Hi Everyone.
Work life is fine, i always have plenty to do, and have a few difficult projects coming up next year that it seems i will be tackeling head on by myself! But more on that later.
This weekend, my friends have invited me to a club called Code Space. Its a refurbished warehouse, that actually used to be a rail way (part of the rail way is still visible beneath glass floor tiles)! Restaraunt by day, and night club by night, i hope its as good as my friends say. I never really was one for club-life!
I arrived and met up with Chris, Jenny, Shanshan and a few others, including members of Chris' band! The place looked great, and was a lot more laid back than i thought! We collapsed on a sofa and had a couple drinks and a chat before the DJ's started. We were being treated to a group called the 'Elements', who apparently are pretty famous dj's from Shanghai!
It was a good night, and i continue to meet new people every time i go out. The locals are real friendly in China, i am glad it is easy to get along with people here. Here's hoping for more nights just as good!
Bed time, catch you all later.
Michael
Thursday 24 November 2011
Wednesday 16 November 2011
Bachelors Day Performance!
Hi Everyone, just a quick update following the bachelors day sales performances!
When an event like this rolls by i have another opportunity to see the sheer power of e-commerce in China. The front page of the Taobao site was FLOODED with different advertisements and promotions for the event. I have also gained a little knowledge as to what is involved to get a companies name spread over the face of such a huge website. It was very interesting to learn about, my team was working hard to try and secure a position on the page where we could display an advertisement 'banner'. This is just a rectangle with scrolling images on it. There are certain steps that need to be followed to be able to qualify for a position, so the competition from other companies was fierce! I am able to trace how many clicks the banner got, this data is recorded on Google Analytics. I have an account on there and i can see in graphical form the level of traffic our brand website gets on a day to day basis. After we finished our preparations, we just had to sit tight and hope we sold a lot of garments!
On Bachelors day itself, Alice and myself were charged with travelling to our warehouse, which is roughly 3 hours away from our office by car. So we were up bright and early and on our way to supervise packaging of our garments for the big day. We had to make sure that everything was packed and shipped out to a satisfactory level. Unfortunately, there was a complication with communication in the morning time and the warehouse wasn't completely aware that we were going to turn up. On such a busy day for online sales, you can expect a warehouse such as this, which holds items for MANY brands including CK and Jack Jones, to be very very busy! So security was pretty tight. Unfortunately, we were denied entry! So, it was a bit of a wasted day for us, but we were fairly confident we didnt need to be there anyway. I have been to this warehouse before, and the quality of package control is quite high. So we went back home and hoped we would have a successful day regardless.
Moderate success! Unfortunately we did not ship out as many items of clothing as we hoped, but it was still WAY above average. There really was a big spike in my graph on google analytics. But our performance was not a dissapointment, next year we will come back stronger! Our brand store is still relatively new in China, so we are still trying to see what customers here want to buy. Fashion here is different from the west! So it can be difficult to predict at times.
It now falls to me to make a report for the top performer of bachelors day! They sell very similar items to us, but sold THOUSANDS more garments. So i will try and record the items they sold, the most popular ones, the prices, etc, and try leave it presentable for my team so they can be better prepared for our next opportunity to sell in bulk. I will get right to that now, so i'll get back to you all soon!
Hope everyone is well!
Michael
When an event like this rolls by i have another opportunity to see the sheer power of e-commerce in China. The front page of the Taobao site was FLOODED with different advertisements and promotions for the event. I have also gained a little knowledge as to what is involved to get a companies name spread over the face of such a huge website. It was very interesting to learn about, my team was working hard to try and secure a position on the page where we could display an advertisement 'banner'. This is just a rectangle with scrolling images on it. There are certain steps that need to be followed to be able to qualify for a position, so the competition from other companies was fierce! I am able to trace how many clicks the banner got, this data is recorded on Google Analytics. I have an account on there and i can see in graphical form the level of traffic our brand website gets on a day to day basis. After we finished our preparations, we just had to sit tight and hope we sold a lot of garments!
On Bachelors day itself, Alice and myself were charged with travelling to our warehouse, which is roughly 3 hours away from our office by car. So we were up bright and early and on our way to supervise packaging of our garments for the big day. We had to make sure that everything was packed and shipped out to a satisfactory level. Unfortunately, there was a complication with communication in the morning time and the warehouse wasn't completely aware that we were going to turn up. On such a busy day for online sales, you can expect a warehouse such as this, which holds items for MANY brands including CK and Jack Jones, to be very very busy! So security was pretty tight. Unfortunately, we were denied entry! So, it was a bit of a wasted day for us, but we were fairly confident we didnt need to be there anyway. I have been to this warehouse before, and the quality of package control is quite high. So we went back home and hoped we would have a successful day regardless.
