(L-R) Mandy, Lu Min, Joanna, Huang Ying & Mary enjoying a hotpot dinner @ Jing Ji Lake
I had a lovely dinner with the Suzhou L&D team this week.
We went to a Chinese hotpot restaurant called "789" by Jing Ji Lake - the latest attraction in Suzhou. What's interesting is that every diner can choose his individual pot of soup (I chose the spiciest one on the menu) and we shared the rest of the food. There's also a sauce bar with a mind-boggling array of dipping sauces to choose from.
More importantly, it gave the team a chance to bond. Of course, the local team knows each other pretty well but I've only spent 3 days with them in the 7 months that I've been in this job. It's unfortunate but most of our dealings have been via teleconferences and it's not the ideal way to build teamwork. What amazes me about this team is how eager they are to learn! They soak up everything that comes their way and work hard to make it their own. It's the same for the rest of the Suzhou staff. Every time I walk past the library, it's packed to the brim - a very different picture from the ghostly empty libraries at most other places.
After dinner, we all went for a walk around the lake and were treated to a surprise - FIREWORKS!
The team started teasing me about how it was a special "Welcome to Joanna!" and I modestly told them that I had actually paid for display ;-)
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