Culture shock?

Yesterday boss was saying the Korean rep would be going to the Port for training next Feb. Somehow I sense that he might want to pull me into the picture too. But I DON'T WANT TO GOOOOOOO! (1) Highly possible that the dates will clash with our CNY trip (2) It's usually a very tiring trip -> continuous sessions of training, meetings & discussions. Like the previous time, every single lunch & dinner was planned in the itinerary too & this went on for the whole week. I hate it! No time for a breather at all... there’s only enough time for us to rush back to the hotel for a shower & even for that it's considered a luxury that we didn't get to enjoy every evening. They might think it’s the result of excellent organisation & we'd to be well taken care of. But I yearned for a lil bit of time by ourselves.. to walk around, to have a relaxing dinner without having to entertain. Especially their dinners are known to be lengthy.. & unlike most of the Singaporeans who are flexible with our eating time – when we’re hungry we eat or when we’ve something on later we’ll eat earlier, they’re fixed with their dinner time. No matter wat, no earlier than 8pm. And the home dinners are the most impressive... could stretch to as early as midnight. First, they’ll start with a few aperitifs & some bites over small chats, after an hour or so proceed on to the dining table & the host would normally do the 1st round of serving. Subsequently the plates (of food) would be slowly passed from 1 pax to another... seems like they’re never in a rush. After the appetizers & main courses, they’d go for a round of cheese. Then dessert time. Then 3 hours later, at last we get to hear “coffee? tea? Anyone?”.

Back then, the 3 of us (1 from Shanghai, 1 from Japan & self) were not used to this part of the culture at all & were grumbling to 1 another. We nearly dozed off during some of work sessions, think those were too boring to keep us awake.. hehe...

So, I DON'T WANT TO GOOOOOO !!!