RWANDAN Nicole Bamukunde spent 12 years in France, where she attended high school, college and graduate school. She earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees in hotel management.

Bamukunde worked for a short period in a French hotel before she went back to Rwanda, where she worked in the banquet section of the Intercontinental in Kigali for six months and later in the banquet marketing section of Novotel for nine months. Her last job in Rwanda involved the opening of a restaurant for the Rwandan president and officials.

It's because of her fiance Paul Kayoboke, principal representative of the Shenzhen-based Rwanda Investment & Export Promotion Agency in China, that Bamukunde is in the city. She came in March for a visit and then in August, hoping to find a job in hotel management here.

Although she thinks that working in hotel is a tough job "not for women," she is still fascinated by it as she can meet different kinds of people.

"The most important thing for a hotel is to take care of customers. You make them happy, they come back and you are happy," said the 27-year-old.

Bamukunde thinks it especially important to respect the customs of guests from different countries. She once received some Japanese customers in France. "When the Japanese come in with a group, the most rich and powerful are arranged to stay in the higher stories. If you have a disagreement with Japanese customers, you don't discuss with them, just keep saying sorry, sorry and go away," she said.

"If the customer is drunk, you speak gently, never raise your voice, and pretend you don't see a problem," she said.

Bamukunde is preparing herself for work in China. She has figured that the Chinese mentality is different from the Western one and is eager to learn how Chinese think and behave. She will also start to learn Chinese in a language-training center from next month.

But her ultimate goal is to run a restaurant in Rwanda, and raise six children with her would-be husband.

Editor: Wing