Day 9: Google Translator

            Today was just another day at the office.  (I’ve never been able to say that before, and I’m pretty sure this is the first and last time.)  I went running this morning, showered, looked forward to breakfast until I discovered mold on my bread, and walked to the Aurora Tower where I work.  I’m thinking this will become my daily routine, and I think it’s a pretty good one.  Today at work we continued our researching Asset Management companies in the Asian market.  After looking at one hundred or so websites in Chinese, which I’m pretty sure I have at this point, you start to relish the comic relief that some of these websites provide.  For instance, the pictures that the companies choose to pair with their funds.  What does this man in a suit jumping out of a fountain have anything to do with a close-ended Asian market fund?  Probably nothing.  The pictures of CEOs are often hilarious; we’ve come to call their facial expression the “I’ll Make You Money” expression.  Some are better at it than others.  The translations of some of these pages are pretty good, too.  Good as in pathetic.  I also enjoyed one company’s slogan: “One goal: To be one of the best” haha like they couldn’t strive to be the best, just to be one of the best.  Anyways, we get a pretty big kick out of these Korean and Chinese and Japanese asset management companies.  I’ve learned a ton even just in the past two days about investing and finance and I can see how it would actually be pretty fun to follow stocks and funds and watch them go up or down, etc.  I read an article today on “Sin Stocks” that was pretty funny, anyway, I’ve probably bored you to tears by now so I’ll try to spread out my finance stories between posts. 

            I continue to acclimate to the Chinese culture and the heat and the cute Asian children and the food and my hotel room and boiling water to brush my teeth and the gray sky and water and feeling like I’m tromping through a swampland every time I go outside and that kind of thing.  It’s all very different, but I think I’m doing pretty well and the next nine weeks are looking more promising than they were about 4 days ago.  (Oh and I find it really comical how grumpy my two coworkers are at the end of the day after being too hot while walking home in their office clothes.  Today as they were complaining I thought “these two would be the world’s worst missionary companions” and I definitely laughed out loud at that one- a little shout out to all my fantastic missionary friends in hot and humid places!)