Morning!

I thought it was time to update everyone on what I've been up to. Since my last post things have been getting even better. I am still getting lots of work from the staff at Pinsent Masons; being asked to research topics for articles; finding out answers to various problems in cases; drafting advice for clients and continuing my work on the database. I have on average one or two meetings a week about the database and then work on it in-between my other commitments. Although I'm in my fourth week, it only feels like I have been here for a few days - time is flying by. I keep forgetting that I am basically half way through already. Last week Nicola Ogilvie the Business Development Manager published a press release about me onto their website and since then it feels like everything is happening at once. The press release was sent by e-mail to various people as part of the weekly Pinsent Mason's update so I received a few comments about that. Then I received an e-mail from Iain Lindsay from the British Consulate General asking if I would like to meet at the Embassy for some networking activities to meet various people from the UK and talk about my experience. And yesterday I arranged to have a meeting with Scottish Development International in Hong Kong. I could never have imagined that this would be happening on my placement; it's excelled any expectations I had and is an incredibly huge stepping stone in my career. I cannot even begin to explain how important this whole experience is for me and at the same time I have the added bonus of working in a firm that I am totally comfortable in and that has accepted me into their office for eight weeks. As I explained the office is very open plan and the ergonomics set-up is that everything is moveable i.e.: laptops etc; so on Monday I decided to move seats to sit in a bay with two girls in the office; Isabelle (trainee) and Patricia (newly qualified). I feel very much settled here and keep forgetting that I have to finish my degree; although I know that that will be a whole new experience for me too.

And now onto the social side . . . I love going to the cinema here because they have caramel and chocolate popcorn which we don't get a home so I've been a few times and I would like to see a Hong Kong film before I leave. And I've obviously done the girly thing of shopping, and there is so much choice here which suits me perfectly. Lunch times at the office are as fun as always. We had an intern in the office called Winnie and she took me to a local Shanghai restaurant which was so scrumptious and another day we went to lunch with the librarian in the office, Maggie, who I work closely with on the database. They were very impressed with my chopstick skills and said they would have thought I'd been using them for a while - which I was very pleased about - although it is quite a funny sight seeing a white person being good with chopsticks - they are always waiting for me to give up but I actually quite enjoy not using a fork and feel like I'm actually getting involved in the Chinese way of life. Winnie and I also went to the Annual Bookfair at the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre - I even got in free and didn't have to queue (quite the VIP!) because she had friends working there. It was an experience to say the least, but it was pretty awesome and I bought a few books; which I have nearly finished already. The Annual Foodfair is coming up in the next few weeks so think I will definitely invest to go there and pick up a few recipes. We also had our Friday night out last weekend which was lots of fun. Some of the Partners were given a gift of Sake or Nihonshu (日本酒) in Japanese so it was good to be able to try that. We went to the local pizza favourite of one of the partners - Isobar - which really does do brilliant pizza's and then continued onto Lan Kwai Fong which is one of the busiest areas of Hong Kong at night. So once again, a fun filled night out with the firm and I am looking forward to many more!

I'm at the start of another week although I know it will fly in. There was a thunderstorm yesterday and there is a threatening typhoon on its way so I was given the firm's policy on the weather this morning. If it hits a level 8 then we are 'advised' to stay away from the office. I think there are few fingers crossed from the employees.

So until next time . . .Bye!