(Written on Wednesday August 30, 2006)
So life is finally starting to settle down a bit. I have my basic necessities taken care of at my apartment (pots, pans, blankets, plates, etc.). The total cost for everything . . . about $40 U.S. Holy inexpensive.
Speaking of inexpensive. I went shopping with Alex (my boss) on Sunday. I got five new shirts (custom made . . . I just picked the fabric and the style), seven pairs of socks, four silk ties, and three sets of cuff links for about $70. Pretty awesome. Moral of the story: if you are coming to visit me don’t bother buying clothes until you check the selection here. They also make custom suits, pants, etc. I’ll have to take another tip back there soon if I like the shirts.
The rest of Sunday was spent in preparations for a meeting that I had on Tuesday with my team and a business contact that is trying to seal the “Year of Spain” deal for us. The meeting went pretty well overall . . . I basically listened and learned.
I’m starting to settle into work as well. After the initial weekend frenzy, there hasn’t been that much stuff that I’ve had to do, just random projects here and there. In the meantime, I’ve been catching up on the marketing education that I really didn’t receive will studying math and econ at school. Reading some books, learning the ins and outs of the company: all in a day’s work. Soon, though I’ll be jumping into some more projects and starting Chinese lessons. I have a feeling that once all that is settled I’ll be pretty swamped with work and learning.
Tonight should be an interesting experience. I’m going on something that the company calls and Urban Safari. I think we’re basically going to take a group of VIPs from some company around Beijing to show them the culture, the food, etc., but I’m not entirely sure. I just get to tag along and enjoy the ride since I may have to run one of these safaris later on.
That’s about all I have for now. My apologies for the lack of pictures in the last post. Initially, I forgot to put them in. Then I tried posting again with the pictures, but that didn’t work either, so I think I’m going to have to wait until I have internet at my apartment to figure it all out. Until then, you’re stuck with words.
Also, I have a feeling that my posts are going to be a little less frequent now (unless I happen to become really bored in the near future). I’ll post when I have fun stories etc., but I highly doubt that most people want to keep up with my day-to-day work activities (nor do I want to try to summarize the wild variety of work that I’ll be doing day-to-day :-P). If you want more Nathan than you get here, feel free to call or email.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Monday, August 28, 2006
The Beginnings of a New Life
(Written on Saturday, August 26, 2006)
Life is already moving fast and furious here in Beijing. The first project I had of researching the Spanish culture and important Spanish holidays is well on its way. I made up a list of the possible celebrations that we could use in order to showcase Spanish culture, but since I am not a Spanish native, I really couldn’t give the perspective that was necessary to create a top-end proposal (which we need to present on Wednesday and for which we need a summary on Monday). Hence, last night we were in a bind . . . so we got creative.
On the suggestion of my team leader, three other team members and I researched the dining and nightlife scene here in Beijing and found every Spanish place that we could. Then we conducted some “field research.” Basically this means that we went out, had dinner, had some drinks and struck up conversations with anybody who could be an actual Spaniard at these Spanish venues. We struck gold once. We met a very nice man who grew up in Madrid and was quite excited to have some drinks with us and discuss his formative years, Spanish culture and Spanish holidays. All together, we spent about 5 hours eating, bar-hopping, taking pictures of Spanish influence in Beijing, and chatting with expats. Basically it was a night on the town paid for by the company. How’s that for work?
So the up-side of the story is that the company will pay for my fun as long as work is also mixed in. The downside is that I had to summarize the findings on a Saturday. So today was a mixture of writing summaries, creating powerpoints, having meetings, making phone calls and coordinating so that we can have a decent amount of work finished by Monday. After that stuff, I moved into my new apartment! I live in an area of Beijing called Dongzhimen (pronounced Dong-djeh-mun) which is a popular place for young professionals to live . . . both domestic and foreign. It’s small 4-room apartment with a comb
ination bedroom/living room (photo below), a very small and narrow kitchen, a bathroom, and a very small dining room that has one wall that is entirely windows facing the garden-courtyard in the middle of the complex (also, in near picture). I was shown 4 places and picked this one because it was very clean, new and cozy. One place was simply massive, and though it would’ve been a very nice place to live, it actually felt too big for me to live there alone.
