CHINA EXPRESS!

Happy Tiger Year!

2010-02-14T18:19:00.009+08:00

“Rooaarrr”, welcome in the year of the Tiger! I am spending the New Years with Angie’s family in Guizhou, and celebrate it in the totally like the Chinese. The Chinese way of spending the New Years differs at some points from the European way. Today is the first day of the New Year and yesterday was the BIG Niansanshi (translated ‘Year30’) – the last day of the old year – the year of the Ox. The core of Niansanshi is based around 'eating' and 'spending time with the family'. After waking up we went to Angie’s Yeye and Nainai (grandparents from fathers side). We spend the day together making dumplings and preparing more food for the dinner. The TV was on in the background with a Chinese action movie. The plan was to start eating at 16pm, so you can also have dinner with the other family LaoYe and LaoLao (mothers side) a second time on that day.
All the cooking with over 20 dishes was took more time than plannend and we started our first big meal at 17.30h. Before you start to eat you set off the Chinese fireworks, in front of your door. Since most people are eating around the same time, it turned out to be quite a 'noisy', but definitely a pleasant and delicious meal, with cheering (drinking the Chinese hard liquour Baijiu) to the New Year and wishing each other fortune and good health in the year to come. There was a big bowl of Dumpling – and in one of them was a coin hidden. The one finding the coin got RMB 200,- of the the Uncle of Angie (it was his turn this year). It wasn’t me this year – I ate quite some dumpling, but no luck. The tradition goes that eating many dumpling on New Year eve is good for your fortune in the coming year (so I will need to be a little more patient).

After the first meal we went over to the other family. We definitely ate too much already and arrived too late to do the second ´real´ meal. Angie still ate some little snacks – I wasn’t able to eat more at all. We started to play Majiang I joined the game in the beginning, but after one hour the uncles and aunts were ready to play for ´real´ (money) with the advanced rules (I had to give my chair away). The TV was broadcasting the Chinese Big New Years evening gala on the background, but everybody concentrated on the game, while talking and laughing. When the clock hit 12 hours the noise outside was huge – never heard so much noisy fireworks at once. However, inside there was no special 12-o´clock moment as we are used to in Holland, everybody just continued to play Majiang. At 0.30h we went home and were ready for bed, no big party in the evening and in Anshun are no bars. It was a nice experience yesterday, and today the streets are all very quiet, the New Years holiday has begun, time to stay home or spend time with the family outside. That’s what we did today. We went one of the longest suspension Bridges in Asia – the brand new Balinghe Bridge, opened in 2009 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_suspension_bridge_spans). We were not the only ones. Hundreds of families came out to experiences one of these human wonders – definitely something too be ´proud´ of.

Personally I am definitely well integrated again in the Chinese life. Work is going well (many, many projects and things running – wont go into it now), the language is slowly improving (this was a good week), started following a Jazz Theory class at the JZ every Saturday morning, and had a very nice house-warming party in my new place (everybody is really enthusiastic about the place – me too). Further I´ve decide to start Twittering a lot more this year: http://twitter.com/basovertoom.

A Dutch Winter Break in the Office

2010-01-23T22:37:00.005+08:00

Just returned back to Shanghai after my Winter time in the Netherlands. The last three weeks I’ve been rather busy, as always when I am back in the Netherlands. It is like living under a constant deadline, because you cannot delay things that much. I must say I like to be back, but it is exhausting and my work in Shanghai gets also delayed, which means from tomorrow onwards I will start again here to gets things ready in time. My most important jobs for the coming period are another New-Manager trip in March and the Dutch Entrepreneurship Week from 8-15 of May. For the first job I can relay on my previous experience, the latter one is more excited and difficult, because it is new. However during my days in the Netherlands I found time to work on this, and met up with a few potential Dutch participants for the program, I am still busy with the marketing and need to continue this to come to the sufficient number of ten companies. However a good development in this is that I've convinced the TU Delft to join the Dutch Chinese Entrepreneurship Week in May and they will come with a group of incubators and students. If everything works out the way I hope it will it be a very special legendry program at the start of the Shanghai EXPO. Since we’re in the 2010, the EXPO-year.

My time at the Baak was well spend and I was especially happy to attend two very great events in which I personally played an nice role. Firstly the international conference “Meet the World” at the Baak in Noordwijk. A nice event followed by a energising New Year reception. I gave a workshop during the conference on “Leading in China”. It was totally interactive, without using a PowerPoint-presentation. And new way for me, and it went surprisingly well.

The second event was the Big Improvement Day (http://www.bigimprovementday.nl/) for which I was the Project coordinator of the Baak, since we were one of the organising partners. It was a day full of inspiring speeches, people and ideas. I can recommend all people next year to come. The speaker who made most impact on my was Miles Hilton Barber (http://www.mileshilton-barber.com/). He is a blind man, that became an adventurer (flying, mountain climbing, ocean diving, etc). His message, start to Dream, commit to these dreams, make a plan to realize them, and keep on going. It sounds so simple, and actually it is than simply. At least that how I experienced it myself, when I wanted to move to China. But it is great to hear it so clearly in such an inspirational speech. Next to this I was inspired by Leen Zevenberg talking about ‘Survival of the happiest’ (http://www.leenzevenberg.nl/), Yesim Candan, that launched a new political party called “1” (http://www.yesimcandan.com/) and some young entrepreneurs with booming businesses at an age when I was still at university. Harry Starren was the ‘host’ of the day, he did a very good job, impressive again!

Back I Shanghai I have mostly slept. Exhausted and jet-legged. However this afternoon I went to the JZ-School. I made it to become the ‘Student of the Month’ and an online interview was posted in the New Letter of January (www.jz-school.com/schoolpost/201001.htm). Tonight I will have a party and tomorrow we will really get started, there is a lot on the To-do list, as always.

Coming home for Christmas

2009-12-30T08:08:00.007+08:00

I haven’t been able to write as much I would have liked to, but here finally a post again. I am back in the Netherlands for a few weeks. I came back for Christmas, which I spend at my parents house, where I still am, because I have a holiday this week. And I really needed some time to rest, so no busy schedule with meetings 24/7. Just some time at home for reading and writing. I am working on a business plan for Chinese companies that are entering Europe (a very important step for the decade to come). Next to my never ending focus on the China-Euro relationship I make time to play the piano – working on my musical theoretical background. And also learning to play the Double bass (my father has one). I am contemplating about buying one in 2010.

My time in the Netherlands will really start next week on Monday the 4th of January, when I go to Amsterdam and start working. There will be a few important dates during my stay in the Netherland. I will lead a workshop ‘Leading in China’ on the 15th of January at Meet the World (www.debaak.nl/en/events/meettheworld), the 19th of January Big Improvement Day at the Rai in Amsterdam (www.debaak.nl/en/events/bid), and The China Challenge on the 27th of January (www.debaak.nl/pictures/91A23DBE-01802CDD-0AFF020B-D8DD2F62.pdf). The last event I will not be able to attend myself, because I go back to Shanghai on the 22nd of January. Next to this event I will focus on the marketing of the Dutch Chinese Entrpreneurship Program (www.debaak.com/chinaentrepreneur), finalize the program structure for The New Manager, and other projects with the NFIA and Victoria University Beijing. After some very relaxing days at my parents I am slowly starting to look forward to my work again.

My last three weeks in Shanghai where not as hectic as October and November. Angie came for a surprise visit (to see me and the new house). Very great! I was planning to unpack everything with her, but this we didn’t manage. So the new house is still quite messy, but we got the internet and air-conditioner working (this is what you use in Shanghai in the winter to keep warm). The week before my flight back to the Netherlands my friend Joost came for a visit to Shanghai. During the mornings I worked, but in the afternoons I took some time off to show Joost around town. Next to many other cultural sights, we went to the Jing’An Temple. My first time, but I cannot really recommend it. However, the journey towards the temple was nice, because we used the Metro line 7. A brand new line making Jing’An Temple just 2 stops away from the Hengshan Lu instead of the previous six. What an improvement. In some stations you can already see the new metro-map for the Expo 2010. Quite cool – the Line 2 will also be extended and (next year) it will run from all the way from Hongqiao Airport to Pudong Airport. The speed in which the metro lines develop are a metaphor for the chances of whole Shanghai, and I dare not to compare it to the North/South line struggle in Amsterdam. I am just waiting for line 10 to open, which we give me again a metro station within 5 minutes walk from home, next to the Shanghai Library.

Wish you all a very happy 2010. The year of the Shanghai expo!

Still Alive!

2009-12-07T21:35:00.007+08:00

It has been exactly a month since my last writing. I was just too busy to write. So many things have happened last month, that I actually don’t know where to start my writing. The time I wrote my last blog I was still in the preparation of Harry’s November trip, which seems ages ago already. The trip was a success. We made some good deals and the strategy for 2010 is totally clear. The Dutch Chinese Entrepreneurship Program was launched successfully and we did three other well attended events (two workshops and a network meeting) during his four day stay. Next to this we made a nice deal with the NFIA to host six China-roundtables with them in 2010 - four will take place in the Netherlands and two in China.

Just before Harry’s arrival I made crazy 12-hour days and weekend of overtime, after his departure it’s a little easier, but I still work a great deals of hours. Just to cope with all the things to do. I guess this is what ‘entrepreneurship’ is all about. I made the Baak Shanghai strategy outline for 2010 already, and almost finished the Business Plan 2010 – if everything goes well this will be a profitable year. Let’s hope so!

On the 21st of November I went to Beijing for little over a week. It was great to see Angie again, and even though I had to work also we enjoyed our time a lot. It was my forth time in Beijing and slowly I get to know the place. My favourite day was the one on which we went to the Hot Spring. Hot bathes and showers outsides on a very cold Winter day in Beijing, combined with nice massages and beautiful light in the evening. I can definitely recommend it. The only very shitty thing was I left my brand new beautiful photo- and videocamera in the taxi on the night of arrival. Wasted EUR 1.000 of equipment in 5 seconds on ignorance (let alone the emotional damage). Still feel a little shitty about it.

Came back to Shanghai this week and directly had to move house the first weekend I came back (Sinterklaas - weekend). It was a very busy weekend with a rehearsal and a gig at the JZ Christmas party and the moving of the house. Started packing a the Gao’an Lu at Saturday 17h and everything unpacked again in my new house at Wangping Lu at Sunday 14h. It was a crazy ride, but the new house (with garden) is great. Hope to be able to update you all a little more frequently in the future.

The roof comes down, while making long days

2009-11-07T21:17:00.004+08:00

The last two weeks I’ve been working so many hours that I sometimes get a little crazy (and definitely tired). Since Harry left to Holland I felt the pressure on me to deliver some good results for his coming stay (already next week). On the 16th of November we will ‘officially’ launch the Dutch Chinese Entrepreneurship Program in Shanghai during the ‘Business diner’ with Frank Heemskerk. I still had to make all the promotional material to be able to put it in the market. Yesterday I finally finished the ‘Programmakaart’ and the coming week we will print the flyer (the result is satisfying). Next to this I wrote a new strategy document for De Baak Shanghai (on Harry´s request). Also we will have four events during Harry’s November stay (everyday one). All these had to be organised and I have to make sure there will be enough people to make it successful. Next to the practical organisation, we have to close a few deals next week concerning Baak-activities and products in China (this needs thoughtful preparation of course). All these things combined together made the last 16 days to so full of work that I feel quite exhausted from time to time. I get a better understanding now of business men who tell that leading a company is comparable to top sport.

Next to the working pressure the roof in the living room came down last Sunday evening. I came home and it was a total mess. Dirt and rocks everywhere! It was a miracle that nothing broke (except for the CD-driver of the computer and a glass). Last Friday I had workers over to fix the roof (I escaped to the office), but the house still feels like an construction site. I am happy to leave the place next month. My time here at the Gao’an Lu comes to an end. I enter phase two on my stay in China. The Gao’an Lu formed a good beginning, but all good things come to an end one day and make space for better/other things.

I don´t know how I can still find the energy and motivation to learn Chinese and do my music, but I do. This must mean I am really driven on both things. Last week I visited an Australian guitar player and he give me a copy of The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine. These 600 pages are all you need to know and be able to do, to call yourself a ‘player’. I am at page 10 now, so getting there. My Chinese is also going well – speaking was already quite good, but now I am starting to read simple stories in Chinese characters, and my phone texting skills are really improving – Angie is complementing me on my progress.

The thing that suffers the most is my ‘social’ life. There is very limited time to hang out with other people. I spend half the evenings behind the computer, and even in the weekend I am still busy with work, but last weekend I didn’t work and enjoyed a nice Halloween party in Bar Rouge (one of the hippest places in Shanghai). Bar Rouge has a great terrace with beautiful view on LuiJaiZui (the image with the TV-tower which everybody knows from Shanghai). I enjoyed it and still felt it was a special thing to be living and working in such a huge city on the other side of the world.

Going to the next level with help from Harry

2009-10-24T23:29:00.002+08:00

At home on a Saturday night. I am recovering from a very intensive week with Harry Starren in Shanghai. It was great to have him over for the second time. The week was totally packed with meetings and Harry also facilitated 4 discussions in Shanghai. It were very inspiring days. Next to all those meetings we worked on the strategy for our China project. We are heading to the next (and more profitable) level. Harry will return to Shanghai in the middle of November (already in 3 weeks) to open our “Dutch China Entrepreneurship”-program here officially. So I expect the coming three weeks to be overloaded with work. I need to give all the follow up on the meetings of this trip (make the reports), prepare the trip for November, prepare the material for the Entrepreneurship program and the proposals for the deals we need to close with Harry’s next visit. It will be a real challenge to realize this all for me, but I will do all I can to make it happen. During Harry’s stay the Shanghai International Creative Industry Week was in Shanghai. So there were many Dutch creative professionals in town. The activities of Dutch Creative companies are growing very fast here. It is great to see that Shanghai is more and more a place where Dutch professional meet each other and are active. We were a parnter in the Education-day of the official program of the SICIW, but I also organized some other un-official events concerning Creativity.

The week before Harry arrived a Dutch Guitar player (Joep) stayed over at my place. He visited Shanghai to go Music Expo that week. I would have loved to join him a day. But the whole week I was at home with a fever (38,5 degrees). All the time in bed (mostly with the laptop, to finish the last things for Harry’s trip). I was happy to have some company at home, because to be sick and be home alone is not great. The day Harry arrived I declared myself (almost) better (I had no choice I guess). After the Music Expo there was the JZ festival in Pudong. I played there Sunday afternoon at 13h. We were not great, but it was the first time in this formation - next time we will be better.

When Angie was still here (she left to Beijing on the 10th of October) we managed to find a new house. I will move in the first week of December to a nice new place with a small garden! I looking forward to move to there and experience Shanghai from a different perspective. However, the new house is very close to my current place (10 minutes walking) and still close to the JZ School and even closer to Xindanwei (where I have my office). So won't be very different. My working permit is also fixed. So most practical issues are solved and this gives me the opportunity to focus on the Baak (the pressure is on and the time limited). After Harry's second trip I will go to Beijing for a week to see Angie. We call everyday and I miss her a lot, all I can do is count the days.

Our October Holiday

2009-10-04T22:22:00.003+08:00

All is well and totally back into the Chinese lifestyle. Right now I am in the middle of the “October-holiday” in China. For me this holiday will be a kind of a 'long weekend' (Thu-Mon), since I plan to back to work tomorrow. However, the great thing is that Angie is back in Shanghai and I must say it is great to be back together. We enjoy our time by relaxing at home, making some walks, going to the zoo, eat with friend, etc. Until she arrived I was 24/7 focussing on Harry’s trip. I must say the basic outline is finished and I think I've created a fine program for him in which we can bring De Baak China to a higher level. I'm happy to have started the LinkedIn-group (Baak China Business Community), which I see as a start of a more content driven blog, which I still need to start (it's on the wish list).

