A word about work

I know that there has been some interest into the actual work I'm doing here in Beijing, so I thought, since it's National Holiday in China today, I reflect on my last weeks in my new job.

The Delegation is fairly large and spread over two buildings and three floors. Nevertheless, we all constantly email and phone each other, so nobody can really hide. Different sections are logically doing different work, so there is Agriculture, Energy and Environment etc. I work in Cooperation, which means that our projects are mostly ran jointly with a Chinese Ministry/ local government or at least with their consent. It's all about cooperation, hence the name really makes sense!

I wish I could tell you in ten words what my job exactly is, but at the moment, I'm still trying to find my way around various computer systems, the scanner, the kitchen and the In- and Out tray. I am partially the assistant to the Head of Section (although I'm not much use yet, apart from asking questions over questions), but also have my own little project, which is very different to the others in the Delegation. It has a set budget of around 6 Million Euro and these are to be spent on activities that are proposed by either sectors of the Delegation or by Chinese civil servants. It's aim is really to support the policy dialogue, for instance one activity in October will be to send Chinese Coal Mine Managers to Europe to see how health and safety can be implemented in the coal mines. China has the highest accident rate in the world (bizarrely the US is second, but much much lower).

Apart from that, there are visits to organise, other projects to be studied (until there is a replacement I am kind of responsible for two environmental projects, at least with processing paper work), to help with interviews and to try and persuade IT to be as interested in my funny ideas as the last people I worked with were.

So far so good. Maybe a word about my colleagues and a normal day? Flexi time kind of exists (the Union is fighting for it) and generally people trust you that you do your work (most people work more than required anyway). Everyone has been incredibly welcoming and I have made several lunch buddies. Lunch is a big affair by the way, we sit down and have a meal every day (unless you hide in the office). Choices are between Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Subway etc. etc. The Italian place does the biggest Ciabatta I have ever seen, it is square and about the size of my head for about 2,50 Euro.

Other than that,I have started my Chinese lessons and am struggling through. Mark and I get very excited when we can try out new knowledge in day-to-day situations. I learnt how to say "How much is it?" and was very proud when people understood. Unfortunately, I keep mixing up the numbers, so the answers becomes less useful.

And today is a special day: We are moving into our flat!!!!!!!!!!! We packed all our bags, a last visit to the gym and off we will be!!!!!!!!

So, the next blog will be from Season's Park!!!!!!!!