Day 5 in China: Trying to get into a routine

I woke on Tuesday morning, bright and refreshed at about 5am, read for about an hour, then got showered and ready for day 2 at work. My team leader sent me some reports documenting the sales, stock, and returns of our clothing. She wanted me to put all the information together into one excel spreadsheet. I had a lot to learn in a small space of time to be able to do this, but completed it within 10 minutes of the deadline, thanks to Sandy's generous assistance!

Mid day I was invited to a team meeting. Now this was very interesting, I am very glad I was asked to attend. I sat as Karl the boss, and the rest of my team, began to discuss sales strategies, they addressed customer issues to some of the clothing that was sold, amongst other things such as checking quality issues and sales figures of some clothing. It was exciting to be able to sit in an environment where real decisions are fire across the conference table, ideas are juggled, and conclusions are met. Hopefully I can contribute to the next one!


Another interesting thing happened today. A woman was walking past everyone's desk, and leaving 2 small packages tied together with a bow on each desk. I accepted my package and said xiexie (谢谢） which means thank you! I later found out that when a couple in China are getting married, it is traditional for the groom/bride to be to pass out these small red packages (red is the colour for weddings in China) to friends and colleagues as a symbol of happiness. Inside the boxes were just different kinds of candy. I thought it was a very nice gesture.

Again, exhausted, I arrived home, ate, then slept. Must try and become more active, I won't experience much outside the office like this!

I will try be more charismatic tomorrow!

I'll keep you posted!

Michael