OSHA Standards

Okay, so last week I was in Shanghai for business. It was the first time I had ever been to China.  There were some interesting things that I discovered while I was there, first and foremost, few spoke my native tongue.  While most of you will be surprised, no one seemed interested in communicating to me in my language.  Luckily, I speak Mandarin and therefore was pretty good through my trip.  Actually, I am not even sure if that is how you spell Mandarin or Cantonese while I am at it...

Interesting fact while I am on language, Cantonese and Madarin are spoken languages that are 100% different.  If you only spoke one, you would have absolutely no idea how to understand the other.  The interesting thing is the fact that they are both based on the same written language.  Yes, 2 people in a room could read a written document, and neither would understand the other.  Amazing, but then again, I am amused by the little stuff.

Second crazy fact.  Out of respect, they hand everything to you with two hands.  From business cards to my hotel bill, everything is two hands.  Very different than here in the US.  I am lucky to get a business card handed to me.  Usually, they are dealt like playing cards at the beginning of a very boring meeting.  Anyway, I digress.  

The first post that I wanted to recap China with was all about OSHA safety.  I am going to stop capitalizing osha as it is a real pain to type.  So check out this photo.  This is a large residential building along the highway on the way into Shanghai.  Construction looks very sturdy, right???

Well, if you look closer, the scaffolding is what scared me.  It is actually bamboo poles held together with twine.  Yes, twine...  While this is only a 7 story building, I actually saw this same quality structure up to 23 stories tall in downtown.  I am not sure if there is a shortage of metal or wood, but bamboo and twine would not make me feel safe on the way up to my 10th story job.  Thank goodness the furthest I could fall at work is off my chair and all I would hurt is my ego.  

I will try to blog about my whole trip, there are some great things to come:  Chicken heads for dinner (and yes I have photos), the strangest garbage/recycling signs I have ever seen (pictures here also), and pull tab beer from disney land Hong Kong.  Crazy trip, tons of fun, missed family tons, and here was the picture that I got while I was over in China:

I think maddie tried to pull her hair out while I was gone.  Not sure if it was how much she missed me or that she was with Kacey for 7 days straight.  To avoid speculation, I keep my hair short so i can't pull it out...