My Beijing training day is over now. Things went very well. I’m beat but I can post a few words about it.
There were 36 attendees for today’s training. None of them spoke English, which made my training last at least twice as long once the translation (and spotty hotel internet) was factored in. It was awkward to have to stop every few sentences and wait for the Chinese version, but we got by. I think Jasper, our Beijing colleague, got more information across in his 15-minute talk than Gary and I did all day.
I was impressed that such a large group hung in there the whole day. If my blabbering alone wasn’t enough to bore them, hearing it in two languages must have been twice as boring. They asked good questions during the talk and left with smiles on their faces. I hope they go out and sell now!
After the training we were invited to dinner with John, the company’s country manager for China. We stopped by the company office to pick up Logan before heading to the restaurant.
No sooner had we gotten in the car than BOOM! We weren’t going anywhere because the roads were gridlocked with the notoriously bad Beijing traffic. I think it took an hour for us to drive 6 kilometers. I must have stared at the back of the same VW Sahara for 45 minutes while neither one of us was moving. We could’ve walked in baby steps and arrived sooner! I’ll never again laugh at the bicyclists here taking their lives into their own hands: a bicycle is still the easiest way to get around Beijing.
We finally made it to the restaurant, a famous, traditional Chinese restaurant next to the B&Binn (unfortunately I never caught the name of this restaurant). On the menu were, um, interesting dishes such as (and I am not making this up) grilled fish head, goose gizzard, rabbit intestine, and God knows what else. I played it safe with an order of stir-fried shrimp but still got roped into trying others’ rabbit stew (tasty!) and cow’s foot (imagine eating fatty cartilege- yuck!). After my requisite tastes of the exotic meals, I tried my damnedest to fill up on the broccoli and mushrooms before anyone offered seconds!
Talk with John, Logan, and Gary ranged from kids (of course), golf courses of the world, Las Vegas, Beijing traffic (of course), China vacation spots off the beaten path, Australia’s overrated Gold Coast, and many others. I truly enjoyed hearing my Chinese colleagues’ opinions on matters. We all got along very well.
Tomorrow we fine-tune our training presentation before hopping a 3:30 plane to Shanghai. I’ll be there until Saturday evening, when I fly back to Beijing to catch my flight home the following day. I’m told Shanghai is much like Hong Kong now: glittery, modern, and quite expensive. I’m looking forward to my first look at this world-famous city.