Long story short, they didn't have much for me to do. Winston and Jason are both away on business.
6/17
At the bus stop, Rachel gave me Korean ramen! For real, from Korea!!
8:30-9:30 Sat around for an hour.
At 9:30, I made it my mission to ask someone if they needed help.
Since Rachel is the only person in the Finance department that is actually in the office, I asked Rachel if she needed any help. She was just like uh... not really... but come sit down and I'll show you stuff!
We spent a solid hour and 45 min with her showing me all of the different internal control files and programs they use, then she showed me her 140 slide powerpoint that she made (and has to make each month). She showed me the company's financials in excel, and how they consolidate it with Hyperion. She talked about all of the problems that are arising after the acquisition of Schramm because Schramm's policies are very different from Akzo Nobel's policies. Also, the managers of a bunch of the other branches don't talk very good English (lol) and also do not feel that accurate financial statements are important (lol). They only care about sales revenues.
Anyways, then it was 11, and I returned to my desk.
Stephanie (head of HR - Asia region) came up to me and asked if I was busy. I said no, and she gave me this 'presentation brief' for me to do.
Boring... it's about human resource management. Who cares about that kind of stuff??
She said it's to 'evaluate my presentation skills,' but it's just busy work... oh well at least I have something to do.
Now I'm researching all this HR structure and whatnot. The excitement is killing me!
Finished my presentation before the end of the day and sent it to her.
For dinner, I had ramen with 2 eggs and some cabbage! Yum!
On the way home, Rachel said that she is planning on going to Korea this weekend.
So, that would mean that 0 people from the Finance department will be in for the rest of the week. So, I decided to go back to Chengdu!
6/18
I was in contact with my parents and and my cousin for buying a ticket back to Chengdu. For some reason my parents think I'm incapable of doing things myself. Well, I had everything ready up to the final screen where you have to enter credit card info and pay... Turns out debit cards in China don't have a CVC code apparently, so I couldn't buy it. But I still was able to understand enough Chinese to find cheap tickets!
Ended up telling my cousin the flight numbers that I wanted, and she ordered them for me over the phone.
The rest of the day was spent killing time and sitting around.
My flight to Chengdu was scheduled for 11:45am on Wednesday (6/19) on Sichuan Airlines. So exciting!
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
6/16 - My cousin heads back to Chengdu
6/16
Woke up around 8:30 to my cousin calling me, saying she was already on her way over... She had told me I could sleep in, so I didn't set an alarm. Quickly brushed my teeth, and then she arrived. We ate a quick breakfast, and then headed to the supermarket to stock up on random stuff for the rest of my stay in Shanghai. Bought 3 more huge bottles of water, 2 cases of flavored milk (one strawberry, one sesame), a bunch of fruit and foods. Nothing really exciting.
Here are some pics of the supermarket.
Fruity flavored Oreos.............???????(yum grape/peach)??????? and also birthday cake <33333 ;D
Anyways, we dropped the stuff off at home, and we tried to wash my laundry. We found out that my washing machine is broken... Water goes in, but then the water just goes right out, instead of staying in the machine. So my clothes got all wet and covered in detergent and bleach, but were not washed...
She left around 3, and then I went to buy a wash basin to hand-wash my wet clothes -______-
At around 5, I left home to meet up with another of my parents' friends from Lawrenceville and their daughter (Tiantian) who is an entrepreneur in Shanghai right now. We had dinner in the city, and it was pretty nice.
Then on the way home, my Baidu maps app told me there was a bus stop near the subway stop, so I got off.
This was South Shanghai Station. It should have a bus stop... but when I walked out there was no bus stop anywhere. And it was pitch black. In retrospect, I probably could've just gotten back on the subway and gotten off at the next stop and then taken the bus... but instead, I decided to take a taxi.
Guy didn't know how to get there at first... and asked me if I knew how to get there. I don't like living in Shanghai and not knowing how to get home. Anyway, I showed him my map on my phone, and he took me home safely. Wish my Chinese was better... and that I could communicate with people and that I knew how to read street signs and that I knew what the development I live in is called...
Woke up around 8:30 to my cousin calling me, saying she was already on her way over... She had told me I could sleep in, so I didn't set an alarm. Quickly brushed my teeth, and then she arrived. We ate a quick breakfast, and then headed to the supermarket to stock up on random stuff for the rest of my stay in Shanghai. Bought 3 more huge bottles of water, 2 cases of flavored milk (one strawberry, one sesame), a bunch of fruit and foods. Nothing really exciting.
Here are some pics of the supermarket.
Fruity flavored Oreos.............???????(yum grape/peach)??????? and also birthday cake <33333 ;D
Anyways, we dropped the stuff off at home, and we tried to wash my laundry. We found out that my washing machine is broken... Water goes in, but then the water just goes right out, instead of staying in the machine. So my clothes got all wet and covered in detergent and bleach, but were not washed...
