* my first time out on the construction site: picked a day so foggy we could only see the buildings immediately in front of us; went with loren with our tour guide xiao. biggest thing i never realized was just how dirty the site is; that native red dirt turns onto red mud when wet, getting onto everything.

* sunmeng's last day of work: we continued our flirtatious office banter throughout the afternoon. i met her by the office entrance and we took a few photos together.

* work gossip: who came in to work, one girl's jump from the chinese company to the korean company

* loren's artful burn of my frenemy guo: loren told everyone in the cost control department that he was treating them all to a sushi buffet dinner next week. fengya asked him who he was inviting. he listed everyone except one person. "you're missing one," she said. "who?" loren exclaimed with false ignorance. fengya whispered "guo ching qin." loren snorted, "i wouldn't invite him," he said through gritted teeth. i walked away, trying hard to hide my smile. maybe fengya didn't know this, but this was one of her first taste of the battle line in my ongoing feud with my frenemy. loren is obviously playing on my team. if i cared a little more i would've been disturbed by the fact that fengya tried to invite guo to dinner. i'm pretty sure she never spoke anything like this on my behalf on the more than half dozen dinners she went out with guo and his gang without inviting me.