I was going to explain everything that has happened since I arrived however I realised this would take forever so I'm going to pretty much start from this week and fill in the blanks when I have a lot of time on my hands. I've reached the point where I'm starting to get the hang of China. Me and Dong Dong (my aunt) had two very important meetings last week in which we had to bid for two contracts.
The first contract we were bidding for was to organise a gala which will be held on 18 July this year. The gala is to celebrate the opening of three tourist islands in the Tang Shan Bay region which is about 3 hours from Beijing. We will have several traditional Chinese dances, some kind of Chinese celebrity singer and some famous hosts. We also have to organise the dinner and the advertising.
So we worked 7am - 2am everyday for 4 days and then feeling very tired we went to give the presentation. I could tell that if we didn't get the contract I would be fired and I still think this was the case. In fact I'd resigned myself to being sent home even if we got it. DD seemed very stressed and unhappy with me. Chinese people do not arrange meetings in advance and they won't necessarily stick to the arranged time. So when on Saturday the meeting was moved from Wednesday to Monday I was not that surprised. And then on Sunday we were told the meeting would be at 10am. This meant we had to leave on Sunday afternoon and stay in a hotel in Tang Shan so we would be on time to the meeting.
So Sunday night in the hotel was not fun. We were all stressed and DD most of all. I was not prepared enough. DD and Da Long (a man we live with who I believe is the father of DD's baby) were arguing in Chinese. This had been happening a lot and I didn't know what they were arguing about or how I should behave. Should I ask what they were fighting about or assume it's none of my business? I decided to be typically English about it and pretended I hadn't even noticed they had had an argument.
The next morning we get ready and I upset DD on the way to breakfast by asking her a question that interrupts her thoughts. She tells me I can't just leap into conversation, I need to say excuse me Dong Dong and then speak. It's rude not to do this and it's true that if she was just my boss and not my aunt I would have been more polite however I get a bit confused about the boundaries because of being a part of the family. Anyway after she has eaten she perks up a bit. She says in a much nicer way that she just wants me to learn how to be a good PA when I'm not working for her. She does the whole positive thinking thing. She says she thinks we will get the contract and I realise from the rest of our conversation that the reason she is so stressed is that the family has run out of money and we need the contract to pay the bills. My aunt is a very successful business woman however she does not have anything which brings her a constant source of income.
On the way to the bid we run into trouble. The most ridiculous traffic jam I've ever seen. There were cars in the middle which were going across horizontally for no apparent reason. There were four lanes on each side of the road however our side of the road was using seven lanes and the other side only had one lane. The other side of the road was moving and our side was not. It was absurd.
Anyway we make the presentation and then some things happen that I didn't understand and we go to dinner. At dinner I'm allowed to sit next to the big boss which is unusual as I'm only the support staff but on this occasion I was allowed. The big boss talked to me a little and I just about made the conversation work. Then he asks "how much can you drink" (in Chinese though obviously) as he says this a bottle of Chinese spirits is brought around. I say I'm not sure and the big boss laughs. The girl next to me can speak English and she explains that the big boss can drink 2 bottles and I say I definitely can't drink that much.
In China, particularly at business meetings, it is important to toast each other a lot. When a toast is made it is customary to down the contents of your glass. They like to make a toast every few minuets or so, so this can get messy. The big boss was very pleased that I drank alcohol and when I didn't seem fazed by the first two shots he decided I should toast everyone around the table. There were seven people around the table. I was quite drunk by the end of it although I was still behaving quite sensibly I believe. Everyone was very concerned about me but I was fine just a little giggly.
So the big boss was very impressed and we got the contract. I was very relieved and also excited because I'm not being sent home and I get to go to Hong Kong and buy a new laptop! Also to Henna Island and stay in a five star hotel. And go to the Shangri-La after the project is finished. Very excited about all of this.
The second project is the one I'm mostly working on right now. I am setting up four exhibitions which will start in London then move to Paris, then Berlin and finish in Milan. I'm project manager so this is a lot of work and responsibility but I'm really enjoying it. Also I might get to go to each place for two months so I'm working hard in the hope that I can. I'd be in London for the Olympics so I wouldn't miss that and it would be great to see the project through to the end.
I'm running out of steam now so I'll leave it here.
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