Moderate success! Unfortunately we did not ship out as many items of clothing as we hoped, but it was still WAY above average. There really was a big spike in my graph on google analytics. But our performance was not a dissapointment, next year we will come back stronger! Our brand store is still relatively new in China, so we are still trying to see what customers here want to buy. Fashion here is different from the west! So it can be difficult to predict at times.
It now falls to me to make a report for the top performer of bachelors day! They sell very similar items to us, but sold THOUSANDS more garments. So i will try and record the items they sold, the most popular ones, the prices, etc, and try leave it presentable for my team so they can be better prepared for our next opportunity to sell in bulk. I will get right to that now, so i'll get back to you all soon!
Hope everyone is well!
Michael
Thursday 10 November 2011
4th week in Hangzhou!
Hi Everyone,
A month down! Feeling good about my experiences so far. This has been another interesting week!
We are preparing for 'bachelors day' at work. In China, bachelors day is a celebration for single people, it's like a minor holiday, and is celebrated on the 11th day of the 11th month, this year will be especially huge because it is 2011! 2011.11.11, all the ones represent being single! There will be a LOT of bargains and sales in China and Chinese companies between the 11th and the 12th, so we are preparing to sell a lot of clothing and make a lot of money! Taobao.com and tmall.com will have a lot of advertisements and banners on the main page of the sites, hopefully many people will see us there! After the 11th, i will let you all know how successful we were!
So on Monday i met with my new english student-to-be and her mum. We had an interesting dinner, a coffee with a quick practice session with the kid so i could see what i was working with, then we agreed that our first lesson will be on this coming Wednesday! Very exciting, a good opportunity to try something new while i am here. For dinner we had a hotpot. This seems to be a fairly popular way to eat in China. You can have either a group hotpot, or single hotpots, group ones are better! You get served a large dish or 2, filled with a soup of your choice, as well as some herbs and vegetables for flavour. Then you get served a lot of raw ingrediants, vegetables, meat, fish, including some other things i can't quite figure out, but they taste good! You pick the item you wish to eat, say some long-stalk mushrooms and a roll of beef, plop it into the soup with is on top of a stove inside the table, wait for it to cook, eat and enjoy, then repeat as many times as you like! The meat is thin so it cooks within a couple of minutes. This is a very fun way to eat, everyone cooking their food together in the same dish, then at the end after the soup has absorbed all this delicious flavour, many people take a ladle full into their bowls and just eat it with a spoon as normal! Very tasty. Later in the week i had another hotpot dinner with my team from work, and the team we work with from the Netops office! It was a very enjoyable evening!
Friday evening, i decided it was time to go out on my own and expose myself to some Chinese night-life! I ripped a map of Hangzhou from a magazine Karl gave to me, marked out a couple of interesting looking destinations, put on something smart and walked out the door! I flagged down a taxi, pointed where i wanted to go, 12 minutes later i am standing at the door of the Maya bar! The place was overflowing! Many people had resorted to standing outside, but i had come here tonight to meet people, so i pushed my way in, bought a drink, and started looking for somewhere to sit. Firstly the atmosphere was great, there was roughly a 50/50 ratio of foreigners (like me) and local Chinese people, both young and old. Lots of talk and laughing, and the music system was even playing some familiar songs from back home. I felt a little more comfortable hearing some blink-182 in a place like this! I noticed a table full of people who looked my age, there were about 10 of them, i really had to step out of my comfort zone to be able to drag a chair over beside them, plop myself down and introduce myself. I let them know that i was knew in the area and had come out to meet people. They were very happy to add me to their table! I had found a group of Romanian students who had come to China to study Chinese, so some things were as new to them as they were to me, which again was very comforting. I got introduced to a couple of VERY pleasant people, that i am sure to stay close to during my stay in China. We drank, talked, laughed, and generally got along very well. A couple of hours passed and i was invited to join them at a different bar. I happily accepted, and we grabbed a couple taxis to our next stop.
This place was amazing, i stood before the Reggae bar! You walk in the door and are met with dim lights, a mellow mood, and smooth relaxing beats coming from the live band on the bottom floor, as well as paintings of old Bob all over the walls. We went upstairs to the third floor where we met some more new people! Everything was very laid back here, some people played pool, while others lay around the sofas and tables chatting, eating, drinking, and playing dice. I think i could get very used to this atmosphere. A few more drinks and it was time for me to start heading home. I gathered a couple phone numbers, said my farewells then went on my way. I am pleased with my progress on the night out, making friends has been one of the biggest issues I've been having while in China, i feel more confidant now! On Saturday, Milo, an Asian guy i met the night before invited me out again, just for a repeat of the night before. We met some new people, laid about having a bit of fun for a few hours, then everyone began to get hungry. Back home this normally happens and people fire out to the chinese opposite the bar. I guess you could say its the same deal here! Except, it looked like we were going for a 3am hotpot! I was shocked by how full the restaurant was! There must have been at least 50 people in there getting a feed. This was the best hotpot i've had as well, we picked a half and half soup dish, half spicy, half tomato. Delicious, i couldn't believe how good it is, i cant say i miss too much of the food i would normally eat back home when i compare it to the high quality and large variety of food i can have here. After we all filled our bellies, it was time for home again. I am sure to be hanging with Milo, Chris, Dan, Joanna, and the rest of my new friends, again very soon.
