Monday 12th and Tueday 13th October 2009

I still feel the effects of jetlag and the 3 hour time difference as I wake up at 6 in the morning. And its definitely not everyday that you get driven to work by the Managing Director in a Lincoln Navigator no less. That was another experience which was like wowsers. Going to work in peak hour GZ traffic is indescribeable – mayhem, chaos, traffic. So I survived the ride in the monster truck and got a lift right to the front door (no joke) of the office building and factory. Its a little more rundown than I expected it to be but the factory and site have been around for over 15 years now.

I met the rest of the team that I was to be working with. They're mostly in their 20s and from around the area. I did, despite my and their best effort, find the language barrier a bit difficult to cross but that was when they were speaking Mandarin (over 50% of the time). It was both an amusing and gracious gesture when they had their meeting in English for my sake. At least I understood =P

However, I do feel that there are some aspects of the work environment I will not get use to here: their long work hours are a little beyond comprehension for me – I am simply not use to 12 hour days unless you paid me overtime for each and every hour. I don't really understand why their make singing practice part of the work curriculum. Like, that's kind of awkward when you can neither sing or read the Chinese lyrics.

Apart from these massive changes, I spent the day correcting Chinglish on their product labels and reading about the company. And yes, it is a big company. O_O

Had dinner at this high class place with these awesome crabs. Like.. the cholestrol was oozing out of them. Yummy.

11 p.m.

Finally back after a pretty intense day. I got to meet some of the business partners and got to see the not so flash hot parts of the site. My day started with a couple of familiar faces and one not so familiar but important person. In a nutshell, I pretty much got to rub shoulders with a whole bunch of very important people. This morning, the grandfather was at the house this morning (which sort of reminds me how these people are still very normal) – i've met him a few time in Australia when he and the grandma come to visit the grankiddies. It was so pleasant and reassuring to see him and the familiarity it brought. The other person I met this morning was the wife, mistress of the house and other important figurehead in the running of the company.

Work was pretty constant today. It involved a lot of different things. The standout of my morning would be the lunch break (not even an hour, more like 20 or 30 minutes). It was literally like a prison cell cafeteria. From the seats, to the lines down to the food itself – a pile of green and brown mushy stuff and trays of steamed rice. In other words, not so pleasant and hence, I stared at my food more than ate it. But yet another aspect of factory life in China. The factory is so big that it has its own mess hall. Who woulda thought? And because the workers work predominantly in the production side of things – 16 hours a day, 6 days a week – all the other departments also have to work 6 days a week. O_o Obviously not 16 hours a day but probably comes out close anyhow. Wheres the time to party? =P

It was quite funny to see that all the girls (my co-workers) come back from lunch and just nap the afternoon away – no wonder they all had cushions on their seats! Things got interesting around 2 pm. This was when our first guests – international business partners – were to arrive. A couple of people went to pick them up and we went to have a late lunch business meeting at a pretty nice close by restaurant. I say pretty nice because it was a private room with lounges etc but the toilet was still a squat one. EPIC FAIL. All the food gwailos would eat: duck, prawns, steamed fish, scallops. There were three gentlemen this afternoon – two from Australia and one from Iran.

We got back to the factory site for a tour of the building and the factory. Pretty amazing the stuff that goes on. From the very beginning: making the containers, the labels, the printing all the way through to producing the product, packaging and shipping. It's all done here at the site which is phenomenal and something you have to witness to comprehend. It certainly opened my eyes a bit. Not the cleanest place to walk around either. At this stage, I had a pretty good talk with one of the Australian partners about the difference between Australian and Chinese OH&S policies – I.e., it is non-existent here in China. ;) We then headed back to the main building to see the quality control, lab and marketing ad sales side of the business and then headed to the office to wrap things up. I think they were pretty impressed. =)

The evening involved another three business associates – again from Australia (hahaha, see why I was tricked into coming here now?) - Melbourne in particular. So very nice people – Robert, Brian and Bronwyn. I learnt things and then some. Brian use to live in South Hurstville before he relocated to Melbourne. I learnt more about household names such as Hills (from Hillshoist), Bailey (ladders), Wattle (paint) as well as other numerous companies – Fuller in particular. I was also told to take this opportunity I was given and not look back. I'm still contemplating that one...

I just wish things were more.. established here.

Anyway, I failed to mention the restaurant was very posh. Private room. LV couches. Ensuite Japanese toilets. View of Pearl River. Expensive. Food was awesome, except for the silkworms. Yes, I said silkworms and YES I did try them. To the huge amusement of all my colleagues and being egged on by the Aussies. ROFL. I happen to think that my boss ordered them on purpose cause he was laughing the hardest. I guess it wasn't that bad... (tries not to regurgitate).

I love being driven around GZ in flash cars however, the driving on the right and left hand steer takes getting use to. And GZ drivers are quite forceful. I saw a little sedan wedged – like stuck – between two trucks trying to turn, not very pleasant. Tonight it was a BMW and what a new, pretty machine it was. Gotta look up the model cause its hot an the interior was awesome right down to the automatic sunshades. We dropped our guests off at their hotel and called it a night. Its actually almost midnight and I have a long day tomorrow. =]