Next to work and enjoying my time with Angie we are looking for possible new apartments, because the landlord is seriously thinking about selling this house. He wants to get a prince of EUR 3.000,- per square meter, which is a small fortune for most Chinese and probably a bit too much for this “Second hand” house. But as you can see – the house prices her in China are catching up with Europe. So it’s a little unclear if I will stay here or not. However I am not worried, because the general house hunting time in China is about 1-2 weeks (for a renting house at least) – this is still something incomparable to the Amsterdam standards I am used to. More difficult and important is my work permit, for which I went to the last formal procedure last Monday. If everything is accepted, I can pick up my passport (with Resident permit) on the 12th of October, and won’t have too worry about it anymore to coming year. This will save a great deal of time and stress (so very great!).

Last Wednesday of course was China’s 60th Birthday. I spend it by watching the parade together with Angie. I think I was a special moment for her, for me it was a nice ‘show’ at the time, but since I watch The Last Emperor yesterday I made me think more about it. It was a great movie to begin with (I saw it x years ago, but had forgotten everything). Next to the ‘sad’ story of this last emperor Pu Xi the movie offered a great deal of impressions on the 'chaos' China had to go through in the first half of the 20th century before finally finding a form of stability with the foundation of the People Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Seeing this movie made me feel more special to be part of the 60th Birthday of this milestone in the long history of China.

It has been a while “From Holland to Shanghai”

2009-09-24T15:11:00.002+08:00

It has been ages since my last blog. Already back in Shanghai since almost a week. In the Netherlands by schedule was so full (also with social activities) that I completely missed out on the blogging. My last 2,5 weeks in the Netherlands were great, and full of activities. We had some international meetings with de Baak “China in 2014”-breakfast (3 Sep), “Who are we?” (Launch International Brochure – 9 Sep), and a Panel Discussion “Entrepreneurial Leadership in China” (15 Sep). All these events were big successes. The debate session was also organised by my Dutch colleagues in June, but the audience had more than doubled this time (good!). On these China events you can find summaries if your interested on the www.debaak.com/china - we even founded a Baak China business community on LinkedIn to keep to people connected to each other online. Next to all the events I had many meetings and we’ve launched Shanghai Brochure (a folded A3, but it’s a start).

Right now Mark de Jong is doing an internship at de Baak and he is helping me with my China activities from within the Netherlands. He has been doing great work on building a database for the growing China contacts we have. Also helped with the practical organisation on a event de Baak will host in the Netherlands on China Legal Issues (15 Oct). Even now I am in Shanghai I will co-organise a China-event each month in the Netherlands to create a lively community of China professionals close to de Baak. Next to this, in collaboration with two Dutch colleagues, we have offered a program to an university in Beijing, which potentially can turn out to become a big program. So, after almost a year finally the things are speeding up – that’s great.

I feel my time in Holland has been very successful and nice. It was great to see family and friends. However, the social activities (every night meet someone) were breaking me up in the end – I got more tired and tired (and fat too). Arrived in Shanghai I slept for 14,5 hours my first night and really needed a few days to get things started. Right know I feel good again and also getting back to my normal weight.

Even though being exhausted the first few days I’ve already started with all the normal thing again in Shanghai: music, Chinese lessons and work. The band has grown to 8 members (3 sax, guitar, trumpet, piano, drum and bass), so a semi big-band. We have a first gig planned on the 17th of October on a Jazz festival in Pudong. The Chinese lessons are very difficult – a month of Holland is definitely not good for your Chinese, I really need to get back into it. Last Monday I started working again. I must say Monday was not great, but I am speeding up things and yesterday I was able to do a lot – working 11 hours straight for 9am to 20pm. The focus point is Harry’s second planned trip to Shanghai mid-October. It needs to better than his first one, which seems an impossible task. Socially in Shanghai I have not been very active (apart for some small activities last weekend and Tuesday), but now I feel rested more and more getting into the mood to meet up with friends and people again here in Shanghai.

Angie is in Beijing and I miss her in Shanghai even more than I did in the Netherlands, because the house just reminds me of our time together. I must say I find it lonely here by myself, but she is coming to Shanghai next week for the October holiday - so great.

Happy to be back anyway, the live is good in the Far East.

Running around the clock

2009-09-02T02:42:00.005+08:00

I let myself be totally busy again in the Netherlands, I brought some reading books and Chinese study books to Holland, but haven’t found time to even open them. During the week I work hard and in the evenings I meet friends and family. When I came in the Netherlands two weeks ago I thought a month would be a lot, but now I find it is not much at all. The Dutch weather is great except for last weekend when it rained like crazy. Last week we had the Learning Lane at the Baak – a two day Learning festival in which there were some China activities. And even more important I got my Chinese Z-visa with which I can apply for my Chinese work permit, so finally my stay in the mainland is secured – this will save a lot of time and moment of worry the coming year, so I am very happy.

Today I had a internal presentation at De Baak on the developments with the Shanghai project. My colleagues are really enthusiastic and supportive. I believe the project has finally matured enough for others to start making the connections. The time I spend at De Baak locations in the Netherlands also strengthen my understanding of this very special institute. It is a very special organisation and I get more proud of my connection to this institute. Today I presented my Shanghai brochure – it’s only a four page brochure, but the time invested to produce it was a lot. Happy to finally carry the end-result in my bag-pack. Everywhere I go these last two week, I carry a bag-pack with me. Too much stuff to carry around… One of my colleagues said it was a metaphor for the transition I am in right now. Maybe she it right!

I have a nice room in Amsterdam-East for these weeks and happy to meet friends and family. Shanghai is far away now! Not much time to miss it, but when I think about it, I miss it a little. That's what happens if you decide to live in two places in the world.

Back home in the Netherlands

2009-08-22T17:28:00.003+08:00

Back in the Netherlands I’m in a busy train on a Friday evening going to my parents. I’ve landed last Sunday evening and Monday I directly started working, so I am happy to start a very relaxing weekend in the East of Holland. The week so far has been nice, and the time went extremely quickly. I’ve met many of my Colleagues and already been to all the Dutch locations of De Baak in Noordwijk, Driebergen and Amsterdam.

Working highlights of the week in the Netherlands so far where a diner in Noordwijk on Wednesday with 20 contacts of De Baak in which we shared our ideas about the concept of “change” with each other, while enjoying an diner a the sea. After living in China and being exposed the constant change over the last year I found myself to feel at home around this group of Change-experts. Thursday I organized a strategy session on Dutch entrepreneurship in Shanghai, which was quite an interesting and useful meeting (sad thing was that 4 people didn’t show up, because of the expected storm that never came). A “weather-alarm” can really scare us Dutchies in our “land of the traffic jams”.

This week I was fortunate enough to be able to stay at my aunt’s place in the middle of Amsterdam. I met already some friends, but many of them I haven’t been able to call. The time I have been able to share with them so far was great. I found that coming back to Holland now for the second time is less exciting than the first time in February. Really everything can become a routine. After the weekend I will return to another ‘home’ in Amsterdam at a friend’s place, where I can stay until the end of my stay in the Netherlands. Much better than going from one place to another, like last time.

My last 10 days in China consisted of my birthday party, which was a great success. Around 35 people joined me when I entered my new decade on the 6th of August. Every body was enthusiastic and complemented about the nice atmosphere. After the party I spend a lot of time behind the computer to finish the text for the Shanghai brochure. The good news is that the text and even the design are finished. Although not printed yet, I will be able to present it on the 1st of September during my international China-presentation at De Baak.

So, all is well in the Netherlands. The only sad thing is that Angie has moved to Beijing now to start her Master there next week. We call and Skype, and after I will have returned to Shanghai, she will come to Shanghai within two weeks. But I must say I miss her not being here with me.

Green Guizhou, Health check and lots of other (work-related) things

2009-08-05T20:54:00.005+08:00

My last day I am a 20-something guy. Tomorrow it will be my 30th birthday and we will celebrate it with a traditional Dutch party at home. I’m looking forward to it. I came back from my ten day holiday to Guizhou last Monday afternoon, but since then I hardly left the computer screen. There are many things I have to get straight because my flight to Holland. During my month in the Netherlands every week there will be some event I (co)-host, so that needs a lot preparation from a ‘distance’ already. I’m trying to squeeze out my neglected network in the Netherlands. I’m happy to find that most people didn’t forget about me. The first event on the 20th of August is a strategy meeting on “Dutch entrepreneurship in Shanghai” has been totally arranged and already enough people applied, so that’s a good start.

Next to this I have to re-write my proposal for a Shanghai brochure we want to release on
the 9th of September. It is almost like writing an academic university paper under time pressure. Since it will be my last week in Shanghai with Angie, I also want to spend some time with her. We cannot see each other for some weeks after next week. She will have started with her Master in Beijing when I return to Shanghai.

Next to all my working activities I have good news about my Work permit developments. It was quite some paper work, but I already when through 3 of the 6 steps of the procedure. The steps are: 1. Foreigner Employment License, 2. Vision Notification document, 3. Medical Check, 4. Return to home country, 5. Alain Employment Permit, and 6. Resident Permit. The first two documents I have successfully obtained and yesterday I went to do a health check, which was a special new experience again. First I waited for an hour in the lobby and the second hour I did a blood test, eye test, ultrasound, heart test even an X-ray photo of my back. It was surely efficient, beginning quickly sent from doctor to doctor. I bummed into a friend at the Health test (this city is getting smaller and smaller).

Now I would like to think back of my beautiful holiday in Guizhou. It was definitely the most beautiful province in China I have seen so far. It is so green, with beautiful waterfalls everywhere. Guizhou is definitely undervalued, if you look at the amount of foreign tourists that go there. However, the Chinese tourists have no problem to find their way to Guizhou. During the week there we went to the second biggest waterfall in the world, did a boat ride between the mountains, visit a village of a local minority group (called the ‘Miao’ people), hike in the mountains, eat the most delicious food and did a lot of shopping. I loved every second of it.

I was a little nervous to meet Angie’s parents, but they turned out to be the very lovely people. Although the Guizhou-accent is a little different from the Madarin, I have been studying so hard last year, I still could communicate with them quite well. My sister was totally lost, and could only say “Xiexie” (thank you) the whole time. Next to Angie’s parents I met the whole family (uncles, aunts, grandparents) and friends. It was very nice to meet the people Angie has been talking about. Everyday we were invited for dinners – very delicious, but I gained 5 kg. I promised myself to start to go to the gym, when I come back from the Netherlands.

Just a few more hours before 30, the bottle of champagne is already in the refrigerator!

Traveling everywhere, Working loads and a Rainy Eclipse

2009-07-23T23:04:00.009+08:00

Tomorrow I will go on a small holiday to Guizhou. I’m still finishing the last things at home. My sister is still in Shanghai and she will join the trip to Guizhou, where we are going to Angie’s home town and meet her parents – very special. The ten days since my last writing have been rather hectic with many social activities, some traveling (explore a little more of China with my Sister and Angie) and my work has also been rather busy – always just before you go holiday things get hectic.

For De Baak the progress is going steady. This week I was very productive so far. I had an interesting talk with the Victoria Univeristy, which brought much opportunity for De Baak’s China project. However in China I found that opportunities are easy to find – the difficult thing is realizing them. Anyhow there will be another meeting will the Victoria University in the Netherlands in August, so at least the follow up is quick (let's hope for the best). Further I made the outlinse for two Shanghai brochures de Baak will release in September. The frame is there, but I really hope it will be possible to realize everything within the 6 weeks we still have – everybody in the Netherlands is on holiday, so the progress is not as quick as I hoped.

I’m also preparing my activities for my month in Holland (16 Aug – 17 Sept). There will be a China breakfast, debate session and many strategy meetings. Further I have many companies to visit and potential clients to meet. De Baak will also have very unique international symposium on Dutch Leadership and Society “Who are we” on 09-09-09
in Amsterdam http://www.debaak.nl/en/events/whoarewe. I think it’s going to be a great event (very happy I will be there to attend it). This week I slowly started to announce it to internationals in my personal network. It’s strange to think that I will already be back in Holland within a month (it’s been over six months then since my last visit).

Last week I made some serious progress on my new ‘working’ visa. I’m in the procedure to official register myself in China (no temporarily Business Visas anymore). Last week I handed in many official documents to the officials and it’s looking good. The first of six steps has been approved. I'm happy with this, because then I won’t have anymore unpleasant surprises as I had last May, when my Visa renewal was declined just before it expired. Things are getting more and more stable.

Because my sister is here I try to use as much of my free time as possible to go with her to some place outside of Shanghai. Last week we went to ZhuJiaJiao, which is a tiny old water town close to Shanghai. It’s quite beautiful and a nice day trip, but also very touristy, so you miss the real authentic feeling (positive effect is that there is a nice Italian coffee bar for these spoiled tourists). Last weekend we went to Nanjing, a former Capital of China (there have been many capitals in the long history of China – Beijing is relatively new – see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_capitals_of_China). Nanjing was nice and reminded me and Angie of our visit to Xi’an in April (without the Terracotta army this time, instead Nanjing offers the tourists a “purple” mountain). The cable ride to mountain was my personal high light and the visit to the tomb of the first Ming Emperor was disappointing to me (it was also too hot, walking there). I'm happy I had these chances to see already quite some places of the many this enormous country has to offer. Slowly I find my understanding of the Chinese culture and history is developing.

Yesterday was a very special day, because of the eclipse. Angie got the morning off and we were invited by Clarisse and Daan to watch this climate wonder on their roof top, while having breakfast. We were with approximately ten people to enjoy this moment. The said thing was that it was raining heavily and very cloudy, so we couldn’t see the sun. It became dark and than light again quickly and I must say it still made an impression on me – I can understand that there are eclipse fan clubs. And a breakfast with friends is the best start of any day, so no sad face for me, because of that rain.

It’s already late. I’m going to start packing for tomorrow, a new side of China yet to be discovered.

My Sister, Xindanwei and as always developments everywhere (even underground)

2009-07-12T23:51:00.007+08:00

It has been a quiet Sunday evening – outside it was raining, and we have watched a DVD. My sister arrived last Sunday (it’s been already a week) and is enjoying Shanghai quite a lot. So quite some tourist activities in Shanghai last week (although I’ve kept on working), and tomorrow we will make a little daytrip to one of the five water towns that surround Shanghai, this one is called Zhujiajiao. It’s always great to have family over it makes you feel very close to home (in the end Shanghai is only ½ a day flying – so quite close). My sister will stay here for 5 weeks … so enough time to enjoy, see a bit more of the country and finish her thesis.

As I have been on the look for a workspace/office next to my home I have been working at different places last week. Very interesting was my Wednesday afternoon flex working (or coworking – as they call it) at XinDanWei (literally translated: New Work Unit). XinDanWei (www.xindanwei.com) is a ‘space’ for creative companies and people to come together and work or communicate. I’ve been there three weeks ago for a get together, when it was still under construction. It’s finished now and I must say that the decoration has been done really well. Last week I had quite some things planned so I was only able to work there for a few hours, but I will definitely come back here more often. The ‘space’ is founded by two ambitious women, and is also supported by Isaac Mao (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Mao). I think Isaac is an inspiring figure in the Chinese creative industry scene in China. The vibes are good, and two of my friends will probably choose XinDanWei as their working space. So, it’s all good!

