Thursday, June 26, 2008

Leading me where

I suddenly realized that I haven't updated my blog for as long as I've been working for this new job. So after my first crazy project in Netherland, I did 2 crazy projects in Switzerland, 1 crazier project in Italy, and 2 crazy projects in China..
I went back to Basel for the two projects in Switzerland - or to be exact, I went back to the company I previously worked for in Switzerland for the projects. It was really great to be back in the same company campus again, with some old friends there. I even slept back in my previous apartment for several nights since a good friend has taken over the lease so I tended to drop by most of the nights and eat homemade dinner there. It also gave me many chances to go back to my previous bible study group and church. Really a big blessing, I liked it very much.
Then came the crazy project in Milano - within one month, every teammate got seriously sick for at least once, one even got temperarily crippled, the team manager scratched both of her home cars on our way to the client's, her home also got robbed one night since she went home so late.. Nevertheless it was a fun project, Milano is a very fashionable city, even more than Tokyo (I had thought Tokyo is one of the most fashionable cities in the world!).
During my holiday back in Tokyo I got a call and was told they've staffed me to my next project in China. Praise God! I'd been hoping to work on projects in China and my dream finally came true! It turned out to be such a fantastic experience, I got to interview the top scientists in China. These scientists are truly amazing and I still feel so proud of them and of my motherland.
Now I'm working on the second project in China. This is an internal project and I'm standing alone in China, so I actually moved my office from shanghai to my hometown and work from a hotel near my family. Everyday I get to see my family and relatives and eat my family cooking... :-)
I had thought I'd be in China for just a month but now I took the second project and stayed for an extra month already.. and my second project is going to be extended again. I'm thinking about going to beijing for the opening of the Olympics..
Aug and Sep will be nice long period of rest since it will be mostly training. Right after the opening, I will be in Singapore for 2 weeks, then back in Germany for another training. A good friend is going to visit me in Europe from tokyo end of Aug.. then I'll be in Austria for another training.
When I come back from my training in Austria I will welcome my first anniversary at the new company. Time really flies. A year has passed like a nice short summer dream. I'm again facing the same tough decision: where should I go? Like what happened to me one and a half year ago in tokyo, I didn't know where I would be in a few months, not to mention doing what. I can stay in Germany for another 6 or 12 months, but honestly I just don't have any chemistry with this country and it would be a great compromise to my life quality if I stay there longer; I can transfer to either Beijing office or Shanghai office but it seems that the office culture is terrible there, maybe it'd be a better idea simply to stay in my current office; or I could quit the firm as I've been thinking lately - China has risen to become the world's center stage and there're so many exciting things we can do. Where am I going to be in 6 months' time? I'm curious about the future of my journey.
Keeping a blog like this is interesting in this sense -- every time when another small patch of my journey becomes clear, I look back and read once again my feeling when it was totally unclear -- it gives me a certain degree of completeness and it also reassures me that I need not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow is in the hands of my Lord whom I trust very much.