It was a pretty eventful week, starting from Sunday. Tiring, both physically and emotionally. It's been a rollercoaster ride, with varying points of highs and lows, the highest last Thursday when friends celebrated my birthday for me over here, and the lowest on Monday, details privy to a couple of friends. But I'm glad that I'm on level ground now. Many thanks to everyone who whether in Singapore or in Beijing, whether intentionally or unintentionally, had helped to brighten up my days.

Went for a meeting with my colleague, without my TL on Monday. Must say that it was quite an experience. Stressed cuz: one, it's a demanding client; two, the language barrier; three, my familiarity with the drawings, (no) thanks to the OT over the weekend; and four, the absence of my TL - the previous meetings with this particular witch of a client involved my colleague and me keepin quiet while my TL conversed with the client. 'Lunch' time passed in a blur cuz was rushin to check through the drawings and quantities before goin for the meeting. And in the midst of the rush, I just had to go and read an email which clashed with the state of mind at that moment in time. Ok. So we went for the meeting. Late. Was lookin for that witch and we found her bendin over some photocopyin machine. And she forgot to book a meeting room. So we squeezed into this small room where there were more chairs than table space available. The meeting was a bore but a number of points seriously irked me:

1. the fact that the witch had asked my colleague to take her stuff for her when the former had hardly anything on her hands (who does she think she is?? what does she treat us as??)
2. the pompous manner in which the witch carried herself
3. how the witch instructed my colleague and me like we were small kids
4. the bloody architectural drawings which, despite several revisions, were still crappy stuff
5. the bloody smoker, who's part of the client's team, who reeked of smoke whenever he entered and re-entered the room. he sat beside me.

But there was an amusing incident too. While my colleague went to the ladies after the meeting concluded, the witch approached me. The following conversation ensued:

Witch: “你是不是不会说国语啊？” [Direct (singlish) translation: "You cannot speak Chinese isit?"]

Me: “我会，只是说得不太流利。” [I can; Just not very fluent.]

Witch: “你...erm...You...erm...(insert TL's name)...*flustered look*...erm...copy...”

Me（both irked and amused): “您能用国语来说...”[You can tell me in Chinese.]

Witch: “我跟你的组长说要复制那些 (insert documents name) 给我。你们有带来吗？” [I told your team leader to photocopy a set of the documents for me. Did u bring them?]

Me: “不好意思，(insert TL's name) 没跟我们说。” [Sorry, but she did not mention it to us.]

Witch: “... 没关系...” [... nevermind...]

I was close to burstin with laughter by the time the witch left the room! Damn! Fine, my chinese is bad, but hello?? Her attempt at speakin English to me left me in stitches la. Barely 3 words out of her mouth and I was frownin already. Damn, I should have played with her and act like I don't understand chinese - answer her in accented English and make her (try to) converse with me in English. hahaha... ok so that was the only amusing incident of the day. After that, I was so close to hittin her when she unreasonably demanded that: “不管你们今晚加班到多晚，今天晚上一定要发那个完整的清单给我。” which resulted in us doin OT til near 1am in the morning. Saw 2 zombie-like creatures draggin their feet to work the next mornin. Talk about Monday blues. Thanks and apologies to YJ who stayed back with me and my colleague to rush the measurements and BQ.

Ok. Kinda tired now so guess I'll do more updating another time. Meanwhile, pls be directed to YJ's blog, which is updated more frequently than mine. More photos coming (as promised).

Til next time,

josh, signing off.