15 | From Business to Heaven to KungFu

DAY 3 | January 14

After a short but refreshing sleep, we dressed in business apparel and made our way to breakfast while we sneakily finished signing the birthday card for Melanie’s 21st birthday and continued to discuss our plans for the evening which we had free. I have also been interested in the different brands of cars here in China, have you seen any of these before?

Then we embarked on our hour bus ride across the city to Schneider Electric China’s headquarters. The bus ride was filled with stories, advice, and sightseeing lead by our new coordinator from CUEB, Kevin Liu.

At Scneider Electric, we entered a big conference room filled with delicious snacks.    

Directors and representatives Joy, Karen, and Andy gave a presentation on Schneider Electric and later had a Q&A session where I was able to squeeze two burning questions I had. I briefly spoke with Andy and Joy after their closing remarks and showed my interest in the Chinese business world.

We then returned home for a quick lunch where we gave Melanie the card, a crown, and a cake!  

From lunch, we split into three groups. One went to the zoo, one went to the Pearl Market, and mine went to the Temple of Heaven. We had no idea it was so humongous! I rented an electronic tour guide and periodically updated the group about the history of the temple as I told by the Chinese lady in my ear.   

The temple, or should I say, huge park with multiple temples and attractions, was perfect for picture taking and bonding within our group. Rain, a CUEB liaison, was our guide. I have been getting close to him as I ask him how to say everything in Chinese and we are both taking lots of pictures daily. 

    
 We then walked across the street to the pearl market and I made a bargain or a lifetime. One of these Pashminas was originally 150 Yuen. Guess how much I got three of them for…? You guessed it, my limited but convincing Chinese and charm made the lady sell me three colorful Pashminas for 180 Yuen. We decided were definitely going back to take advantage of my charm and hopefully take it to another level. 

 We then walked to dinner at a fancy restaurant/hotel.  

We then walked across the street to the Red Theater where we saw, “The Legend of KungFu: The Most Exciting KungFu Show in the World”. They are not lying, one of the most exhilarating and well done performances I have ever seen! It inspired me to buy a shirt and take a picture with my new friends!

  
    
   
The bus ride was nap time for most of us as we are all exhausted but still have to read and prepare a presentation for tomorrow’s class.

Thank you for keeping up with the blog, sorry for the late post, these past two days were packed and free time was vey limited! On the bus ride to Hangzhou I will catch up!

#GaelsGoGlobal

~DJR