Work Recap
This weekend started out with a team meeting on friday. We met at about 8:30 for dinner once everyone was done with work for the week. It was just so encouraging to hear how the rest of the team was doing - especially the guys who I didn't get to see really throughout the week. Everyone started out pretty rough on monday, but by friday was beginning to see some hope and have a renewed perspective. Chinese business is just so different than an American company. To but it simply, most Chinese are never taught in school to have a vision or to problem solve, so there is very little initiative or creativity taken in business. This is sometimes frusterating for Americans that are always taught to have a 5, 10, and 20 year plan in business and that the way to get ahead is to think creatively and take initiative. This isn't the problem with all chinese business, its just something my team has experienced so far. i personally have found though, that Chinese coworkers are much more interested in me personally than sometimes American coworkers are. They are more likely to invite me to social events and want to be my friend instead of just a coworker. Anyway, I am sitll just editing but looking forward to opportunities to share during lunch! During the meeting we were able to lift each other up to our father and it was so encouraging.
Weekend Activities - volunteering
This weekend we joined the group from the Beijing International Chr* Fellow* (BICF) to do a morning work project at CMC - Compassion for Migrant Children. CMC provides schooling and training for migrant worker's children. so many chinese come to the cities to work, but their children are not allowed to recieve schooling if their parents aren't officially residents. This chr* organization trains teachers and provides schooling and love to these neglected kids. Our task as a group with the others there was to clean, paint, weed, and move furniture to prepare the building to be made into classrooms and dormitories. I think it was the grossest work I have done in a long time, but so rewarding. I had a slight outburst when I moved a box and a mouse ran out, but for the most part we just got incredibly dusty, dirty, and tired. The school workers were so thankful for our help, and we will continue to volunteer there every other saturday. Hopefully next time we will be able to interact with the kids.
The rest of saturday was spent resting. I also had dinner with STephanie who will be my accountability partner during this time here. We went to IKEA and got dessert because Chinese really don't eat sweet foods. Sunday we went to ch* and then had a long team meeting. Oh, and our toilet got clogged so we had to find somewhere to buy a plunger. Quite hilarious. Also, we did laundry and they don't have dryers here so it takes a long time to wash it and then hang it all up to dry. I think everyone on the team was appreciative of a little more rest this weekend compared to last though.