I rounded off the week with a hard cycle around my area on Sunday after dinner, good exercise! I am pleased with myself for this week, i am still doing a lot of new things and experiencing more and more of my surroundings and immersing myself in the culture. I don't know yet what my plans for next week are, but whatever happens. I will be sure to let you all know!
Thanks for reading all of this, i actually find it difficult to make short posts with the amount of things that i go through in the week!
Keep well and expect to hear again from me soon!
Michael
A month down! Feeling good about my experiences so far. This has been another interesting week!
We are preparing for 'bachelors day' at work. In China, bachelors day is a celebration for single people, it's like a minor holiday, and is celebrated on the 11th day of the 11th month, this year will be especially huge because it is 2011! 2011.11.11, all the ones represent being single! There will be a LOT of bargains and sales in China and Chinese companies between the 11th and the 12th, so we are preparing to sell a lot of clothing and make a lot of money! Taobao.com and tmall.com will have a lot of advertisements and banners on the main page of the sites, hopefully many people will see us there! After the 11th, i will let you all know how successful we were!
So on Monday i met with my new english student-to-be and her mum. We had an interesting dinner, a coffee with a quick practice session with the kid so i could see what i was working with, then we agreed that our first lesson will be on this coming Wednesday! Very exciting, a good opportunity to try something new while i am here. For dinner we had a hotpot. This seems to be a fairly popular way to eat in China. You can have either a group hotpot, or single hotpots, group ones are better! You get served a large dish or 2, filled with a soup of your choice, as well as some herbs and vegetables for flavour. Then you get served a lot of raw ingrediants, vegetables, meat, fish, including some other things i can't quite figure out, but they taste good! You pick the item you wish to eat, say some long-stalk mushrooms and a roll of beef, plop it into the soup with is on top of a stove inside the table, wait for it to cook, eat and enjoy, then repeat as many times as you like! The meat is thin so it cooks within a couple of minutes. This is a very fun way to eat, everyone cooking their food together in the same dish, then at the end after the soup has absorbed all this delicious flavour, many people take a ladle full into their bowls and just eat it with a spoon as normal! Very tasty. Later in the week i had another hotpot dinner with my team from work, and the team we work with from the Netops office! It was a very enjoyable evening!
Friday evening, i decided it was time to go out on my own and expose myself to some Chinese night-life! I ripped a map of Hangzhou from a magazine Karl gave to me, marked out a couple of interesting looking destinations, put on something smart and walked out the door! I flagged down a taxi, pointed where i wanted to go, 12 minutes later i am standing at the door of the Maya bar! The place was overflowing! Many people had resorted to standing outside, but i had come here tonight to meet people, so i pushed my way in, bought a drink, and started looking for somewhere to sit. Firstly the atmosphere was great, there was roughly a 50/50 ratio of foreigners (like me) and local Chinese people, both young and old. Lots of talk and laughing, and the music system was even playing some familiar songs from back home. I felt a little more comfortable hearing some blink-182 in a place like this! I noticed a table full of people who looked my age, there were about 10 of them, i really had to step out of my comfort zone to be able to drag a chair over beside them, plop myself down and introduce myself. I let them know that i was knew in the area and had come out to meet people. They were very happy to add me to their table! I had found a group of Romanian students who had come to China to study Chinese, so some things were as new to them as they were to me, which again was very comforting. I got introduced to a couple of VERY pleasant people, that i am sure to stay close to during my stay in China. We drank, talked, laughed, and generally got along very well. A couple of hours passed and i was invited to join them at a different bar. I happily accepted, and we grabbed a couple taxis to our next stop.
This place was amazing, i stood before the Reggae bar! You walk in the door and are met with dim lights, a mellow mood, and smooth relaxing beats coming from the live band on the bottom floor, as well as paintings of old Bob all over the walls. We went upstairs to the third floor where we met some more new people! Everything was very laid back here, some people played pool, while others lay around the sofas and tables chatting, eating, drinking, and playing dice. I think i could get very used to this atmosphere. A few more drinks and it was time for me to start heading home. I gathered a couple phone numbers, said my farewells then went on my way. I am pleased with my progress on the night out, making friends has been one of the biggest issues I've been having while in China, i feel more confidant now! On Saturday, Milo, an Asian guy i met the night before invited me out again, just for a repeat of the night before. We met some new people, laid about having a bit of fun for a few hours, then everyone began to get hungry. Back home this normally happens and people fire out to the chinese opposite the bar. I guess you could say its the same deal here! Except, it looked like we were going for a 3am hotpot! I was shocked by how full the restaurant was! There must have been at least 50 people in there getting a feed. This was the best hotpot i've had as well, we picked a half and half soup dish, half spicy, half tomato. Delicious, i couldn't believe how good it is, i cant say i miss too much of the food i would normally eat back home when i compare it to the high quality and large variety of food i can have here. After we all filled our bellies, it was time for home again. I am sure to be hanging with Milo, Chris, Dan, Joanna, and the rest of my new friends, again very soon.
