Valerie and me have successfully finished a fruitful cooperation (“hezuo ganbei” we would say here) to re-arrange her room and my office. I needed to accommodate the new scanner and she was so seduced by my old IKEA chair she wanted one for her upcoming Rat’s birthday.
She brought me new trays to make my cluttered desks better organized. Admire my MACs and the rest. So, now you know where the blog is generated and Valerie meditates. Thanks VVK.
World Trade Center and bomb disposal
Looks like a weird combination but it is unintended.
On my way to the Mofcom meeting I passed the construction site of Tower 3 of Beijing World Trade Center, another mega building rising up in CBD.
I will in the future show more images of the never ending construction boom in Beijing. Fascinating to watch how the skyline constantly changes.
I then took the subway at China Hotel (next door) and finally took the picture I had long planned. Indeed, few notice the strange “containers” that sit chained in every subway station in Beijing. They are massive steel containers… actually bomb disposal units. Not to throw your usual trash. Some vendors use them as their table to sell newspapers and magazines…
Beijing 2006: friends leaving… some others coming back
Beijing is, socially speaking, a difficult place to live. Few people stay here for a long time, like we say in Flemish “it’s like a pigeon house” (“duivenkot”), they fly in and out.
Makes it all difficult to know people and makes you reluctant to make friends – they might (will anyway) leave at some point of time. It hurts.
Diplomats tend to avoid friendships. They always rotate from one country to another. Leaving friends behind is hard, so better not make any!? They are a weird kind of people – distant and superficial – I got used to them. Weird, yes, but I sympathize with them.
Beijing is thus a lonely and superficial place.
I feel often frustrated, so difficult to make real friends. You don’t have your pub around the corner, neither your butcher who knows you since years. Here all is un-personal. You don’t make friends. You have business “relations”. It’s like standing in an airport and watching people come and go.
Being one of the few “permanent” museum pieces here, that is maybe the worst part of living here. Never mind the pollution, I smoke cigars anyway and still run marathons.
So, bye bye Dr. Sven-Uwe Müller of the German Embassy, see above his farewell party at the German embassy.
And especially my tough but so cool Delphine (and so charming, lucky guy you Thierry, take good care of her!) from the EUCCC (now in Denmark). Some of the people I will miss. Sure.
But surprises happen.
My old friend (my – sometimes – boss when I was in Alcatel) Patrick Bourrier surfaced here in Beijing. He has the good point of having a Brazilian wife (hehe, no comments). Happens he is also the friend of my tenant here – François Bernard (KPMG). Yeah, small world. Patrick is unique. Talks like a tape recorder and his only competitor is Valerie. Seems he does well with Sun. Hm. Suspicious actually. Pics taken in François’ place and (of course) in Morel’s restaurant.
And then surfaces, from the “dark” ages of the eighties in Beijing (read: the life and death in Beijing Hotel) – Martine, a good friend when I was trying to survive in the Beijing Hotel. Great lady, we had a good time in Morel’s restaurant (where else?). Happy to see you happy Martine. I guess you don’t care, but I do approve of your choice of husband (Jeffrey, Edelman).
Beijing Rotary Club: active members
Our Club can be said proudly, is active. So are many of its members. Recording all events would be too much so I select some.
Every month we have a birthday cake for the members who have their birthday that month (I have birthday EVERY month and steal a big slice for Valerie).
See above on 19 December 2005, with Chris Verrill, Christopher Müller, Gilbert and Jörg Wuttke.
We also have a wide range of speakers, any nationality, any (interesting) topic.
See above on 16 January 2006 my friend Peter Danford, our no. 1 photographer in Beijing showing his work, including the 360 degrees shots.
See above on 17 October 2006 the ambassador from Kuwait, Mr. Faisal R. Al-Ghais giving a presentation on the former occupation of Kuwait by Iraq while the present ambassador of Iraq, Dr. Mohammad Sabeir Ismail (left) approvingly listens.
Indeed, the Club is non-political and everybody is a welcome guest. In the past we also had the ambassador from Israel.
We also have our Fellowship Events, on 21 October 2006 our Brazilian friend Norton Seng Santos took us to Paulaner Brauhaus in the Kempinski for the Oktober Bierfest. Ja, sehr gut!
We all had lots of fun and it was a bit strange to realize this was Beijing and not Munchen.
Some of our members are also frequent public speakers.
Here is Russ Miller talking to the Danish Chamber of Commerce, on 24 August 2006. He’s a great entertainer and knows how to transmit his China experience.
Of course, Jörg Wuttke is everywhere. here he is making a presentation to BENCHAM on 17 October 2006 (The Benelux Chamber of commerce). Poor Jörg had to face a breakdown of Bencham’s laptop and the projector went dead. Turned out a welcome change – the speaker gave an improvised talk and did wonderfully. Maybe next time we should hope the projector goes dead again.
1 February 2007: EUCCC in Zeta Bar, Beijing Hilton
The European Chamber had its great Networking Event in the Zeta Bar, in the renovated Beijing Hilton. The new bar is real cool and could become a competitor for the popular Centro Bar in the Kerry Center Hotel. Nice bar and, judge for yourself, cool waiters too.
The event was a big success – 200 members filled the ground floor of the bar to full capacity. Very international crowd too – difficult to judge which was the mostly spoken second language after English – French, Spanish, and ???
As a matter of fact, the EUCCC is becoming huge. As it should, the EU is now the top trading partner for China, accounting for 15.5% of total foreign trade. Figures for 2006:
China’s trade surplus: US$ 91.7 billion, up 31% (from US$ 70.1 billion); exports US$ 182 billion up 27% – imports US$ 90.3 billion up 23%.