BC-Canada Pavilion – Orientation and Training

We were finally allowed to go inside the pavilion for a tour and training on Tuesday! A quick tour of the first floor exhibits took roughly 15min of speed-talking by Karen who knows every inch of the place inside out… =) Since the site is still officially a construction site, we weren’t allowed yet to wander around.

I won’t post pictures until the Pavilion has been completed so you’ll have a better idea. :) suffice to say it’s very nice, and the design is cool!

Training took place on the 2nd floor business area. Orientation of what to expect, what we need to know, etc… was followed by a detailed study of all the imagery being displayed in the exhibits so we know the stories behind each image as well as why it’s important; we anticipated the questions that visitors may have and shared knowledge of the place/topics/activities/industries referenced in each image. It was a lengthy process but well worth the time investment. We all need to be experts in all of these subject matter and be able to speak to any of these with ease in case a visitor asks a question about any one of the images. I find I am learning so much more about Canada with every training session! Every extra bit of information is making me more of a Canadian =)

Of course, given that we received this thick package with hundreds of images, it will take a while for me to know it all by heart. It will help once we are permitted to wander the first floor and study the exhibits in detail then I can put these information into context and do dry runs in my head. Our business program starts on Friday, May 5. The soft opening was supposed to be May 1, but it was proven too ambitious and delayed to May 6, I believe. Being in the Pavilion physically, watching Bette and others run around trying to deal with issue after issue, I’m starting to appreciate just how enormous a task this is to get all the ducks in a row for the opening and for the smooth sailing of the pavilion from day to day… Let me just say that I don’t envy Bette’s job. Just to clarify, for those of you who don’t know, (which is pretty much all of you), Bette Sterling is the lady who is in charge of running this place =) She and Kathryn Burkell from DFAIT hired me for this position.

There are a lot of staff here, more and more each day as the students from Canada finishes their exams and join us here. There are also Chinese students who are studying in Canada and local Chinese students. Our staff family is ever growing. Getting to know all of them has not been possible yet; I will do better once they start wearing name tags :p

There is only one issue with the Pavilion that I wish will be resolved shortly – the bathroom. Not the cleanest or most fragrant. =( This is still a construction site and the workers are on site all the time so it’s hard to keep it clean and odor free. I can’t wait for construction to finish so it will be maintained at a level acceptable by Canadian standards… For now, yikes =( Hopefully this is not about to be your lunch time :p

We also had the opportunity to visit the Canadian Embassy in Beijing. As I crossed the gates of the embassy, I had this warm fuzzy feeling of going home – stepping on Canadian soil again after a week out of the country can give you this funny sentiment. (of course, everyone loved the Canadian washroom ;P) Even the ambassador Rob Wright himself spared some time to come and gave the group a quick welcome speech. Among the group, I felt particularly like I’ve come home since I work for DFAIT and I would be working in the Embassy is I was here on a posting. I took the opportunity to introduce myself to some of the people at the embassy… I’ve even got a badge to access the facility while I’m here thanks to Kathryn and the gracious hospitality of my colleagues here. =) A small gesture such as this really helps to make someone feel welcomed and valued, even if I don’t end up using this privilege – so nice to feel like I’m a part of something or a member of a family when I’m thousands of miles away from home!