I rounded off the week with a hard cycle around my area on Sunday after dinner, good exercise! I am pleased with myself for this week, i am still doing a lot of new things and experiencing more and more of my surroundings and immersing myself in the culture. I don't know yet what my plans for next week are, but whatever happens. I will be sure to let you all know!
Thanks for reading all of this, i actually find it difficult to make short posts with the amount of things that i go through in the week!
Keep well and expect to hear again from me soon!
Michael
Tuesday 1 November 2011
Week 3 in Hangzhou!
Hi everyone! Just another update!
A few interesting things this week, my work has started to get pretty serious, the pressure has started to pile on.
I got contacted by the website engineer, who provided me with access to the FTP server holding the website files. He also gave me a list of software to obtain to be able to work on the website. Rain, our technician, helped me acquire this software. So now i have my laptop kitted out with a copy of Dreamweaver, FTP, and MySQL. I have had some VERY basic practice with MySQL at university, this is a completely different tier altogether, and I have never used Dreamweaver before. The task set before is is scary actually, Karl would like me to remake the entire Chinese website to mirror the New York website. There is going to be a staggering amount of testing, research, and general messing about to try and learn this software before I can even begin to attempt a website this important. I thought normally there were website design teams that maintained and made websites for multimillion dollar companies, its a little unnerving having all of that set on my shoulders. But I will try my best! It would be fantastic to go back home saying, "hey, look at this website for this big company, yeah, I made that", it would look fantastic on paper too.
I think next week, I will be meeting a Korean woman and her 11 year old daughter, who wants me to teach her English! Monica, who sits beside me at work, helped arrange the whole thing. She asked if I would be interested, and I thought, well hey, why not, I mean I am here to try new things, so what's the worst that could happen? After meeting her, I will try and find out how sturdy her knowledge of English is, and try to come up with a suitable method for teaching. Then I will let you all know!
Things at work are fine, I am working away, and able to get myself to and from work no problems. I can go home in the evening where I can get some dinner, then relax for a while, or go for a walk before bed. I am feeling a lot more comfortable with my environment. I do plan to go out and expose myself to raw China though... so watch this space...
Catch you all later!
Michael
A few interesting things this week, my work has started to get pretty serious, the pressure has started to pile on.
I got contacted by the website engineer, who provided me with access to the FTP server holding the website files. He also gave me a list of software to obtain to be able to work on the website. Rain, our technician, helped me acquire this software. So now i have my laptop kitted out with a copy of Dreamweaver, FTP, and MySQL. I have had some VERY basic practice with MySQL at university, this is a completely different tier altogether, and I have never used Dreamweaver before. The task set before is is scary actually, Karl would like me to remake the entire Chinese website to mirror the New York website. There is going to be a staggering amount of testing, research, and general messing about to try and learn this software before I can even begin to attempt a website this important. I thought normally there were website design teams that maintained and made websites for multimillion dollar companies, its a little unnerving having all of that set on my shoulders. But I will try my best! It would be fantastic to go back home saying, "hey, look at this website for this big company, yeah, I made that", it would look fantastic on paper too.
I think next week, I will be meeting a Korean woman and her 11 year old daughter, who wants me to teach her English! Monica, who sits beside me at work, helped arrange the whole thing. She asked if I would be interested, and I thought, well hey, why not, I mean I am here to try new things, so what's the worst that could happen? After meeting her, I will try and find out how sturdy her knowledge of English is, and try to come up with a suitable method for teaching. Then I will let you all know!
Things at work are fine, I am working away, and able to get myself to and from work no problems. I can go home in the evening where I can get some dinner, then relax for a while, or go for a walk before bed. I am feeling a lot more comfortable with my environment. I do plan to go out and expose myself to raw China though... so watch this space...
Catch you all later!
Michael
Second week in Hangzhou!
Hi everyone!
My second week here has been as fun as last week! I have been trying some new things!
Firstly, do you remember the inventory report I mentioned in a previous post? It is now my duty to maintain it and keep it up to date. Every week there are sales, refunds, and stock movements, I am able to access these reports and add all the information into my report, then this is the report everyone can refer to when they need to find information, as my report is well laid out in a very organised fashion. Thanks for helping me learn the excel tools I needed Sandy! We had another group meeting this week to discuss some information on garments, sales, and future plans, I will be sitting in these meetings from now on. Karl needed to see some information on some garments, and was able to find everything he needed in my report, he was even a little surprised! As previously he would have had to look at 2 or 3 separate reports, and some websites to see everything he needed. I felt fantastic getting praise for my work, it was really motivating. From now on the team will be using the report I have made.
