Your representative in China

This last summer I tried to establish contact with some companies in my home region. I went around and met a handful company executives that were interested in doing business in China. I wrote about it here. I have now started to negotiate with one of them. I don't expect it too very fat since this will be a small operation, but it is a start. Since everybody knows each other where I live I might get more offers later. Meanwhile I will try to get some free travel and earn a little at the same time.

Bad medicine

Today was another really bad day. My coughing is really killing me. Couldn't go to work today either and it has actually gotten worse during the day. I'm taking some other pills now , but they have no use either. Maybe I'm alergic to the weird stuff I got from TianMengYuan. She said that if I'm not cured today that medicine only works on Chinese I think she is on to something... Chinese medicine probably do only work on Chinese. Chinese that believe in Chinese medicine. Guess my problem is that I really don't have that much faith in it. I for example don't believe eating pig feet is good for my feet or eating fish-eye is good for my sight. Maybe if you believe, then it works, or not.

Chinese Medicine

The Chinese medicine that I'm taking. Some sweet syrup and an unidentified seed of some sort to put in hot water and drink. It is called PengDaHai (胖大海) according to TianMengYuan.

Neither work... atleast for me right now... I caughing really bad.

TianMengYuan in pyjamas

Our 'living-room camper' in pyjamas!

A sneak shot of TianMengYuan in our living room. Today she has been running around all day in her pyjamas! After the apartment brawl we have gotten to better terms. I made her coffee today and she gave me Chinese medicine for my cough.

Her tent where she lives is in the background. In the evening she is laying in the tent watching TV peeking out from the opening. Looks really funny. Unfortunately, when I try to take a picture of her she quickly closes it.

The lawyer

He's cool, he's smart, and he's got a Korean girlfriend. My hero and lawyer WuZheJian. I helped him translating a business letter he received as a test for a job. The hardest thing was to guess whether the guy who is going to judge it is Chinese or not. That actually makes quite a difference, since if it's a Chinese it would probably be preferable to have a little bit more Chinglish sounding letter.

The Beijing Zoo

Today I visited Beijing Zoo with Wen, YangBo, and a Canadian friend of theirs coming to Beijing on business. The place is rather depressing, mostly because of the sad concrete cages, but also because everything is so dry and grey in the winter. Luckily we had a clear sky today and the sun was shining. I caught a really nasty cough though. Possible because of the fresh air. My system is just not used to it. Hope we get back some of that ol' Beijing smog tomorrow.


ZhangWen wouldn't let me take a picture of her and the hippo together.

A "LongNeckDeer".

Hanging out at Souk

After work this Friday I hooked up with Wen, YangBo, and later on my former flatmate WenYa. The place is an Arabic restaurant called Souk. Got good music and a nice atmosphere.


WenYa, YangBo, me, and ZhangWen drinking sangria and smoking waterpipe.


Think it was supposed to be orange flavor. Not bad actually.


In all the haze and confusion WenYa suddenly mistook the place for a Karaoke bar.

Selfish love

After having stayed in Stockholm for some time doing her internship, I wanted to know how WangJun ("Uma") was doing and what she thought of Stockholm. In reply she basically terminated our friendship accusing me of being selfish.

[20:16] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: hej!
[20:17] Uma, Stockholm: What's up?
[20:17] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: not much
[20:17] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: you?
[20:17] Uma, Stockholm: i am fine
[20:17] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: the job?
[20:18] Uma, Stockholm: nice
[20:18] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: stockholm?
[20:19] Uma, Stockholm: nice to
[20:19] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: just nice?
[20:19] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: cold?
[20:19] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: boring?
[20:20] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: what have you done during this time?
[20:21] Uma, Stockholm: well, i have to say, if u would not let me know what i want to know , i ll never let u know what u want to know, maybe just ll never talk to u
[20:22] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: :-S
[20:29] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: i all the time tried to be crystal clear. i never wanted to be anything but friends.
[20:29] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: if you misunderstood you can't be bitter towards me.
[20:30] Uma, Stockholm: ok, i am not BITTER toward u!
[20:30] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: i suspected that you were fond of me so i tried to be careful not to hurt your feelings since i wanted to be your friend.
[20:30] Uma, Stockholm: well, ok
[20:30] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: how would you treat a friend that are fond of you? total rejection?
[20:30] Uma, Stockholm: seems u tried very hard
[20:31] Uma, Stockholm: at least u can say sth instead keeping slience
[20:32] Uma, Stockholm: and i do not even think ur a good friend, cause for my part, i think u never think about others, u only care about urself
[20:33] Uma, Stockholm: that is my opinion
[20:34] Uma, Stockholm: guess i should not be the first one said this
[20:34] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: i don't think there was anything i could have done to help you. i would not fake feelings you know...
[20:34] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: if that's what you think of me then i don't understand how you can be hurt.
[20:35] Uma, Stockholm: ok
[20:35] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: well... i won't bother you more then.
[20:35] Johan 佳宝,Beijing: bye bye

