just when i thought that i was getting the hang of this job... i get fired. nah, just joking. i am getting tested everyday though. yesterday i was in fremont trying to make some contact among the arab community and that was rough going. today i had a chance to meet with a taiwanese government agency and that was pretty difficult too.

i have a conversation partner in mandarin but i guess i'm not really well equipped to discuss business in chinese. i need to improve in a hurry though. it isn't that bad when you are speaking with someone who "prefers" to speak in chinese face-to-face because you can sort of fudge the stuff you don't understand or ask for an english translation.

but its a lot harder when you are on the phone with someone and they don't speak english at all. i just had one of those conversations and it was pretty rough. urgh. time to enroll in a chinese for business people course. i think i'm going to have a seminar at the next cable television conference-- key cable terms in chinese.... at least my officemates weren't around to hear me gagging on my chinese.