After this meeting, my Chinese teacher Pan thought it would be a good idea if we went to get some lunch. Except, he was going to make me order the food. Great... We went to the MixC mall, and to a restaurant called the Grandmas Kitchen. Pan called the waitress over, then left the rest to me. He said I did very well, and ordered all the right food! Such a delicious meal, sweet and sour boneless pork ribs, fried pumpkin, fried green beans, Chinese leaves, all washed down with some nice healthy green tea. The public mustn't be very used to foreigners like me here, I deffintely attracted some attention, even caught a few people standing at my table just to get a good look at me haha.
Later in the week, Lily, Lynn and myself travelled for 3 hours in a car to see one of the warehouses where our stock is held to be delivered from. We were going down to check that our garments were of a high standard, and that the way the warehouse workers were packing them was satisfactory. I got a short tour of the area, then helped move some of the stock around. It is important in China that all important information about a product is clearly displayed, so we had to add extra stickers to the product telling the customer about the size and colour etc. There was a case recently where wal-mart, one of the largest businesses in the world, had 14 large stores shut down for 2 weeks because of an error where a piece of pork was stamped as organic when it wasn't. The amount of money this caused the company, let alone their reputation, must have been staggering. We then had to inspect and make sure that the items were packed correctly to a high standard, and after this was finished, it was time for home. I like being included in activities and tasks like this. I get to see what goes on behind the screen when someone places an order for an item. I see the numbers, how it effects a company, and now I see what happens with the middle men, that handle the items that go from A(manufacturer) to B(warehouse) to C(customer).
Before the end of the week Karl invited me into his office to tell me plans for a shop he is going to open next year, and that the success of this store will largely rely on research work that I will be spending a lot of time doing now. He explained that, he wants to sell clothing to the Chinese people, and since their style is so different, he needs to research what people buy, and when they buy it. Along with Yanti (Karl's) wife, who will provide me with links to some items that have shown to be quit popular on the taobao mall site, it will be up to us to deliver these results so that next years store can be a success. I have to take all the information about each item, as well as photos, and lay them out in an easy to see manor on another report, it feels good to finally have some real serious responsibility in such a big company.
Over the weekend it was time to relax. Karl was going to have some company over to the apartment, just a few couples and their kids, for a nice barbecue, and to see the great fireworks display to signify the end of the Hangzhou Expo, which seems to be an annual event. The company was good, Karl's cooking was great, and even though our view of the fireworks wasn't amazing, I still got to see a pretty interesting show, and have an overall good night! I had only seen some fireworks like these in old cartoons, they were coming out in shapes of stars, hearts and even smiley faces with coloured eyes! My favourite kind was a firework that when it exploded, it seemed to burst into 100 tiny lanterns, that fell through the air very slowly, they seemed to linger, float almost, and they were a very bright red. Spectacular.
So, another fun week down! I wonder what next week has in store. I am looking forward to an opportunity to go out and meet people! I will let you all know if anything big happens.
Drop me some comments, find me on skype, or email me, info in the side bar, looking forward to hearing from you!
Michael
My second week here has been as fun as last week! I have been trying some new things!
Firstly, do you remember the inventory report I mentioned in a previous post? It is now my duty to maintain it and keep it up to date. Every week there are sales, refunds, and stock movements, I am able to access these reports and add all the information into my report, then this is the report everyone can refer to when they need to find information, as my report is well laid out in a very organised fashion. Thanks for helping me learn the excel tools I needed Sandy! We had another group meeting this week to discuss some information on garments, sales, and future plans, I will be sitting in these meetings from now on. Karl needed to see some information on some garments, and was able to find everything he needed in my report, he was even a little surprised! As previously he would have had to look at 2 or 3 separate reports, and some websites to see everything he needed. I felt fantastic getting praise for my work, it was really motivating. From now on the team will be using the report I have made.
After this meeting, my Chinese teacher Pan thought it would be a good idea if we went to get some lunch. Except, he was going to make me order the food. Great... We went to the MixC mall, and to a restaurant called the Grandmas Kitchen. Pan called the waitress over, then left the rest to me. He said I did very well, and ordered all the right food! Such a delicious meal, sweet and sour boneless pork ribs, fried pumpkin, fried green beans, Chinese leaves, all washed down with some nice healthy green tea. The public mustn't be very used to foreigners like me here, I deffintely attracted some attention, even caught a few people standing at my table just to get a good look at me haha.
