My schedule for the past week has been weird, thanks to the Chinese government. It was Moon Festival last Thursday so we got Thurs, Fri and Sat off. We work Sunday-Fri, another day off, two more days of work, then a week off, which is nice, but we have another 6 day work week when we come back. The schedule makes no sense and is SO hard to keep track of. I am considering skipping work one day and blaming it on the reds.
In other news, something nice happened in this long ass week. One of my good friends from college had a baby! I woke up to her text this morning and its kind of made my day. From what I can tell, everything went pretty smoothly. I was a little worried before (something about preggers makes me nervous) but I'm glad she and the baby are fine. She handled the pregnancy so well from beginning to end. Amazing!
My cousin had a baby this summer but it didn't feel as exciting as this. Sorry baby Leo ;) This is my college friend. We're the same age. We used to gossip about who amongst our friends will get married first. And now she's married and has a baby. Holy crap in a bucket. We really are grown ups. When I was a kid, I used to watch all the grown ups and think, man these people are so tall and put together. At some point, we became those people except in no way do I have my life together.
SOOO I wonder who's gonna get married next? Or have babies?? I have yet to attend a friend wedding. Can someone get on that? Maybe a destination wedding, say Hawaii?
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Beijing is best
A lot of people laugh when I tell them about the stereotypes for different regions/provinces in China. Beijingers, and people from the north in general, are easy going and straightforward. Southerners, like Shanghainese, are meticulous and good with money. Some provinces are "pure" whereas others are where all the crooks are born. I guess there's nothing like it in the States, besides Southerners being "slow", West Coast hippie surfers, and an all around ridicule of Texans I never really understood.
Particularly deep rooted in China, is the rivalry between Beijing and Shanghai. I of course rep Beijing pretty hard, and you can definitely tell when I talk. Growing up in a place where people talk about Shanghai with a grimace and head shake, I couldn't help but fall into that.
In my limited experience living here, I can see where the stereotypes come from. To an outsider, Shanghainese are very exclusive. People here speak a dialect that is incomprehensible to outsiders. Even if you learn it, locals can tell immediately whether you're an old-timer. Someone actually scoffed at me when I said I wanted to learn some Shanghainese. Geez. They're also known to be snobby. Girls here are more fashionable and have "delicate features" as they say, but they're also high maintenance and difficult to warm up to.
They certainly have biases about Beijingers, too. To them, we're dirty, unsophisticated, sloppy, and someone said we smell like garlic. Pretty much hot mess status.
The garlic thing aside, I could kind of see it. We're kind of a bunch of rascals. We laugh like maniacs and talk like crude tomboys. And we really don't give a f***. I kind of like it. We keep it real, and what's more important than that? So, sorry Shanghai, you're cool but Beijing is best.
Particularly deep rooted in China, is the rivalry between Beijing and Shanghai. I of course rep Beijing pretty hard, and you can definitely tell when I talk. Growing up in a place where people talk about Shanghai with a grimace and head shake, I couldn't help but fall into that.
In my limited experience living here, I can see where the stereotypes come from. To an outsider, Shanghainese are very exclusive. People here speak a dialect that is incomprehensible to outsiders. Even if you learn it, locals can tell immediately whether you're an old-timer. Someone actually scoffed at me when I said I wanted to learn some Shanghainese. Geez. They're also known to be snobby. Girls here are more fashionable and have "delicate features" as they say, but they're also high maintenance and difficult to warm up to.
They certainly have biases about Beijingers, too. To them, we're dirty, unsophisticated, sloppy, and someone said we smell like garlic. Pretty much hot mess status.
The garlic thing aside, I could kind of see it. We're kind of a bunch of rascals. We laugh like maniacs and talk like crude tomboys. And we really don't give a f***. I kind of like it. We keep it real, and what's more important than that? So, sorry Shanghai, you're cool but Beijing is best.
Monday, September 16, 2013
New hobby
Something crazy happened to my VPN last week. I'm not sure what happened, and I'm not sure how it fixed itself, but I can finally access my blog again. Yay!
During my hiatus from blogging, I took up a grandma hobby- plants. I was never that into having plants, mainly because of the upkeep required, but also because I've never lived on my own before. Not sure why that was a factor in my decision not to own plants, but now that I live alone, I am all about making my little home pretty. Not to mention, plants can purify the air and collect dust entering the home.
So, last weekend, I set out to Shanghai's flower market to buy me some plants. I ended up getting three plants and one flower for my wine bottle vase (so nifty I know). I'm not sure what two of the plants are called in English, but the other one is mint. Aren't they awesome?
But wait, this is actually a sad story. The guy at the market told me that these plants need to be watered everyday. Being a total noob, I followed his instructions religiously and watered them a lot every morning. I was so proud of myself for remembering. Things were going well for about 5 days, and then out of nowhere two of them died. I think I drowned them in too much water. So sad. Now I am just trying to keep the last one alive.
