Meet Patricia Ortega Dolz, the Communications Director of the Spain Pavilion’s gastronomy program. Patricia spends her days cavorting with top chefs of the world, skipping around Pudong and schvitzing at the Expo. She knows the grounds like the back of her hand, so hit her up if you need an Expo buddy.

08:30 I awake in Pudong, in a bright apartment on the 19th floor with a great view of the Yuanshen Stadium. I like to wake up early in the morning. I suppose it’s because I always like to be one step ahead. Next to me my husband tosses and turns. A big cup of coffee and a quick glance at online news, where one word is persistent: crisis. What the hell is going on in my country?!

09:15 Forget that. I play some music on my laptop. My husband recently introduced me to a new band from London, The XX, and I start to hear this nice song that I remember, “Crystalised.” It’s great!

09:45 I cycle to work along Yincheng Lu, which is bordered by a cement wall and feels like it is at the end of the world. There is nothing behind this wall but an enormous, gaping hole. My ride is a great time to think.

10:00 I arrive at my office, which is located on the third floor of the Grand Meliá Shanghai, the only Spanish-managed hotel in the city. I check my email–dozens of questions and petitions, requests for information and pictures–then go down to the kitchen to chat with this week’s visiting chefs, Tomeu Caldentey from Majorca and Gabriel Kreuther, the French chef at the MoMA in New York. We have to prepare a press conference and a cooking demonstration for tomorrow and I don’t speak very good French.

11:30 Finally I make myself understood and it seems we have everything clear for tomorrow’s demonstration and meet and greet. We’ve invited media in Shanghai to this one.

12:30 I have replied to all the emails and now need to write a press release. We toss around the headline “If you want to eat at the MoMA in Majorca, go to Grand Melia Shanghai Hotel.” Hahahaha. It doesn’t make sense, I know. I have some laughs with my team thinking about the most bizarre headline that we can imagine for this week. I love this part of my job. After a while it seems everything is falling into place for the moment, so I take the opportunity to write to my family, thousands of kilometers away.

13:30 Damn! I have forgotten that I told my Chinese teacher that we’d meet today at Häagen Dazs at Super Brand Mall. I’m 10 minutes late but Fei is waiting outside. It’s terribly hot, but I think I prefer this to the clouds and rain of the past few months.

14:30 I need to eat something before going back to the office. I detest fast food places and the buffet at the hotel is already closed. In the end, I head to Blue Frog and eat Singapore fried rice in a casserole, which is too spicy and not very good. I also buy some sunblock at Watsons. I love that shop! With this sun my freckles are at the point of exploding.

15:30 Back to the office. I have to go to the Spain Pavilion to speak with somebody from the staff and, after that, visit the U.S. Pavilion to invite the Commissioner General to a press conference. I take a taxi and try to practice the last thing I learned with Fei, but I end up showing the driver the address on my mobile screen. My god, Chinese is impossible for me!

16:00 The Expo zone is like a hot pot, and I feel like a steamed dumpling. I look forward to seeing the big Spanish nest and ducking inside as soon as I can. Air conditioning! I’m saved. I can hear the flamenco rhythms from the dancers.

17:30 Missions accomplished. Back to the office to check email, confirm a “breakfast with chefs” and call some journalists. After two hours in front of the screen it seems that everything is done for today.

19:30 My back is killing me. I decide to go for a swim in the hotel’s 30th-floor pool. I spend 30 minutes swimming back and forth over Shanghai’s skyline. Amazing!

20:13 It’s time to disconnect. I have no dinners or commitments tonight so my husband and I decide to eat out, opting to cross the river into Puxi. We end up eating dumplings at the Xintiandi Din Tai Fung–a place I love–and then we get into the mood to have a good drink.

22:00 We’re at el Cóctel. They give us one of their wonderful sofas and the night calmly transpires with every drink. Then Willy appears with a cigar in his mouth and we have great laughs with him, as always. He is a culinary genius!

00:00 Time to head home. I have to get my bike from the hotel so we make a pit stop there and I cycle home, bordering “the wall at the end of the world.” I still have a little bit of energy to write on my blog, “Shanghai Calling,” which I haven’t had time to do in days. Today I will talk about “What happens in Pudong stays in Pudong.”

Think her job sounds more exciting than yours? Tell Patricia what you think of her day.