Sunday Update #4

Haven’t done these in a while!

Chinese New Year is just around the corner (specifically on the 18th of this month) and I can’t wait to take off in three days to go to Shanghai! We are going in a small group of friends for five days so I am sure it will be a blast. Although I have been to Shanghai before (see this post here), it’s been a while and I only had 3 nights there because I was on a business trip and working during the day time. I am looking forward to exploring the city more, especially since people are usually either pro Beijing or pro Shanghai and rarely both! 

In case you have been living under a Rock - I'll save you the work and give you Wikipedia:

Chinese New Year is an important traditional Chinese holiday celebrated at the turn of the Chinese calendar. In China, it is also known as the Spring Festival, the literal translation of the modern Chinese name. Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally run from Chinese New Year's Eve, the last day of the last month of the Chinese calendar, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, making the festival the longest in the Chinese calendar. Because the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year".

Last year I spent CNY in Beijing and it was pretty boring to be honest, the whole city is dead because everyone has gone back to their hometown and all the foreigners use the week of holidays to go travelling. I am hoping Shanghai will be at least a bit warmer than here, Beijing is still freezing and it can’t be spring soon enough in my opinion!

Saw – THIS lovely video that only people in China or Chinese will understand.

Listened -   Nothing new actually, I should update my playlist some time!

Learned -   The more people travelling in one group, the harder to organize! Also: If you want something done right, do it yourself!

Ate – Been stuffing myself with Avocado on toast, topped with poached egg! Not just a breakfast favorite!

Read -  www.Thewanderingtrader.com – I have no clue about stocks and trading… but seeing this guy travel the world and still earning money? I want to do that too!!! :D

Drank -  Smoothies! I am smoothie addicted! Banana and peanut butter is my favorite at the moment!

Thought – About ways to become a millionaire as soon as possible… so that I can travel the world!

Wished -  I was a millionaire already.

Bought -  New filters for my pollution mask. The pollution is out of control at the moment! >.< 

Wishing you all a lovely start in the week!

x

a roaring 20ies epicness

I mentioned this many times before. I have the most amazing friends. And they make the most amazing parties!!

Especially Sven and Stefanie (>>her blog)! They are the masters of Beijing house parties (partly because of amazing house *cough* *cough*, but especially because of their never ending passion in organizing the best house party YET. After I was not in Beijing at their first themed party (dead celebrities), I vowed I wouldn’t miss any other, they have topped themselves with an incredible Hawaii party that nobody thought could get any better. However, they still managed to up their game and threw this amazing 20ies Gatsby bash! It was also a late birthday party for Stefanie, including champagne pyramid, drop hems and even burlesque dancers from our friend’s group Moonglow Burlesque!

Check out these great pics taken by our talented friend Laurent Hou:


What I loved the most is that all of our friends (we were probably around 50 people in the end) made an effort to dress up! Even the boys – you know guys are usually not too much into dressing up – were bow tie clad and rocking those suspenders! Everyone looked so glamorous and fancy! A truly amazing party. I am dying to see what you come up with next guys! :P

xxx

 

2014 in (travel) Numbers

I love infographics. Although I never really figured out how to make them! After a quick google search I found that you don't need years of photoshop experience to make them! I tried a couple of different free programs but I have to say Piktochart is my favourite! Had a bit of fun playing around with it and made this little travel statistic of 2014! If you go and write it down you realize you did more than you thought! Time flies!

my ups and downs 2014

I wanted to do a little recap of 2014, but instead of doing a general rundown of my year, I decided to thing of the moments that made 2014 special and that will stand out from the rest. Here are my little highlights 2014:

The Highs:

Adopting our dog Ally who had been literally scarred by life by her previous owner who made her fight other dogs for money. She developed from a shy and scared-by-every moment to a loving, playful puppy. It shows once more that the owner determines what the dog is like.



One of my highlights of 2014 were the amazing events I was working at with my company – the best one being the AMG and G-Class Test drive in May in the desert of Ordos, Inner Mongolia. Driving through the sand dunes and riverbeds with the G-Class will be something I never forget. The SLS on the racing track wasn’t half bad too… ;)



2014 was the year of trips – I got to get out of Beijing and explore the area around the capital a lot more. I climbed two different parts of the great wall and went hiking in the mountains north of Beijing every other weekend. The landscapes in China amaze me time and time again.