She left around 3, and then I went to buy a wash basin to hand-wash my wet clothes -______-
At around 5, I left home to meet up with another of my parents' friends from Lawrenceville and their daughter (Tiantian) who is an entrepreneur in Shanghai right now. We had dinner in the city, and it was pretty nice.
Then on the way home, my Baidu maps app told me there was a bus stop near the subway stop, so I got off.
6/15 - More Shanghai Sightseeing!!!!!
My cousin and I woke up around 8, and she came over shortly after. We ate a light breakfast (which included these awesome shengjianbao, which is basically a fried xiaolongbao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).
and left for our adventure!
Our plan was to hit up Nanpu Bridge, which was the farthest, first. Then, we would work our way back. Then, at night we had to go to my dad's friend's (who works at AkzoNobel) house. Then after that, we would go to the Bund to see the city lit up at night.
Online, we found that you could take an elevator onto Nanpu Bridge for 5RMB, and we wanted to go up and walk on it. So we took the subway there, only to find out that they had gotten rid of that a while ago... stupid internet. But we still got to take a few pics of the bridge (not that great).
Also while we were there snapping away photos, these two guys were arguing and pushing and shoving each other. Apparently this one guy tricked the other guy into buying tickets for something, and the tickets fell through. This guy was yelling all these things and smacking him around. I probably should not promote violence, but for some reason I thoroughly enjoy watching Chinese people argue.
After we had been at the bridge for about 5 minutes, we got bored of it. We headed back onto the subway to Xintiandi.
The koi were really stupid... If you put your hand out, they swarmed toward you and kept opening their mouths.
They are seriously like Magikarp.
I also did my own fair share of fake wiener-ing.
After we were done at Yuyuan, around 4:30, we called up my dad's friend, and he told us to take a taxi to his house. By the way, his house is way outside of the city on the Pudong (East) side. Since we are poor, we decided to take a subway halfway, and then taxi it. We got to his house around 6:30, and then the other intern, Jen, came at around 7. Dinner tasted... not so great. It's difficult to think of a time when I have been more under-impressed. It was just chicken tenders, and some small amounts of a few Chinese dishes that take no preparation. They had about two drops of ketchup. Their house is huge though. And they have a massive dog.
We managed to slip out before Jen at around 8:30, and took a taxi to the Bund! Unfortunately, it was a bit foggy because of the rain...
(with a bite taken out)
and left for our adventure!
Our plan was to hit up Nanpu Bridge, which was the farthest, first. Then, we would work our way back. Then, at night we had to go to my dad's friend's (who works at AkzoNobel) house. Then after that, we would go to the Bund to see the city lit up at night.
Online, we found that you could take an elevator onto Nanpu Bridge for 5RMB, and we wanted to go up and walk on it. So we took the subway there, only to find out that they had gotten rid of that a while ago... stupid internet. But we still got to take a few pics of the bridge (not that great).
Also while we were there snapping away photos, these two guys were arguing and pushing and shoving each other. Apparently this one guy tricked the other guy into buying tickets for something, and the tickets fell through. This guy was yelling all these things and smacking him around. I probably should not promote violence, but for some reason I thoroughly enjoy watching Chinese people argue.
After we had been at the bridge for about 5 minutes, we got bored of it. We headed back onto the subway to Xintiandi.
And after walking around for a bit, we even stopped for some exotic Starbucks!
I got a java chip frappuccino, and it did not taste as good as in NYC. Also, they don't even write your name on the cup...
Afterwards, we headed back to Yuyuan and Chenghuangmiao.
After we got out of the subway station, we saw a lady selling jackfruit... needless to say, bought some and it was my first time eating jackfruit!!!
For some reason, the entrance to Yuyuan is really hard to find and is kind of hidden inside of a maze. We finally found a map after taking the long way all the way around Yuyuan's outer wall. At this point, it was already around 1:30, and I was starving. So we went to get more xiaochi!
Calamari
With our stomachs full, we finally headed toward the long-sought-after Yuyuan. It was pretty cool.
They are seriously like Magikarp.
selfie :*
After we were done at Yuyuan, around 4:30, we called up my dad's friend, and he told us to take a taxi to his house. By the way, his house is way outside of the city on the Pudong (East) side. Since we are poor, we decided to take a subway halfway, and then taxi it. We got to his house around 6:30, and then the other intern, Jen, came at around 7. Dinner tasted... not so great. It's difficult to think of a time when I have been more under-impressed. It was just chicken tenders, and some small amounts of a few Chinese dishes that take no preparation. They had about two drops of ketchup. Their house is huge though. And they have a massive dog.
We managed to slip out before Jen at around 8:30, and took a taxi to the Bund! Unfortunately, it was a bit foggy because of the rain...
I <3 SH.
Oriental Pearl Tower!
HSBC Building and the Customs House
Took a quick nap apparently
Bund Flower Wall
Headed back to Nanjing Road to get on the subway home.
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