Work!

so another week gone, and this one has been (well, actually most are...) slightly different to the last.

Firstly a lady at the British Embassy invited me to join a dinner with the second in charge of the embassy (position =Minister for some reason) and a few other people to talk about CSR with the President of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) who is also Chairman of Cadbury-Scweppes...So that was nice

Secondly, we had another guest speaker (as apart of the CSR education programme I am running in AIESEC), from Switzerland talking about 'sustainable livelihoods' -doing business with the poor for mutual benefit. She promptly went out clubbing with some of the students (I had to rest!). Having met 2 of the full-timers from the WBCSD (her organisation), I am very impressed. They are young people who are very intelligent, very effective and both idealistic and realistic at the same time. They seem to actually achieve things! When me and Chris met the first lady a month ago, both of us were kind of in awe ("I want to be like her", "I want to work for her" kind of thing!)

Thirdly I stared my unpaid afternoons internship at the British Chamber of Commerce, where I now sit in an air conditioned office :) (since its about 30 degrees outside) working on sponsorship and PR for the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Awards that the chamber is running. So its quite interesting for me. Excitingly I actually get to work with someone else, closely on this project..which is the first time ever. I have worked in teams, but never on the same thing, and certainly not full-time. Its quite stimulating, since Sam (boss/colleague) is also (like I am...!) intelligent and capable, plus a lot of fun. Ironically asking for lots of money in pounds has made me realise how little money we are trying to get (we, as in AIESEC) in RMB, and we should be much more confident about what we are 'selling'. I've also got a new perspective on how to package products, since i am actually selling a non-aiesec product (but similar in some ways).

So life ticks on. I am building more networks, some job opportunities are kind of on the horizon (hopefully paid), but nothing sorted yet, although Sam is trying to get me to work at the Chamber (paid, but not great, not that that bothers me) -I have to think if its what i want to do, or what else comes up. Of course I should actually go back to school (I am still there in the mornings for another month) for another semester as my chinese needs more work, but who ever turns down jobs to go study??

All the Chinese are out in force with their umbrellas shielding themselves from the sun which is very dangerous, and looks plain ridiculous (from my cultural standpoint!). I have to say, it sucks wearing smart clothes in this weather whilst commuting, it also sucks working in an office that is pretty professional. The AIESEC UK (and China) offices were much more fun! This weekend we head to the beach (got into the spirit since Qingdao's beach last weekend).

All thats left to say is good luck to my sister who gets her degree result in a few days, i know she'll do great!