For starters late last week, I was entertaining the idea of staying 2 more weeks past my 4 week plan, so that i could finish up a bunch of other stuff and stay for a series of important milestones in the project. because we were so far ahead of schedule, it looked like it would work out.
so i kinda got the ok....and our entire plan was based on when we confirm the product....(now i cant really tell those of you too much about the details because it is all confidential, but i think you will get the point anyways.)...we were set to confirm monday....
well go figure, nope things just did not look right. being that we have reviewed these same things over and over and over and this was about our 6th time or so. We were all very frustrated. now we would try to confirm on wednesday....but unfortunately this change made the entire schedule bump out another week............. YEAH! sooooo that means 7 weeks!!!! I can tell you right now, there is no way i am willing to stay for 7 weeks...I will not do it and thankfully my team back home in oregon agreed. I said great! now we are scheduled to confirm on wednesday, if all goes well i will return sat.......today is wednesday...the end of the day............
so lets talk about food. on saturday i went up to sun moon lake with a coworker and her mom. The mom was the cuties little ol lady...measuring in at about 4 feet something, teeny tiny/super petite, age 77 and wearing at least 5 layers that i can see (it was supposed to be cold). She was just so cute and she would not let me out of her site as she feared i would get lost. more about that in another blog. back to the point, so on sat i didnt have a choice except for chinesse food. i managed to choke some down and it wasnt too bad. still pretty hungry though....
so sunday comes around and as soon as i wake up, i know i have to get some decent food....(as you will see, decent becomes relative, as is everything, "all relative"). So it doesnt take me long to decide to go to subway and get a sub and .....well.....it starts to cross my mind that mcdonalds IS just beside the hotel....it wouldnt hurt for just some nuggets and the great buffalo sauce they have.
So i head out...it was a beautiful walk(extremely relative) to the near by subway (about 3 blocks). at least it was a very safe walk and i could view the city. did i mention the low lying clouds that added a special touch to the view...which is great n all, but those arnt clouds, my friend. That is pollution, smog, ...toxic even. GREAT! so i get to subway and its a pretty easy choice. a roast chicken sub, 12 inch. I can have half for dinner and half for lunch the next day. You ask about lunch today? o no worries, i already have plans for that. So on my way back from the hotel, i stop in at mcdonalds. hmmm, no english.... and only a few pictures. Thank God for value meals with numbers...I stand back from the counter and make sure i know what i want to order before i get up there, cause its hard enough to explain what i want, especially if i dont know for sure that is what i want.....at that point who knows what they will give you. So it takes me about 10 minutes to decide....i went in with plans of nuggets, but actually left with nothing because its only 10:45am and they dont serve any chicken until 11. bummer
so i head back up to the hotel and drop off my sub, you would think i would just eat half and call it good and head to mcdonalds for dinner. NOPE, my mind is made up, I want mcdonalds for lunch. So i head downstairs to the little cafe and order a kiwi juice. Just wasting time until 11:15 or so. I dont want to go right at 11, cause maybe the chicken is undercooked. but i dont want to wait to long after 11 cause then they might have already cooked it and then reheated it...so 11:15 should be just right for freshness(again relative).
so i am sitting outside in the sunshine (which i am pretty excited about) and the waitress brings out my kiwi juice. Little did i know when they say kiwi juice, they actually mean they threw 2-3 kiwi's in the blender and added a little water....more like a kiwi and water smoothie. O well, its just a time waster until i enjoy the tender juiciness of some mcdonalds chicken...
I read for a little while, choke down my kiwi smoothy (its sour by the way, not sour as in bad, but very tart, i especially dont like tart things). So i finish up and head over to mcdonalds by 11:20, right on time! ; ) i stand back for a sec and make sure i know what i want. Then i walk up in line and stand behind the guy in line. He finishes up and walks away, the moment he takes the first step, this WOMAN comes up and cuts infront of me and starts to order. IM LIKE WHAT? I look around and several people saw it but they didnt flinch. Im thinking, did i miss something? so i take a step right directly behind her, i am crowding her according to american standards, but i wont be having any more cutters taking my chicken!!!