Fingers crossed xx
During my hiatus from blogging, I took up a grandma hobby- plants. I was never that into having plants, mainly because of the upkeep required, but also because I've never lived on my own before. Not sure why that was a factor in my decision not to own plants, but now that I live alone, I am all about making my little home pretty. Not to mention, plants can purify the air and collect dust entering the home.
So, last weekend, I set out to Shanghai's flower market to buy me some plants. I ended up getting three plants and one flower for my wine bottle vase (so nifty I know). I'm not sure what two of the plants are called in English, but the other one is mint. Aren't they awesome?
But wait, this is actually a sad story. The guy at the market told me that these plants need to be watered everyday. Being a total noob, I followed his instructions religiously and watered them a lot every morning. I was so proud of myself for remembering. Things were going well for about 5 days, and then out of nowhere two of them died. I think I drowned them in too much water. So sad. Now I am just trying to keep the last one alive.
Fingers crossed xx
Friday, September 6, 2013
TGIF
My first week is finally over. It wasn't perfect, but I had unreasonable expectations. I was hoping everyone at work would like me immediately, be impressed so they can tell boss man, and then everyone will realize that the office can't run without me and I will have a job forever. That didn't happen.
Boss man told people to send him projects so he can review before passing it along, so I waited. Then, he calls me in, has no work for me and tells me (in a nice way) that I can be proactive and ask people for stuff. If I had known that it was okay, I would have done that ages ago!
I am also really affected by this billable hours business. First of all, I have no idea how to use the online program for billing and no one has time to teach me. I don't know what kind of work is billable and what isn't. What about the 20 mins I talk to boss man? Or check my e-mail? Apparently everything has to be recorded. Today, I finally learned the program and spent an hour logging everything from the week. Then I had to log the amount of time I spent logging...
After logging my hours, I left the office feeling disappointed in my performance this week. I didn't realize how little my week was billable. It is kind of upsetting to see that out of 10 hours I work, only half was billable, the rest unbillable or unaccounted for. And holy crap I am such a slow worker. I spent 7 hours translating a few pages of DD. Granted, it was all technical legalese on stocks options but still! It's so embarrassing to log and I feel like I have so little to show for my day. I see why law firms do things this way now. It's a self-inflicted cycle of guilt, pressure and overtime.
I know I am crazy to expect everything to go perfectly from the get go. I have to keep reminding myself to be okay with the downs of this transition. New focus: get it together this weekend, do some fun things and recharge. Imma rock that bitch next week. YEAH.
Boss man told people to send him projects so he can review before passing it along, so I waited. Then, he calls me in, has no work for me and tells me (in a nice way) that I can be proactive and ask people for stuff. If I had known that it was okay, I would have done that ages ago!
I am also really affected by this billable hours business. First of all, I have no idea how to use the online program for billing and no one has time to teach me. I don't know what kind of work is billable and what isn't. What about the 20 mins I talk to boss man? Or check my e-mail? Apparently everything has to be recorded. Today, I finally learned the program and spent an hour logging everything from the week. Then I had to log the amount of time I spent logging...
After logging my hours, I left the office feeling disappointed in my performance this week. I didn't realize how little my week was billable. It is kind of upsetting to see that out of 10 hours I work, only half was billable, the rest unbillable or unaccounted for. And holy crap I am such a slow worker. I spent 7 hours translating a few pages of DD. Granted, it was all technical legalese on stocks options but still! It's so embarrassing to log and I feel like I have so little to show for my day. I see why law firms do things this way now. It's a self-inflicted cycle of guilt, pressure and overtime.
I know I am crazy to expect everything to go perfectly from the get go. I have to keep reminding myself to be okay with the downs of this transition. New focus: get it together this weekend, do some fun things and recharge. Imma rock that bitch next week. YEAH.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
It's only Tuesday.
I started my new job on Monday. It's only Tuesday, and I'm exhausted. It's kind of sad to say that sitting in an office and staring at a computer can be exhausting, but it really is, especially for someone switching back from play mode. On my first day, I didn't do anything productive. Boss man was too busy to give me anything, as he was also on vacation last week, but he wanted to look over projects before passing them to me. I spent the day in limbo- not working, but too scared to do any fun browsing.
Second day was a little better. I came in to the office with an assigned task. I did not realize that the task was reading 500+ e-mails from a client in response to a subpoena. Most of the work was pretty dry, but there were fun bits too. Our client is a company that does film distribution and advertising. They were responsible for bringing some of the biggest Hollywood flicks to China. It was cool seeing how they did that. Also, a lot of the emails were personal, not business related. I read emails to wish "mommy" HBD, and also plans for bottle service "in da club", all from the same person. Ha. It felt like snooping, even though I knew these e-mails were legit for review. By the end of the day I felt like I knew this person and his colorful private life. The moral of the story here is: keep your personal life and work life separate, or else strange lawyers may end up learning way more than you care to share.
