Two Cities, Two Companies, Free Beer!

It's about 11:40 PM here in Suzhou, China so I'm going to make this REALLY quick! My roommate is asleep and I should probably follow her lead... we have to be downstairs and checked out in about eight hours.

Today we went to a Chinese animation studio. It was really cool, especially the server farm right by the entry. We got to see some interesting renderings they're working on/worked on, including little sculptures of characters that look like the Tar Baby. There was even one of the pseudo Tar Baby crucified and molded into a pencil holder. Several people in my group were astounded. Pictures coming soon. The animation studio had some Korean workers. Interestingly enough, the Korean employees don't speak Chinese but they do speak English. One of the guys said that they learn Korean then English or Russian or Chinese. The US needs to pick up on this second language thing stat.

After a three hour drive from Hangzhou (which included a really ridiculously amusing trip to a Chinese KFC), we arrived in Suzhou. In Suzhou, we headed immediately to the Capsugel China headquarters. I'm pretty sure it was the GM that spoke to us, but I'm a bit hazy on that as several different titles were thrown out. He was personable and funny and imparted some really interesting information. For example, in countries like China, the high tech equipment has to be balanced out with a low tech workforce because of costs. After the lecture, we went on a factory tour.

They didn't let us take pictures in the changing room, but I wish they would have. We all looked so silly in our booties, hair nets, face masks, and lab coat things. The tour itself was awesome. They make a lot in a very little space.

After the tour, we got stuck in traffic but Richard and Oscar kept us going with show tunes.

Dinner was the best: LEGITIMATE Chinese buffet. Legitimate how? Because it's in China. it was like a cross between Great Wall and Texas de Brazil. Buffet meets wandering meat. HEAVEN. Best part? The FREE beer. Oh yes. Free beer + Chinese Buffet = Happy American Students. The fact that it was only $10 USD made us even happier students. Then came the foot massage, which I'm leaving to a post all its own.