Further I’ve made quite some progression with the Entrepreneurship program. My relation with CBC also brought me some new potentials ‘good’ things. My Chinese teacher has returned from a holiday and after a marathon of homework I ‘officially’ made it from the ‘beginner’ to the ‘intermediate’ level, according to the title of the Book in this case.

A city like Shanghai makes you think about constant changes and developments. Personally I was stroke by this fact again last week in the LujiaBang Rd Subway station. A new Shanghai metro map was presented to me there. There will be two new lines close to my house (I think line 7 and 10), and they will be hopefully finish by the end of 2009. I was quite excited to see this, because it literally will bring ‘Jing’an Temple’, ‘YuGarden’, ‘XinTianDi’, and even more places less that 10 minutes traveling from my house. Shanghai gets smaller and smaller. If you see the current Shanghai metro map is unbelievable to imagine that the first metro line only was established in 1995 (background info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Metro). Now there are 8 lines in service (http://www.exploreshanghai.com/metro/) and for the EXPO there expect to have finished a few more. In 2020 there will be around 20 lines – My God! .... We have to admit that the Chinese are superior in thinking both BIG and QUICK. I like it!

Further I decided to soon divide this weblog soon in two parts – a personal one (which will be more or less be the same as these blogposts I’ve been writing so far) and a more ‘business focused’ part. I hope to establish this change soon (let’s see how quick it can be).

Angie’s birthday, focusing on long term work strategies and goodbye JP

2009-07-03T18:40:00.003+08:00

A very quiet Friday morning and I’m not able to concentrate on working activities. It’s close to lunch time and I’m still quite tired, so take this time to write you a 'Hello' again. The reason for my sleepy eyes is simple: no quiet evenings the last week (every evening was filled with going to bars, playing music or working overtime). And yesterday was the BIG birthday dinner of Angie, she turned 23. It was a very nice party and even though Angie just has been around in Shanghai for a few months she managed to invite over 20 people (so it was a lively dinner). A very happy day and I’m happy my stay in Holland has been postponed until August, so I was able to be her myself. Angie was also happy with the party and of course my present (an Ipod Touch)....

My work is not going to bad. It made some imported steps. I finally started with the realization of the Entrepreneurship program – from concept to a concrete project. Last week I had meeting with different entrepreneurs to get them interested in to coach in the program. I have three coaches now (of the in total 15 I need). However the Program won’t launch until springtime 2010, so there is still time. But it’s not just talk anymore, so that’s always an important step. Further I made the outline for my stay in Holland in Augustus / September. The schedule I made it quite crazy – if it will turn out like this I will be very busy during my stay in the Netherlands. However maybe some program elements will turn out to be impossible to arrange this quick. Let’s see what happens.

Since recently I work one day a week at the office of Your Op (www.your-op.nl). I had big plans to start a collaboration with them, but this will only be activated a small level, however as long as there is space in the office I can use it for one day a week. Quite nice! So everything slowly becomes more and more structured. I even found time last week to give www.debaak.com/china a small update (including a summary of the TNM-trip of October (in Dutch)). Next to the development of my own projects it’s nice to see some of my friends are also developing their businesses or projects well. Last Thursday I went to a presentation of Michiel’s GO WEST project, The Changing Face of China’s Invisible Cities. I really like this project in with they write a book about the current developments of China’s the mega, but to the Western world unknown, cities outside of the East coast. Definitely worth to check out their website: http://www.gowestproject.com/ .

So all has not been going too bad, my Chinese Teacher is on Holiday in Germany and gave me an extreme load of homework (which I haven’t started to do – so this I need to give up some of my other weekend plans to start catching up). My sister will come this Sunday to Shanghai and will stay here for a month – I’m looking forward to it. She needs to finish her Thesis, so we can sit behind the computer together (the modern 21st century live). Lastly my good friend JP (the now ex-singer of the band) has left to New York, he got a new job there. It’s a sad that people are leaving. I’ve been here only 9 months and I already seen some people leave and new ones come (slowly in some conversations I find that people are shorter in Shanghai than me). I can image if you’re here for more than 5 years you saw almost everyone come and go. Of course there is a small hardcore group here in the country that has been here over 15 years …. (so far I’m still on my way to complete my first year, which in the beginning seemed amazingly long).

Rebuilding Shanghai for the World Expo – Help, noise everywhere!

2009-06-18T18:39:00.004+08:00

I’m writing this form a coffee bar close to my house. I’ve escaped my house, which has been turned in to a complete chaos, since the last few days. A huge renovation in my housing block has started and will last for three months - aaaargh! The outside of the house will be done, but also inside will be the necessary changes. Next to that our nextdoor neighbors (two nice American guys) have moved. The new Chinese couple that will live there is now completly rebuilding the apartment (which makes the noise surrounding us even worse). As you can read I'm not happy with this, especially because I have been working from home mostly since I’m here. Thank god, I made some deals now with other people/organisations that I use their offices once a week – so together with the coffee bar, appointments outside I try to limit my time at home. Further Eddie is moving out (he was a great neighbor), something I start to think about moving out myself too. However all the hassle of moving houses (including finding one) also doesn’t seem very appealing to me.

Also when I’m outside the amount of construction workers seem to double each week. Every street is open, houses are renovated everywhere, subway lines are build etc. etc. I guess next year Shanghai will be totally ready to welcome the world, but it seems there are a lot of last minute changes to be made – what to do? Just hope to get used to the noise and other disturbances.

My work is going ok, but find myself to have many different projects whit no quick deadlines, so I am working on all these things the same time, and that is sometimes not easy. Further I'm looking out to create clear agreements with a company/organization with which to integrate my activities for ‘de Baak’, else we will have to set up our own ‘real’ office here and that will definitely costs a significant amount of money and time. So the strategy is to link my activities to an existing company here. I’m talking with multiple possible candidates and no clear decisions have been made. I have to start to hurry a little, because on the 16th of August I will fly back to Holland and than it has to be arranged. Next to all this long term activities I made an outline for a Chinese group that want to visit the Netherlands in the fall of 2009, and finally also made a next step with the Entrepreneurship-program (maybe a content overview and timetable). I need to communicate more and more with the Baak in the Netherlands which is good, but also I find long distance communication sometimes difficult. Keep it together and slowly progressing (Shanghai wasn’t builds in a day – it goes fast, but everything takes time).

Musically I gave my last shows with the current band formation, one last show was last Sunday (in Jz again). However yesterday we played at Mario’s (new Sax-player) birthday party (he has definitely the most beautiful apartment I ever entered in Shangai (expect for the Consuls home maybe, which was also amazingly nice). It was a nice party and with the people staying we are quite determined to keep the playing level up high. And last week I also sing some songs with Angie at home (she has a beautiful voice). She just got a new job for a company selling classes on Chinese language and culture… we try to speak Chinese three days a week now, but this is difficult to maintain, because even though all the studying hours, I keep missing out a lot.

The summer has totally started and it's bloody hot!

My parents in town for a week, rain season and blocked sites.

2009-06-05T15:53:00.004+08:00

At Rosalie’s and Michiels house, and outside it is rainy very very heavily. The rain season has started in Shanghai. Looking outside you can’t see further that one block of houses. It will be this weather for a month I've heared (nice!). My parents had very nice weather during their stay in Shanghai, so they were really blessed. It was very great to show them around town (although parts of the trip - they were only accompanied by Angie, because I had some meetings or other work activities). We did very nice things: visit the Shanghai Aquarium (biggest in the world), walk on the Lupu bridge (with view over the Expo-terrain), sightseeing in the French Concession (always nice), great dinners (incl. one were Eddie played the piano)… etc. etc. My parents loved Shanghai and a week was far too short, but that’s life. They also got along really well with Angie, pfff. During the weekend we went to Hangzhou with the four of us. Hangzhou is famous for its West Lake, which is amazingly beautiful. This was the second time I went here, but enjoyed it even more. I can recommend it to you all.

The work for the Baak is going well. I have enough projects to keep myself very busy, but also feel I will have a little more time this summer to create more structure in the things that I’m doing here. Yesterday I had a meeting with DiPauLi to discuss about the possibilities to bring a group of Chinese business man to the Netherlands. They would like to go by the end of 2009. This would be great for my colleagues in Holland, so the can feel the dynamics China brings to you, very well. I hope we can realize it that quick. The vibes in the Netherlands concerning China are growing and growing, last week there was a very successful event in Amsterdam in which the Old-consulate-general Jochem Haakma was the main speaker: http://www.debaak.nl/en/events/theartofleadingin. Four times a year there will be a China-event in collaboration with Pakhuis de Zwijger. Check it out, if you have the chance.

Not much progression for me personally on the music level. Next to the band I haven’t been able to study the bass guitar the last weeks and Jim (Sax) and JP (Vocal) are leaving Shanghai. Yesterday we had the goodbye party of Jim and JP is leaving by the end of the month. Tomorrow I’ll have two gigs and next weekend also one, but after that the band will have its summer break until September. Keep you posted … since the Chinese government wants to prevent unwanted discussions these days all the blog-sites and Twitter is shot down here in China. So only when I use a special internet tool I can reach my own blog (not very convenient, but what can you do?). Also I heard they are going to renovate my house (the whole apartment block), starting this week and will last for 3 months (ai, what to do?). Angie started a job as a waitress, but doesn’t like it very much (hope she can find something better, what can you do?)…. So you see there are some rainy bits here, but also a lot of sunshine.

Shanghai Summertime Starts

2009-05-26T21:26:00.001+08:00

All is well and I’m back in Shanghai. I’ve got my new VISA and I am ready to start the Shanghai summer – I won’t go back to Holland in June as planned before (changed my flight to August). My three days in Hong Kong were nice. I got to see some more sights, but spend most time behind the computer screen – finishing the summaries of Harry’s stay in Shanghai and started with the outline for a Baak Shanghai brochure. Everything is really going well on the work field. The China project is getting more and more serious. As said, there will be a brochure, we started with the website www.debaak.nl/china (needs content badly, but it exists) and today I’ve looked at a potential office in Shanghai, so maybe no more working at home all the time. I think that a work space will be good, although I found it not hard to concentrate at home the last few months. Only in the beginning it was a little difficult for me, but I got used to it quickly. The secret is …. ‘Make sure you’re really busy, and the concentration will follow naturally’.

It’s great to back in Shanghai by the way. When I arrived last Wednesday Angie, Eddie and me celebrated by going to a Mexican restaurant, followed by a birthday party of Remko. Thursday I started working again directly and had a couple of meetings, including with Bencham (www.bencham.org) the Dutch/Belgium Chamber of Commerce and now ‘partner’ in some of our activities. Further I had a meeting on the Dutch Design Expo here in October (the plan is to also become one of the organizing partners in this big event in Shanghai (Harry will come back personally for this). Friday working also after a great evening, because we went to a restaurant with a big group – my friend JP (the singer of the band) told me that he will leave Shanghai (sad news). For him as for most people Shanghai is just a temporary thing (he has been here for two years).

Saturday music class and at night went to see Davide (the Italian bass player) perform. Next month I’ll have three concerts, but then there will be a big summer break until September. I’d love to get back on track with my recording with Davide (which has been ‘dead’ since TNM-trip) and also want to study all about the theory of music (I’ve downloaded some interesting books). My reading has been going well the last few weeks (so I confident to start with this soon). I finished a couple of books just now (“Dragons on your door” is a must-read for every China-entrepreneur) … still one more China-book to go and than I want to squeeze in some more Music Theory books.

The study of the Chinese language is also going very well now. My monologues finally really start to evolve into dialogues. Angie and I talk Chinese now about 30% of our time (that gives me a lot of practice time). I never expected to learn it so easily – just put some effort for a few months and it really pays off.

My blog, like the whole blogspot-site is blocked now in China, so I had enter my own blog via a special site. Now it worked fine, but it could be, that it will be difficult to write for me sometimes. So changes are that I cannot write very frequently in the coming weeks (for as long as this blocking of the site lasts). However, Harry asked me to also start a twitter on my experiences, so it will even be easier for you to get updates on the developments here. My parents are coming here for a week on Thursday, their first time to go to China – Great!

Hong Kong: experiencing the VISA run

2009-05-17T22:50:00.004+08:00

At my good friend Theo’s house in Hong Kong I am writing this blogpost. I flew here today, because as I’ve written in my last blog I encountered some Visa-problems in Shanghai. My Visa was expired today and as I only heard five days ago that my application for renewal was refused there was no option for me, but to leave the country. Due to Harry’s stay in Shanghai last week I had not enough time to find alternative solutions. I just arrived a few hours ago in Hong Kong and tomorrow I am going to explore the answers to my Visa-problem. It is actually not bad to be back in Hong Kong again although it was unexpected. It is a great and dynamic city and of course my good friend Theo lives here, so I am not frustrated and enjoy the moment. However this Visa-case makes it clear that we need to get an official status as De Baak in China as soon as possible to make sure this won’t happen again. The time is right now too, because during last week when Harry was here we developed big plans for the Baak in China.

Harry’s stay in Shanghai was great, because it gave him an opportunity to see what is going on here in China and get a feel for the projects that we can develop here. For me it was good, because it gave me the commitment from the Netherlands to really start to get thing ‘on the roll here’. We will intensive the trips from Holland to China, the project with the Consulate will be realized, next to that we will develop a program on ‘Doing Business in China’ for managers, and lastly we will be a partner in the organization of the Dutch Design Expo in October in Shanghai. So there are many interested things planned for the coming months. I am very excited.

A few of the highlights of last week were eating with the CEO’s of the Dutch multinationals, a dinner at the Consuls home with a group of successful Dutch entrepreneurs, a visit to the Chinese Executive Leadership Academy Pudong, a session some key players on the Dutch Creative industry in China and a diner with two Chinese Dutch entrepreneurs that want de Baak to facilitate trips for Chinese entrepreneurs to introduce them to the Netherlands/Europe. So, it was business wise an important week for me. Further the week was personally also very good, because Angie came back to Shanghai. She will stay now in Shanghai until September, which makes me happy (expecting to also be allowed to come back to the country). The weekend was also quite social with drinks on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (there are so many nice people in Shanghai). To summarize it all, I was a great week with Harry, very happy to have seen Angie again, and got a visa-problem that made me fly to HK. To plans for me are to enjoy HK for a few days and then go back Home to Shanghai.

Goodbye Stefan, Welcome Harry

2009-05-13T00:11:00.006+08:00

In the middle of Harry’s stay in Shanghai I take a few minutes to summarize the developments of everything here in Shanghai. Harry Starren is the CEO of ‘De Baak’. He’s my boss, a very inspiring and smart guy and I've found out these days that he’s quite funny too. So, I must say (at least to my personal opinion) that the vibes are good and positive. Two days ago Harry arrived here in Shanghai and we have three more days to go, before he goes (so actually we’re half way through). I joined him on some little sightseeing, but most of the time we find ourselves in offices or hotels to meet up with potential clients and partners here in Shanghai.

Next to some network meeting we went to a Benelux Chamber of Commerce event (we’re looking for ways to establish partnership) and already had a strategy meeting with CBC (partner in management training). But the most interesting meetings (I think) will be tomorrow and Thursday: Strategy session on creative industries in Shanghai (we want to be a partner in the Dutch Design week here in October), lunch will all Dutch CEO’s in Shanghai and a diner at the Consuls home with successful Dutch entrepreneurs. So I’m looking forward to the coming days. Next to introducing Harry to as much people as possible we need to develop the China strategy for the coming period (which implies the good news that De Baak wants to continue in China). It's great to spend this week with Harry and it gives me a strong foundation to build upon.

