Meetings

Meetings I attend here are very different to those that I attended in England and are generally a lot more fun! A VIP is very often invited to open the meeting. There is usually a banner announcing who is here and why and who is paying! There are lots of speeches or one very long one. The VIP asks that we have good discussions and achieve all that we want to and there is lots of clapping After the opening speech it's usually time for a snack. Snacks are taken very seriously here. I have been involved in arranging meetings where debate about what we will eat takes as long to decide as the agenda for the meeting!This morning we had mango with sticky rice, lychees, rambutans and fried banana. There is definately some sort of hierarchical etiquette to be observed with the food eaten at breaktime . At meetings like the one this morning we eat fruit.At the health education meeting at the hospital for the carers we have cakes and biscuits.After the break we get down to the work. It used to feel like chaos but I'm getting used to it now. Everyone speaks at once. There are often several sub meetings going on within the same meeting. Mobile phones ring and are always answered No one ever goes out of the room to take their call. People take photographs. There is actually a minute taker and I have no idea how they do their job.As the noise level rises people move forward in the room trying to make their point heard . Occasionally someone tries to call abit of order but this doesn't last for long. I have never seen any arguing. If people disagree they just smile at each other and maybe shake their head a bit.It's wonderful - I do enjoy meetings here and unbelievably we usually do end up achieving most of what we set out to do