Monday in Chinatown

So. Bright and early we set up a breakfast entitled “doing business in china” hosted by Mission Foods here in Shanghai. Interestingly enough, this is indeed the tortilla factory that has major operations in Dallas, throughout the United States and in Mexico. The two representatives were candid about their conversation about the establishment, the strategic plan and the business that is their business in Shanghai. One of the guys, young guy, spoke fluent English, Spanish and Mandarin. Quite a selling point for a Mexican company proactively breaking into the Chinese market. Did you know that they don’t really have a need for tortillas here? It’s true, but these guys are making one and that’s fascinating to me and to our delegation. I also thought it interesting that they conduct their everyday business, here in China, primarily in Spanish.

Anyway. Meetings started right off the bat and the coordination looks good. The translators and drivers all have signs of their translatees/passengers’ names which is good for me and my guys as it was kind of hectic for a few minutes. But ultimately, it all worked out, it’s all working out rather and we’re making deals and kicking butt and all the like.

I had to buy a cell phone yesterday. That was quite an experience. Most of the people I’ve encountered up to this point, including the ones at the hotel, speak sufficient English. The cell phone people were not so educated. It was an interesting transaction – and as I was at a mall, which seemed void of westerners – I didn’t find the help I needed. I found myself slipping into Spanish just to see if that helped, but apparently not. But ultimately, I have a cell phone now and I have a good story about how I got one. I’ll tell you later when you’re oogling over my new toy. It was the cheapest one (I think) and it’s probably still light-years ahead of the States’.

Dinner Monday night was at M on the Bund, which was all sorts of delightful. Had the fog lifted a little more, the pictures would have been even more fabulous, but we weren’t so lucky. We were joined by a few select invitees who garnered connections with our group one way or another. One young gentleman was from Fort Worth…that was his connection. He lives on the ground in Shanghai and is fluent in Mandarin. He took a class his senior year at Harvard, which he made sure to tell everyone who asked, and I found it endearing at first, but kinda tedious as the evening progressed. Maybe it’s because I wish I was fluent in another language, living in another country and all that jazz. Hmm.. I’m going to need to work on selling my belongings and up and moving.