I started this week with Harry being a little tired, because of the previous week with Stefan in Shanghai. I had to work during the daytime to prepare for Harry’s stay (there were a few moments I joined Stefan on some cultural sightseeing), but of course all the evenings I spend with Stefan and we did lots of social activities with some of my friends. Stefan enjoyed his stay here very much, and I enjoyed his company a lot, but because of the dual program I felt like I never had that holiday to Thailand by the time Stefan left on Friday (so tired). A few of the highlights for me during Stefan’s stay: visiting the Lupu bridge which gave us a beautiful view on the construction of the EXPO 2010, the observatory of the Shanghai World Finance Centre (not cheap, Yuan 150,-, but def worth it), very nice diners especially at LostHeaven, Guiyu Hunan and ‘50% off’ Mexican food and lastly band playing at the Brown Sugar at Xintiandi. When Stefan left on Friday I was very tired of course and spend a rather quiet Friday night with Eddie the guitarist and his friend Mike (bass-player). Then Saturday was a total music day: play at the Basque afternoon bbq, than rehearsal at Jz School and at night a gig for the European Chamber of Commerce in the Jin Mao tower (Pudong). Sunday I woke up 8am to go the Pudong Airport to pick up Harry.

So since my return in Shanghai I haven’t been bored once (and even saw an opportunity to restart my Chinese lessons again this evening). The only bad news that my visa application was declined (maybe because of the Pig flu - dont really know), so I probably have to leave the country this Sunday to go to Hong Kong to get a new Visa – just while I planned to relax a little with Angie, who will come back to Shanghai tomorrow. I haven’t seen her since my flight to Thailand. So very great she comes back. Let’s see what happens on this Visa-situation. Keep u posted from wherever I am.

Thailand Paradise

2009-05-03T11:48:00.006+08:00

After 8 days of complete relaxation in the Paradise called Thailand I’m back in Shanghai. My Dutch friend Stefan is here with me and he is my first ‘official’ visitor from the Netherlands. I’m very happy that he is here and although my holiday is really over and I have to get back to work now, it feels that it’s a ‘special’ time now my friend is here in China. We came just back yesterday evening. We had a nice dinner (fish Hot Pot) with Michiel and Rosalie and after I showed Stefan some of the buzzing night life here – which he was excited about.

Thailand was totally relaxing. I flew to Bangkok, where the riots had finished (thank god!). Thailand provides very easy traveling – everybody speaks English and the country is totally focused on the back packing tourist. In Bangkok we stayed at the backpacker’s area called Kausan Road. This area consists of a couple of streets packed with restaurants, bars, (night) shops and street stalls. I saw drunken backpackers everywhere on the streets and Thai lady boys walking around– definitely not Shanghai anymore. We survived the night without any problems, and decided to leave Bangkok for what it was and go to some quieter place. There was just time to see one big beautiful temple (there all the same anyway as I heard) before we took of in the night buss to the South.

The next day we arrived in Railay, which is a beautiful beach close to Krabi (South Thailand). Railay is definitely one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. It’s a total paradise, but a touristy one, although not packed with people (yet). Firstly, low session in Thailand has just started and secondly, Railay is not yet discovered by the masses. It probably will soon, and become the new ‘superstar’ of Thailand. In Railay Stefan and I had a nice and relaxing time consisting mostly of beaching (I totally got burned), swimming, eating and drinking. We both preformed some songs in the local bar, known as The Last Bar (and yes, it is the last one on the island).

We hooked up with a couple of Germans in Railay and joined them to Kao Sok, a place next to one of the National Parks in Thailand. We stayed in a beautiful Treehouse resort; where the houses were literally build in the trees. We had to very enjoyable days here that consisted of scooter driving, jungle tracking, swimming, canoeing and good food. The holiday was definitely short and although Thailand supposed to be cheap, I spend a small fortune. Right now (and especially after last night) I’m physically quite exhausted, but mentally I feel rested (that’s what holidays are for, right?).

Stefan is still on the bed, but when he is awake we’re going down town to make him a suit and do some sight seeing. Tomorrow he will be on his own, because I have to focus on the preparations for Harry Starren’s visit. He will arrive already next week. So again it’s time for business, it’s business time.

A working week and jazzy weekend

2009-04-19T23:40:00.005+08:00

Late Sunday night in the bed with my laptop (something I tend to do more often lately) updating you all on the recent developments here in Shanghai. My neighbors have just left after a nice social visit. I’m doing good, but dead tired and physically maybe not in my best shape (one of my teeth hurts). I need a holiday (which will be there in four days). I’m exited to go to Thailand. I think the political situation over there stabilized again a little, so still seems to be safe to travel there. So I didn’t change my plans and will go. I will meet my Dutch friend Stefan in Thailand and on the 2nd of May we both fly back to Shanghai, so I can show him the sights here. After his return to Holland the CEO of De Baak will be here. So in between all these holiday and social activities I have to create an outstanding program for the CEO's stay. I made the outline and already confirmed a couple program elements – but it will still be an amazingly load of work and I have difficulty finding the time.

Last week Angie was in Beijing to do her second test for a Master in Beijing (she made it – and is accepted), which will mean she will move back to Beijing in September. I’m very happy she’s accepted at the university, but the idea that’s she will live in Beijing is of course not something to look forward too. For now, I’m not stressing about it, and we will see how it will go. So without her I was alone again last week. I used most of my time during the weekdays to prepare for Harry’s visit and got other long-term Baak-projects rolling again, like the Entrepreneurship program with the Consulate, and there’s also a fresh project which concerns of group of Chinese entrepreneurs and business men that want to go to do a trip through Holland. This would be a great project for De Baak, so I really hope we can make it happen. When Harry is here in May we’ll set the next step for this, and I’m sure he will be as excited as me.

The week was focused on ‘work’, the weekend was centered around my performance at JZ Club. The JZ Club is the best jazz music bar in town and my band (which has the working-title: “The long undertones”) got the opportunity to play for an hour at peak Saturday night. We were the opening act playing form 8.30pm to 9.30 pm. The set went great and the public was also very enthusiastic. It was definitely a performance to remember and now at least I can also say: “I played the JZ”. I was happy to see that I master the Jazz style in six months enough to please the jazz audience’s critical ears. Still there's more than enough to improve music wise, so I will keep going. However, for the two saxophone player this was their last gig with this band and the drum will also leave Shanghai in June. The rest will stay, but we need to reform the group soon. Anyhow the gig yesterday was a nice achievement, we did it! Now quickly go to sleep… It’s going to be busy days, before the holiday ....

All over the country

2009-04-08T00:20:00.007+08:00

The Trip of The New Manager was a huge success and now I find myself to have a three rest holiday in Xi’an, which is the old capital before Beijing and famous for its Terracotta warriors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi'an), which are really impressive. I’ve arrived here two days ago with Angie and will go back to Shanghai tomorrow. Xi’an is a beautiful city with a rich old history and many great sights. The atmosphere here is different from Shanghai. Although it is a very large city with over 6 million inhabits it feels quite local, definitely not international. Only when you are at the tourist hot spots I meet other foreigners. There are many large avenues with gives the royal feeling of an old capital. The streets down town are packed with large warehouses and fast food places, which totally makes it difficult at first to feel the unique features of a ‘new’ city (there all the same!). On the night of arrival Angie and I had the local specialty, which is a bread noodle soup. We, the costumers, had to break some small hard small breads into little pieces, this took us about 40 min – I must say we were definitely hungry after. If you ever set foot on Xi’an ground it worth to try, but I didn’t find it very delicious.

I’m here in Xi’an to rest a little after the intense trip of last week with The New Managers of de Baak. Saturday the group flew back to Holland after an full schedule lastly for 7 days. Jessica (Chinese logistic manager), Isabelle (Chinese cross cultural consultant) and I received so many compliments by the end of the week. That was just great. The managers also made their own report on this week which you can find on the http://dnm141.blogspot.com/. In this report I hope you can read their enthusiasm between the lines (it's in Dutch).

During the trip I’ve seen so many interesting things. A few of the high lights for me personally where the visit to (1) the Silk Factory on Thursday in Jia Xing, (2) the Creative discussion meeting I organized with PlusEightStar and (3) our visit to the Deputy President of ZhongGuanCun. The Silk Factory was placed on a huge terrain with multiple factories – I was exposed to big hallways full of noisy machines and literally hundreds of workers producing the most beautiful fabrics. ("Twente" in the 21st century I think). The Creative Discussion meeting with PlusEightStar was an great event with 40-50 attendants and it gave me a good starting point in the network of Creative entrepreneurial people in Beijing - want to see if I can create connections between this starting network in Beijing and the Creative community in Shanghai.

The visit to the management of the ZhongGuanCun was fascinating. It was a very official meeting and we were with a delegation on twenty people. When you’re with a big group a lot of things are going very different compared to when you visit just them by yourself. It gives it a very official feeling, and this is also the way in which the Chinese view such a group. I feel this is a great experience to have, to get a better understanding of the way China works. It was very nice that Isabelle was there to share her remarks and insights to gain an understanding for the group, but also for me personally.

It’s already very late, so quickly to bed. After tomorrow another new period in Shanghai will start with: (1) a trip to Thailand, (2) the visit of Harry Starren, CEO of de Baak, to Shanghai (mid-May), and (3) the feasibility study of my project with the Consulate. Further personally I want to keep my focus on my developments in Chinese and music. I have no clue how I can manage it all, but I will pull it off in the end, I’m sure.

The New Manager in China

2009-03-29T23:48:00.004+08:00

All is going well. I’m in the middle of the New Manager program for which I worked so hard the last few weeks. The atmosphere is great and the group really likes it. Every body is very enthusiastic. The program began yesterday in Beijing. These first two days we have mostly done cultural activities like the Forbidden City, Tiananmen square, 798 and the Great Wall. The great wall this morning was very impressive (it was my first time), especially because it snowed (which is very special this time of year. Tomorrow the more ‘serious’ activities will start: Company visits (ATOS Origin, Elanders and the National Audit Office), a creative industry discussion meeting (organized by PlusEightStar and myself) and lastly a dinner at the Ambassadors house. That’s just tomorrow, so you can imagine we have a very busy schedule. I’m quite excited and I am looking forward to it already.

So this time, just a quick notice. Soon I will write a more detailed report on the developments here in the Middle Kingdom (zhongguo), as the Chinese call their country.

Shang You Tian Tang, Xia You Su Hang

2009-03-19T10:38:00.005+08:00

Wednesday evening and I’ve just returned from a music session with Davide Bertolone. He is the guy with whom I’m recording songs. So far we have laid down three basic tracks for a first demo. Which I expect to be finished within a few weeks. With this demo we can form a band together and do some gigs. Tomorrow night I will also play in a local club, called Shelter where I will improvise together with a DJ and some other musicians. It will be my first improvisation concert and I totally unprepared (but how can you prepare for improvisation – I ask myself). So musically all is well …

The last two weeks have been so busy and full that I don’t really know where I should start my story. Maybe I could start with my nice trip of two weeks ago to Suzhou. This is a city about an hour from Shanghai with 6 million residents. I went to Suzhou to visit the Siemens factory on Monday morning. Next week we will visit this factory with “The New Manager”-trip. Because I’ve never been to Suzhou I decided to make into all super small ‘holiday’ with Angie. We left Shanghai on Sunday afternoon and returned to Shanghai on Monday evening. Suzhou together with Hangzhou is famous for the Chinese saying: Shang you Tian Tang, Xia you Su Hang, which means “There is a paradise in the sky, but on the world there is Suzhou and Hangzhou. And I must say Suzhou is definitely a nice town. It is famous for its beautiful classical gardens. We went to two of those, and it was really something nice and special. The first one was a little small, but almost deserted – this is something one will hardly experience in China. In was so nice, it felt to be in ancient times in such a nice garden without hundreds of people. A great difference with the noisy busy modern big city everyday life I'm used to now here.

At home the house is full with Esther staying over as our guest. Esther is working for a tv-show and makes long day – leaves the house at 7h and returns at 22h – so we hardly see here. Angie and I have now been living together now for over a month, without fights. And I think we can keep it like that. The time when I lived alone in this house seem long gone and I must say that I’m happy with that.

My work for De Baak is going quite good. The group of The New Manager will be here a little more than a week … so always many last moment details to deal with. But I am looking forward to experience it. Further found some new potential clients for the collaboration with CBC – we’re working on it, and I hope we can sell some trainings. Earning a little bit of money is never wrong. The concept for the entrepreneurship program with the Consulate is growing and growing. De Baak in the Netherlands is also into this development, so after the trip I can push this project to realization (hopefully of course, there are still enough problems that need to be solved, but the energy is good/positive). Harry Starren, my CEO, is planning a visit to Shanghai. A good thing!

So all is on a nice track… The coming two weeks will be totally packed, after that it will just be normally busy, I guess (don’t know). However, I’ll go to Thailand with Stefan for 1,5 weeks by the end of April ----- that is super great!! I feel I deserve a nice little holiday!

Settled in China

2009-03-05T22:43:00.006+08:00

A Thursday night at 22h I find myself behind the computer screen. Angie is talking a shower, so time for a quick post to Holland. The last two weeks have been very nice, but also extremely busy. Angie and I are still going strong and the time when I lived alone in this house seems long gone. It’s actual great to share your live with someone like this – I can recommend it to everyone. Angie is very easy going and gives me the space I need to do my activities (work, music, work, Chinese and work). We just came back from IKEA (a place where you really don’t feel like you’re in China anymore) to buy sleeping gear. Next week Angie and I will have another visitor. My friend Esther from Beijing will be in Shanghai for two weeks for to work here for a film project - she does camera. So, now the so far unused guest room is made ready to fulfill its role. By the way Angie found a job as an insurance consultant in Shanghai – she found it within a week (China tempo, what can we say!). It’s great – we wake up together.

Apart from having very little time for social activities all has been well the last few weeks. The Baak-trip will be by the end of this month. So now there are so many many practical issues and things I need to take off for the program. Always so much more work that you think it will be. However it is still 3 weeks to go and I’m well on track (not nervous at all – almost all the company visits in both Beijing and Shanghai have been confirmed and people can't wait to meet the group). It will be successful. This weekend I’ll be in Suzhou to confirm a company visit to the Siemens factory there. Last week I had a few meetings with different Chinese companies – I 'm starting to use my Chinese more and more in when I’m meeting Chinese (they really appreciate it a lot and everything seems to go more smoothly after this). Next to the trip I’ve been working on the entrepreneurship program with the Consulate, where I’ve been twice the last two weeks to discuss the progress. It is looking good, and is developing into a solid concept. These are definitely the two biggest projects I’m working on. Of course I also have other things that keep me off the streets (at night) – just working around the clock (expat style).

Having little time for party doesn’t mean I gave up on my Chinese lessons. Still twice a week – I have a new book (beginner part III – we skipped part II). It’s super advanced and yesterday I literally did my homework until 1 am – after a 10 hour working day. So, I have no problems with motivation on this field. Music is going ok (could be better). Last two weeks I’ve been to Davide three times to work on my songs. Last Saturday I perfected the lyrics with my band mates Cathy and JP at home (instead of going out I seem to invite people to come to my home more and more – cheap and convenient). The band is going great. We did a gig last Thursday – we really got our act together this time – wo men bu cuo! My bass lessons are not going great (have no time do prepare them – so I don’t schedule any (wish I soon get it going again). Eddie my guitar teacher is out of town for three weeks, because a good friend died abroad. When he returns I probably just did the Baak –trip and my work schedule also a little less hectic.

So still alive and feel very settled here in my home with my ‘wife’.