so i get up to order finally and the girl cant understand which number i am saying. to me it is a clear 9. "number 9", "NUMBER 9", i say again and again, so finally i hold up my fingers and she gets it. this is where it gets crazy, im not sure what happened, but when i left i had 2 bags in my hand and a big box of chicken. I managed to order a small french fry, and the family chicken meal(9nuggets and 4 pieces of spicy chicken). needless to say, i wasnt really too disapointed....oh and i had a coke too.
unfortunately when i got back to the room, the hole toile situation had occured(broke), so i had to wait to eat my chicken......but it was delicious. my tummy was singing the praises of mcdonalds.
so then dinner comes and i eat half my sub.....great day for food, i must say.
ah yes, so now it is monday and i am supposed to confirm parts...but no...a few other things didnt go well that day either....so after a rough day, what would i like more than anything??????Mcdonalds! some normal food, especially after forgetting my sub for lunch and having to eat the chinese food in the cafeteria(by the way, did i mention it is free? all the factories offer free lunch to their employees). So eat mcdonalds i did, actually first i ate the other half sub i had then i ate a number 6 from mcdonalds, a 2 piece spicy chicken meal with a large fry. To top things off, i walked down to the cafe and also bought a chocolate cake roll desert. yep ate that too.....ahhhh, normal food! was very content.
gluteny is brutal though and things always have a way of working them selves out. I woke up at 2am in the morning after this horribly frightening, yet vivid dream and my stomach wasnt feeling too good. I managed to fall back asleep, slept thru my 5am alarm and woke up after 6am. Still not feeling well at all, nausious and other things. I was strongly considering not going to work. I hung around the hotel for awhile and left a bit late. had a little breakfast down at the hotel free breakfast place(rice, eggs, toast and banana). All i could remember was that those things were easy to digest. and I knew i needed to eat or i would be in trouble the rest of the day.
I get to work only about 15 minutes late. Pretty quickly people are asking me if i feel well, because i am really pale. no i dont feel well, matter of fact it feels like i am getting a fever. I eat about 3 bites of lunch(free cafeteria chinese) and i cant take anymore. I was also sitting bymyself which is even worse because not only do i not understand the language to know if they are making fun of me, but now i am sitting by myself, feeling sick, hating the food and just plain ol irritated. a little bit after lunch, my friend and coworker irene stops in the middle of our meeting (6 or so folks in them meeting) and says "Tiffany are you feeling ok?" at this point i said, "what?" i was feeling pretty dizzy and didnt understand her. So she asked again and i said "no, i think i have a fever and im real naseaous" She puts her hand on my forehead and says yeah, i think you do too. She says ill get you some medicine. I kinda say, uh what kind of medicine, she says chinese natural medicine, it will make you feel better. As skeptical as i am about this, i dont say to much because if they think it will work, then i will take it. Pretty soon they are asking if they can use my driver to go get it i said sure.
As i am finishing up with the meeting and starting a new meeting, someone hands me these two small plastic grocery bags with clear fluid in them, a string tied around them to keep them closed and a straw. Now i had seen people drink fluid out of a small grocery bag before, but until now i had not tried it.
so i put the straw in and took a sip. It tasted like fresh coconut juice, and in fact it was. I thought well thats a relief.. I have had this before. slowly but surely after drinking it i started to feel better. Apparently all day i had been talking about how much i didnt want to eat any more chinese food, so lynn volunteered to take me to tgi friday's for dinner........mmmmm it was good, very bad, but very good.
ok...enough about food. you get the point, i will do anything not to have to eat any more chinese food. not sure why i got so sick, but am still feeling better. I went as far as getting breakfast and dinner at starbucks today. lunch was basically a pile of white rice.
as for the project..today was wednesday and we were supposed to confirm. we had some minor changes in the morning and we were able to confirm in the afternoon. that is for 1 part of the project, there are about 6 other parts, that did not confirm today and infact all facts are pointing to monday or tuesday before they will confirm......so ......that.....means....i probably have to stay thru then. Definately not too happy about that. And there is no way i can keep eating the mcdonalds and tgi fridays...im sure i already gained 5 lbs from it. not sure what i will do....but i am sure i will keep you posted!
Good Night!
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