Where I Work

Several have asked for photos from time to time. Check this link to see photos of my team and office area: photo

Bryan Ma is an accomplished professional in the Chinese Credit Card industry, having worked for Citibank, Bank of China, and now Bank of Communications (BOCOM)/HSBC joint venture. )Technically the JV is called Pacific Credit Card Center or “PCCC”.  Bryan and I share an office. Having an office is considered a pretty big deal. Even the higher ranked Sr. Mgrs. Don’t have offices. His English is quite good and he has been a lifesaver for me many times. He may never know the level of help he has been to me. He has helped me get a better cell phone plan, deal with governmental regulations, and even recently help explain to our maid over the phone about a house related issue.  He doesn’t have to do this – he’s just a great guy.  He’s 34, but although younger than me, we have hit it off in grand fashion and I am confident we will be lifelong friends. We are so very similar in many ways. After seeing pictures of our backyard “square foot gardening” garden, he decided he wanted to grow a garden on his rooftop (he lives in a condo on the top floor of an 11 story building and is pretty sure he can “take over” the roof portion of his side of the building). We’ve worked together on garden plans, I’ve given him ideas on how to get water up there, and Monique was kind enough to grab some seed packets before she came (hard to get here). Additionally we have some space for a garden at our home, so Bryan and his wife Stacy hope to come over and plant a little plot here as well. Hopefully I’ll be able to return his kindness with a different form of help. It is interesting how when you serve others, not only do you love them, but they learn to love you.  I wonder if Bryan and I made some sort of arrangement eons ago that we’d find each other and grow a garden together.  ;-)

Bryan and Stacy have one little girl – about 18 months, same age as my grandson Matzen. Families in cities are mostly limited to having only one child. Here’s how it works. If BOTH the mom and dad were single children themselves, then they are allowed to have two kids. If EITHER of them had a sibling, the couple is limited to one child. You can have a second (or third, etc.) but the government levies a heavy “fine” which can be as much as 30% or more of your take home pay. Families in the countryside are allowed to have more than one child. For a couple of reasons… The population outside of cities is dwindling, and there is a pretty high infant mortality rate.

Joanna Cai (pronounce Tsai) is my assistant, and she too has provided amazing help.  We’ve grown to really like each other a lot. We help each other improve language skills. She is very cute and helpful. When Monique arrived Joanna instantly connect with her and she finds Mo very smart and attractive.  Now I think Joanna is REALLY smart!!  (grin)  She is 25 years old and engaged to be married. Over here that is a BIG deal. It’s basically like being married already, but just haven’t had the ceremony yet. I’ve met her fiancé Richard and he is one of the finest looking Chinese men I’ve ever seen. He works for China’s largest mobile phone manufacturer as a programmer and is just hoping to make enough money to buy an apartment so they can get married. They are tentatively planning a wedding a year from this summer. I hope we are here. Based on the deep friendship that has already developed, I’m confident we would be invited to the wedding. That would be another cool moment for us I’m sure.  Joanna was a highly successful student at a prestigious university from another part of China. She was heavily recruited and PCCC was the highest bidder. She’s in a Management Trainee program. In some ways she is extremely bright and ahead of her years, but in other ways (like most young Chinese women) she seems somewhat immature, sometimes acting like a 16 year old teenager. It’s a weird thing to see.

Our set of office buildings used to be a college campus. Four large buildings set in a tranquil garden like setting. The campus houses about 3,000 employees (there are another ~2,000 located in 51 cities across China). Extremely convenient location in the “Zhang Jiang High Tech Park” about 10 min walk from subway station, or 3 minute ride by a three wheeled bike-like taxi. The commute between our home and work is about a 15 minute taxi ride for me. Shanghai is bisected by the HuangPu river. We are in PuDong (which means “east of the HuangPu River”. This was one of the first areas opened to western companies back in 1990 by then President Deng Xiao Ping. It’s actually pretty famous all throughout China.  Opened the doors to what is happening now in China with foreign companies. The company provides lunch and/or dinner for free by loading our chip-embedded ID cards with value each month.  I’ve noticed lunches are better than dinners. There are always 8 small plate options (choose 6), a bowl of soup, a bowl of rice and either fruit or yogurt. Today one of the options was Frog. Seriously. Guess what – tasted like chicken. Not kidding. The pic of the cafeteria was taken in the middle of the room (i.e. there are as many seats behind me as in front of me). There are rooms of equal size on two floors. Seems everything is on a grand scale here.

I am the only Caucasian at this campus and I get a lot of stares – even after 2 months of having lunch almost every day with all of them. I try to be friendly and people in my immediate area are starting to open up to me. Especially in and around the restroom area where we all wash our hands together in cold water with no way of drying them off. The guards are all super friendly and like to practice their “How are YUUU” with me each morning. The cafeteria workers all talk about me in Shanghai dialect when I come through the line. I learned the equivalent of “How are YUUU” in their dialect and when I used it with them recently the whole staff of about 45 went bonkers. Interestingly, now when I go through the line, whoever is serving me makes sure I get larger and better portions than others. Pays to be friendly. (Unless it’s fish-head soup day).

Thanks for the many periodic responses I get from many of you. Remember, we have a fine guest suite available for anyone headed this direction. Give us some advance notice though. Grin.

Cheers/Love, etc.

Jay