Last night Elizabeth and Megan jointly arrived, they both joined us during breakfast. Megan and I had already multiple discussions during the preparation work over chat as we are in the same subteam for two of the projects. Welcome Elizabeth and Megan to the team! We absorbed them both directly into our team. We enjoyed the local breakfast in the hotel, right after I walked with Michael and Ryan to the Carrefour supermarket to get a tray of water for the coming days. We decided to walk along the shoreline, with the intention to take the ferry to the small island in front of Xiamen. A long waiting line at the ferry terminal and a negative advice from DOT.org to go the small island in the morning made us changing our plans. We walk a long way along the shore, a great opportunity to discuss and to get known each other a bit better. Finally, getting a bit tired, we asked our interns to organize a bus for getting around in Xiamen instead of keep walking. After a few calls back and forward we got a bus organized departing from the hotel.

#ibmcsc china

Kid along the shoreline

We decided walk back through the old fishing market, as only Ryan, Cecile, Christy, and I have been there. The smell was horrible, most team members we surprised and probably very happy when we were out of that area. After a quick lunch we catched the organized bus. We visited as real tourists by bus the Nanputuo Temple, we were guided by our intern Sophia with proud around on the famous Xiamen University, and we did a small walk along the beach near the Island ring road. At the end of the day … a long walking day … we worked out partially our jetlag and we had great opportunities to getting our team mates knowing each other a bit better. I think that was the main purpose of the day, which we succeeded.

In the evening Sabari from Sweden joined the team for a small dinner in a local restaurant, he arrived during the afternoon. Welcome Sabari to the team! We faced again the fact that getting food ordered is a real challenge in a small restaurant, but we made our way through with a little help. I ordered some kind of noodles with beef, but was a bit hot for me. Afterward we strolled to WalMart, doing some shopping for the rest of the team.

Locals having Tea

Local bookshop

Sleeping at a busy crossroad

Nanputuo Temple

Xiamen University

Beach

Kishore (India)

Amit (India)

Elizabeth (US)

Ryan (South Africa)

Mukund (India)

Megan (US)

Michael (Germany)

Valeria (Hungary)