The plan for the rest of the weekend is pretty straightforward. Dinner with Alex (the big boss) tonight; possibly heading out on the town with some of the other expats working at HighTeam later tonight; sleeping in tomorrow if at all possible; meeting with the team tomorrow to start to get the big-picture of the Spain project early tomorrow afternoon; and possibly touring Beijing in the afternoon with my co-worker Vivian after that (though I doubt I’ll have time for it). Then it’s back to work on Monday (more like back to the office, since I’ve been working outside of the office anyways :-P).
I’ll leave the descriptive part at that and move to a bit of miscellanea. China is just as strange as I remember. It’s the little things that I tend to notice. Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” (Chinese version) blasting out of a bar as I walked by. The theme song from Sex and the City as the ringer on a dude’s (yes, a middle-aged Chinese male’s) phone. Terrorizing rides down the wrong side of a 6-lane road in one of those covered tricycles in the rain, or driving diagonally through the middle of an intersection on it with cars whizzing by on both sides. Two guys on mopeds riding past in a bike lane: the man on the left moped drives about 2 feet behind the other guy and holds a big bundle of who-knows-what on the back of the other man’s moped with his right food (take a second to imagine the picture). The Chinese just have a different way of doing things. Seriously, it seems like whatever works tends to be good enough. It’s funny to see.
<----- My little, tiny kitchen
Life is already moving fast and furious here in Beijing. The first project I had of researching the Spanish culture and important Spanish holidays is well on its way. I made up a list of the possible celebrations that we could use in order to showcase Spanish culture, but since I am not a Spanish native, I really couldn’t give the perspective that was necessary to create a top-end proposal (which we need to present on Wednesday and for which we need a summary on Monday). Hence, last night we were in a bind . . . so we got creative.
On the suggestion of my team leader, three other team members and I researched the dining and nightlife scene here in Beijing and found every Spanish place that we could. Then we conducted some “field research.” Basically this means that we went out, had dinner, had some drinks and struck up conversations with anybody who could be an actual Spaniard at these Spanish venues. We struck gold once. We met a very nice man who grew up in Madrid and was quite excited to have some drinks with us and discuss his formative years, Spanish culture and Spanish holidays. All together, we spent about 5 hours eating, bar-hopping, taking pictures of Spanish influence in Beijing, and chatting with expats. Basically it was a night on the town paid for by the company. How’s that for work?
So the up-side of the story is that the company will pay for my fun as long as work is also mixed in. The downside is that I had to summarize the findings on a Saturday. So today was a mixture of writing summaries, creating powerpoints, having meetings, making phone calls and coordinating so that we can have a decent amount of work finished by Monday. After that stuff, I moved into my new apartment! I live in an area of Beijing called Dongzhimen (pronounced Dong-djeh-mun) which is a popular place for young professionals to live . . . both domestic and foreign. It’s small 4-room apartment with a comb
ination bedroom/living room (photo below), a very small and narrow kitchen, a bathroom, and a very small dining room that has one wall that is entirely windows facing the garden-courtyard in the middle of the complex (also, in near picture). I was shown 4 places and picked this one because it was very clean, new and cozy. One place was simply massive, and though it would’ve been a very nice place to live, it actually felt too big for me to live there alone.The plan for the rest of the weekend is pretty straightforward. Dinner with Alex (the big boss) tonight; possibly heading out on the town with some of the other expats working at HighTeam later tonight; sleeping in tomorrow if at all possible; meeting with the team tomorrow to start to get the big-picture of the Spain project early tomorrow afternoon; and possibly touring Beijing in the afternoon with my co-worker Vivian after that (though I doubt I’ll have time for it). Then it’s back to work on Monday (more like back to the office, since I’ve been working outside of the office anyways :-P).
