Our Trip to China last week...Part 2

On day three we had our medical exams. It wasn't too bad. But at one point I was expecting to feel some sort of electrical shock. Not kidding.

WARNING. This is about my medical exam and reveals things. If you get squimish skip down to the next bolded heading. 

We showed up at the medical office early and went in to wait for the staff to begin work at 8:00. You can get in, but no one will help you until 8 am. We had to give them 3 copies of a visa photo and fill out a form. After paying the fee we got a list of about 15 things all in Chinese. Fortunately we had Daniel assistant from the company with us and she is native Chinese. She was such a help. We went up the stairs to the second level and into the first station. We had blood drawn and she gave me a q-tip to hold where she had poked me and said "2 minutes!" I thought it was done bleeding and that it had been 2 minutes. So I took the q-tip off and checked, no bleeding and threw it away. When I looked back at my arm again, it was bleeding, like dripping. So she thrust 3 more q-tips at me and snapped "2 minutes!" Awesome. Then it was time for the urine sample. Pee into a cup and then put it into a tube. Not easy. nuff-said.

The next station was the eye check. Daniel was tested with and without his glasses. Then I was tested. They didn't even clean the metal eye cover. Awesome. I love germs.

The third station was blood pressure and weight. Easy enough.

Then we had the ECG. My favorite. so I got in and the woman says a bunch of stuff to Selena (Daniel's assistant. Her Chinese name is Xia Jing) and she says roll up your pant leg and push your sock down. Then hop up on the table and pull your shirt up. So I did. Then she said higher. That's right folks, shirt in armpits. Exposed. Then she puts metal pinchers on my ankle, my wrists and suction cups along my chest. I was pretty sure something was going to go wrong. After a minute she says, "you're done." So I put myself back together. That was it. I told my mom and she said that is 30 year old technology. Awesome.

Then the ultrasound. They do an ultrasound of your ribcage and stomach. I'm not sure what they were checking for.

Then the x-ray. Bra off again. Shirt on. You have to stand on a small platform and hold a protective shield over your bum. At least I did. Daniel didn't. While holding this to your hips you have to press your shoulders into the wall and then the platform moves. Try keeping your balance with your toes and shoulders against the wall. Then we were done.

That was it. It was kinda weird. The whole thing only took 45 minutes. Then we were done. Then we went KFC to wait for our driver and we ate congee with pork strips and preserved egg. It was okay. The egg looked gross though - kinda brown. They have the yummiest sweet bread sticks there in the morning. It's kind of like a Chinese churro.

Then off to the factory.

Daniel works for Lifetime Products. You all know who that is, even if you don't think so. They  make most of the basketball standards on the market and the plastic tables and chairs at Costco and Sams. They have a factory in China where they make a few things for the U.S. and the things that are sent to Europe and Australia. The company is upgrading to a new ERP (it's okay, I don't quite understand it all either ;)) and that is what Daniel will be doing there for the next 18 months. I went with him on our third day (Wednesday) to get a tour and meet the people he will be working with. I just loved his assistant Selena. She is really amazing. Her English is fantastic. She will be able to help Daniel so much. She's one of the best they have there. I also met with the President of the China division.

I got a tour of the factory and all of their parts. It was pretty awesome. The people were looking at me funny. Probably because I was the fat American in the golf cart getting a tour and taking pictures. Not sure what they thought. Here are few pictures of the factory.

This is a woman had cutting the extra plastic off a blow-molded table top. In China it's done by hand. In Clearfield it's done by machine.

This is welding of a frame.

 This is a warehouse full of the plastic and what looks like olympus water is actually color pellets for the plastic.

This is Daniel's office and the foyer of the main office area. In China it's very important to give a good impression as quickly as possible when someone is visiting you.

It is very peaceful.

That evening we walked to some of the parks and then went to a Cuban restaurant for dinner at the request of a member of our travel group.

Next post: Our day in Hong Kong.