Later in the week, Lily, Lynn and myself travelled for 3 hours in a car to see one of the warehouses where our stock is held to be delivered from. We were going down to check that our garments were of a high standard, and that the way the warehouse workers were packing them was satisfactory. I got a short tour of the area, then helped move some of the stock around. It is important in China that all important information about a product is clearly displayed, so we had to add extra stickers to the product telling the customer about the size and colour etc. There was a case recently where wal-mart, one of the largest businesses in the world, had 14 large stores shut down for 2 weeks because of an error where a piece of pork was stamped as organic when it wasn't. The amount of money this caused the company, let alone their reputation, must have been staggering. We then had to inspect and make sure that the items were packed correctly to a high standard, and after this was finished, it was time for home. I like being included in activities and tasks like this. I get to see what goes on behind the screen when someone places an order for an item. I see the numbers, how it effects a company, and now I see what happens with the middle men, that handle the items that go from A(manufacturer) to B(warehouse) to C(customer).
Before the end of the week Karl invited me into his office to tell me plans for a shop he is going to open next year, and that the success of this store will largely rely on research work that I will be spending a lot of time doing now. He explained that, he wants to sell clothing to the Chinese people, and since their style is so different, he needs to research what people buy, and when they buy it. Along with Yanti (Karl's) wife, who will provide me with links to some items that have shown to be quit popular on the taobao mall site, it will be up to us to deliver these results so that next years store can be a success. I have to take all the information about each item, as well as photos, and lay them out in an easy to see manor on another report, it feels good to finally have some real serious responsibility in such a big company.
Over the weekend it was time to relax. Karl was going to have some company over to the apartment, just a few couples and their kids, for a nice barbecue, and to see the great fireworks display to signify the end of the Hangzhou Expo, which seems to be an annual event. The company was good, Karl's cooking was great, and even though our view of the fireworks wasn't amazing, I still got to see a pretty interesting show, and have an overall good night! I had only seen some fireworks like these in old cartoons, they were coming out in shapes of stars, hearts and even smiley faces with coloured eyes! My favourite kind was a firework that when it exploded, it seemed to burst into 100 tiny lanterns, that fell through the air very slowly, they seemed to linger, float almost, and they were a very bright red. Spectacular.
So, another fun week down! I wonder what next week has in store. I am looking forward to an opportunity to go out and meet people! I will let you all know if anything big happens.
Drop me some comments, find me on skype, or email me, info in the side bar, looking forward to hearing from you!
Michael
One whole week down..
I just want to try and summarise my experience in China so far. My biggest challenge with this blog is to try and let you know what I am experiencing out here, I don't think words are capable of doing that, but I will try my best.
I got abandoned at Dublin airport over a week ago, and just then I realised, I am going out to see the world. Nerve racking and exciting at the same time, I pushed myself to try and be as charismatic as possible to try and get from Ireland to China, and then to help me survive my first real week, as well as meet people and try and get comfortable at work.
I find myself now quite satisfied with my progress for far. I have met a lot of new people, and enjoy bumping into these familiar faces ever few days now, I have experienced a lot of new food and eating customs, I have started to experience the real world of work and business, and how powerful e-commerce can be, especially in this country. Most of all, I have experienced a little of what it is like to be as far away from home as possible without leaving the earth. That is invaluable to me, and is changing my perspective and approach to life on a daily basis. Everything I experience in my day to day life now is another story to tell, and another lesson learned.
My goal for this opportunity is to obtain total independence. Live on my own, support myself, become a valued member of my team at work, and become friendly with a solid group of people I can hang with at the weekend and have parties with. I believe I will be a new person when I come home from this experience.
Things should become a little bit more routine now, but i will still update my blog when something important happens. I think this week I will be starting work on a shop that Karl plans to open next year, i will be travelling to a warehouse to oversee packaging preparation of garments that have been sold, and who knows what else, every day I have something new happen.
I will let you know what happens, thanks for your ongoing support, and please keep reading my blog! I am interested to see how many hits I can get, and where I get these hits from.
All the best
Michael
I got abandoned at Dublin airport over a week ago, and just then I realised, I am going out to see the world. Nerve racking and exciting at the same time, I pushed myself to try and be as charismatic as possible to try and get from Ireland to China, and then to help me survive my first real week, as well as meet people and try and get comfortable at work.
I find myself now quite satisfied with my progress for far. I have met a lot of new people, and enjoy bumping into these familiar faces ever few days now, I have experienced a lot of new food and eating customs, I have started to experience the real world of work and business, and how powerful e-commerce can be, especially in this country. Most of all, I have experienced a little of what it is like to be as far away from home as possible without leaving the earth. That is invaluable to me, and is changing my perspective and approach to life on a daily basis. Everything I experience in my day to day life now is another story to tell, and another lesson learned.
My goal for this opportunity is to obtain total independence. Live on my own, support myself, become a valued member of my team at work, and become friendly with a solid group of people I can hang with at the weekend and have parties with. I believe I will be a new person when I come home from this experience.
Things should become a little bit more routine now, but i will still update my blog when something important happens. I think this week I will be starting work on a shop that Karl plans to open next year, i will be travelling to a warehouse to oversee packaging preparation of garments that have been sold, and who knows what else, every day I have something new happen.
