Happy Tiger Year!

“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

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

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!

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

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

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

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.