Everything went very, very slowly, and a lot of people arrived late. There was a lot of tea drinking and chatting, but nothing seemed to happen. I wanted to make some decisions. _________ 2. I tried to make a joke at the start of my presentation, to break the ice and make people feel relaxed, but nobody laughed. Everybody was so serious. Nobody asked any questions either. But we got the contract! _________ 3. I'm not sure I was taken very seriously, as I'm quite young. It was a bit strange. There were four people at the meeting with us, but only one person -- the oldest one -- spoke. He asked me when the boss was arriving, even though I told them I was there to make the deal. _________ 4. At the presentation, I couldn't really tell them about the products properly, as they kept interrupting all the time. There was a lot of shouting. Nobody seemed very serious. It was all much too noisy for me. _________ 5. There was a lot of nodding when we were making our offer and we seemed to have a deal. But then suddenly we didn't. It was all very unusual to me. I thought nodding meant 'yes, we agree'. _________ 6. At the drinks reception, I tried to keep the conversation going, but they didn't seem interested. They just looked bored. Maybe they were shy. It was a bit awkward, really -- just too quiet for me. In my country, we like a lively conversation. Perhaps they just didn't like me! _________ 7. We had a very stressful meal. After I finished each course, more and more food arrived. I didn't want to be rude, but the more I ate, the more they brought. Some of my colleagues couldn't eat some of the more 'unusual' dishes. _________