NI, Hao China – Arriving and Induction day!

by reemalaadin

After a 7 and a half hour journey on the Ryan Air of China – I’m finally in CHINA!

we were greeted by the CRCC coordinators and taken to the hotel; our hotel was Century Towers, I was in the middle of Shaungjing; near restaurants and the subway! so the holiday (I mean work) begins! The first day was mainly filled with introductions, the usual blah blah blah… we then had our first meal in china – traditional Japanese. Sushi and Salmon, I was in heaven, it was a simple meal but it had so much flavour. My oh My, I’m getting hungry thinking about it.

Day 2 was the CRCC induction, we learnt the basics of Chinese business etiquette, it was crazy different to the UK. Even handing out business cards was starting to get me nervous, oh yes.. did I not mention.. we have business cards.. stand aside fellow students I am a business woman (hear me roar)!… ( too weird?). In China you have to hand over your business card with two hands with your name and information facing them, most of us couldn’t help but do a little bow at the end as well. You can’t put the card away until the person has left . It’s not that complicated but the idea of doing even the slightest thing wrong sent us into panic. We all wore business attire to the induction day, walking down the road, made me feel like I was on an episode of the Apprentice, a swarm of suited and booted westerners walking towards a restaurant called ‘Sea food and Dumplings’ ( actually very nice inside). The induction was helpful, with a bit of Mandarin at the end, sending us further into confusion.