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6/18/2005

It took nearly 4 hours to fly from Shenyang to Shenzhen. It was definitely the longest flight I had ever taken within China. I requested an emergency exit row seat while checking in and luckily my wish was granted. With plenty of leg room to work with, I found the flight was not so much of a torture. I passed time by reading Genome, a book I borrowed from Jeff K. before I left the US, taking naps, eating and drinking.

My cousin YY met me at the airport. The last time we saw each other was ten years ago. When we were kids we lived in two cities that were not too far from each other. We visited each other frequently during school breaks. I thought her family was the coolest one on earth and wished I could have lived with them. Now we’re both grow ups. She is now in charge of a branch office of one of the four largest commercial banks. When I first saw her at the airport I was struck by how much she resembled her mother. Later she told me that how much I now looked like my father. I guess the admiration was mutual. J

She and some of the staff in her office booked the bank’s seaside resort a.k.a. the training center for their weekend outing. She booked a room on the top floor with water view for me as well. I was given a title Big Boss Jing. After changing the clothes, we headed to the beach. Some of the staff was already there playing volleyball. Volleyball used to be one of my favorite sports of all time and I played regularly. After a few injuries I had to switch tennis, after which came swimming. At first I was going to just watch but I couldn’t resist the repeated invitations. So I joined them. To my surprise I did well. I even blocked one smash.

After the volleyball games, they wanted to play beach soccer. Again I played but as a goalie to save all that running. I did not expect it at all to come to a beach and play so much sport after a long flight. But what a hack you only lived one.

In the evening the staff put up some performance. Since I did not know most of them I decided to stay in my room to rest and watch the Chinese Youth Team play Panama for their third and last group game. After the show, YY and I went to the beach and walked along the seashore. It was time for us to catch up with each other after a long time absence. We talked about her family, marriage, work and life. We also discussed why I was still single. It was almost 1:00am when we said goodnight and went to sleep.

posted by Unknown @ 8:36 PM