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

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).