Xmas in Shanghai: not bad!

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!