CPTO - work is a four letter word

…well that was interesting.

Today was my first day at work. As I got ready in my gray trousers and white button-up shirt, I wished there was someone here to tell me that I looked appropriate. Thankfully, I was able to get a good luck from Steve before I packed up my laptop and grabbed my blazer and walked out the door. I had no idea what to expect.

I walked the twenty paces to the other side of the parking lot and into the building next door. Probably the shortest commute of my life. I walked upstairs and shyly into room 511 where I would spend 9-5:30, 5 days a week. CTPO or China Trademark & Patent office would be my home away from home. Boy how I despise full-time jobs.

I meekly walked towards the half-filled room of Chinese workers and was greeted by a young man at the first row of desks. He greeted me in English and told me to sit down and set up my computer. He seemed very eager to meet me. His name was Libon Su and he is the assistant to the boss. Mr. Shen would be coming in a bit late and we were going to have a short meeting. Everyone in the small office basically stared at the foreigner that I’m sure they heard about. A very nice lady said hello and cleared out the drawers of the desk for me. She did not speak any English at all, and I was not confident in trying the few phrases that I knew on her.

So we sat, and we chit chatted. It turns out the Libon just started the Friday before, so he was as unclear as I was about exactly what we were supposed to be doing. He did not have a background in intellectual property, but he was told he would learn. I later found out that he was the replacement to the international department of the company. Because he was strong in English, he would head the correspondence to all our international clientele. As far as I could distinguish, I would be his assistant.

Its funny that when I first considered this internship at the patent office Teddy told me that it was the position that Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the Scarlet Letter after his stint at the patent office in Boston. I think that he was just so damn bored the whole time that he had tons of time to think up the next great American novel. It is incredibly dull, as Libon likes to put it. However, I did get a Chinese name. Dai Chen Xi. Which is the sunshine in the morning… with a ‘D’ sound before it. Libon says its fitting. So folks, I’m officially Sunshine… :)

I went out to lunch with Mr. Shen and a few other employees. They are the friends of the boss. They took me to a delicious little Chinese restaurant right downstairs. We walked through the kitchen to the restaurant… not the most sanitary way to get to lunch. I had no idea what to order because everything was in characters. In order not to be rude, I forewent my vegetarian preferences. It is far too difficult to order anything vegetarian in China, especially if the meals are meant to share. We ate 宫保鸡丁 and 波罗固老柔 and 亩徐柔. And do you know what? It was really kung pao chicken, sweet and sour pork and mu shu chicken… typical Chinese food that you would find at Oriental Palace on Deer Park Avenue. I’m glad that I had to travel to the other side of the world to experience it. But I’m not complaining. It was good to be taken out by the boss and to have so many people willing to talk to me.

I met Sean and Shaw Shaw. I’m pretty sure Sean’s nickname (user name of QQ and MSN) had dawn in it… I was a little confused… and apparently Shaw Shaw is shy. They all messaged me on QQ (the AIM equivalent in China… apparently really popular) and I’m not sure if they were just being very friendly or hitting on me. They want to take me out to show me Shanghai and Libon is bringing me Chinese green tea tomorrow. They are all really sweet. Its exhausting trying to decipher what they are trying to say though. Although most of the time their English is very good, I have to be careful to speak very clearly and simply in order not to confuse them. (Maybe I should do this on a normal basis… I confuse enough native English speakers as it is). And as they admit, their pronunciation can be a little off. However, I thank they so greatly for being so friendly today. I’m exhausted but a little less lonely in this foreign city. Hopefully only more good days ahead of me.