Hard to believe my mother is 30 years my senior. At 84 she is still nimble as a cat and graceful as a swan. She has been staying with Nicolai and me for the past two weeks ensuring we are well-fed and clothed. Jeanine will no doubt credit her with our survival during her absence (a probably correct assessment). I thought it would be nice to make a mother-son portrait this evening. I can count on one hand the number of photos I have with just the two of us in it. I thought it turned out rather well except for the intense-looking guy in the picture who doesn’t know how to smile.

Having missed my indoor soccer match last week while in China, I returned to the field this evening with a well-rested body. Unfortunately, I was still suffering from the head cold I had been fighting for about a week now. I predicted ahead of the game to my teammates that I was either going to play exceptionally well or exceptionally badly based on my prior experiences when playing while ill. We won our match 11-5 and I came away with a double hat trick (my highest-scoring game ever) and several assists. The best part is that I managed to do this without getting injured, which often happens when I push myself this hard.

I received another picture from the girls. It appears they are enjoying a latte with fresh buffalo milk.

After seeing an interview with co-directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush, my mother and I went into Boston to see their documentary about hunger in America this evening. 50 million people in the U.S.-one in four children-don’t know where their next meal is coming from, despite our having the means to provide nutritious, affordable food for all. “A Place at the Table” examines this issue through the lens of three people who are struggling with food insecurity: Barbie, a single Philadelphia mother who grew up in poverty and is trying to provide a better life for her two kids; Rosie, a Colorado fifth-grader who often has to depend on friends and neighbors to feed her and has trouble concentrating in school; and Tremonica, a Mississippi second-grader whose asthma and health issues are exacerbated by the largely empty calories her hardworking mother can afford.

Judging by the fact that the movie is playing in exactly one theater in the entire Boston area and our screening was attended by only 6 other people, I think it is probable that hunger in America will be with us for some time.

Lately, I have been playing around with long exposures which often reveal patterns that would otherwise go unnoticed. Several small chunks of ice caught in this eddy made for a circular pattern when exposed for 15 seconds.

Today arrived word from Jeanine and several pictures including this one taken after a watermelon seed spitting contest. I am left to wonder if this is a routine event at the school or if the idea was imported from Indiana by Jeanine. Both Jeanine and Maya are dealing with sore throats and head colds as are Nicolai and I but they seem to be managing OK. Jeanine reports “I miss bathrooms, cold drinks, wearing shorts and taking showers”.

Even though he is fighting off a bad virus and possible tooth abscess, Nicolai performed in a 4 member band at the high school radio station this evening. The boys, who had not played together before, spent the afternoon rehearsing for the 5 song set. The appearance was in support of the senior project of a fellow student. The lighting effects made a photo of the entire band impossible but I did manage this solo image of Nico on kit.

I returned home to a wonderful e-mail from Maya:

Hi Papa,

Attached to this email are pictures of the buffalo farm we visited and me milking one of them. We visited an emu farm as well, but the pictures didn’t turn out as well and I wouldn’t go into the cage with them to get a better shot. Emus are hilarious creatures because of the way that they run and bob their heads, but they are scary. Girish, our go-to-guy, told us that an emu can split a femur in two with its kick, and they also look disgusting. All of their feathers are greasy and in some spots their feathers are gone and replaced with huge scabs where they ran into the fence. Yesterday, we visited an ashram, temple, and the Usgaon dam. I didn’t get many pictures, but some of them turned out pretty well. There was one picture that I couldn’t get at the dam because every time right at the last minute I’d have to lurch forward and scratch my foot. It turned out I was standing on a fire ant colony. They bite hard enough to draw blood, so I decided the picture wasn’t worth it. If only I was wearing your hiking boots. Today we went to a market. Anything at all can be found there including; dried fish carcasses, once used nail polishes, and unprocessed tobacco leaves. One of the union worker’s wives works there. After showing us their business (makeshift tent selling fried something), he brought us to a nearby jewelry place. He, Girish, the merchant, and one of the cook’s apprentices that we brought along, all were speaking in rapid Marathi. They forced some bangles on my wrists, outfitted both ankles in matching garments, and swapped out my earrings for something a little more Indian. Mom kept it simple with a “gold” necklace. The price was bargained for us by Girish and the others, who knew what the right price was. The whole excursion only cost 380 rupees (7ish dollars). We are having a great time and hope your trip went/ is going well.

After completing our business in China we crossed the border into Hong Kong for our final meetings of this trip. Pictured here is the lobby of the Langham where we are spending the evening. I like the understated elegance of this lobby more than the ostentatious ones found in most of the high end hotels we have stayed in so far. Diner this evening was an exquisite affair hosted by one of our vendors. A six course meal was interleaved with as many courses of wine and after diner drinks. While the food was superb, I was happy to excuse myself after the fourth course for a 10PM conference call (the meal went on until near midnight). I am totally comfortable in social settings where everyone around me is drinking. Unfortunately, I find that many who drink feel compelled to try and convince me I should give it a try. Even after explaining that I have reached 54 years of age without consuming a drop of alcohol they seem intent on tying to persuade me to abandon a lifetime commitment to abstinence. All I can do is smile politely and turn my glass upside down.

