Monday morning, Monday morning! The big meeting is TOMORROW! I’m so exhausted.
Yesterday turned out to be a good day of sorts. After I wrote yesterday’s NJM entry, I went to breakfast and ran into some of the people I will be meeting with tomorrow. One of the women I’ll give my presentation to is a surly, grumpy bitch and I never really like dealing with her. She’s always negative and acts like she just hates being over here in China yet she’s here time and time again…complaining to the staff and causing general chaos because they don’t understand her half the time and she gets frustrated and nasty. During our presentations, she spends half her time on her phone, texting and emailing and it’s just so rude, rude, rude! Not looking forward to that.
But I was as friendly as I could be with her and this other guy and then turned and got my breakfast at the buffet and went back to my table on the other side of the giant hotel restaurant.
The breakfast buffets at every hotel I’ve stayed in here in China are usually quite spectacular. There’s always a Western section with eggs, bacon, sausage, toast/bread, etc. and then there’s always a giant Asian section with rice, noodles, fish, dumplings, vegetables, and the fruit and pastry sections are fresh and beautiful - it’s always fun to cruise the buffets and try a few new things each time. But I think the most comforting is being able to have a Western breakfast knowing I’ll be having Chinese food the rest of the day.
And I like to listen to the conversations when I can understand them. There’s usually something going on at the hotels where I’m staying (except for the first hotel on this trip, which was 100% Chinese), and this time there was some kind of oncology convention. I listened to a few doctors yesterday and there were some technology guys the morning before. I was seated directly next to them. Anyway, nothing too exciting, but always interesting to hear what’s going on over here.
I took my walk yesterday and it was COLD outside. A cold front had moved through the night before and I was FREEZING. I didn’t pack quite right. While I did bring sweaters and scarves for the chill, I wasn’t prepared for COLD.
Luckily, I’m staying next to Nanjing Road, which is a very long shopping street. Part of it is a pedestrian street that goes all the way to the Bund (riverfront area), but the other direction is more and more shopping for miles. I walked a couple of miles the other way, briskly, noting the places where I thought I could shop to get one of those very lightweight, packable down jackets. I love those.
I walked all the way to the temple I referenced in the previous entry, but decided against going in because I wanted to get back to the hotel by around noon so I could get my presentation close to being finished, so I walked over to another shopping mall just to browse the high-end stuff (Gucci, LV, the Tori Burch store there is AMAZING!), and then walked back down the road to a Uniqlo store where I found exactly what I was looking for - a packable down jacket in a black and white print resembling houndstooth. Very cute, and I’ll probably wear it all winter if it doesn’t get super blustery cold!
Then back to the hotel where I got down to business with the presentation. It took me longer than I wanted, but it was good to hole up in my room and get some things done. Soon enough it was time to go to the meeting rooms to see if I could find someone to help me with the meeting space. I knew it was going to be difficult because the person who’s working with us has very limited English and I’d met with her earlier and she was totally confused. So I went to the events office and of course, there was NOBODY there. This hotel is HUGE and there were all kinds of events going on, from weddings to large meetings to dinner preparations. I can’t believe how chaotic it was and nobody was in the events office. I’m no party planner, but WOW.
Luckily, I was persistent and walked around until I found someone who could help me - he turned out to be the assistant events manager and he was absolutely fantastic! His English was very good and he was polite and personable and wonderful! I got everything squared away for tonight (meeting room set up) and tomorrow’s meeting. LOVED this guy!
I was so happy with myself (believe me, when I can have a conversation with someone here who understands everything I’m saying, it’s a huge accomplishment!) that I went to the hotel bar to treat myself to a glass of champagne before Pseudo Boss checked in.
Had one glass and was getting ready to head back up to my room when a stranger at the bar asked me if he could buy me a drink! Okay guys, this hasn’t happened in a very, very long time. I can’t remember how long it’s been…
So I said, sure, as long as it could be a quick drink because I was waiting for my boss. He was like, fine…as in “fine, let’s have a drink,” but also fine as in really nice looking!
He was David from Montreal and he is a hockey equipment designer/engineer/researcher. I loved talking with him because I could hear a hint of flirt in his voice and, seriously, nobody has flirted with me in what feels like 100 years. He made me feel so nice, but unfortunately I kept looking around to make sure that Pseudo Boss wasn’t checking in already or standing right behind me, so it was a tad uncomfortable.
Anyway, he was going to dinner on his own and I know he would have invited me to dinner if I hadn’t already had plans with P-Boss and FO.
So he left for his dinner reservation and then who should come walking into the lounge but the WHOLE crew from my customer’s company - including the BIGGEST WIG woman. There were 5 of them in all, and we exchanged pleasantries and I said I had to go get ready for dinner with P-Boss, so I split that scene.
Of course, when I got back to my room there was an email from P-Boss telling me that he was too tired from the flight to go to dinner with me!! Fuckity-fuck! You meant to tell me I could have gone to dinner with the hot Canadian?? Fuck.
By that point I didn’t have the gumption to take myself to dinner, so I ordered room service and it was another solo meal for me. I’m getting tired of this!
Then to bed with HBO (loser) and up early again today.
Okay peeps, I gotta start this day. I’ve got some more presentation to put together, going to the office and then back to the hotel to review with P-Boss, then (hopefully) dinner, then check out the meeting room progress, then a drink with C (our sales director) who gets into town tonight.
I really need for there to be some kind of shenanigans on this trip before I leave. I’m antsy for an adventure, though I don’t see that happening now until after the big meeting.
Stay tuned, though. That one little flirt session has gotten my motor running…
Love n’ kisses,
GS
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