Life in the city

Surprise party at Beer Mania for Diane

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

The farewell drink she never expected!

Diane (our French girl from Toulouse) was here in Beijing for a short internship but attended many of our Rotaract meetings. With her permanent smile and lively humor she made a lot of friends, so we decided to have a surprise farewell party for her. Preparation was typically chaotic at times through a special and “secret” Wechat group but it all ended up just great, despite a last-minute unannounced thunderstorm.

She was feeling not that upbeat because she thought nearly nobody would turn up for a drink.

We finally settled for Beer Mania, as it was a special evening: the 11th anniversary of Beer Mania, the birthday of the owner Thierry and the drink for Belgians in Beijing. And the Belgian bar also launched a promotion of 11 Belgian drafts, some being new.
As it happened it was also the birthday of our Rotaractor Sophie.

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Diane was, well, totally taken aback with the whole setup as so many turned up.
Needless to say, beer flowed pretty well, music was great with the disk jockey and Thierry kindly provided a cake.
Great evening thanks to all who joined, and Thierry.

Old China Hands 2 September

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Most are back now from holidays but also busy picking up the pieces in the office.
Nevertheless, we were around 30, a nice turnout.

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We decided to have the next lunch on 7 October, actually the last day of the “October 1 holidays”. Better than to delay it more and nobody will have the excuse to be “busy in the office”.

5 August but Old China Hands on duty!

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Yes, we are always (pleasantly) surprised to see so many braving hot Beijing to attend our monthly lunch at Morel’s Restaurant.

Always great to chat, the old-fashioned way.
Next one is Friday 2 September.

Old China Hands lunch and your Expat Idol

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

On Friday 1 July 2016 a nice turnout despite the hot weather, the busy schedules and people heading back home.

Nothing much to report except that the conversation was lively as always! Next lunch is 5 August.
We also asked our OCH to name their “idol” in the following message:

As you know, Colin is our partner for the Old China Hands. He has been organizing the Expat Fair and Expat Life Awards (ELAs) for the last few years.
He created them as a way for people to say “thank you” to the various providers of service and solutions for us expats living in Beijing.
This year he wants to add to the Awards an “ELA Hall of Fame”. We want your help and input!
Who is the most exceptional expat in your eyes? Who has done a great service or just merits your admiration? Obviously man or woman, young or “old”, any nationality!
Please email Colin directly (colin[at]fcgroup.org) the name of the person you think is worthy of the title.
Additionally, if you can spare a few more minutes, he would be delighted to hear your thoughts on any businesses that should be nominated for these awards. The list of ELA categories can be found here http://fcgroup.org/the-2016-expat-life-awards/
Choose your “idol”!

Australia China Night and a Beijing secret revealed

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

On 28 May our friend Barry took us along to this special event in the China National Convention Center in the Olympic Green: Australia China Culture & Art Night.
Since its construction I went never back. I actually have a unknown story to tell about that building.

When I was involved in launching the major Olympic venues for 2008, we ran into a brick wall. The NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission) had refused to approve the project of the BDRC (Beijing Development & Reform Commission). Over a private lunch with the president of the BDRC we reviewed this hiccup. Initially we wanted to launch it as the “Beijing Exhibition Center” but the NDRC refused on the grounds the surface area was too small and there were already other large exhibition centers in the pipeline. So I suggested to simply change it to a “Convention Center”. That worked… and soon we launched that tender as such, approved this time by the NDRC.

The Center is great but personally I regret the logistics, as it is the case with all venues in the area. Reaching it and leaving it is so difficult with all the security and access restrictions, for cars and even pedestrians. So I really don’t like to go there…

The evening was nice, with some VIP guests such as the Australian Former Dty PM Mark Vaile (we took pictures with him…) and Yu Xiaosong, former Chairman of the Chinese Chamber (among other functions), I met him many years ago.
The performances were creative: a mix of rock & roll and Chinese Opera. Cool! Explains the electric guitars…