I can't say anything but than this conversation was quite annoying. If she ever helped me with things it was because she wanted. I believe it was rather mutual. For example I helped her to find a place to stay for free during her month in Stockholm. Noone has caused me so much trouble as her (the apartment fight, following me around). I was VERY clear that I didn't want anything else but friendship and I'm sorry, I don't think that there could be much more I could have done to break that illusion.

I do feel rather hurt by the remarks and I don't really know what you mean. I liked hanging out with you because you are very open-minded and easy going. If you feel you have sacrificed a lot of things for me, it was never what I wanted. If hanging out with me was a sacrifice that you got nothing out of, then I would never had wanted to hang out with you.

Eat Camera

Well... This ad does not make me want to buy a camera, make me hungry, nor turn me on. It did catch my attention so I guess it succeeded with something.

Reading Mao

Reading a book about Mao in the subway.

Back pain

My back still hurts like hell. No work nor babies going to be produced today.

Worst day of the year

"Dr. Arnalls from Cardiff University has crunched the numbers and has precisely determined that Monday, January 24th will be the worst day of the year. For those of you who might be wondering, the formula to use when deciding what day to stay in bed is 1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA. The fact that the 24th happens to land on a Monday is purely coincidental.



Early morning. Stumbling into the bathroom. A quick look in the mirror. Horror... such horror...

Woke up this morning with a really nasty cough. It was ass cold in the room and I was really tired, Monday morning tired. The caught was so nasty so I called up the office and told them that I wanted to work from home. I fell asleep again and didn't wake up until the afternoon. Half a day wasted. Probably better so anyway. When I finally managed to get up to take a shower I started coughing so bad that my back started to hurt! Hurting really bad! I can freaking hardly walk!

When I turned on the computer there was no internet connection. When getting to the internet company on the phone they said they knew about it and were working on it. No internet, no work.

I decided to go to the good old Sculpture in Time Café since they have wireless internet. That's were I'm sitting now. It is way to cold and I have my jacket on me. Next to me there are some girls using their laptops to watch some movies. With loud volume. Really annoying. My back hurts really bad and I can't really work effectively.

I'm feeling really shitty, but if this is as bad as it is going to get, I guess I will make it through this year too. And I bet I will have quite some fun.

Beijing Suburban Villa Compound

The entrance to the Dragon Villas villa compound


Clean, safe, and empty streets.

At this place (mostly foreign) rich and connected people live in Beijing. It requires car, but comes with a golf course, bowling hall, indoor tennis court, a large fence around the whole compound, and guards patrolling the streets.

It is very quiet and probably very safe. The whole place gives an impression of being mostly empty and hardly anyone is seen on the street. I understand that people choose to move out to these places, especially if they have children, but I can't help thinking it is very sad having this kind of segregation. For a society as a whole I think this is a very negative development. The children living in these compounds, studying in private schools, growing up with the best potential of becoming influential and powerful will have very little experience of the difficulties of less privileged people.

Sporty Birthday Party

Some people prefer to celebrate their birthdays a little bit different.

Dear friends,

We are organising a birthday party on SUNDAY January 23. This is Aila's first birhday (Jan. 18) and Sieg's 40th (Jan. 28), and Aila told us that she would love for you to share this special occasion with her. We hope that you and your partner and (non)existing or future kids can come and join the party.

11h30 Running 10k
12h30 Shower
13h00 Lunch
13h30 Indoor bicycle challenge
15h00 Basketball game (teams of 3) Kids playroom at Dragon Villas Club
16h30 Bowling at Dragon Villas Club
18h00 Dinner and party games at home

Sieg was Wen's boss when she was working at the Belgian embassy during this last semester. They all belong to a group of people they call 'mobsters' who do a bunch of pretty extreme sports. Sieg has the Guiness world record at biking at the highest altitude: 7000m.