I’ll leave the descriptive part at that and move to a bit of miscellanea. China is just as strange as I remember. It’s the little things that I tend to notice. Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” (Chinese version) blasting out of a bar as I walked by. The theme song from Sex and the City as the ringer on a dude’s (yes, a middle-aged Chinese male’s) phone. Terrorizing rides down the wrong side of a 6-lane road in one of those covered tricycles in the rain, or driving diagonally through the middle of an intersection on it with cars whizzing by on both sides. Two guys on mopeds riding past in a bike lane: the man on the left moped drives about 2 feet behind the other guy and holds a big bundle of who-knows-what on the back of the other man’s moped with his right food (take a second to imagine the picture). The Chinese just have a different way of doing things. Seriously, it seems like whatever works tends to be good enough. It’s funny to see.
<----- My little, tiny kitchen
A view out my window -->
Thursday, August 24, 2006
I Have Arrived!
(Written on Thursday, August 24, 2006, 10:56 p.m.)
The wait is over; I have finally arrived!!!
The trip was good . . . not too many tears were shed beforehand (which makes me happy since I really wanted to view this trip as a new adventure rather than a sad departure from my friends, and the smiles and hugs that I received have certainly helped to sustain that image). I flew and had layovers for pretty close to 24 hours. I left Madison at 10:01 a.m. for Chicago. Then I flew Air Korea to Seoul, and finally Air China to Beijing, arriving at 9:00 p.m. (either 8:00 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. Wisconsin time . . . I don’t remember). Luckily, there were no delays, hold-ups or anything like that, so the trip was smooth with the exception of the two arm-rest hogs I was stuck between on my 14 hour flight to Korea.
After arriving in Beijing, I was picked up by a girl named Vivian who works at HighTeam and a driver. They took me to the Hotel where I met my new supervisor, Allen. Allen is a very nice guy who just recently moved to HighTeam from Kodak (based in Shanghai) because he used to work with Alex (my connection to China) and wanted to work with him again. We talked a little bit about work and then I went to bed so I could catch up on the sleep that I lost.
Thursday morning started at 7:40 a.m. I had breakfast with Alex and Allen and then sat in on a meeting with a prospective client who is working with a Spanish telecom company that wants to throw a bunch of events for the upcoming “Year of Spain” here in China. As it turns out, I’ll have a little niche in the team that is completing this project because I am the only member of HighTeam that speaks Spanish. Hence, I may come to be a translator/interpreter for this project. Go figure: I travel half-way around the world to speak Spanish. I could speak Spanish at Woodman’s or the Vilas Zoo if I wanted. Ah well, It may get me involved in this project at a fairly deep level pretty quickly, which would be nice.
Immediately after that, Allen and I went to another meeting with a real estate consulting firm to woo another prospective client. And who’da thunk it . . . the owner of this company was a Frenchman. So hey, I got to speak another non Chinese language today.
After that, I got my first assignment: Research all of the major Spanish holidays (festivals, etc.) so that I can give a presentation on them today. But I certainly didn’t have any time to work on that during the early afternoon because I had to learn where to buy groceries, how and where to set up and work with bank accounts, and other general logistics such as that. But don’t worry, I got to go back and start that project at 4:00 p.m. I worked on it until about 7:00. After that, it was time for a team dinner. We sat around discussing some projects (I even got to throw out some ideas that were received very well by the others), eating delicious food and drinking beer until about 10:00. It was a good time. The people who work here seem to be very fun and very motivated. They complain about having no free time but laugh as they do it. I like that; it will certainly make work bearable if not fun. So yeah, in at 7:40 a.m., out at 10:00 p.m. It’s my first day at work and I’m already doing overtime. Haha . . . I guess I couldn’t have expected anything less. Oh yeah . . . and none of it was mathematical computer work (like I thought I’d be doing).
So I guess it’s fair to say that I hit the ground running. Luckily, I am not suffering from the effects of jetlag. Otherwise, today would’ve been pretty rough. Despite my sarcastic tone, I have a strange feeling that this job is going to be a pretty good fit for me. As some of you know, I have a rather short attention span and I tend to get tired of projects (and things in general) very quickly. I can tell already that this personality feature will not be at odds with my current job. The work is fast-paced and spontaneous. I’m sure that there’ll be times that I’m cursing the job because of my level of fatigue, but I am excited to be working right now. We’ll see what the future brings.
