -- stir fried noodles, local vegatables (zucchini?), fruit and dumplings of an unknown origin. It was all good.

We met Johnson Shi today and I ran through the tools and did some training. They took us to a very elegant lunch for dim sum and other Chinese food that was several plates and bowls that were shared by all (set up on a big glass lazy susan).

Spicy Pig's Ear (literally)
Some sort of sea plant
Chicken (different from US, very thick layer of fat/skin like a duck -- bones still in the chopped parts)
Boiled Shrimp (entire shrimp, I learned to pick the ones with empty stomaches)
Stuffed Dumplings
Some Yangtze River fish (steamed)
Watermelon
Other stuff I can't name

The waitress would refill our tea cup with almost every sip.

The excitement in the office for the Americans (the Chinese do not seem to care) is that a typhoon is on the way. That should be fun.