Another thing on my bucket list of 2014 was to see some more cities in China – and the Ice and Snow festival in Harbin was on the very top. A city carved out of ice and gigantic snow sculptures – only in China! Qingdao was one of my favorites this year two. Probably my most fun weekend 2014 with my German roommates in a German-Chinese beer city!

 

2014 was most definitely the year of amazing parties! My favorites are house parties – all your friends together, cheap endless booze and music you can choose! Better than any club in my opinion! Endlessly grateful for my friends in Beijing. Love you all loads!



THE ONE AND ONLY most amazing thing that happened to me was being able to go and live 2 months in the US. From July to September 2014 I got to live one month in New York and one in LA. I had always dreamed about living in the big apple one day and didn’t even know how much I would fall in love with Los Angeles. Wish I could go back ASAP!

The lows….

Unfortunately 2014 was not just the year of travelling and happiness. Of course there are always days you’re feeling down but there are those days that just make you want to lay down and cry. 2014 I lost a dear friend, a brother… I will always remember you.

xxx

Hello... from China!

The Temple next door: Yonghegong.

 

Well... I guess it has been a while... hasen't it?

So where do I start?

I guess the title gives it away: I am in CHINA. Beijing more specifically. When I first got here I was faced with 2 major problems that prevented me from Blogging:
1) No laptop of my own (only from my company), therefore:
2) No VPN (which you need in China to get access to websites such as Facebook, Twitter AND Blogger.
For the ones who haven't heard it yet: China likes to block websites. Nuff said.
After I had solved 1) - remind me to tell the ordeal of buying a laptop in China one day - and finally even 2) I was simply so busy enjoying my life here that blogging was always on my mind but never on my schedule. But today I am off so instead of enjoying the glorious weather I finally get around to explain.

If you have been reading my blog carefully you will know that I had been planning this for a while but if you don't here is the story:

Last year I graduated from Uni in June. I partied for one month and then decided to get serious and find a job. And so I did... After a couple of months it just so happened that I got offered an internship in Shanghai and when I told them they offered me to work in our office in Beijing. So in February 2013 the day finally came, I packed all my belongings in about 400 boxes (give and take 300), locked it in storage and flew off to Beijing.

Now I have to say I am not someone who plans things through and through; I wanted to live in Asia... so I took the chance I got. I did have a crash course of Mandarin but it was nowhere near sufficient as I found out soon enough - when I tried to check into a Hotel. None of the staff spoke a word of English and if it hadn't been for my lovely colleague I would have been lost from day 1. Said colleague helped me with everything (which I will be forever grateful for); getting a 3G sim card (don't even ask), finding a flat, registering stuff and principally surviving in China.

I have decided that I will not tell the whole story in one post because that would take forever and I doubt anyone has the patience to read it so here is just a first batch of Instagram pics of the journey:

   

On my first plane at Heathrow Airport and sunset in Amsterdam before boarding an incredibly big Airbus filled with 90% Chinese travelers. I guess I have to get used to that. As well as getting used to using hand signs instead of language because the flight attendants don't seem to speak English... sigh.

   

Finally relax at the hotel... Chinese water is my highlight of the day.

And because I am particularly lucky I got one of the first flu of my life the next day. Struck down in bed for 5 days while there are fireworks outside like the world is ending. Happy lantern festival!

Enough time to watch Chinese soap operas. Needless to say I have no clue what's going on. Not that it matters in Soap Operas anyways.

   

Best thing to settle in: Start working! My savior and little angel: My colleague Lucky aka Little Panda. | The view from our office on the 16th floor. | Work.

   

Time to start exploring the city. My first visit: Tiananmen square! Hi Mao! | Just 5 min from my house: Great restaurants and old traditional Chinese houses: Hutongs!

 

 

Queuing for IKEA. | People where actually sleeping in the beds and on the sofas. The Chinese take "Try before you buy" very seriously.

 

LUNCH. Ususally between 1-2 Euros. Can get used to that.

   

SMOG. Will never get used to that.

 

COMFORT FOOD.

New friends. It’s starting to feel like home.

 

Don’t forget the parties!

Finally feel like I arrived in China.

 

xxx

 

Ines