early Christmas Music in Beijing ...

This morning at my office I get some "fresh" air on the balcony ... It is misty as always, temperature of 5 Celcius ... I drink my coffee, and smoke my, as always last, cigarette. Suddenly I feel strange, my attention is caught by ... some sounds ... what is it? Ho Ho Ho ... it's an ordinary Christmas melody coming from one of the restaurants in the courtyard. It felt strange, it felt HOME. I hate myself for it, but Christmas makes me go emotional ... every damn year again. I enjoyed it, I smiled, for a short while felt goose bumps ... AMAZING.
So it made me wonder : How is it going to be like in Beijing with Xmas? It is still early, but I have no doubt that in Belgium some shop windows already have some Santaclauses, xmass-trees, ...
I have no idea, but I guess the shopping areas will be as crazy as anywhere else in the world...
... It will be nice to come home for Xmas, a year without would be hard.

And talking about the balcony and 'fresh' air, today I read some interesting website about pollution in Beijing. Amazing was that it even mentions my hometown Ostend, right next to an airport, comparing pollution-measurement with Beijing ... What is called 'good' here, is called 'dangerous' in Belgium. Check it out, and soon read my post about the airpollution in Beijing here..

20071119 update my life in Beijing

Little update...

It’s been quite from my side ... at least on the my Blog.

It is just that there is not so much to say, not so much to tell, not so much news … although… We have moved our office and I now have my own nice little room; I’ve had my first big client on a visit in Beijing, I’m playing in the 11-a-side football as well now, had some drunk nights with the Barbarians, My Darling had a promotion at her work ‘Chef logistique’, it is freezing outside, … and we have our plane tickets for Belgium!

So at my work things are going fine. The move of the office made us loose a lot of precious time though. I’m in negotiation of my new contract, which finally will have a decent salary. Meanwhile I already have my own little office, yes I a little bit proud of it, making my colleagues and even boss jealous )). (see picture).
For you who haven’t checked it out yet, here is the link to out website. We are continuously making improvements. www.antique-chinese-furniture.com www.millstonetrading.com and then the other blog I have to keep updating : www.acf-china.com/blog .

I have to try to develop the European market a bit more. So if any of you guys know of someone who is in the business, who thinks of importing from ‘the factory of the world’, please connect me !

As for our living here. There was a little fight with the landlord, which made my precious darling so mad, that she doesn’t want to renew the contract here. Thus we will have to look for another place (before end of February). Then arises the question again if we should buy or rent. And the answer to that … takes thousands of websites to read, making you only more confused. People talking about a big crash, other about standards that keep rising, devaluation of the RMB, the continuous growth of the Chinese economy, …
With the Olympics just ahead, prices have even gone up again… No one knows what will happen after the big event.

Meanwhile my flat in Ostend is put for sale with a real estate agent.

My private life is also taking more shape. Although I am spending way too much hours in the office and for work. The weekends my girlfriend takes possession of me. But luckily I have my football team ! Those guys know about party! Now and then I am ‘allowed’ to join them on a Barbaric night with liters of beer(see pictures).
I play every Wednesday in the 5-a-side team, and now also sometimes in the weekends in the 11-a-side.

Going out in Beijing is for us often going to a restaurant … calmly. But there are exceptions, like that night my boss took me for a drink or 10 in a club, resembling much like a Belgian dancing a la Fuse, except that here … I get approached by so much pretty girls, that I have to shake off when finally trying to get home ;-) GUYS, mainly you singles, it is paradise here for you!

But so we are happy here, just a little too busy. Still so much plans and opportunities. (Interesting people (expats) that you could never have the chance of talking to back home) It is half a year now, since I arrived Beijing. My Darling and me start thinking of some more commitments … plans for the future …

Next big moment is 19 december, then we take the plane to Charles-de-Gaule (can you imagine, we have found return tickets at 450 EUR a piece, what a bargain (115 EUR taxes included)). So we will be back in Flanders, Belgium, Holland (whatever my country will be by then) for Christmas. I count on my homies to organize an unforgettable newyearsparty! We leave for China again the 13 January, the last midweek I’ll probably spend with my parents in the mountains, combining it with a short ski holliday.

I do look very forward to going home… for a while. And I miss (most of) my friends a lot (I mean … they don’t even come online … but I guess it’s up to me to call them).

Well that’s it for now. Time to sleep. I am looking forward to read all the comments of you! KEEP IN TOUCH!

(I am setting up new website, incl. forum, in which I want to have some discussions going on about economical, political, and more serious also football subjects… hope to meet all of you there! As soon as my best Chinese friend, ex colleague and now my webmaster Zhou Yan Qin has time to get a move on it)

Hugg , FreD