Day 3

Today was a lesson in distance, I began to learn the sheer size of the city. I knew I had a distance to travel for my class at one of the hi-tech classes (I understand that Berlitz has managed to take over most of the corporate market, beating their main competitors Wall Street and some other major English Language Schools) but nothing had prepared me for the traffic on the road or time it took to cross the city. Everyone here blames the amount of cars on the streets, but I truly found the sheer size of the ring roads encircling the city are what causes the major congestion. Looking like a monstorous spaghetti bowl, they stretch over the highways like the tentacles of an octopus - reaching at present to 5 ring roads and a sixth soon to follow.

Arriving at last, I had my first experience of 'hi-tech' China. An enormous complex with around 1000 employess, small considering the size of the population, a normal work day is between 8.30-5.30. Management sit overseas in Canada in this company's case, so hours are normal. If one of the employess either engineer or programmer is called upon to travel to an overseas branch either in the US or Canada, their working day will increase accordingly, but their salary stays the same. All expenses are paid, irrelevant of the months required, usually two or three, even up to nine or a year. Residence is taken up in a hotel and meals can be in China town or in any other of the local establishments. Salary though is paid as usual into their bank back home in their own rmb currency, so no extra monies can be made or saved.

They too, at the hi-tech companies, have had a slump around the year 2000, as most of the companies worldwide did, but have since recovered. Working in the industry is not considered
a prestigious job, but a comfortable one, with an above average salary.

Another job considered prestigious with travel opportunities and meetings with business people worldwide, is at a pharmeceutical company. Usually a position held by women, sales and marketing promotions being the better jobs. These women get to travel to conferences held at various locations worldwide, even Israel and take trips with their clients to either translate, ensure a smooth venture or moral support.

The class is made up of a mixture of students, not all exactly the same level, larger than those held at the Berlitz centre and held after hours. The students are enthusiastic, polite and eager.
They are proud of their qualifications and as many others that I have met in the industry, are married at a young age. More about that at another date.