Every factory visit includes a tour of the production line and often requires that visitors don special suits, hats, and shoe covers. In some cases it is to protect the factory from dust carried by the visitor, in others, it is to protect visitors from the grime of the factory.

Last night we flew to southern China for the balance of our meetings. A driver was waiting for us at the airport holding up a sign which caused me to break out in laughter. For the record, my middle name is Albert.

After work and dinner I explored the Guangzhou area on foot covering more than 7 miles.

My routine for the work week was fairly consistent. Wake up, take care of e-mail/make calls to iRobot, exercise, shower, breakfast in the hotel, meet colleagues in the lobby, check out, drive to factory, meet all morning, lunch with hosts, meet all afternoon, dinner at a fancy restaurant with hosts, drive to the new hotel, check-in, check e-mail, take long walk, fall asleep exhausted.

Having spent the better part of 24 hours cramped in an airplane or car yesterday, I found myself eager for a walk this morning (which translates to the middle of the night for my body clock as China is 12 hours ahead of Boston). My hotel is located next to an office complex that surrounds a man-made lake, home to several black swans. This is the first time I have ever seen this species and I could have happily spent the morning admiring them. I am traveling in China this week with several colleagues as we visit with a half dozen contract manufacturers and vendors over the next five days. Our first meeting is not until dinner leaving us with several hours of free time. Our first stop was the site of Expo 2010, held on both banks of the Huangpu River in the city of Shanghai. It was a major World Expo in the tradition of international fairs and expositions, the first since 1992 and the largest World’s Fair site ever at 1300 acres.

The China Pavilion, colloquially known as the Oriental Crown, was the largest national pavilion at the Shanghai Expo costing an estimated $220 million. Today the pavilion is home to the China Art Museum.

With limited time we could only afford to spend time inside the Saudi Arabian Pavilion (aka Moon Boat) and the Italian Pavilion. The former features an all encompassing 3D visual experience which is like none other (think iMax movie combined with an elevated moving walkway carrying you through the inside of a giant egg).

The latter, a tribute to Italian creativity and ingenuity, includes a pair of full size Ferraris mounted on one vertical wall and life size seating and instuments for a complete orchestra on another.

After a brief tour of Old Shanghai we ascended to the observation tower of the The Shanghai World Financial Center, a 1,614 foot tall skyscraper located in the Pudong district. We were extremely fortunate to have an uncharacteristically clear day making the views magnificent. Normally the air pollution here is so bad that one would question the need for a building with any windows.

When traveling from Boston to China you arrive late the next day. This photo of the Boston Harbor was the only one I took during the journey. It was rather lackluster so I decided to play around with it in PhotoShop (to no avail). As a Senior VP, I am entitled to fly business class but always opt to fly coach instead. I prefer to do this because no one else in my organization enjoys this perk and I don’t like asking my people to do anything I am not prepared to do myself. Second, the incremental cost to fly business class is ~$5K which I would much rather spend on a team-building event. The only nice thing I can say about flying to China is that I was able to watch a half dozen recently released movies during my time in captivity. Lincoln, Life of Pi, Trouble with the Curve, and Killing Them Softly to name a few.

Given this will be a travel day for me I have decided to post Maya’s first e-mail from India (written to her girl friends and copied to me) with a photo of her I took shortly before she left.

Hey everyone,
I’m writting this email without internet connection so I will send it if I ever find some WiFi. Ok so I’m at the school in Usgaon and it’s awesome. There are 243 girls living here so as you can imagine everyday is ridiculously fun. Ok hang on a second, as I wrote that last bit, our English speaking friend just showed us a copy of the local newspaper and there’s a picture of me with all the girls in it. Sort of wacky looking because the whole thing is black and white so my face sticks out like crazy, it just hit me that I look nothing like anyone here, but from my perspective it hasn’t been that relavant. I’ll get a copy and bring it home to you guys. Sooooo yeah ok and there is a girl named Davika and she’s the coolest ever. She’s the head girl of the school and she’s in 8th grade, she has taken me under her wing. We can’t communicate very well, but her English is great and her sense of humor shows through. It is really, really hard to be funny while speaking another language, but she manages just fine.

I’ve been teaching a lot of English classes, more like assisting my mom, but still. I have a whole new respect for teachers (not Mr. you know who but for every other teacher) It’s extremely hard and not because we don’t speak Marathi, but because we are running out of things to teach. We are working on members of the family in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes. Every once in a while, we will know a word in Marathi that can help us in class like wedding, girl, or be quite (we don’t know boy but why should we at an all girl school) We are trying to learn 10 words a day and now know 40. The principle has me teaching an extra math class for girls who are behind with their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I’ve only had one class, but so far it’s great and I seriously like tutoring.

The girls are teaching me worli painting, some traditional dancing, and will later show me some karate. When I told them that I dance, it has become quite common for a student in class to say “Maya didi, dance”. We have started using my dancing as a reward for completing in class assignments… 100% effective, more so even than chocolate. When I return ask me to tell you about the chocolate catastrophy, it’s too long of a story for the email, and I have to go teach my math class. Oh yeah, someone tell Ms. Baker that I’m tutoring and when I sat in with Davika’s math class, I understood what they were working on (compound interest).