I will let you know what happens, thanks for your ongoing support, and please keep reading my blog! I am interested to see how many hits I can get, and where I get these hits from.
All the best
Michael
Day 9 in China: Trip to the West Lake!
I really didn't think I would have this much to post every day, more life changing experiences to share with you all than I thought!
Today I will be meeting with some British graduates for a fun day out! I travelled to the office with Karl, where we met with the students, and sat in a conference room with Karl while he delivered a short talk and Q/A session with the students. There were about 6 of them, 3 leaders, then me! That's 10 of us, a good crowd for a day out.After the talk I had the opportunity to talk to a few of the students. They are all polite, very friendly and outgoing, I felt really comfortable with them. We went downstairs to take a minibus to the lake where we would rent bikes. On the way we all just chatted away about what we were studying/had studied at uni. Also what we thought of China (they had only been here for a couple of weeks) and they shared some of their experiences! Lot's of fun.
We stopped once we got half way around to get some lunch at the Green Tea Restaurant. We chained our bikes to trees outside (as bike theft rate in China is terrible) and walked inside.
The building was so humbling, and very busy! It was made entirely from logs and wooden boards, and was actually propped up on a small body of water. Inside we were shown to a room that had just enough seats for us, and Mark and the supervisors ordered a LARGE variety of food. We were all starving, the bike ride takes it out of you. We got presented with our plates and bowls, small wooden cups for our green tea, and a glass of the Chinese equivalent to coke. It wasn't fizzy, but was cold, and more like a very strong fruit juice. The food began to arrive soon after, starting with tomato soup. The tastiest soup I have ever had in my life, the last word you could use to describe food in china is rubbish. The pieces of tomato, and some of the herbs used to make the soup were still floating in the broth, still fresh! Everyone enjoyed it, 2 big bowlfuls of it. Then the meat and veg started being brought to us. Fish, Pork, Beef, and a few other things that I couldn't even recognise, along with huge bowls of rice and noodles, egg plant, and a few other things. There was so much food it couldn't all fit on the table! It was delicious, everyone ate their hearty fill, and we then decided to opt for a little desert. We ordered, what literally was, a toasted loaf with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top, we got 2 servings. there were miniature forks that were on the plates with the food, and you use these forks to break through the crust of the bread, scoop some out, swipe it along the ice cream to pick up some, then just eat it. Jaw droopingly good, the bread was so sweet, the ice cream was delicious, the nicest thing I have eaten since I arrived in China I think!
I am exhausted, had a very very enjoyable day, tomorrow I will just kick about at home and relax, maybe go for a walk to explore. It's late and time for bed now, so talk to you all later!
Good luck with everything back home!
Michael
Day 8 in China: First week of work completed!
Today is a big day for me. Today I will complete my first week of work!
Breakfast time, now I can safely say this is the first time I had spicy Indonesian rice in place of the normal toast or cereal, it was still very nice though! My eating habits have definitely drifted away from the norm a little.
Today at work I will be travelling to the Netops office. Netops play and important role in Giii's success. They provide customer service when there and amongst other things, they maintain our brand website (andrewmarc.com.cn). Me, Sandy and Lily were going to have a small meeting with some of the customer service team, to teach them about potential problems customers may have with a few garments that we expect to sell a lot of over the next short while. Product training time! We arrived at Netops and walked into the building, I actually couldn't believe it, rows and rows of computers and desks, all manned by young people, no older than 25 I'm sure. These kids are in control of millions of dollars worth of business, it was really amazing to see, not what I expected at all! Even our customer service support team, all kids! I sat in with them for a short time while they began to learn from Lily about the garments, then Sandy dragged me off to meet with the test engineer that made our website.
You see, Karl thinks that it would be fantastic if I could redesign the ENTIRE website, completely by myself. So I am here today to speak with the engineer and let him tell me a little about how he made the website, and show me the tools and methods he uses. A very daunting task, but something I should approach with enthusiasm. How would it look to an employer in the future? Being able to say that I was trusted with such a great task, and succeeded. Building an entire website for a multimillion dollar company.
I met with the engineer, Huaike, who doesn't speak English, so my kind team leader Sandy, translated for us. He showed me the programs he uses, the main points I have to know, and he told me he would email me with the login information I would need to access the FTP server. I have a LOT to learn if this is going to be a success, I hope I can handle it, because i know it will be very difficult! I have made a website or two before, but they were very very basic.
After our brief meeting, I was brought back to the office. I was feeling good and adventurous today, so I thought I would walk out to the big Mixc mall near where the office building is. There's a Starbucks there, I walked in and ordered a mocha. In Chinese! Very proud of myself! Also, just before the end of the day, my brand new laptop arrived! A HP ProBook S. What a great day, here's hoping for more as interesting as this!