Tomorrow will be another full day. Finishing the Spain project is number one on the list, then I look at apartments, then I’ll probably get another project which I haven’t heard of yet, and then there’s talk of paintball after work. Yes, paintball. Then it’s the weekend and next week I start taking Chinese classes and working! Hurray!
Oh yeah. The company also gave me a phone. If you want to reach me to actually talk, just go to your local post office, buy an international phone card and email me to get my phone number. Bam! It’s that simple.
The wait is over; I have finally arrived!!!
The trip was good . . . not too many tears were shed beforehand (which makes me happy since I really wanted to view this trip as a new adventure rather than a sad departure from my friends, and the smiles and hugs that I received have certainly helped to sustain that image). I flew and had layovers for pretty close to 24 hours. I left Madison at 10:01 a.m. for Chicago. Then I flew Air Korea to Seoul, and finally Air China to Beijing, arriving at 9:00 p.m. (either 8:00 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. Wisconsin time . . . I don’t remember). Luckily, there were no delays, hold-ups or anything like that, so the trip was smooth with the exception of the two arm-rest hogs I was stuck between on my 14 hour flight to Korea.
After arriving in Beijing, I was picked up by a girl named Vivian who works at HighTeam and a driver. They took me to the Hotel where I met my new supervisor, Allen. Allen is a very nice guy who just recently moved to HighTeam from Kodak (based in Shanghai) because he used to work with Alex (my connection to China) and wanted to work with him again. We talked a little bit about work and then I went to bed so I could catch up on the sleep that I lost.
Thursday morning started at 7:40 a.m. I had breakfast with Alex and Allen and then sat in on a meeting with a prospective client who is working with a Spanish telecom company that wants to throw a bunch of events for the upcoming “Year of Spain” here in China. As it turns out, I’ll have a little niche in the team that is completing this project because I am the only member of HighTeam that speaks Spanish. Hence, I may come to be a translator/interpreter for this project. Go figure: I travel half-way around the world to speak Spanish. I could speak Spanish at Woodman’s or the Vilas Zoo if I wanted. Ah well, It may get me involved in this project at a fairly deep level pretty quickly, which would be nice.
Immediately after that, Allen and I went to another meeting with a real estate consulting firm to woo another prospective client. And who’da thunk it . . . the owner of this company was a Frenchman. So hey, I got to speak another non Chinese language today.
After that, I got my first assignment: Research all of the major Spanish holidays (festivals, etc.) so that I can give a presentation on them today. But I certainly didn’t have any time to work on that during the early afternoon because I had to learn where to buy groceries, how and where to set up and work with bank accounts, and other general logistics such as that. But don’t worry, I got to go back and start that project at 4:00 p.m. I worked on it until about 7:00. After that, it was time for a team dinner. We sat around discussing some projects (I even got to throw out some ideas that were received very well by the others), eating delicious food and drinking beer until about 10:00. It was a good time. The people who work here seem to be very fun and very motivated. They complain about having no free time but laugh as they do it. I like that; it will certainly make work bearable if not fun. So yeah, in at 7:40 a.m., out at 10:00 p.m. It’s my first day at work and I’m already doing overtime. Haha . . . I guess I couldn’t have expected anything less. Oh yeah . . . and none of it was mathematical computer work (like I thought I’d be doing).
So I guess it’s fair to say that I hit the ground running. Luckily, I am not suffering from the effects of jetlag. Otherwise, today would’ve been pretty rough. Despite my sarcastic tone, I have a strange feeling that this job is going to be a pretty good fit for me. As some of you know, I have a rather short attention span and I tend to get tired of projects (and things in general) very quickly. I can tell already that this personality feature will not be at odds with my current job. The work is fast-paced and spontaneous. I’m sure that there’ll be times that I’m cursing the job because of my level of fatigue, but I am excited to be working right now. We’ll see what the future brings.
Tomorrow will be another full day. Finishing the Spain project is number one on the list, then I look at apartments, then I’ll probably get another project which I haven’t heard of yet, and then there’s talk of paintball after work. Yes, paintball. Then it’s the weekend and next week I start taking Chinese classes and working! Hurray!