Working overtime and living with a beautiful Angel

2009-02-21T21:24:00.009+08:00

Before I’m meeting my neighbors for a Saturday night drink, I’ll quickly give you all an update. Last week has been great and consisted of lots of work for De Baak and spending time with Angie. I really started to get the working rhythm on the roll. Monday I met Jacco the CEO of Webpower (www.webpower.nl). He told me all about his start in China. Everything went wrong, the almost pulled the plug after a 14 month struggle. The decision was made to give it one more change – and now China is the most profitable country for Webpower (and this all happened in 3 years). I found it a nice and inspiring story to hear. Further it is great material for my (new) project here which is focusing on Dutch starting entrepreneurs. This week I wrote the business concept for the project and it really gives me the feeling it will be successful. Next week I’ll present it at the Consulate (which will partner in the project). So let’s see where it will go.

This second period in China is totally different from the first. In the first period I had to get myself and my life together here, no I have to get my ‘act’ (work) together. But I feel that I’ve come into a position where I really can get some things done. However creating the results keeps me off the street. This week I worked far over my normal hours (1.5 week in one) – Monday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night and Saturday morning too.

However next to all this working there is a big change in my life. I have a girlfriend and she’s even living in my house. Angie arrived from Beijing to Shanghai last Tuesday. I met her in Beijing in January, when I was arranging the program for The New Manager-trip of de Baak. Angie finished university in Beijing and want to get a job in Shanghai. It is going well, she already did 3 interview in here first five days in SH (China speed). Angie is a beautiful and smart 22-year-old girl. She was born in the province of Guizhou in the West of China. She never left China in her entire life and sees everything from a Chinese perspective. But she manages to fascinate my mind with her cleverness and cute appearance. She gives me a very good feeling, and really promotes my working activities – ‘Work hard is good’. So far we managed to avoid cross-cultural-conflicts and we get our relationship started very smoothly and happy. Step by step!

The Chinese language is totally back on track. Started my lessons again last monday and with Angie I’m going in a speed I haven't experienced before. Learning Chinese is like a puzzle. Once you put the first pieces in right place it gets easier and easier. I start to feel so confident about Chinese that I’m even thinking about joining Angie in her ambition to learn French. Of course I’ll have to keep on developing my Chinese (for the years to come), but now I'm on the level where the language not totally alien anymore. It really starts to make sense to me, so the learning process becomes also more natural and easy.

Music is also going great. Today we had a rehearsal, which was definitely the best so far. A new French guitarist joined my jazz band and we’re also getting on the next level here. Next Thursday we'll have a gig and we’ve never been so ready. Like Chinese I feel music is also like a puzzle, it’s just matter of putting down the little pieces (of course this means keep on going). As you can read all is going great here in the Far East. My eyes are quite heavy on this Saturday evening, but it's all worth it.

Back in China and back to business!

2009-02-15T23:10:00.003+08:00

Last Tuesday I’ve returned to China. I’m happy to be back. I really felt like coming home. I didn’t have any problems to adjust to my new surrounding and hardly any signs of a jetlag. I arrived Tuesday morning in China and directly went to start with my work for De Baak. I’ll be quite busy the coming weeks to get all the projects on the roll. This week I was working on the preparations for the management trip of 20 Dutch managers De Baak will facilitate by the end of March and beginning of April (part of the program The New Manager - http://www.debaak.nl/en/courses/tnm). When I was in Holland I presented the first draft for the program to the project managers of the program in Holland. They discussed it last Wednesday with the group. Everybody really liked it – which maked me very happy. So, now I have to confirm the company visits and deal with the last details for the trip (still will be some work of course). I’m looking forward to the moment when we will finally get to go. It will be exciting!

Next to working on the trip I wrote my reflection story for my colleagues in the Netherlands. I got many friendly responses, so that was very great. Further, I wrote and outline which described all my projects for the coming months until the 1st of June (The-New-Manager-trip, organizing an event, do the acquisition for a big management training program and start the entrepreneurship network in collaboration with the Consulate). The CEO of De Baak will probably also come to China in April to introduce himself to our (potential) clients in China. So I really feel it’s going to be crazy weeks for me the coming months. The good thing about it is that I totally have no problem to motivate myself now to get to work; there is simply no time to waste. I’m not stressed and feel happy and motivated. It’s a great challenge to get these things successfully realized here in China. Happy to have this chance!

When I got back this week I felt my Chinese language had gotten quite bad, but after a few days I started to get better again. Today I did my homework and tomorrow night I will start with my lessons again. Even thought I feel much work pressure I don’t want to stop to invest time in my Chinese, because I think it will be a great assert for the future … and as said before it’s a great language to learn, so rich! Next to my focus on work I had some social activities. I met my friend and guitar-player Eddie directly on Tuesday night. Wednesday I was accompanied by Ad Fernhout (who was here in my house to work with me for a day – very pleasant . Ad will start a cross-cultural training company in China and is extremely interested to collaborate with me and De Baak. There are many chances for collaboration, so I think we can create something worth while. Thursday night I went to Davide Bertolone to record 9 songs I’ve written (just a click-track with guitar and voice). We have plans to make an album – it’s ambitious, but I’m excited. Friday night I had dinner with Isabel and after went to a night of the Dutch community to network. Saturday I rejoined my jazzband and found I have lots of home work to catch up.

So again all is totally dynamic and my days are already filled. I’m looking towards busy weeks. This Tuesday Angie will come from Beijing to Shanghai. She will probably get a job here and will stay with me for a while. I’m very excited and can’t wait to see her again. Let’s hope all turns out to be great.

Holland opened my eyes for the money-side of life

2009-02-08T08:07:00.003+08:00

My time in Holland is almost finished. The last two weeks have really busy, seeing all my friends and colleagues. All the days were packed with meetings (both business and pleasure). The first week was a little strange for me with all the changes I found at the Baak and being physically not very well. I had to really adjust my mindset towards my China activities for them. The current approach of everyone here is focused on money, money and money. However, I must say right now I also adopted this idea into my brains and my mouth.

Nowadays I find myself to be mostly interested in the money-side of things. Let’s see what this brings. Last Friday I gave a presentation to a few of my colleague’s at the Baak in which I revealed the China-strategy for the coming months (of course based on the question: “How are we going to make profit or add value for our current costumers?”). I will focus on acquisition and a new project for Dutch entrepreneurs in Shanghai (it will by dynamic times the coming moths). Actually I feel this commercial perspective is freeing in the approach towards my activities (things that don't make profit are directly unimportant). However, I need some luck to succeed, because June 1st will be there very soon. Keep you posted on these business developments.

Next to working everyday I met my old friends in the evening. I must say it is nice that I was able to see so many people again. Nobody really changed and not much happened (total score: 2 pregnancies, 1 new house, 1 break-up and 1 new relationship). However, meeting and seeing everybody felt totally normal and some questions about my China experience I found myself in it’s-like-I-never-left-conversations. My Chinese adventure feel far here in the Netherlands. I’m still listening to Chinesepod.com, but don’t practice my Chinese and I’m afraid that I lost the magic. I’m curious to see next week if I still kept my level of the language. The only strong connection to China the last two weeks was my contact with Angie – we still kept in contact.

This weekend will be free for family. Tonight I’ll have a dinner with my grandparents and tomorrow is my sister’s birthday. Monday morning back I’ll be back in the plane to Shanghai. A strange idea, but also exciting. Looking forward to continue my adventures in the East!!

Dutch winter in crisis times

2009-02-02T04:53:00.004+08:00

I’m happy to have a relaxed Sunday evening after a very busy week in the Netherlands. The Dutch winter is at its peak and outside its totally freezing. It's worse than the week in Beijing. I haven’t experienced such cold temperatures since a long time. I got a little ill and right now I have a real sore throat. I didn’t have any time to be sick this week, because my schedule was totally packed with work and social activities, so I’m very happy I didn’t really get sick. Right now I’m slowly getting better …. Two more days and I’ll be totally fine.

It’s nice to be back in Holland. On the outside nothing has changed of course, but the atmosphere is a little different. The financial crisis is the talk of the town. Also at De Baak the financial crises hit the company. The budgets for training are mostly one of the first things a company limits, when the business is going down. So, when I came back to the Baak I found people to have a different mindset. Everyone is focused on finding clients and getting business deals. People are making long hours and work harder than ever before; however the results are staying behind. It really opened my eyes, because when I was in China I couldn’t feel this. Of course I got some information through email and telephone, but when you’re in the middle of it, it’s totally different.

It’s good that I am here to get a clear picture of what going on in Holland. Last week I had many many appointments with people from all the departments of the Baak. The CEO of the Baak, Harry Starren, told me he wants to have me in China at least until the 1st of June. However, if I want to extend my work for De Baak in China we need to start to make money in China, because the budgets now are too small to experiment without financial results. Fair enough! It is an interesting challenge. I see enough possibilities to really get the business rolling within the coming weeks in China … let’s hope everything works out well. Last Friday I gave a presentation about my China experience and the strategy of the Baak for the MBA-students at the Rotterdam School of Management. Very nice and a good preparation for the presentation I have to give next week in for my Baak-collegues in Driebergen about the developments so far.

Next to busy working days I’m very happy to see my friends and family again (of course it’s also very nice to see my colleagues). Last weeks all my day were very full, but I survived and enjoyed … I am very happy I didn’t became ill, it was a close call. It feels very normal when I see my friends, almost sometimes like I never even been to China (China feels far here in Amsterdam, as it is). However, I more able to look objectively to the things that happen here and the way people do things. Being months in the Chinese culture opened my eyes wider for my own culture. It is quite a logical idea actually, but nice to experience. I’m very happy to be here, but also looking forward to go back to Shanghai after next week.

In the plane to Holland

2009-01-24T18:38:00.001+08:00

In the plane back to Holland for a two week stay in the Netherlands. Sitting in an airplane always makes you so lazy and sleepy. I’m one of these persons who cannot find sleep very well when traveling, but it a good time to write you this little update, although not much happened since my last writing on Sunday. To summarize, I was working and enjoyed some social activities at night (diners). Because I’m going back to the Netherlands it was nice to see some people before I left.

In Shanghai it felt a little bit like we are awaiting a second Christmas holiday, because the Chinese New Year will be celebrated this Sunday. On the streets people are wishing each other happy New Year (xinnian kuaile) and the streets are less busy. A lot of the Chinese leave town to go on Holiday and even a lot of Westerns leave to go back home (like me), or go on a little holiday. So for business this is not great time. This makes January a really ‘slow’ month in China, everything just got started and now again a break. So I’m happy to go back to the dynamic Holland. I’m curious how I’ll experience it after being in this totally different culture for the last four months. Actually I don’t expect to find much change in the Netherlands since my departure, but maybe my own perspective has changed a little. ‘Culture shock’!

This week I still had a couple of meetings. The most interesting was probably my visit to the Fudan university. This is one of the biggest and best universities of China. I visited the incubator of this university which holds approximately 1.000 starting companies – it’s definitely large. I want to include the Fudan University in the program of the Baak-program “The New Manager” that visits China in March. Fudan was very interested in this and even wants to talk about more possibilities for collaboration in the future. Personally I’m interested in the developments of the entrepreneurship network in Shanghai, so I’ll be happy to be more involved. It will give me a change to use my valuable “New Venture”-experience. This could be connected to my meeting with the Consul-General Eric Verwaal two weeks ago. He also plans to develop a strong (Dutch) entrepreneurship network here (potentially in collaboration with De Baak). So everything comes together (again – good!).

I’m curious to find out about the Dutch view on the “financial crisis”. One of my good friends in Shanghai (working for a recruitment office) was fired last week, so you can also feel some signs of some sort of ‘recession’ here in China. What stroke me most was the speed in which this happened. She heard it Friday afternoon and last Thursday was already her last day. So within a week, everything just goods quicker than we Europeans are used to, it seems. A few weeks ago I was speaking about this with my American friend Eddie. He said that Europe is really a ‘planned’ culture, when compared to China (or even the US). He could be right – at least it’s food for thought.

Beautiful Beijing: the great capital

2009-01-18T23:57:00.010+08:00

Last week I’ve been in Beijing, which has been totally great. I went to the great Capital to prepare a management trip in March and April. One of the modules of a larger Baak-program will be in China. It will be a trip of one week in which 20 Dutch managers will visit Beijing and Shanghai. Goal of the trip is to introduce the Chinese market and culture to the group and give them more experience in doing international business and overcome cultural differences. The trip will consist of different company visits and network dinners. In the last four months I’ve developed so much network in Shanghai, that I felt no problems at all to make it happen there. However, for Beijing I was a little nervous, because I hardly had any openings there. Beijing and Shanghai are seen as the Amsterdam and Rotterdam of China, but the cities are geographically definitely not close (more like Amsterdam and Rome). So my goal for these five days in Beijing was to prepare the program of the trip for March in Beijing and get a general network started there.

The trip was a great success. I met so many interesting people and companies in Beijing, more than I possibly can put in the program for March. And I was not alone, because Isabel (a beautiful Chinese girl) helped me to move around in town. She was my Cross Cultural Consultant and did a great job. Isabel has lived as a student in Beijing, before she move to Canada. Now she flies everywhere across the world. She really knew all the hip bars and restaurants in Beijing – delicious and reasonably priced. In my five days we had 15 meetings all across town. Three a day, which made us spend lots of hours in the taxi - all lot of traffic jams (just like home). One of the most interesting meetings was the diner we had with Paul Denlinger on Monday night. Paul works as a consultant with a focus on internet startups. He is critical on the developments and current situation in China. He also keeps a blog in which he collects his thoughts – check it out http://www.chinavortex.com/.

For the management trip in March we went to Atos Origin (they did the live streams of the Olympic games - http://www.atosorigin.com/en-us/olympic_games/), Printing company Elanders, the ZhongGuangCun Science Park (http://www.zgc.gov.cn/) and Internet consulting company Plus8star (http://www.plus8star.com/). Magnus Miller of Eilanders was a very positive and nice guy. Eilanders is growing fast in China. In two years from 1 to 280 people working. My god, I’ll be happy if I have 5 people working here for De Baak in two years. Next to all these companies the Dutch managers are also invited by the Dutch Ambassador in March - a happy development. It will definitely be a really nice program in March and personally I can’t wait to go.

Me and Isabel made long days in Beijing, so I haven’t really been able to enjoy much of the Cultural sites. However I made a night walk around Tiananmen Square and had a lunch with Isabel at 798 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/798_Art_Zone) – the big artist community located in Beijing. Beijing is really the cultural capital, something I miss sometimes in Shanghai – you cannot have everything all the time. One thing is certain, I want to go back there a lot more often and this trip has been a great start in getting to know the city and its people better. Next to all the business activities I also met a Chinese girl called Angie, beautiful and sweet. I hope to see her again soon – she wants to look for a job in Shanghai, so let’s see what will happen.

I came back on Friday night in Shanghai and had a very nice weekend with a nice dinner at my house yesterday and of course playing music…. Shanghai is still good and really feels like home, more and more. This Friday I’ll return to Holland for 2 weeks. My last days here are busy (what's new?), but I'm ready to go back to the Netherlands – I’ve enough stories to tell and experiences to share.

Too busy to blog

2009-01-07T18:56:00.002+08:00

Welcome in the New Year 2009. I find myself to be very busy. Don’t know what happened, but I didn’t even have time to write my normal blog post last week. One of the biggest reasons could potentially be that I’ve planned a trip to Beijing next week to prepare for a management trip ‘de Baak’ wants to make here in March/April. I had to arrange a total program for the week, to make sure my time there will be spend as effective as possible. It was a little difficult to get the arrangements planned in the start, but now I have 10 meetings in four days and expect to be able to make a few more. So it will be a dynamic and interesting week and the start of a network in the Chinese capital. Potentially I’ll be accompanied by a Chinese girl called Isabel to help me for the translations and she also has some contacts in Beijing. The more, the better is my feeling for next week.

