1 month has already passed. Am going to stop updating about work on a weekly basis. I have gotten accustomed to the working environment. My job role is slowly being defined. At the same time, I'm trying to handle the renovation project. It is very interesting negotiating with the local dealers. I doubt that I'm a good negotiator, both in terms of the language and also skill wise. So this is definitely good practice for me.

The only part concerns meeting or digging up new prospects. That's a little bit harder. The market here is very competitive. Just the past week, I went to the Fortune Cookie Christmas Party. Met some interesting people there:

1) This lady that works at this company which turns out to be a competitor of ours (well, in the sense that we are dealing with the same practice)
2) This lady whose last name is Cheng. When she saw my namecard, she was like, wow, same last name. Except that hers is really CHENG (程)
3) This lady's friend whose last name is Zhan. When I saw her namecard, I was like, wow, a fellow kin. Finally, someone with the same last name!!! How rare is that...

So, I'm still frequenting these networking events to talk to people, meet other people. Definitely headhunters are also lurking around. But I'll pass for now... :)

Had a Singaporeans Christmas party yesterday night Met a long-lost friend from 12 years ago (back in the JC days). She was one of the Chinese Chess players from Temasek JC. She came to Raffles JC for the competition and we met. Such a small world...And it was also the first time that I touched mahjong after 1 year? or even more. Wow...it sure feels great to play mahjong again. I'm not into gambling. Just like how intellectual the game can be. Ha.

Christmas is coming, so Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone. Shanghai does not celebrate Christmas, so I'm working on that day....What a dread...

Another post within the same day...
Better get some stuff down before I don't have time to jot it down.

Friend from New York was in town again on a business trip. In the short week that he was here (left this morning), I met up with him 3 times. Actually correction, I met hm 4 times.

The first time was at my company's building complex. I walked out of the lift and turn towards my office. Saw a bunch of rounded well attired old people around the corridor...and lo and behold, my friend was there entertaining them. Before you get the wrong impression, he is only in his early thirties, super smart and super capable.

2nd time was at a bar on the same day itself. Had a short drink and chat.

3rd time was playing cards at another friend's place. I thot we were playing mahjong, which was the reason why I went over there. I had not touched mahjong for a while. Turned out that we were playing big 2...and the loser would drink. My goodness, I have no idea how many cups I drank. Not as much as the rest, that's for sure (for they have been drinking veterans). I believe I had 5-6 cups of green tea + whisky. I was drunk. I laid down on the floor and started puking. They came to my "rescue" and I was firend with the toilet bowl for the next 2 hours. After that, I managed to get home, with the help of my friend. Woke up with a massive headache the next day...

4th time was last night, where I met up with him again to chill and hangout at a club called muse. This time, I avoided getting drunk for I have a meeting wtih my boss the next day. Phew...

When he's in town, everyone starts drinking...and boy can they drink...And I have this question on my mind, why do the Chinese like to drink so much!!!??? Wait till they get you to drink the bai jiu (white wine literal translation)...that's when you would die very fast. The Chinese' 百酒 is very potent...not recommended for the light hearted... :)

Third week had passed and I'm into my later half of the fourth week now. Have been late with posts...

So what happened?

During the third week, I went over to HongKong to do my work permit registration. At the same time, I took the opportunity to visit my good friend Melvyn again together with his wife and kid. My goodness, baby Michael is getting cuter by the day, and was definitely more responsive to attention now. He could follow my hand movements and turn his head.

On the sunday before I left, I met up with a whole bunch of friends. There was a friend from Singapore visiting. She came with her bf. I also managed to combine my Singaporean and INSEAD friends together. So hopefully next time I'm in HongKong, I can get everyone to come out together.

Third week was also the week that they finally nailed down who I was reporting to...and what my responsibilities and projects were. Have 3 projects on hand to work with. Let's see how that goes...

On a diffferent note, you have to be constantly be amazed at the brave cyclists in China. They are the KING of the roads. A bicycle against a bus...a bicycle would win, if the rider has the guts to cut in front of the bus. I have seen him and I am very very impressed. But ultimately, the true king is still the pedestrain, as long as you are brave and not care... :)

Second week has passed and I can say that things were more relaxed in the second week.

I managed to finally finish the negotiation with the landlord's management to get the LOI the way that we wanted it to be. Man, it has been a tiring process and a very good learning experience. How could I have prepared myself better? I should have asked more questions from my manager before he left for vacation. I was not prepared with all the information and that made things harder. In some sense, it was also easier because I basically had to run all things through another manager. Anyway, I should have known better and found out more about the things.

Finished the proposal draft in English. My colleague then took it and translated it into Chinese. At the moment, there's still some areas that need to be expanded upon, meaning that I had to work on it from now till the end of the week.

Partied with some friends on Friday night till 5am. My goodness...I didn't believe that I could last till that long. Basically, it was just sitting down, chatting with friends, dancing etc... :) On saturday, I met up with another bunch of friends. This time it is the Singaporean crowd and with the exception of one person, I basically did not know anyone else. Ha. How fun.

I moved into my new room on Sunday, so I spent the afternoon at Carrefour getting stuff to furnish my room. Just needed the basic stuff like pillows and bedsheets...

Now, 2 weeks have passed, I have moved to my new room, so I'm ready to dive into work...but first a minor thing with the work permit which I'm handling it over in Hong Kong.

I think my updates will be less frequent and just put things that happened to catch my attention.