Oh yeah. The company also gave me a phone. If you want to reach me to actually talk, just go to your local post office, buy an international phone card and email me to get my phone number. Bam! It’s that simple.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Preparations Nearly Complete; Date Set
So now that all my visa stuff is in the mail (including my cool Chinese work permit that I totally can't read except for the phrases 中国 - China, 北京- Beijing, and 工作 - work), I finally booked my ticket. I'll be leaving at 10:01 am from Madison, Wisconsin on August 22, 2006 and arriving in China at 9:00 pm on August 23, 2006 after three flights and brief layovers in Chicago and Seoul, South Korea. Due to this sudden thrust into traveling responsibility, the reality of the trip is starting to set in. The four most extreme ideas follow:
1) Won't know anybody except for my boss (and perhaps Mr. Michael Neuenfeldt if he can find a job in the Beijing area);
2) won't be able to read much of anything (I've been trying to learn 10 to 20 Chinese characters per day. I think I'm up to about 100 in total. At this rate, I'll be literate in about 6 months . . . provided that grammar comes to me automatically through immersion);
3) still don't know exactly what I'll be doing for my work - it involves numbers, I think.
4) I'll be leaving all of my current friends (again, excepting the possible Neuenfeldt) my family.
The associated emotions: Fear, excitement, trepidation, anxiety (not necessairly with the bad connotation), and quite a bit of that wonder that comes along with beginning a completely foreign adventure; it is actually very hard to separate the jittery excitement from the fear when I slow down and actually pay attention to the feelings. Beyond these pervading sentiments, sadness that my college career is ending, a little premature nostalgia about the good times that I've had with my friends, and some meloncholy about the fact that I won't see my family for a while are the other thoughts and emotions that have crossed me.
But enough of that mushy gushy stuff. This sounds more like a diary entry than a blog. I'll leave off for now (probably until just before I leave, or until after I arrive).
再见
(I hope you all can read these characters and aren't just seeing stupid little boxes . . . that would be unfortunate)
1) Won't know anybody except for my boss (and perhaps Mr. Michael Neuenfeldt if he can find a job in the Beijing area);
2) won't be able to read much of anything (I've been trying to learn 10 to 20 Chinese characters per day. I think I'm up to about 100 in total. At this rate, I'll be literate in about 6 months . . . provided that grammar comes to me automatically through immersion);
3) still don't know exactly what I'll be doing for my work - it involves numbers, I think.
4) I'll be leaving all of my current friends (again, excepting the possible Neuenfeldt) my family.
The associated emotions: Fear, excitement, trepidation, anxiety (not necessairly with the bad connotation), and quite a bit of that wonder that comes along with beginning a completely foreign adventure; it is actually very hard to separate the jittery excitement from the fear when I slow down and actually pay attention to the feelings. Beyond these pervading sentiments, sadness that my college career is ending, a little premature nostalgia about the good times that I've had with my friends, and some meloncholy about the fact that I won't see my family for a while are the other thoughts and emotions that have crossed me.
But enough of that mushy gushy stuff. This sounds more like a diary entry than a blog. I'll leave off for now (probably until just before I leave, or until after I arrive).
再见
(I hope you all can read these characters and aren't just seeing stupid little boxes . . . that would be unfortunate)
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Intro
In an effort to cut back on the deluge of email that some readers may have received during my Europe trip and more of you would have received during this trip, I have decided to blog-it-up for my stint in China. That way, you may check up on me as you wish, on your time, without having to constantly delete this nonsense from your inbox. If you want to be added to an "update" list (which, fittingly, will be updated automatically whenever I post to this here blog), please send me an email (which you should already know, or which can be obtained easily from www.facebook.com if you ask me to be your friend), and I will gladly add you.
I highly doubt that I will be writing as much as I did when I was in Europe since life will be much more routine for me in China due to my pseudo-grown-up status, but China is a pretty crazy country, and I'm sure I'll have a story now and again. Happy reading!
再見
I highly doubt that I will be writing as much as I did when I was in Europe since life will be much more routine for me in China due to my pseudo-grown-up status, but China is a pretty crazy country, and I'm sure I'll have a story now and again. Happy reading!
再見
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