Day One of the new job

Today was my first day working at ***, a company providing contractual services to power stations. After a year and a half of study, and just having the Chinese exam yesterday to prove I haven't been doing nothing this entire time, the chance came around with impeccable timing. Friend of a friend of someone I met once calls me, and a second later, I have a job.

I'm doing translation and English language training. The company is an electricity power generation company, with about 700 employees, 40 translators and projects in China as well as Indonesia, Nigeria and Sudan. All your favourite holiday spots.

First day went quite smoothly. There's an Indonesian delegation coming to the company on Thursday, and I've been appointed chief translator, despite the fact I can't speak Indonesian, the Indonesians apparently can't speak much English, and I still have no idea how to say 'power generation' in Chinese. I was going through some of the documents for presentation, correcting and re-writing the English according to the Chinese. It's not too bad, and should be easier when I can distinguish my operator control module LED panel from my instructor supervision component light display.

My 'team' consists of about 20 people, sitting in 2 rows in a sort of small compartment, i.e., not an open office. The thing that struck me most was how similar it was to working in an office in England. I guess most offices are pretty similar. The transaltors are all 22-23 years old, fresh English graduates out of university. I'll normally be doing 'staff training', although mostly they were speaking to me in Chinese, so that's a bonus.

I'm the only foreigner full-time there, and so there was some interest. The office gay guy - for it was he - was telling me about his undergraduate thesis on the works of Thomas Hardy and his love of Diana, one guy showed me his pictures taken off the internet of Steve Davis playing safety shots (and only safety shots, I might add), and the librarian's second question, after 'Where are you from', was 'What's the richest country in Europe?'. I tried to explain the difference between richest country and richest people, but it was lost.

Everyone was pretty helpful. You clock in with a fingerprint detector. I was given my badge with my number on it - I am now officially employee number A0097 - and a sturdy plastic bottle for drinking hot water out of. You start at 8.30, finish at 5.30 (with no variation), lunch is 12-1, and a break is from 3.45 to 4 in the afternoon. The receptionist brings out fruits and 'candy' for everyone to relax. Apart from maybe not being extremely flexible, it seems pretty good. They pay for your uniform (a suit), you get an accommodation allowance if you don't live in the dormitory, lunch allowance and health insurance. I'm getting a similar salary to that as a foreigner teaching English would get, which will go up in a couple of months if I don't cock anything up. And if I'm really lucky, I'll be spending my next holidays in Khartoum. My bank account will be someone else's name to avoid hassle with various authorities. As for my contract, well, as my visa says I'm a student not meant to be working, we'll quietly forget that. If anyone asks, I'm an intern.

It was quite interesting talking to Head of HR Mrs ***. The market for power generation in China is basically already saturated, she says, so there are now looking to expand futher abroad, which possible projects in Brazil and Pakistan. Maybe I've miss understood, but in 30 years power needs are met here, while countries on the end of Western 'assistance' for years and years now 'desperately need', as she said, Chinese help. Either way, I'd rather go to Rio than Islamabad. But for now, at least, I'll be getting the bus to and from work with everyone else, and taking one more step further into the phenomenom they call 21st century China.