Life in the city

Our daughter is a CFA!

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

On 14 December 2013, a milestone for Valerie: after years of hard work and many tough exams she finally realized her goal: now she is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
The proud parents and some more friends joined the official ceremony in the Hyatt Hotel (Oriental Plaza near Wangfujing).

I had a look myself at the books and manuals she had to study. Being interested in economy and finance I found it great stuff. Except I was unable to answer any of the questions!
The exams are held yearly worldwide on the same day, also in Beijing. Hundreds if not thousands do the test in Beijing.
Later she got her official certificate through the mail.

Gilbert and Morel’s Restaurant on BTV sports

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

On 5 July Renaat and Susan asked to be the “good Belgian customer” in a program of BTV Sports channel, as they were both in Belgium. I gladly accepted.
We spent several hours in my favorite restaurant, “Morel’s Restaurant”,  on Worker’s Stadium North Road (gongti bei lu)  with the BTV crew to check out the decoration of the restaurant, some of the many Belgian beers and of course to taste some of Renaat’s signature dishes: “Belgian Grey Shrimps with tomato”, “Belgian beef beer stew”, Mussels, Belgian fries, Belgian waffles and more.

It was fun working the friendly BTV crew, even more having a wonderful tasting event. Once the real shooting was done, we all sat together for a real Belgian banquet with never-ending dishes and beer. My daughter joined us later and we both showed our Belgian colors to support the Belgian football team. Our BTV host did a good drinking job of the many Belgian beers… great performance!
I was so stuffed I needed an extended siesta and forgot about dinner.
The same evening the program came out on BTV, as a runner-up to the World Cup match Belgium-Argentina. OK, we lost to Argentina 0 to 1 but the Red Devils did what they could and, hey! our Dutch friends also did not manage to win… Made us feel a bit better.
Anyway the Belgian team made us feel proud.

FCGroup event: in Conrad Hotel, Beijing

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

One of the newer venues used by the FCGroup is the Conrad Hotel on the East 3rd Ring Road, not that far from Sanlitun. I like the location, and the hotel. See here one of the usual gatherings, the Tuesday evening networking event of 26 November 13.
They have a couple of cozy corners for events and this event was in the bar on the ground floor.

Somehow I prefer the smaller events where a personal contact is easier than at those mega events where you feel rather lost and don’t know “where to start”. Especially for me, as I am not the type to go around and bug everyone with my business card.

Looking back at one of the great FCGroup events: 17 Dec 13

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Oh well, summer time is the right moment to work on my retirement issues (what worse could you have to do?) but also post some of the past events, for the record.
Since at least one year I am skipping most of the networking events, making an exception for the ones done by the FCGroup, managed by Colin Friedman.

This event, in one of the usual venues being the Zeta Bar in Hilton Hotel, was pretty exciting as you can see with the pictures: “Got Talent” drew a number of enthusiastic participants.
Always good to meet some friends and have a quiet conversation.
More pictures of FCGroup events to come soon.

Old China Hands lunch 4 July

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

As a warm up for our American friends, we had our monthly lunch on the first Friday of the month – the 4th of July.
Despite the hot weather, many people also being away on holidays or business trips – or stuck in meetings – we managed to be 24 of us.
As usual the lunch was at Morel’s Restaurant where the boss Renaat being away we had some delays in being served. Next one that will not happen again, so be ready for 1 August, sauna weather or not.

I am expected to stick around over summertime but I might skip away for a short business trip to Xinjiang (at the border with Kazakhstan). Presumably…