The week after Xmas has been good. Just working a lot and preparing for Beijing. No holiday for me this year. Also I’m now busier, because I have doubled the number of Chinese classes (twice a week). My Chinese teacher wants me to learn around 30 new characters a week, which means around five a day – its ok, but gives a little pressure. However my Chinese language skills also pay off for me. I met a great guitar player called Eddie. He’s a middle-aged guy who’s been around in Shanghai for three years. He hardly speaks Chinese and when I heard me speak, he was impressed. We made the deal to exchange Chinese lessons for guitar lessons, meaning he will teach me the guitar as I’ll teach him Chinese. A great deal for me, but also means I have 2/3 classes extra each week. This means that also my weekend is getting totally full. So far, I’ve managed with starting to cut on social activities. Which is ok, but I’m still developing a network of friends …. Just not enough time in a day, I guess.

In 2,5 week I’ll be back in Holland, which I find exciting. I’m also working on my Dutch schedule for my two week stay there, which will also be busy. Further, all is well. I have enough friends now to not be lonely, further I had a small romantic encounter with a Chinese girl. Not very serious, but still nice. I’ll keep it short this time, but will keep you posted.

Xmas in Shanghai: not bad!

2008-12-27T20:52:00.006+08:00

An early Saturday evening I’m writing for my blog in the local coffee bar Boonna. I survived Christmas in Shanghai (actually it was second time for me to spend Christmas here in Shanghai – last year I was also in Shanghai during the Christmas holiday). I’m actually doing very well, but tired of an intensive Christmas celebration schedule. Next to the Christmas days I’m not taking any free days, because there is a lot to do for de Baak. I’ll be going to Holland by the end of January and before my flight back home I have to get many things done here.

Because of the Christmas days this week went fairly quick, but many things happened – as always in Shanghai. Monday and Tuesday were very busy working days. Both evenings consisted of playing music. Monday I went to practice my bass at Jz School and Tuesday I had a rehearsal with one of the jazz bands. After the rehearsal I went to a bar where I played as a bass player on an ‘open mic’-night. It went fairly well and I’ll probably go back to that place to play again fairly soon. Maybe even to play my ‘own’ songs on which I’m still working. Could be nice.

Tuesday night I couldn't sleep very well, so Wednesday I was totally broken during the day. A Polish photographer named Bartek (he also attended the hiking trip of last weekend) came in the morning to make some pictures of me. He is working here on a project in Shanghai to take photos of people in their living surroundings (see also http://www.yetiyeti.eu/). So I probably look quite wrecked on these pictures – no enough beauty sleep. Anyhow it was cool to be included in his project. Further I had a normal working day on Wednesday and after I went to the house of Yali, who had invited some people from the hiking trip. We had a delicious vegetarian Christmas meal and ended the evening with playing music and singing in Yali’s home – great! Everybody was playing drum and I improvised on the guitar. It sounded not bad at all! After a closing drink in the Cotton Club I went to bed on a decent hour, so the next day I was fresh to celebrate Christmas.

Christmas day was fun. I went to a Christmas lunch with Jim and JP from my jazz band. In total we were a group of around 15 people. The Christmas lunch included an open bar, meaning you could drink anything you want. So I found myself drinking Champagne and Mojitos in the middle of the day. I think many people can relate to way of celebrating Christmas. I had lots of laughs and dancing during this lunch. I even won a bottle of very tasty wine, by providing the answer to question in which year the English Rockband Slade released their single “Merry Xmas everybody” (the right answer was 1973 for those that are keen to know). With this bottle of wine in my hand and five courses in my belly I left to group around 19h to go to my niece Tineke for another Christmas drink. It was a small but nice party. However, due to my big lunch I had trouble keeping my eyes open – I was the first to leave off to bed.

Yesterday (the second day of Christmas) consisted mainly of learning Chinese and a Chinese lesson with my new teacher Pamela. I’m very happy with my new teacher – my learning speed is going faster and faster, but this improvement of my Chinese classes also included more homework. I don’t know where to find the time, but so far I have been able to do my home work and impress my teacher. Next to speaking I've started to work on my Characters. I bought a Chinese mobile phone so I’m able to sent messages in Chinese. It takes me forever to complete a very simple message in Chinese, but it gives a victorious feeling.

Yesterday evening I had a blind date. Set up by my housekeeper. It was a nice girl, but I think we are not a great match. Partly because her English was extremely limited, so I could practice my Chinese even more – that was a very nice thing. After the date was finished I hooked up with my Dutch friend Jorden and we went clubbing. In the clubs I was happy to find that there are still lots of girls interested in me … thank God.

I’ll be heading home now, and feel like I’ll have a very early Saturday night after the big night out yesterday. Tomorrow will be a beautiful day, and I want to be there to enjoy it!

Shanghai: never a dull moment (and an escape to the countryside)

2008-12-21T23:19:00.009+08:00

When I came back from Hong Kong two weeks ago I found that one of the corners of Hengshan Lu / Goa’an Lu (that’s exactly where I live) changed into a building place. Ten days and noisy nights (even more noisy than normal) resulted in a new bar (another … in this already so busy street). This made me loose ‘my’ little local fruit store, which makes the closest store now about 8 minutes walk instead on the more comfortable 2 minutes – sad news, but I’ll live. One of my favorite coffee stores was also closed last month, so there is even more pressure in discovering this city than any other metropolitan city – you loose half of what you find along the way.

There are of course also constant changes in my small life here. The most obvious one of this week is the change of my Chinese teacher. I invited my old teacher Yoyo to my concert last Sunday, but Monday I had a ‘test’-lesson with a girl, using the English name Pamela (she’s Chinese of course). This was a real improvement, so on my regular lesson on Tuesday I had to break the news to Yoyo – who toke it without looking sad. Friday I had my first real lesson with Pamela, and we agreed to do two lessons a week, so I can master this Chinese language. So far, she was really impressed by the level I reached in these first three months. If I keep this tempo I’ll be rather fluent in a year, was her view. This sounds like a good plan to me, so I’ll keep on pushing it and enjoying along the road.

My work for the Baak is going well. My break in Hong Kong really helped to get a clear view. I’m quite confident that I’m able to deliver some valuable results in the first half of 2009. Music is also good – jamming with some people last week, learning lots of new jazz songs – I can play around 15 now – and I’m also starting to learn how give a bass-solo. A very good development, because than you can really start to show off. This Friday morning I was interviewed by people for ICS – a local Shanghai television station - on my experiences as a newly arrived musician in town. They where at the Jz School Xmas-party and met me there. So, I’ll be on television here very soon – probably just for a few minutes – but quite nice.

So this week was packed with music, Chinese lessons and work for de Baak, especially because this weekend I went on a hiking trip with a group of Chinese and two guys for Poland, so all my plans had to be squeezed into five days. Yali called me last Tuesday, and said the magic words: “Bas, forget about you drinking plans for this weekend and enjoy nice clean air in the mountains”. Some relaxation and clean air sounded like a good plan, so I said yes. So Friday evening at 7.30pm we left Shanghai for a little weekend of hiking. It was maybe not what I would call a weekend of relaxing, but the air was definitely clean – and the people very nice. Next to that I was able to practice my Chinese heavily, with all these Chinese people (which I did).

We left Shanghai on Friday night for and 8 hour drive to arrive at 3.30am in a place where we could sleep. Of course I didn’t sleep in the buss, so I was wrecked when they woke me at 6.30am to start hiking. Chinese like to start early …. We hiked for about 6 hours before we arrive at a nice little old town, where we had our hostel, which was in the oldest and most beautiful house there. We enjoyed a diner at a local restaurant and had a quiet evening with some games – I was reading for most of the time, but joined in the last game (and won). Today not sleeping in either, but 8am was already a bit better. After another morning of hiking we had a lunch and drove back to Shanghai. I was home at 21pm, toke a shower and started to write this blog. I must admit that my eyes are quite heavy … I will have no problem to find my sleep tonight.

To see more of the country side was also good. It’s so different to the big city life here in Shanghai. They are two different worlds. The county side life seems to be easier going (although they probably work hard there). There is even a difference between the little towns and the real county side people. The last group really lives in a very small world that probably hasn’t changed to must when compared to their lives in the 1960s – at least on the outside. In the little cities the modern elements are slowly entering. Next to house of an old craftsman I found for example a mobile telephone shop in one of these county side towns. The presence of the two guys from Poland and me created a little fuss in town, especially by the kids. Now I can talk a little Chinese makes it possible to communicate with them (which is great fun)!

For now I leave it at this – I’m in need for sleep. One thing is certain, China has many faces and I’m just getting started to gain some understanding of it. It is still fascinating and I am very happy that I joined this little trip. I’m ready for the next working week ….. I don’t really celebrate Christmas this year, although I will have a Christmas lunch on Christmas day, so I won’t be alone – good!

I wish you all a very happy Christmas.

A very musical week

2008-12-14T22:11:00.004+08:00

Sitting here quite exhausted on an Sunday night at home. I had quite a busy week and I am happy to be here and relax a little. I haven’t been home one night this week, so it’s time for a little rest. This week has been all about music for me. I had 4 rehearsals and 3 gigs and I attended 2 concerts – all in one week. It is a little much, but definitely worth it. I’m getting more and more familiar with the world of jazz, so that’s a good thing. Keep up the good work! Just before I went to Hong Kong another Jazz-band asked me if I could be their bass-player for one time, because their bassist went on holiday. I said that it would be fine, but that we needed to rehears to get it right, so I had two rehearsals with this band and of course also two with my own band. So that was my Tuesday and Thursday night. After the rehearsals I went to a concert both times – I got inspired, but it also made me come home late and not sleep enough.

Monday and Wednesday I had diners with friends followed by drinks and interesting discussions. Especially on Monday night I had an interesting discussion with Michiel and Rosalie after our nice Chinese meal. They have been here for far over a year now and they've red quite a lot about Chinese culture and its history. Our talk was mostly concerned with the situation of contemporary China and its position within the world. I’m not able to give a short and clear summary right now – too tired. But believe me it was interesting and inspired me to learn and read more about China. So far, I haven’t been able to read a lot. And I'm already getting busier and busier … where to find time? Who isn’t wondering about this?

After my break in the Hong Kong I have a much clearer picture for my work for De Baak. I have three concrete projects and was happy to have been able to make some appointments the coming week to get two of these three projects rolling. When I was in Hong Kong I decided to start calling more instead of sending endless email. I started to use this strategy this week and it’s paying off. Calling is so much more effective and you get also a good picture of what’s happing in the Netherlands. So, the telephone will be a new a good way to communicate. Though a friend I found a new international calling system called Rebtel (www.rebtel.com). It’s great you can call international and only pay local costs (check it out!). These systems just make the world smaller and smaller …

I went to the local tailor on Wednesday and bought a new winter coat, new suit and a two shirts. Going here to the tailor is a real treat – its so damn cheap. For all these items I paid ¥ 1.100,- (which is a bargain). Further I have a Chinese name now, so I finally can get my Chinese name card. I cannot pronounce my own name yet, but I’ll practice it before I'll hit the Chinese market with my new card. My study of the language is going alright, but because of all these rehearsals this week it’s has been a bit slower than normal. I’m listing to Chinesepod right now, so catching up! Further I’ll probably change my Chinese teacher soon, because I met a really good one and I feel I’m ready for a more professional approach.

This weekend has been about music, music and music. I didn’t party too much, because I needed my energy during the day. I had some drinks on Friday, but didn’t go clubbing. So, Saturday I was fresh and had two rehearsals during the day and a big gig in Pudong in the evening. Our gig was in the Jin Mao Tower, which is a famous building. Everybody knew it, except me, so I was happy to see it. It’s quite a luxurious place. We played for around 200-300 people who were having diner. So real background music – nice! After our gig we were also invited to enjoy the delicious foods there. Today was the Xmas party of the Jz School. I had my two performances and as the climax we could make our own dumplings. Which I enjoyed making and eating. So until now I earned two free meals with my music here in Shanghai – it’s a start.

Now I will hit the shower and then go to bed with a book. It has been a good week and I'm ready for more these …

Returned to Shanghai, and ready for part 2

2008-12-06T21:53:00.007+08:00

Just returned from Hong Kong and I find myself behind my computer to work on my blog. I had a very good time with my friend Theo in Hong Kong, but I must say I’m happy to have returned to Shanghai. It really felt like coming ‘home’. I was in Hong Kong for 10 days and that’s quite a while. I was a little scared it would be strange to come back, but it feels very good and I’m ready to enter the second chapter of my stay in China. In Hong Kong I didn’t speak any Chinese for two weeks, but my first taxi ride from the airport gave me confidence – I didn’t forgot everything.

Shanghai is totally cold, when I arrived here tonight the outside temperature was only two degrees above zero. An extremely big difference with the sunny HK-days I have enjoyed the last two weeks. During the day I could leave the house in my shirt – Hong Kong in December, wow! However, this winter feeling in Shanghai also makes my Dutch heart beat a little faster. In Hong Kong I got most of my planned work done and even met a few interesting people - so I slowly start to expend my network all over China and I get in a position to start to connect more and more dots.

Everyday I made long hours in Theo house to finish all my outlines and plans of the coming six months. I was glued to the computer screen. On Monday and Tuesday I didn’t even leave his apartment to have a nice walk in the sun. To make up for all the hard work I treated myself to a visit to Macau on Thursday. Macau is the Las Vegas of China, and close to Hong Kong. You can take the boat there, which will only take you an hour. I have never been to Vegas, but I think the experience will be similar. The casinos in Macau are gigantic buildings, containing thousands of hotels room, a bunch of restaurants, a complete shopping centre, conference rooms and of course very large play halls. There are maybe 10-20 of these mega casinos in Macau today, but they are currently building the same amount of new ones. Macau will definitely be the Vegas of the 21st century. Impressive! I tried my luck on the slot machines, but I've seem to have lost that somewhere along the way.

Gambling is illegal in China, but Macau is like Hong Kong and Taiwan a SAR (Special Administrative Region). The Chinese call this: “One country, two systems” (I think they say this, because “One country, four systems” would sound a little overwhelming for us Westerns). So gambling is illegal, but not in Macau – that's simply another system. Quite a smart why to keep people happy and in the meanwhile keep the mainland ‘free’ of those ‘evil’ gamblers. Until 1999 Macau was under governmental control by Portugal. So everywhere on the street you could see Portugese signs and there was an old city centre, which really gave me a feeling that I was in South-Europe, except for the thousands of Chinese, which you normally do not accouter in these large numbers in the Mediterranean. There was an old fortress there on a mountain with beautiful views over the entire city. It was an interesting sight – the combination of a European town centre, with the enormous casinos in the background.

Friday was the 5th of December – a very special day for us Dutchies! Being a guest at Theo’s, I didn’t have to worry that I would miss this great party. A friend of Theo had arranged a real ‘Sinterklaas’-party, with poems and presents. It was a nice party with around 15 Dutch people. After the poems and presents a real house party broke loose in which I found myself with the other guests dancing and singing in the living room - it totally didn’t feel like I was on the other side of the world. Actually Hong Kong didn’t feel much like China at all. In my view it's an totally international city, where the whole world connects to do business, business and a little more ...... business. Now I’ve returned to Shanghai I feel I’m back in China again. It will only be around 7 more weeks before my first return back to Holland - my God, that scares me, but I’m physically and emotionally ready for this second chapter – let’s make it happen!!!

