This morning I notice that my cosmetics are no longer in-between the two sinks in the bathroom, rather the housekeeper has split them on either side of the sink. With no thought. It’s not like skincare was on one side and makeup on the other. Nope. Random cosmetic splitting.
Off I went to the last “official” day of the conference. This morning’s lift conversation was about a Japanese man’s item. I get in lift alone at level 21. On 19 a Japanese couple gets in, the male zipping up what appeared to be a man bag. On level 17 an American man gets in. By level 15 the conversation had began with the American man asking the Japanese man “what’s that, some kind of handbag?”. Turns out his wet weather jacket converts to a bag for convenient carrying. That was today’s lift discussion.
Conference was another excellent day then we had the Gala dinner at The Frank Gehry Building.
We arrived to have pre dinner cocktails and I was talking to a colleague from Taiwan. After an hour she said “we really should be seated now” and within 5 minutes I could see people going to seat themselves. She nudged me and said “see, it’s all Asian people”. I asked how she knew that would happen at that exact moment and she said “culturally we don’t like standing. If it’s a cocktail party it will be 1 or 2 hours maximum. We just don’t like standing and prefer to be seated straight away”. I love that at a global conference talking about culture is such an open conversation. Learn new things all the time!
Another one, was overhearing my colleague from Singapore discussing the challenges of the school system.
G: We are having problems with our son at school, he doesn’t concentrate
Z: He has mentioned any distractions?
G: No but the teacher had us take him to a child psychologist. He just gets up in the middle of class and starts wandering around.
Z: Did the psychologist have any findings?
G: She said he’s normal for his age. I’m just worried about his grading exams in the next few years. He can’t sit still for 2 hours now and that’s how long the exam is. There’s 33 kids/class and 9 classes and I don’t want him to be in the bottom. He’s actually having troubles reading so we’re worried.
Z: How old is he?
G: 3 years 10 months
Z: Grade 3 – that’s not too bad.
G: No, he’s 3 years in age and 10 months.
Z: And there’s 2 hour exams???
Now, I can’t remember if she said the exams start when he turns 5 or 7 but apparently at which ever age they start, these small children are evaluated on a variety of different subjects and graded.
Back off the tangent, the Gala Night was wonderful. I love seeing people out of their “professional mode” drinking and dancing it up. It’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for. And myself actually – watch out for her. The theme of the conference is “We Touch”. I mentioned before, no self solving and ample signage. So we always knew where the group was meant to be there would be people standing 10m apart holding big “We Touch” signs forming a path. When in casinos and clubs these signs can be mistaken by the general public who wonder exactly what type of the conference this is. Being the last official night my boss asked me if we should have a photo with the sign, touching. I believe I am responsible for inappropriate conduct as she has the photos to prove it. I’ll say no more except the guy with the guy told me he had fun doing the pics.
Anyway I only had 3 drinks all night and 3 courses so I wasn’t drunk or anything but I decided best be sensible, one unofficial day to go, so hopped on the bus at 11pm. It seems our senior team are quite the party animals. A member of the product development team snuck his cocktail onto the bus with finger to mouth going “shhhh”. The French team were in full swing and as the bus pulled out up comes a limo to take the head honchos somewhere.... even at that moment I guessed they would not be turning up to the last day particularly radiant.
After a lovely day and night I get back to my room, and what do I discover? Housekeeping has moved my dental floss. It’s nowhere!!! I’ve looked and looked. I like it beside the bed. I floss while watching TV. It makes me happy and now the floss is gone. Not Happy Jan. I’ve entered conspiracy mode now.
And that’s Day 9.
Z xo
No comments:
Post a Comment