At the very international party there were at least three married couples, consisting of a Chinese woman and a Western man, having mixed race Children. I know many couples like that, but it was actually the first time getting to know couples that had stayed together for such time, gotten married, and had children. These children are very cute and look very special!


The morning run. Me and Wen actually took a walk instead. These guys were too hard-core.


Little 1-year old butterfly girl getting all the attention.


The basketball session


Bowling was never my thing


The two birthday children

Olympic Aquatic Park

Near the Dragon Villas is the site where Shunyi Olympic Aquatic Park is supposed to be built. We came across it when we were out running. It is a huge place and the when I came across it and realized what it was the first question was "Where will all that water come from?" and the second was "Who the hell is going to use all this after the Olympics is over?". ZhangWen's dad is actually involved in this project and she has told me that after his company had spend millions of dollars in preparations, the project has been put on hold and might be cancelled.

Guess this doesn't make me more enthusiastic about this Olympic business. Sure this country could do with a couple of more schools and teachers instead of a huge Aqua park in the middle of nowhere.


This is some sort of damn, possible the lower part to the left of the plan below.

Welcome Tina!

Tina just put up her blog here on Blogger!

It's not much yet, but it would be great to read what she is up to. I don't think I'm the only one that is wondering. Tina is my 3rd little sister and she is currently working as an Au-Pair in the States.

Haircut

Me cutting my hair in the place a few houses away from the WuDaoKou 'Sculpture in Time' café. I had just bought the freakin camera-phone thing so I couldn't resist taking a picture. Haircut 20 RMB. Camera 1900 RMB.

Office MeiNv

Arissa and Eva when going out together for lunch. We used the coupons that they got when the whole company went out together to eat, so... it was free! Who said there was no free lunch?

Office ShuaiGe

Ben and Jamie trying out my camera-phone at the office. American dudes that to my annoyance speak good Chinese. Pretty impressive. That puts me down to being the 3rd best Chinese speaking white guy in the office. 3rd out of four. Not good. They are both easy to hang out with and focused when it comes down to work.

Ben, in the white shirt, recently lost his phone in the Starbucks at Fullink Mall. A guy came up and pointed at their laptop. While Ben tried to politely make him go away someone else stole his phone, also laying right infront of him. Suddenly the annoying guy just walked out. By that time the phone was gone.

Jamie has lost one of the companies laptops, so he is the office's hangdog right now.

What do I do for work?

My sister Johanna's (my 2nd little sister) boyfriend Jakob asked me what I do for work. I will try to explain.

This is how I got the job. I answered an ad on That's Beijing's job-site and went for an interview for the company working halftime with PR. I'm not a PR guy but the company seemed interesting.

The company helps foreign telecom and IT-companies, usually small start-up firms, to do business in China. We start out doing initial market assessments and if the costumer decides to make the move, they usually let us becomes their representatives. That means that we hire people that works for us but are payed through their account. If their operation grows they might in the end choose to start their own office, and then they finish their account with us. It is usually huge Venture Capitalists that introduces these smaller start-ups. If a small company did this themselves it would take a very long time, be very risky, and very expensive. We can hire people in a couple of weeks, don't need to find office spaces and we can get started right away. Since most of the work is done by Chinese it is more effective (no culture and language barriers) and cheaper.

They called me for an interview and pretty soon it became clear to them too that I wasn't a PR guy either. It seemed like they would be more interested in having me coordinate and managing their various accounts. They already have an American guy that does that, but they might soon need a new person to do this. Since they probably won't have enough accounts until spring they offered me doing a part-time freelance project so I could get to know them and the company better.

My little project is to do a market assessment for an American fabless chip maker. They produce a chip that can enables a handset to use both the GSM network and WiFi. I will suggest to them possible clients and prepare meetings with them.

Basically I sit and surf, write business proposals, SWOT analysis, PowerPoint slides, drink coffee, and chat with the secretaries. All the thing that you might not understand from this, I didn't understand either when I started. Use google if you want to find out.

I think this will be a very useful experience. This all is very different from everything I have done before and I'm smack down in the middle of a huge business-culture-clash in progress.