I know it's only been two days and I am still adjusting to being back to work, so I hope it get easier. But part of me is doubting whether big firm life is right for me. The pressure to be productive and churn out billable hours is immensely stressful. People in the office barely speak because they can't waste time that they can be billing. The partner really hounds you if you fall short in the first haft of the month. You get to make up for that AND keep up your current quota in the second half. I guess it all doesn't matter if you really love the work. Although who really loves sifting through 50,000 emails of your client, or writing a memo on survival clauses? Well, the intern I sit next to apparently finds it fascinating. His eyes light up the way mine do when I get my food. O the enthusiasm...
Are all big firms like this? Am I in the right place? I need to get in where I fit in.
Second day was a little better. I came in to the office with an assigned task. I did not realize that the task was reading 500+ e-mails from a client in response to a subpoena. Most of the work was pretty dry, but there were fun bits too. Our client is a company that does film distribution and advertising. They were responsible for bringing some of the biggest Hollywood flicks to China. It was cool seeing how they did that. Also, a lot of the emails were personal, not business related. I read emails to wish "mommy" HBD, and also plans for bottle service "in da club", all from the same person. Ha. It felt like snooping, even though I knew these e-mails were legit for review. By the end of the day I felt like I knew this person and his colorful private life. The moral of the story here is: keep your personal life and work life separate, or else strange lawyers may end up learning way more than you care to share.
I know it's only been two days and I am still adjusting to being back to work, so I hope it get easier. But part of me is doubting whether big firm life is right for me. The pressure to be productive and churn out billable hours is immensely stressful. People in the office barely speak because they can't waste time that they can be billing. The partner really hounds you if you fall short in the first haft of the month. You get to make up for that AND keep up your current quota in the second half. I guess it all doesn't matter if you really love the work. Although who really loves sifting through 50,000 emails of your client, or writing a memo on survival clauses? Well, the intern I sit next to apparently finds it fascinating. His eyes light up the way mine do when I get my food. O the enthusiasm...
Are all big firms like this? Am I in the right place? I need to get in where I fit in.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Introductions
This post marks a lot of firsts. This is my first time blogging and my first blog post. I've never blogged before because I am really bad at keeping diaries so I figured I would be bad at blogging. But before I left Atlanta, I had decided that I would start a blog to update friends from all over the world on my new life in Shanghai. I hope I can keep this blog alive, even when work gets busy.
Tomorrow is the first day of work at my first real job. It is as exciting as it is nerve wrecking. I have been waiting for this day since March. Can't believe six months just flew by! Actually, it didn't feel like time flew during bar study hell but everything else passed so fast. Beach week, grad, first month of bar study when I slacked, and a month of vacation after the bar. Now it is all coming to an end. I shall enter the workforce as a contributing member of society and make $$$. Yah!
First impression of Shanghai is positive overall. The only downside here is everything is handled differently, even from what I'm used to in Beijing. I look pretty idiotic speaking perfect Mandarin but acting completely clueless. Also, Shanghainese sounds like German. People sound like they're fighting when they talk. It is intimidating at first but I realized that most of them are actually normal and helpful. They sound like they're fighting with you but they really aren't.
The city is cleaner and livelier than Beijing. I like that there are Western restaurants and cafes tucked in little streets with the Chinese shops. The east meets west thing seems more seamless here. In Beijing, you'd only find Western stores in pockets where expats frequent. On my quiet little street I have everything- a brunch place that seems popular, a soon-opening oyster bar, a wine bar, AMAZINGGG famous xiaolongbao (Shanghai buns) place and a takeaway HK bbq place. The last two I have tried and loved. I am excited to try the rest too!
All the food talk is making me hungry, but I really shouldn't eat so it's sleep time! Hoping for a good start tomorrow xx
Tomorrow is the first day of work at my first real job. It is as exciting as it is nerve wrecking. I have been waiting for this day since March. Can't believe six months just flew by! Actually, it didn't feel like time flew during bar study hell but everything else passed so fast. Beach week, grad, first month of bar study when I slacked, and a month of vacation after the bar. Now it is all coming to an end. I shall enter the workforce as a contributing member of society and make $$$. Yah!
First impression of Shanghai is positive overall. The only downside here is everything is handled differently, even from what I'm used to in Beijing. I look pretty idiotic speaking perfect Mandarin but acting completely clueless. Also, Shanghainese sounds like German. People sound like they're fighting when they talk. It is intimidating at first but I realized that most of them are actually normal and helpful. They sound like they're fighting with you but they really aren't.
The city is cleaner and livelier than Beijing. I like that there are Western restaurants and cafes tucked in little streets with the Chinese shops. The east meets west thing seems more seamless here. In Beijing, you'd only find Western stores in pockets where expats frequent. On my quiet little street I have everything- a brunch place that seems popular, a soon-opening oyster bar, a wine bar, AMAZINGGG famous xiaolongbao (Shanghai buns) place and a takeaway HK bbq place. The last two I have tried and loved. I am excited to try the rest too!
All the food talk is making me hungry, but I really shouldn't eat so it's sleep time! Hoping for a good start tomorrow xx
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)