I will let you all know how my trip the the west lake goes tomorrow!
I'll keep you posted!
Michael
Day 7 in China: Settling in
Hi everyone!
I am feeling more comfortable with my environment now, though I still need to try and get out of the house more! Things have started to get quiet for me at work, I'm sure I will have a steady pace of work set for me soon though.
Today I got contacted by Mark from the Catalai program (link in the side bar, anyone interested in travelling, I suggest you check it out! I recommend it). He told me that some of his current British graduates, along with himself and some of his team, will be travelling to Hangzhou for a nice day out, and he would be happy if I joined him! What a great opportunity! I told him I would be happy to join him. He plans to bring the students to the Giii office where I work, where he wants Karl to give them a short talk about business. Then we will travel to the edge of the Hangzhou west lake. Once there, we will rent bicycles and cycle around the lake, possibly stop for a nice lunch somewhere, and then whatever else! I am not sure of the final plan yet, but is is exciting! I am looking forward to meeting someone my age that can speak my language haha.
I will let you know how it goes, I can't wait! I will try get some nice photos too.
Hope everything is going well for everyone back home!
Talk later,
Michael
I am feeling more comfortable with my environment now, though I still need to try and get out of the house more! Things have started to get quiet for me at work, I'm sure I will have a steady pace of work set for me soon though.
Today I got contacted by Mark from the Catalai program (link in the side bar, anyone interested in travelling, I suggest you check it out! I recommend it). He told me that some of his current British graduates, along with himself and some of his team, will be travelling to Hangzhou for a nice day out, and he would be happy if I joined him! What a great opportunity! I told him I would be happy to join him. He plans to bring the students to the Giii office where I work, where he wants Karl to give them a short talk about business. Then we will travel to the edge of the Hangzhou west lake. Once there, we will rent bicycles and cycle around the lake, possibly stop for a nice lunch somewhere, and then whatever else! I am not sure of the final plan yet, but is is exciting! I am looking forward to meeting someone my age that can speak my language haha.
I will let you know how it goes, I can't wait! I will try get some nice photos too.
Hope everything is going well for everyone back home!
Talk later,
Michael
Day 6 in China: Chinese lessons!
Hi Everyone,
It's Wednesday morning. I am starting to feel a little more comfortable now that I have a couple days of work down, but all this new stuff keeps piling on! This morning at work was a little hectic, I had to add some things to my Inventory Report from yesterday, but I coped okay.
Karl's secretary, a nice woman called Tina, came and informed me this morning that I would be having my first Chinese lesson at 11am! Really didn't know how to prepare myself for this. I felt a little nervous too. The hour came and I got called to one of the showrooms here at the office where I would be having my lessons. I was introduced to a young Chinese male named Pan, aged 26. Very pleasant, very polite, very charismatic, and his English is great, didn't feel so nervous after we spoke for a few minutes. Then we got stuck in! Lesson 1: how to ask for something. After a quick one hour lesson, and already I feel that I can go to a restaurant and order food in Chinese. Before the end of the week I will try and put my language skills to the test, it's the only way I will learn! I will have a one hour lesson daily from now on, it will need a lot of work, so I hope I will survive okay. I hope my teacher is patient!
I spent the rest of the day trying to familiarise myself with the layout of the andrewmarc.com.cn website, and taobao (links in the sidebar) as they are in Chinese, and I will need to know how to navigate these sites!
I won't know what I will do at work tomorrow until the morning comes, so it's home now, I'll get some dinner in me, then bed, because these long days really take it out of me!
Update you soon!
Michael
It's Wednesday morning. I am starting to feel a little more comfortable now that I have a couple days of work down, but all this new stuff keeps piling on! This morning at work was a little hectic, I had to add some things to my Inventory Report from yesterday, but I coped okay.
Karl's secretary, a nice woman called Tina, came and informed me this morning that I would be having my first Chinese lesson at 11am! Really didn't know how to prepare myself for this. I felt a little nervous too. The hour came and I got called to one of the showrooms here at the office where I would be having my lessons. I was introduced to a young Chinese male named Pan, aged 26. Very pleasant, very polite, very charismatic, and his English is great, didn't feel so nervous after we spoke for a few minutes. Then we got stuck in! Lesson 1: how to ask for something. After a quick one hour lesson, and already I feel that I can go to a restaurant and order food in Chinese. Before the end of the week I will try and put my language skills to the test, it's the only way I will learn! I will have a one hour lesson daily from now on, it will need a lot of work, so I hope I will survive okay. I hope my teacher is patient!
I spent the rest of the day trying to familiarise myself with the layout of the andrewmarc.com.cn website, and taobao (links in the sidebar) as they are in Chinese, and I will need to know how to navigate these sites!
I won't know what I will do at work tomorrow until the morning comes, so it's home now, I'll get some dinner in me, then bed, because these long days really take it out of me!
Update you soon!
Michael
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