Tequila anyone....

ok not written for a few days because we have been soo busy!!! Anyway on saturday I was at the company again designing t-shirts, well I say designing, they already had the designs they just wanted us to change the colours and how they are placed on the t-shirts. It was good and I loved the designs we had to play around with, they are getting checked today, its weird to think some of these maybe in the actual shop soon!!! Im going to ask if the manager can send us some pictures of the finished products if they go into production!!! When we eventually got home after trying to flag down a taxi and getting soaked in the rain, it was time for a big night out with all of us!! It turned into an interesting one, too much beer later and after a nasty taste of tequila I was ready for home and bed... doesn't sound the most exciting of days but here things tend to get very repetitive so the evening out was just what we needed, we also met some nice people, one was chinese, but was brought up in Australia, it was good actually having a good conversation with someone you don't have to talk to at the speed of a snail haha!!

On sunday I admit I work up not feeling the best but my hangover was nothing compared to some of the others haha! We went to meet some of the other students and our work friend called Ainna to go shopping!!! She has been amazing, taking us to work everyday and making sure we don't get lost or harassed on the buses! We went to Tian yi square, were they showed us all the main shops such as Peace birds, Zara and some other worldwide stores.

Then they took us to what I can only describe as a shopping temple, where there was loads of little shops similar to boutiques where you can find some amazing buys!! I did see a few things I liked but the one thing I am going to go back for was a leather bag I fell in love with!!!! it had a sort of floral design embossed into the leather. The shops were very good and interesting, the only problem is the store holders see us and immediately up the prices because they know they can. There was one top I really did considered buying, but our chinese friends said it was too expensive and shouldn't cost as much as they wanted for it.

Im thinking of going into the shops and finding some things I like then sending someone chinese in for them, although the prices seemed cheap to us as english people, for something that has no brand name attached to it, is cheaply made and isn't the best quality, Im reluctant to pay more just because I am english, we are going to try again on sunday to see what bargains we can bag ourselves! At about 4.30 Tong Tong came to meet us!!!! she has been amazing we do not know what we would have done without here, I think we will all be so upset when it comes to the end of our time here as we will miss her loads!!!!! She invited us to dinner at her apartment, with her husband Peter who has also been a great help! She even got out all the photo albums haha!!! It was good to see the places they had visited, and Peter had recorded all the times the photos were taken and the places... They are just such amazing people!!! We have also been teaching Tong Tong some English words such as, make a brew, cuppa tea, and some other northern slang haha... Last night we decided on a name from the group too, we are now called the lychees... this occurred as laura called her self an olive in Ibiza, so somehow we have ended up with a group name too!! so last night we were very tiered lychees. literally the min I got in last night I went straight to bed... these 6.30 starts are now doing me any good, an by the time I get some sleeping till 8 is going to feel like luxury! Im also going to talk a little about today at the company because although it is only 1.55 in the afternoon over here a lot seems to have happened today and I need to write it down before I forget, we arrived this morning to a big company meeting, the first of the two meetings was just the design department its self, where our manager briefed us (we had someone who could translate thank god) they spoke about the design process, and the fact that having each design reviewed by the manager, owner and owners wife was too much of a lengthy process and needed to be shortened. So the first step is designing and then choosing fabric the colours, then the design is sent to be made into a sample or toile as we call it, when the design has been made and it back at the company, we are expected to make any changes to our designs if needed then send back for it to be sampled again, this happens on a weekly basis. He also said he would like the designers to start designing their own trimmings and fabrics, so basically he's giving them more room to get creative, which is a good thing, but as these people are used to copying so much, Im not sure how this will turn out. The manager also insisted on the whole team speaking English as it would be good practise for them while we are here, so now he has taken to sticking red Intrex stickers on people when they are speaking chinese haha!!! Toni and Tom and Jerry will be covered in them by the end of the day... After the Design department meeting there was a full company meeting in which we basically sat there and didn't understand a word they were saying haha... we did how ever have to stand up at the front and introduce ourselves to the rest of the company. The meeting involved a lot of shouting and some weird sayings we rhymes we couldn't understand... At the end of the meeting I was informed by one of the people that speak good English that the company aims to open a further 50 stores in china within the next year (I think this is right anyway, sometimes we seem to get lost in translation) and that the company is earning 15000 RMB a day, which is about £1,500 a day, this may not seem a lot in England but here, considering the average wage is under £8,000 a year its a lot. I am very please with the company Iv been placed with, in fact Im not sure I will want to leave in just over 3 weeks time.... its going too quickly!!!!!