Back to work

Andy making (green) tea for us in the kitchen.
He had just bought the Canadian trousers.

After a break from the blogging, I can't say I have stopped thinking about China yet. I gave a talk about it in French the other day, and friends are still coming up to ask how we fared on our long trip. Andy from Shanghai is in town this week, visiting the company headquarters; we had him round for supper and joined him for brunch today. Andy's flight over the Gatineau Hills with Chris in the Cessna this morning was an exciting experience for him (there's next to no chance to do such a thing in China)––on his first trip beyond Asia.

There is talk of our being dispatched to China again, for Chris to work there for another month or two, maybe in the new year; the fact that neither of is daunted by the prospect is proof that we must have enjoyed ourselves there. Before Christmas it looks as though we shall also be off to Germany for a week or two, so we're revising the language, especially the technical jargon. I'm working my way through a paper written by Chris that's been translated by a colleague, extracting the vocabulary he'll need for explaining things, Deutsch als primäre Konferenzsprache being spoken in Sindelfingen at the Embedded Software Engineering Kongress at which Chris must share his knowledge of Functional Safety in Complex Software Systems after the Kaffeepause on the Thursday.

Chris has just got back from Nevada where he'd been giving the engineers at Bently (GE) a three day training course in the use of safety critical software. Their workplace is located on the flat plain between high ranges of the Sierra Nevada south of Reno and Carson City, in Minden, from where it's a short but steep, winding drive over the 7000 ft high pass to Lake Tahoe on the Californian border. The sky over Minden is famous for its gliding opportunities, but he didn't have time to give it a try.

Ladies at the Diplomatic Hospitality welcome party

I have been busy getting the summer edition of Crosswinds published for the Flying Club and working as membership liaison officer for Ottawa CFUW's Diplomatic Hospitality group. 95 Canadians have enrolled so far, and more to come. We hosted a big welcome-back coffee party for the ladies of the diplomatic corps yesterday, hiring a hall at the university, laid on some entertainment for them too: a fantastic performance by the international award-winning, barefoot jazz singer, Kellylee Evans. One of the numbers she sang was Don't let me be misunderstood accompanied by the guitarist Wayne Eagles, as we snapped our fingers to keep the rhythm going. At the end of the party I told her I'd liked it, and she gave me a kiss!

Kellylee Evans on stage

This photo taken by Carol