HONG KONG: work hard, but play harder

2008-11-29T15:00:00.009+08:00

Arrived in Hong Kong I find myself this Saturday afternoon on the couch in Theo’s home. My head is this a bit dizzy from the endless bars and discos of last night. Theo made an effort to show me the nightlife of Hong Kong in one Friday night. He came far. I spent a small fortune and lost probably a few months of healthy live yesterday, but I feel no regrets. I can tell you from my own eyes that the Hong Kong night life is booming and great fun. However, I’m looking forward to a quieter Saturday night. I find my body also needs some time to relax and rest.

Tuesday night I arrived here in Hong Kong. Originally I needed to come here to extent my Visa, but as I wrote down in my previous posts I already found a solution in Shanghai. Luckily there’s where no problems with my visa application and I got my passport back on Tuesday morning – just in time to catch my plane to Hong Kong in the afternoon. Right now I have a six month business Visa with ‘multiple entry’. Until the 17th of May I don’t have to worry about my Visa anymore and can leave the country and come back without any problems. I was quite happy to find this beautiful little paper in my passport – Yeah!

My time here in Hong Kong is very nice and it's great to spend some time with my good friend Theo. I know Theo since primary school, but we actually became friends when we where 12 years – but still we go way back. Theo lives here with his wife Carol since two years and is enjoying HK a lot (no plans for leaving yet). Last summer on my first China trip I also came to Hong Kong – so it brings back memories of those days. However, last time I was here for holiday, now to do loads of work. I’m writing a report for de Baak in which I summarize my work of the last two moths in Shanghai and make an outline for thing-to-do the coming six months. It will be my blue print when making the steps towards a brighter future for my company. Changing your surrounding always helps my concentration – so it’s good to be away from Shanghai for a bit. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I spent the mornings and afternoons alone in Theo’s apartment behind my laptop, working on my project outlines. I got plenty of work done. Theo and Carol make long working days too, so this helps my motivation and I don’t really have to force myself to get started – which is good.

The motto of Hong Kong is: “Work hard, but play harder”, as I’ve been told by Theo. This means people make long hours in the office. Working until 7 or 8 pm is quite normal, but still people play harder: restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. etc. it never stops. And when you feel everything gets too much you can go hiking in the beautiful nature on the other side of the mountain. A life style that fits me well (not too different form the Shanghai style), so I can easily adept and enjoy this Hong Kong way of living. So next to intensive focus on work, there has been plenty of fun and games the last few days.

One of the highlights was the horse racing on Wednesday night. This is the only legal way of gaming in HK, so it is totally packed with enthusiastic gamblers …. When you arrive you’ll see a big stadium with thousands of people enjoying this game and try to make some money on a Wednesday night. When looking around you’ll see two kinds of people. Firstly people that walk around with magazines containing all the horse-information you can image. You hear their brains working out the strategy on which horse to bet next, and more importantly how much to place. And secondly, there are people holding a beer in their hands, paying hardly any attention to the actual race and place some random bets based mostly on their gut feeling or just a lucky number. I found out I belonged to the second group. I lost all my bets, but had good fun and enjoyed this new experience.

Ok, that’s it for now. It’s time to make a nice little walk and catch some fresh air. I’m in need for that. I will be here one more week – that’s a lot in China-time. Then I’ll enter my second period in Shanghai – wow! Time flies extremely hard …. …. ….. especially in a place like Hong Kong!

Dynamic times - going up and down

2008-11-23T16:29:00.005+08:00

Every week I find my life is anything but stable here in China. Feeling very ‘up’ or feeling a little ‘down’. Since my last writing I have also been quite unstable, but that also one of the things that attracted me to China in the first place. I think it’s interesting! After my last writing I had an average weekend. I went out on Friday (clubbing) and Saturday (jazz concert). Saturday I witnessed a concert of Alain Caron - a Canadian bass-player. His technical abilities came from another planet – it was absolutely amazing. However, like many other technical specialists the interaction with the audience was limited. They just did their thing!

After being a bit ill the week before the two busy weekend-nights was just too much for me. Sunday I felt exhausted and wasn’t able to get anything done. Just walking around in the neighborhood and watch DVDs. It was just one of those days. I went to bed early, but Monday I was still not totally in my normal shape. However, together with ASI I sold my first training on this day. So, the business has started. I’m happy with this development, but I think I still have to do a lot work for ‘de Baak’ to make everything more solid. Next week I will be in Hong Kong and I will use my time there as a moment to reflect on the last two months and make a concrete outline for the coming months. It’s important to create a clear picture of where I want to go with my work.

Tuesday I had a better day and a nice evening beer with friends and my Chinese teacher Yoyo. This language keeps me busy and it probably will have my attention for the coming years. Wednesday the boys of Parcel International came to Shanghai. They came to Shanghai to investigate the possibilities to start their business here. We went to eat Hot Pot, which is a Chinese kind of fondue – in which you boil fish, vegetables and meat – very tasty. Casper and Pascal of Parcel International really enjoyed it, after we had some drinks at the Cotton Club (nice jazz and blues bar). I’m excited they are planning to come to China. All these people from Holland that visit Shanghai, make me give the feeling that I’m actually not really far from home. The world is really getting smaller and smaller everyday – it’s a beautiful and interesting thing to experience.

Thursday was definitely the best day of the week. I had quite a productive day at work and at night I visited an Italian bass-player that has his own studio in Shanghai. I played him the songs I’ve been working on the last few weeks. He was really impressed and he wants to record them. When I come back from Hong Kong we are going to start the recording sessions. I’m excited and can’t wait to get started. I already convinced a native English girl to help us to perfect the lyrics.

Friday afternoon I met Xiao Ben with some of her friends for a Friday drink. We are still on speaking terms. I’m always happy to see her, but I must admit it brings back memories of last year. I start to get the feeling I’m playing with fire here and my iced attitude on this subject is starting to show little cracks. So maybe it's time for a complete retreat (sometimes this is the best solution to a situation). However, I feel strong enough to keep my act together and I keep faith that things will progress in the good direction. Wherever that may be? Art of life is about catching the good waves, there’s no point in pushing the sea (this is definitely not correct in English, but you understand my point).

Saturday I went to see a Japanese Beatle-cover band. They played well and it was fun. In two days I’ll go to Hong Kong, if my visa situation is ok. I went to a visa agency last week to sort things out for the next period. They called me last Wednesday with the message that there could be a problem, but they will do there very best to get everything ready in time. I just keep a little faith. What more can you do in life.

A little ill

2008-11-13T22:00:00.003+08:00

This last four days have been so-so. I have been feeling a little ill. I have a sore throat and also some signs of exhaustion. However, I’ve managed to get a lot of work done for de Baak – unfortunately not much else. It’s just been four days since I last wrote, so won’t make it too long. Not an awful lot have happened. Monday has been a working day. I worked until late and after strolled around in my neighborhood. I was a beautiful autumn feeling – a little cold, but nice. My house is located at a really busy cross-road, but the small side streets are very beautiful. I drunk a cup of tea in a nice bar and overlooked the streets with lots of people walking the streets. It was nice to see and it gave me a Christmas feeling - don't know why.

Tuesday I had my Chinese lessons at night. We put post-its everywhere in my home with the Chinese translations of the furniture – so I can never escape this language. Today a friend gave me two Chinese character books, so I can also improve my writing skills (a lot of space for improvement). After my Chinese lesson, I had a drink with my Chinese teacher Yoyo at Cotton’s. Cotton’s is a great bar with a beautiful garden. The garden is filled with heaters so you can still sit outside at night and enjoy your drink (in the middle of November)!! It's a five minute walk, so it's kind of becoming my 'stamkroeg'.

Today was an interesting day. Gabor from ASI and me went to give a presentation at Tebodin to explain which trainings we could offer them for their event next week. Tomorrow we will hear the results of the meeting. It was a nice and new experience and hopefully the first of many.

My time in Shanghai is going very quick. I’ll going to Hong Kong in only 11 days. After my return from Hong Kong it will only be 7 weeks before I’ll return to Holland for the first time. Time flies!! However I’m not half way, yet! It’s been 6 ½ weeks so far!

Ok, maybe it wasn’t very revealing! I probably have an early night …. I need it!

A beautiful rainy week

2008-11-09T22:44:00.005+08:00

The weather is getting colder here. Since Wednesday I’m wearing a sweater and today I bought a scarf, so the summery feel has ended and we find ourselves totally in autumn, getting close to winter. My week here has been interesting and beautiful. After my short holiday to Chengdu I found it hard to get back in the working rhythm and the Shanghai life. I just wanted to be out there and enjoy the holiday live. So, Monday was not a very inspiring and I felt restless during the day. But I had a great diner with Frank Bijen and also got a new bike (borred it from a friend). So I’m cycling again.

Tuesday was a busy day with a few meetings, and at night Chinese lessons and a music rehearsal with Jim (sax) en Cathy (sax) at Jim’s place (5 minute walk). Wednesday was also fully booked with an extra music class. This was of course the historical day in which Obama became president of the USA. I had a breakfast at an American bar with Frank B. – together with over a hundred USA-citizens that were really enjoying this moment in history. Thursday again meetings for de Baak and I attended an interesting conference in the afternoon where I introduced myself to a few representatives of the International Business Schools. Nice people!

Friday was definitely the best day of the working week. I went to Tebodin (an engineering company that designs factories). They gave me a potential assignment – extremely small, but still fantastic and a good feeling! I also got a new agreement with de Baak. I’ll stay here at least until June (so they’re happy too with the sweet developments on the working force). Friday night I had a diner with Amy Wang. She is a very interesting girl and owns a management training company. I hope we can do some things together in the near future next to my collaboration with ASI – where I will be again tomorrow. So slowly I’m getting some ‘business’-friends here. Guanxi, guanxi, guanxi!!

My weekend has been nice. An Saterday morning in bed with ‘Prison Break’; band rehearsal on Saterday afternoon – we felt totally ready for our gig on Sunday; and a diner with Xiao Ben at night. She tried to make it nice, but in the end we both didn’t feel at ease and the whole feeling was a little tensed. Some of you probably can image this. We’re still searching for a (new) way to communicate - not easy (at least not for me). After diner we had a drink and she went home. I had a few more drinks and made an effort to introduce myself to the Spanish community here in Shanghai. They talked friendly to me, so in that sense I was successful - didn’t make it late, because I wanted to go to bed …. and sleep!

Today was the big day of my first gig!!! I was great!! I enjoyed a nice breakfast alone in a bar – where I study my Chinese (still slow progress). At four we went to the place where we played - outside on Yandang Lu. We just played for 20 minutes and I made so so so many mistakes, but I enjoyed it anyway – and I’m sure next time it will be a lot better. And like always the audience thought is was good! I was a beautiful experience and I can’t wait until our next performance on the 7th of December. After the gig my Dutch friends, Chinese friends and part of the Band joined force to have a celebrating drink. I laughed a lot tonight (today was the best day of this beautiful rainy week).

I will watch one more episode of Prison Break before heading to bed. My coming week will be busy (and hopefully interesting). In 2,5 week I’ll go to Hong Kong. My God, I not ready, yet!

Meeting Balkende and enjoyed a little holiday in Chengdu

2008-11-03T12:40:00.005+08:00

In the plane going back to Shanghai after three very nice days in Chengdu. This city in the West of China is famous for its delicious spicy food. I must admit the food I ate was definitely great. Especially the food in the cheap street places was extremely good. So if you ever go to Sichuan province get your food at the street shops (you won’t regret it). Today we had malatang – very tasty (haochi). This dish is a hot boiling spicy soup in which you boil your meet and vegetables. Then you dip them in oil to ‘cool’ it down and it’s ready for your mouth. It is nice and I miss it already. It’s very similar to Hot Pot in Shanghai, so I will be alright (but I’ll probably never find it that good in SH). But I can conclude that the story about the delicious food in Sichuan turned out to be very true.

From back in Holland I know Meimei. She is a very nice Chinese girl, who lives in Norway, but is now in Chengdu for a couple of months to take care of her sick mother. She was so kind to have me as a guest and show me around town. I totally love it to be guided by a local: you go to all the good places, hear all the inside stories and get a better understanding of the local way of live. Meimei brought me to see Panda’s which was great (next to food Chengdu is famous for it’s Panda’s). It’s such a beautiful animal and we where in luck to see many baby-panda’s. Further we went to some nice old beautiful streets that resembled Xitiandi in SH. So also many bars and shops around here – stick to the winning concept (it works!). Meimei and I had a lot of fun and she also gave a lot of feedback on my Chinese – my pronunciation needs work (but she was impressed with my achievements so far). So, after three quiet days I’m hooked up to Chinesepod.com again. Let the language just flow into my brain (that’s my strategy and it worked out quite fine so far).

The three days in Chengdu went extremely quickly. We didn’t make it to the countryside to enjoy the beautiful nature that is surrounding Chengdu. No time! I just have to go back again. However, I’m very happy to have spent this weekend in another context /city. I want to see more of China now I have the chance. And after four weeks of Shanghai I felt I needed a little break. My time with Meimei and the Sichuan food were a perfect break from the busy Shanghai-life I’ve let the last four weeks. Now I on my way home to Shanghai – it doesn’t really feel like going ‘home’, but it will probably feel like that once I enter my apartment.

Last Monday to Thursday I worked in Shanghai. I get more and more control on my work and made scheduled a lot of meetings for the coming week. It’s time to go out again and connect to the business that’s floating through Shanghai. I’ve been here now over a month and done so many many things I can hardly imagine it’s just been a month. I spend quite some time the last two weeks on getting the strategy and projects for de Baak in focus, which is important to do, but doesn’t bring real results. Like always great results requires devoted preparation. Although I needed to spend many hours alone behind my computer, there’s always time if there’s a special happing. And this week there was definitely one special happing here.

The happing I’m referring to is the visit of your Dutch leader Prime Minister Jan-Pieter Balkenende. He and Frank Heemskerk were in town for two days. I joined their program on Tuesday. I went to a speech of Frank at the CEIBS and after I went to the opening of the Dutch Pavillion for the Expo 2010 in Shanghai. It was quite a formal meeting, but I was happy to attend. A lot of Dutch people were attending this happy moment, so I got a change to meet many new people. Like everywhere in the world you soon find that even though the networks can seem big and inaccessible at first glance, they are mostly quite small and very open. This is also the case in Shanghai and I start to be in a position were in can begin to connect the dots – a good sign. Event likes the Balkenende-one this Tuesday are a big help when you want to connect dots. I didn’t join the formal dinner of the politicians and other ‘official’ guest. Instead I dined whit a group of Dutch correspondents, which was very nice. We later joined the official party at the Cotton’s bar, close to my home. Around 23.30 hour the officials let to their hotel, and I tried of drinking and talking so went home. When I arrived at my house I found my bicycle stolen. Shit! It’s not all happiness and bliss here in Shanghai. But you can still find a nice smile here on my face. I’m ready for my second month here in the booming EAST.

Easy living in Shanghai

2008-10-26T15:44:00.004+08:00

I’m in a coffee bar in “Xintiandi”, which is the name for a couple of beautifully restored old-houses in central-Shanghai. And what do you do with such a beautiful place …. Exactly: you put in lots of expensive bars and shops and probably soon everybody will love it there. The concept worked, because it’s totally crowed here, filled with tourists, rich Chinese and me. Although it’s so touristy and really not that special, it’s a place where you’ll find yourself every once in a while (I’ve been here already a couple of times). I arrived here by accident after wandering through town and I’m now enjoying a nice Sunday afternoon here.

I have been studying my Chinese in this bar for nearly one hour. My progress in this language goes beyond any expectation (I must admin I didn’t expect much) … so I’m happy and keep my focus on this language – which I feel is a necessity if you live here. However, I’ve met already loads of foreigners that speak hardly any Chinese. Once mastered the basic survival Chinese, why learn more? I’m not judging, just observing … and I’m still working on mastering the basic survival Chinese, so I must admit that’s an achievement. I just enjoy learning Chinese a lot…so everyday I’m excited to learn.

