The “A Team” Finally Meets Han Te (7-11)

Three weeks of preparation finally got us to this point. We finally got to meet our client! All the subteams filed into the same bus (and driver) from yesterday. The kick off ceremony was held at the Volunteer Service College, but it wouldn’t be a trip in China if there wasn’t an adventure involved. Our poor driver. Today’s fiasco was just trying to drive down a very narrow road. We had a big standoff with another much bigger bus. We finally squeezed by, but there were fewer than a few inches between the two. We also saw another bus driver just sleeping in the luggage bin underneath the bus. Just getting places is an adventure!

When we got to the opening ceremony, we finally got to meet our project assistants – or our first assistant as it would be, since our second had final exams. Our project assistant was named Katherine, a very outgoing graduate student who would be worth us for the next month. It was great to get to know her a bit as we were waiting for the client to arrive. And we were waiting…

Then Elaine told us that Han Te had arrived. There were three people that came, Carosa, Jat, and Sh-ow Long. When Carosa saw us all stand up, she turned around for a minute and walked back to the Pyxera team… only for Elaine to explain that she didn’t realize that we all would be so beautiful. It’s already quite comical at this point.

But she did come over, and formal introductions were made, but since everything was running late, we didn’t get a chance to chat much yet. The opening ceremony was quite formal, and consisted of talks from the Chinese Corporate Citizenship representative, a local government official and the host from the college. The interesting fact that stood out here was about the general lack of volunteering in China and how the 10% rate in Qingdao was actually quite high nationally.

Then each of the main contacts from each of the four organizations got a chance to introduce their organizations and speak a little bit. Carosa gave the introduction to Han Te, which included a reference to the entire crowd that we were the “Handsome Team.” All of this being completely unprompted today. (ie: no Chinese name).

We took some pictures as subteams, and the whole CSC team and then took off for lunch. Han Te’s office is located in the Qingdao development district, which is in an area far from the main part of the city. Essentially the government decided that they wanted to build up a new (predominantly technology friendly area, so they took some land far away and started building there. It was a long ride there, but a very pretty one. Jat took us on the scenic route that ran right next to the ocean most of the way. We stopped at the top of the hill for a look and it was really beautiful.

As is customary in China, since we were their guests, Han Te invited us for a nice lunch. Since Qingdao is a coastal city, it has loads of fresh seafood. We stopped at a restaurant overlooking the a beach which had been recently been restored, so it was absolutely pristine.

Lunch was delicious with far more food than we could eat. The highlight of the meal for me was some very nice sautéed eggplant and of course the massive selection of steamed shellfish and prawns. We learned how to eat some of the smaller shellfish, which were really quite good. Katherine explained to Matthias, “You need to suck it hard,” to which we all had a really good laugh afterwards.

When we arrived at the Han Te office we got a chance to meet the rest of their team and started to talk a bit about their issues. Wanting to again be good hosts, they brought in several types of fresh fruit, including some lychees, as if we hadn’t already had enough to eat. We also were served many rounds of small Oolong tea. We also got a chance to meet our other project assistant Zoey.

We then finally got down to real business as they started to explain how their systems work. However, those several hours passed really quickly, and before we knew it, it was time to head back to the hotel.

Jat again drove us back, but received a phone call, so we again stopped at a scenic overlook. This was another beautiful place to take pictures, so we all got out and started taking some goofy ones together. Jat even joined in on the fun for a few.

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With all the stops, and the long distance, we didn’t get back to the hotel until almost 7:30, which made for a long day. Since I was still pretty full from lunch, Matthias and I just went to Carrefour to grab some snacks to much on. I took my apple, yogurt drink, and a beer to his room and we just hung out for a bit again which was nice… Then off to bed!