Day 15 and 16 - Tuesday and Wednesday

Well, my internet is extra slow tonight and it is midnight, so this is probably going to be a quick update....no pictures either since they take forever to upload. Tuesday at work was pretty good; the first tractor reached the test cell and successfully started. After work a few of us headed to downtown Suzhou on the #68 bus; it cost 1 RMB (~$0.14 on buses without air conditioning; 2 RMB with). We went to TGI Fridays....yeah I know. It tasted pretty good though...just like back home. We walked around the area for a little bit afterwards. There is an area with a ton of little store fronts selling clothes, hair extensions, jewelry, etc. Nothing really that nice.

Wednesday the first tractor almost got through the test cell. We had one leak (due to a missing seal) that was resolved fairly quickly and just about finished up the test without further issues. I think the tractor should be off the assembly line by the end of the day on Thursday and we have a few more that should be close behind. After work we met up with Tina and Clif from the hotel and went back to the Tomato Kitchen Cafe. I had pasta with sausage...it was pretty spicy. They have a "fixed/set menu" in which you can get a meal, soup, salad, dessert, and drink for 89 RMB (~$12). We had a few Tiger beers as well, but overall, a really cheap, good meal.

Well, only a few more days this week and then the last weekend here. Countdown is down to seven days!

Alright, one picture. I'm not sure why it keeps turning sideways, but the photo is a typical lunch at the plant. You get to choose between A or B meal option; typically one is a rice dish and the other a noodle dish. It is a lot of food; what I choose didn't include a few additional options that I turned down. This was noodles, dumpling, some kind of meat, scrambled egg combo, soggy lettuce, shredded potatoe, watermelon, and iced tea. It's forcing us to become very proficient at chop stick usage.