He got to Thailand and this was one of the first stories he told me when i greeted him at the airport.  Despite the significant financial loss he wasn’t too down and out. He mostly went on about the hassle of canceling and reordering credit cards, the inconvenience of not having his company credit card for ongoing projects that he’s managing, and the hassle of transferring money to another friend’s account so that he can withdraw money while in Thailand.  I felt his pain.  I can’t imagine a more helpless feeling than being in a foreign country and suddenly every sense of financial security is totally stripped from you.  It can be a paralyzing feeling.

Yesterday (only 1 day after his arrival), we needed to keep everyone in our group on their feet and caffeinated because some are struggling with jet lag and the worst thing for jet lag is to lay around the hotel.  So we went out for coffee.  I had been craving another Thai Iced Coffee so i convinced the group to walk around the corner to a nice local cafe that i found a few days ago.  The place had free wi-fi so everyone was taking a few minutes to check email.  Suddenly, without warning, Nate starts shouting in excitement and when all of us fixed our attention on him he started reading an email to us: “Hi, my name is Jeff and i’m a U.S. Navy officer on the USS Russell.  I found your wallet in a taxi in Dubai.  I can assure you that all of the contents are in tact and i see that you live in Tennessee.  I’m the head of the mailroom on the USS Russell so i will be sure that your wallet is mailed back to you.”

Wow!  At that point we were all shaking our heads and laughing in amazement.  The unbelievable odds of that happening are mind blowing.  In shock and excitement, my friend called the phone number on the email.  Turns out the ship is already back out to sea, but our new friend Jeff is mailing the wallet.  Oh, and there’s icing on the cake.  Turns out that Jeff’s wife is on vacation in the exact same city as us in Thailand so we’re hoping for an opportunity to treat her to dinner to thank her for her husband’s incredible honesty and integrity.

I want to publicly thank the officers of the U.S. Navy and particularly the officers of the USS Russell.  I’m blown away by this story.

I’m not exactly on vacation yet, but i sure love the vibe of where i get to setup shop.  It’s nice to mix things up, to work in different environments and around different people.  It makes me think differently.

If you’re into specifics and want to know what i’m working on, here’s a little sampler:

- Creatively planning a conference for 650+ coworkers.
- Planning a banquet for those same coworkers to celebrate 30 years of work in China.
- Planning a 30th anniversary celebration in Hong Kong that immediately follows the conference.
- Several other odds and ends, but those 3 are the majors right now.

I’ve been hopping around quite a bit lately so if you aren’t following me on Twitter (which is where i most frequently put updates) then it’s likely that you don’t have any idea where i am or what i’m up to.  Let me start from the top:

I was in Beijing for a long while.  A very long while.  I was part of a massively important event in October, i stayed through the November cold (celebrating my birthday and Thanksgiving), and even most of the December deep freeze (celebrating Christmas).  If you know me well at all then you know that i hate cold weather.  I was made to live in San Diego, South Florida, or Chiang Mai, Thailand.

In late December a last-minute trip to the US popped up.  I spent 4 days in Chattanooga, TN meeting new people and speaking about China at a conference.  Then i spent 4 days in Atlanta meeting even more people at another conference (which changed the world in 4 short days. For real.).  Then i spent 2 days with my family (where i saw my grandmother for the first time in 6 years!!) before flying back to Beijing.  I spent 2 1/2 days in Beijing before flying to Chiang Mai, Thailand.  Now i’m nestled comfortably in 70 degree Chiang Mai.  Life is good.  I’ll be here for the next few weeks preparing for a conference, putting on a conference, and then to Hong Kong for one day to put on another event to celebrate our organization’s 30th anniversary (pics to follow).

It feels like a busy time, but it’s a glorious time as i bask in the sun, sipping on Thai ice coffee, and spending quality time with a few people that i only see a few times a year.

Hopefully, i’ve had the chance to see a few of you during these travels.  If not, then hopefully our paths will cross soon.

Currently, on any given day (with maybe a few days in between) i could be seen with one of these books in my hand:

• The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice
• The Confessions of St. Augustine
• Tide Players: The Movers and Shakers of a Rising China
• The Spirit of Cities: Why the Identity of a City Matters in a Global Age

What are you reading?  Anything you’d recommend?

Ever since moving to Beijing I tend to most often observe their easy-to-please nature while riding the subway.  And i saw it again today.  It always cracks me up, even to the point of audibly laughing to myself.  Let me keep this short and just tell you what happens.  I want to warn you first though, because it’s likely you won’t think it’s very funny or entertaining until you see it for yourself.

Imagine you’re in a subway car and all the seats are taken, there are few people standing, but this is far from the crammed subway cars people often imagine when they think of Asian public transportation.  It’s just a normal day.  It’s 2 p.m. on a Tuesday and a small army of people are trying to move across the city.  This is not a big deal.  Just pop in the headphones, know how many stops you’re riding, and hold on.  So here’s where the easy-to-please Chinese concept comes in.  I see this all the time.  All. The. Time.  Someone gets up from their seat and the nearest person to that seat rushes over and shoves their butt into the seat as fast as possible.  The next moment is the golden moment.  More often than not, that person who just sat down starts beaming with a smile like they just found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  If their excitement can’t be contained in their face then they start bouncing their legs up and down.  It’s like they just got a fortune cookie saying they will inherit a million dollars – or i guess Ren Min Bi in this case.  It’s simple, it’s a normal everyday occurrence, but it’s like their whole day or week or month was just made perfect by that one moment where they got a seat on the subway.  And so i usually let out a soft chuckle and feel a little warm happiness inside for them and their accomplishment.  All is right in the world when the longings for the subway seat gets fulfilled.

And now i realize that perhaps i am the one who is far too easily amused.

The Regulation of Religion in China

Can You Say ‘Booger’?  OMG! MeiYu English Teaching

China’s Wild West: Jackson Hole, China

Ugly Americans Make Us All Look Bad

We started the weekend with an afternoon together in my favorite area of Beijing.  She took me to get chicken wings for lunch (one of my favs) and then a very relaxing, put-me-to-sleep massage afterward.  Once we were nice and relaxed from the massage we spent some time together hanging out, eating cupcakes, and enjoying the day.  Later that evening two of our friends joined us at a delicious Spanish restaurant.  Jenn did her homework because apparently this restaurant was voted to have the best tapas in Beijing.  They certainly lived up to the hype!  Amazing!

The next day we went shopping at one of my favorite markets in town.  Mostly just for fun and to pick up a couple of things for other people, but a day at the market is always a good time.  The bargaining, the knock-off clothes and toys, and the bustling crowds is a recipe for some laughs.

Finally, Tuesday was my real birthday.  It was mostly a normal day, but she made my favorite Mexican cheese dip as an afternoon snack and an amazing chocolate cake for dessert.  mmmmm!!!  To wrap it all up, she surprised me with a video comprised of short clips of my friends from all over the world wishing me a happy birthday! What a wonderful surprise!!!

I’m not much of a birthday person, but wow, what a great few days of being pampered and treated like royalty.  I could get used to that.

Here are a few pics!

Birthday brownies.

Birthday cupcake

Birthday dessert again

Birthday dinner with friends