This week has been quite easy and not very social… just me and myself most of the time, because for ‘De Baak’ I had to do much computer work and had no meetings. Solitary behind the computer screen (this is the modern live, right?). However, there’s one really nice development in my working situation. That’s my new desk and comfortable office chair. So far I worked at a kind of kitchen table, and matching backbreaking chair – my muscles weren’t enjoying this. Mathijs, a Dutch guy, left this week to go back to Holland after a stay for two years in Shanghai. I bought his desk, chair, flatscreen, DVD-player and his bike. So next to this beautiful desk, I’m the proud owner of a beautiful bicycle. Friday night I went out with my bike to have a little drive through town. I loved it! Cycling through the endless streets of Shanghai is a great feeling. What was supposed to be just a little tour ended up as a total SH-exploration tour of two hours. When I returned home, I felt exhausted and skipped partying on Friday night – to bed with the endless “Prison Break”-dvds.

Musically everything is also going well. I have a bass-teacher now too (the best bass-player of Shanghai, as I’ve been told). He’s an American guy called EJ, and for a small fortune a lesson he agreed on teaching me once every two weeks. I you want to learn you’d better learn from the best, dui bu dui? My music class yesterday went really well and I’m enjoying it a lot. And we will have a gig on the 9th of November!!! After the class I joined the pianist Haiyin and went to KTV (karaoke) … my first time. It’s difficult … my God. You think: “Ah, I know this song”, but when you have the microphone you realize you can only sing the Verse and the rest is a mystery … just words floating on the screen. Haiyin used her Chinese politeness and said I did a good job, but I know better – I was quite shitty, especially compared to these Chinese girls that where singing like Angels! However, I was an enjoyable experience and would like to go again. I ended my Saterday night at a big party in a beautiful house in my neighborhood. I met the couple that lived in my house in Goa’an Lu before I moved in – serendipity! It was fun!

Next weekend I decided to go to Chengdu for 3 days. I booked a ticket and feel delighted to go there. Explore this huge country and all its sights. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province, which is famous for its delicious food, so what do you need more!

DUTCH DESIGN AND LAURA FYGI

2008-10-20T23:54:00.003+08:00

The live in the EAST is going well, but fast! Today I’ve been here exactly three weeks. There happened a lot already, but still I feel like I just arrived and feel flooded by new experiences. It feels good, but I try to take it a bit slower and spend more time watching DVDs (I bought “Prison Break”, and must admit I'm already hooked), just to relax my body from all the action in this town. My weekend has been good and already had a full working day, today. I’m starting to feel my working is getting busier; there are really some concepts I want to finish quickly, so I’ll have some ‘material’ to work with. When you start with a blank sheet, like I’m doing here in China, you really have to put in a lot of energy to get things ‘moving’, but it’s very rewarding (if the movement starts!). We’re still negotiating about the spot in the office, so my days are spent at mostly alone. It’s ok for now …

Last Thursday I went to the Creative Industry Week here in Shanghai, which was nice. Especially the Dutch corner, by far the best. There were not so many presentations so after about two hours you really saw everything there was to see there, but I got some name cards and the sense that the Creative Industry is also a hot topic in Shanghai. I was in good company of Michiel and Ad Fernhout (which some of you will remember for tv – Medisch Centrum West). Ad has a company now on Cross Cultural trainings, and he’s interested to go in business in China – so he was visiting to get a better picture of how to start here. He looked like he was enjoying it a lot, so I hope to welcome him here again soon.

My weekend was nice and filled with music. Friday was a quiet night, after a party on Thursday I didn’t feel like drinking again. So I was in my bed at around 23.00 o’clock (which for me is early – especially for a Friday night). Saturday I had my music group. All the practice of last week paid off and I could follow it a lot better than the week before. The teacher even made me a small compliment which I accepted with a smile. So keep on the good work and next to learn the Chinese language I will spend a lot of my free time to play the bass guitar. I’m motivated, on Sunday I was in the Jz School again to practice for the coming lesson.

Saturday before I went to my music class, I received and email from Bas Jan, an entrepreneur I know from New Venture. He was in Shanghai. That’s the third person I know from Holland that came to Shanghai. I’m very happy to meet all these people here. It’s very special to show them my “new” city – however, I hardly know the place myself – but that’s ok. I know it a lot better than they do, so that’s enough. We went to Jz Club (which is the number one Jazz-place in Shanghai). A lot of Dutch people were in 'tha club', including Marc van der Chijs and even the Consulate General Mr. Verwaal himself. What a coincidence! But we soon find out that it wasn’t a coincidence at all. There was a very “special guest” in the club and that was the reason for their presence, as they told us. And after waiting for about one hour the orchestra leader raised his voice and said: “Ladies and gentlemen, here is our very special guest …….. Mrs. Laura Fygi!!!!!”. A lot of applause and screams filled the room. Laura is a Dutch jazz-singer and very famous (I never heard of her before, but that doesn’t mean anything in this case). She sung very well, and Bas Jan being a music lover, was very happy. A great night in this town.
The "new kid in town" is quite sleepy now and will go to his bed. Tomorrow is another (working)day!

A Chinese teacher, a housekeeper and a visitor from Holland

2008-10-15T23:37:00.004+08:00

Wednesday evening … just came back from Jz School. This is the music school I’ve joined last Saturday. It’s a 10 minute walk from my home and I can use a piano and a bass-amp, which I totally great. I want to make an effort to go there a lot and improve my music skills, which is a necessity if you want to be accepted in the music scene in Shanghai. Most musicians I’ve met are (semi)-professionals and way out off my league, so I feel an urge to improve my skills. Coming Saturday I will play with my music group and I wish to make a good impression. So I’ll try to go to Jz again before Saturday.

Further everything is quite fine. I’ve got a housekeeper since today, she will clean my house every Wednesday, so don’t have to worry about that anymore. It’s the same housekeeper as Michiel and Rosalie have - a very nice Chinese woman. I was working at home today to open the door and welcome her in my house. Since I had no cleaning stuff we had to buy it and that was maybe the highlight of this quite busy and hard working day. The shopping with her was just a lot of fun. So don't get me wrong, today was actually a really great day (now I start to think of it). I love to work, so don’t feel sorry for me. I’m just totally tired now and not fit to check one of the local bars in my street (haven’t seen any of them yet). Because I just moved to Shanghai I feel I never want to take time to rest. However, my body really is in need of at least some quiet nights a week, so I have to accept that, and take it easy once in a while (which I find difficult).

Next to a housekeeper I’ve got a Chinese teacher now. I’m not sure about her teaching skills for the long term, but for now she’s fine. I had my first lesson yesterday evening. My Chinese language skills are improving everyday. With the help of my hands, smile and endless repetition I actually can explain some people some extremely basics things (which I feel is amazing). My secret weapon in learning Chinese is Chinesepod.com – the greatest website on the planet for me right now. I listen to their Chinese lessons everyday (a lot!!!).

Yesterday Raffi, my ex-colleague from New Venture, was in Shanghai. We had a drink at a nice Western style bar Cotton’s, that’s just a 5 minute walk from my home. I could impress her and her friend with my few Chinese sentences, which I used in the taxi and the restaurant. It was very nice to see her. We had two tasty cocktails – I didn’t join for a night clubbing. I have to be responsible an think about my work, which is going better and better. Monday and Tuesday I’ve had some appointments and everyday I get a clearer picture of where we can go with de Baak. The office-situation with ASI is still 'under construction' and there have to be made some serious decisions back in the Netherlands, before I can join this office. I hope they can be made quickly, because I would love to have an office here. Right now I use the Starbucks as my office (if I need to escape the house).

Back to Raffi! My first 'visitor' from Holland here in Shanghai. I’ve been only gone for two weeks, but when I was talking to her it felt as if I’ve been away for months. But probably if I would return, I would find not much change back in NL … But it feels like a while since I left Holland. These last 2,5 weeks have been quite intense and I feel I really need to take it a little easy, so I'll be on my way to bed. Actually I didn’t sleep very well the last few days, since my house is super noisy at night and I’m used to the quietness of the Laagte Kadijk in Amsterdam. I think / hope I will get used to this noise very quickly and sleep like a beautiful rose in this house, that already starts to feel a little like home. Shanghai definitely starts to feel like home. I’m totally tired, but also very happy to have this beautiful experience here in China.

My own place!

2008-10-11T23:13:00.007+08:00

I’m writing on my computer in my ‘own’ house here in Shanghai. My Address is: Gao’an Lu 30, for the people that know this city. It doesn’t feel like home yet, but it doesn’t feel strange. I think I can quickly feel at ease in this place. It’s about 80 m2 in total. I have a living room, a bedroom and a little office-room. The furniture is quite basic and not super stylish, but nice and functional (let’s hope it doesn’t break quickly). If I look out off my window now I see the lively nightlife of this neighborhood – it's very exciting. Even if you stay at home on a Saterday night (like ‘boring’ me), you feel part of this energy on the streets. And I just found out I can spot the famous TV-tower from my window (real cool)! I already met my neighbor in the elevator. He is an Americans guy – so at least I can talk with him, and he can probably help me to find my way around 'tha hood' - Good restaurants, bars, shops, etc. etc.

This week has gone very quick - like everyday here (like live in general – but I don’t want to get philosophical here). The week was actually quite relaxing with three quiet nights at home in a row from Tuesday until Thursday. However, right now I feel totally exhausted. The result of partying until 5 am yesterday, moving all my stuffs to the new place in the early afternoon, go to IKEA and buy sheets, glasses, plates, etc. etc. And also did my first music activity today. I’m playing jazz bass with four nice people – I really have to do some homework on my bass the coming days, because they already had three lessons together and learned some songs. For me everything was new and I could hardly keep up with everything. However it’s great to be able to make music in China, and I’m totally motivated to get this jazz bass thing working.

My work for the Baak has been going well, even with my computer-situation. It toke me a few hours, and I had to hire a Chinese software specialist, but I got it working again. The sad news is I lost quite some files – it’s no crises, because I also made some back-ups from the most important stuff. Further I met many Dutch people (which is primairy target group here for the Baak). There are so many many Dutch here – sometimes I don’t even feel I'm on the other side of the world. Especially my conversations last Thursday with somebody from Philips were very interesting and nice. So I'm totally not bored and didnt got crazy (yet) here in China. I'm looking forward to start my third week in this dynamic place!

Ok, I will have one drink with a friend in the Cotton Club (a nice bluesy / jazz bar), before I’m off to bed – my ‘own’ bed in my ‘own’ house.

Sweet developments and a computer crisis

2008-10-07T22:48:00.002+08:00

Tuesay evening! This is my first real quiet night since my arrival here 9 days ago. I’m quite tired and already in my pajama after a relaxing bath. The big news is: I found an apartment. It’s on Hengshan Lu, which is a famous street in the middle of the French Concession. This district, you can compare with the ‘Jordaan’ of Amsterdam. Not that there is any resemblance, but it’s also: central-located, lively, bars & restaurants everywhere and everybody knows the place. So I’m happy, and don’t have to spend more time looking at shitty or expensive places. I’ll move in this Friday. Right now I’m still in the house of Michiel and Rosalie, whom left for Beijing this week. So this castle is mine the coming days. They’ve been very friendly and helpful (I’m very grateful).

My household here in Shanghai

I lost my jetlag and rose the last two days at 7.30h in the morning (China time). My work is going well and I feel this ‘new’ live is very different from my holiday-experiences here in China. I had my first ‘business-diner’ yesterday and attended a networking breakfast this morning (where Michiel did a presentation on ‘Media in China’ – he did a good job). Today I visited ASI Consulting, where I probably can rent an office-space for 2/3 days a week – so I don’t have to be alone too much when watching the computer screen. They could possibly also help me to fix my work permit, so then I’ll be here totally legal and don’t have to worry anymore about endless Chinese paperwork. I see a lot of potential benefits for me, as an employer of de Baak, when I'm close to ASI (also for them I see benefits to be close to me). So, I hope we can agree on the practical details. Next week we’ll meet to settle it.

My social contacts are going good. The total of numbers in my telephone is rising quicker than the European stock exchange is falling (so no worries here). I'm happy so many people are interested in me (‘the new kid in town’). However, I need to find a good balance between excitement and rest (one of the challenges). Together with getting exercise, because the Chinese kitchen is the bomb and a I only travel by taxi here. Today I eat the local specialty, which is hairy crab (definitely not cheap for € 30,- a piece / but it’s a one of those thing you need to have tried). My Chinese is still slowly improving and on the lookout for a teacher (don’t expect too much … I'm still a totally Newbie in this field). I joined a music-school where I will start to play jazz-bass with an ensemble-group (they put me in the senior group, so I hope my I can live up to expectations).

The only problem is that I broke my laptop this afternoon. I accidentally made some changes in the system – méi bàn fă! I lost all my files and all the programs have problems / only internet works well. The technical boys of the Baak can hopefully do their ‘magic’ tomorrow and make everything just the way it was. I love change, but sometimes the outcome can be a little worrying. Many kisses from this metropolitan city, where you can also enjoy a quiet evening ….

Getting the work started here

2008-10-03T17:56:00.001+08:00

Already Friday afternoon! I don’t have an apartment yet, but I’ve seen two potential winners. I’m not a hurry, but it would be great to have my own place. Everyday spent one or two hours looking for apartments – I’ve seen 14 places now. This is easily done, because everyday the agents have 3 or 4 new houses waiting for me. So, no worries here. I have two agents working for me, so I’ve seen two apartments twice – this happens.

I started my work here for De Baak. So no holiday for me this week, like most people in China. Michiel and Rosalie have an extra room here on Zhao Jia Bang Lu, which they use as their office. It’s quite convenient and we’re working hard. It’s totally quiet (only the sound of our fingers hitting the computer). The internet is quite slow here and some sites don’t work very well or not at all (that’s why I haven’t got my Nabaztag working). A bit of a hassle, but patience is a beautiful thing, so I’m ok.

My social activities are going well. I went to a club on Wednesday evening and danced like crazy – it was fun. Met some more Dutch people and a few Chinese. Even went to see my ex-girlfriend Xiao Ben yesterday, but her cat just had a miscarriage, so we were more focused on the animal that each other – this happens.

My first ‘working’-week already gone – it’s amazing. But in China I don’t feel a there’s a big difference between the week and the weekend, so I probably will do some work tomorrow, catch up for Monday and Tuesday.

Arrived in Shanghai

2008-10-01T17:20:00.001+08:00

It’s my third day in Shanghai and it feels good to be (back) here. The city is quite deserted, because today it is a holidayweek in China (October 1st). Still the vibe is great, feeling the energy floating thought the streets and the smell of ‘creative destruction’ is everywhere.

My first two days have been good. Totally jeglegged, but still I got some work done: having seen 8 apartments (one I really like – some I really hate), done my first business meeting, got a temporarily resident permit, got my mobile phone and computer working … and more of these practical activities. Socially it’s been quite nice too: meeting a Chinese friend and enjoying my stay here with Rosalie en Michiel, who are so kind to have me as a guest in there beautiful apartment on Zhao Jia Bang Lu.

My 4 weeks of practicing Chinese in Holland really paid off, because I can manage myself in a taxi and order in a restaurant. Further I can tell people I like it here and a little more (very) basic talk. I’m determined to improve my Chinese quickly so wherever I go, you’ll see my with my iPod listing tot Chinese lessons on Podcasts.

I'm happy I’ve arrived and already feel time is going fast. Very, very fast!