Wonderful Two Weeks

One of BF's closest friends was able to make her first visit out of the US to spend some time with us in Beijing. We had a wonderful time sharing our life in Beijing with her. The two weeks went by very quickly. BF was able to share all of her experiences in Beijing and some new ones as well. One of the more exciting things the fearless twosome did was to stay overnight and visit with 5 local Chinese families in a small rural village outside of Beijing.

Here is a sampling of some of the fun pictures and experiences:

Visit from HQ

It was nice to have a visit with our boss from HQ in Wilmington. He brought his lovely wife with him. We were able to visit from October 16th to the 21st. We were able to share a few things of the Beijing/Chinese culture with them, like the Great Wall, good food and shopping just to name a few.

Double Nine Day - Elders Day

Double Nine Day 'Chong Yang Jie' is a memorable holiday in China based on the Chinese/lunar calendar. Ancient Chinese regarded the largest single digit as the ultimate number and therefore, symbolic of the supreme sovereignty of the emperor. On this day Chinese respect their elders, plant chrysanthemums or drink chrysanthemum wine or tea, climb a hill or mountain.

17th Party Congress

This is a very big week in China and especially Beijing. Today begins the 17th Party Congress Meeting at the Great Hall of the People which was built in 1959. The meeting lasts until Sunday.

The Communist Party of China meets every 5 years to establish the direction of the country and to select its leaders.

The interesting thing is that all the policies and decisions have already been made in previous weeks leading up to this meeting. This will be an opportunity for the 2,217 delegates to hear and discuss the new policies. There are over 73MM out of the 1.3B people who belong to the communist party in China. Hu Jintao, the general Secretary of CPC Central Committee and the President will deliver his political report.On the way into work today (I do not go directly in front of Tiananmen Square and the Great Hall) there were a great number of police and local citizens with red arm bands lining the 2nd Ring Road to keep order (traffic and people).

Oh and magically the last two days have had beautiful sunny weather and good visibility and what appears to be low pollution. It never seems to amaze me anymore when important events are scheduled in Beijing.

Embassy House 5 Year Anniversary

On Saturday the tenants of Embassy House Apartments in Beijing were treated to a 5 year anniversary celebration. It was a very nice social affair outside on the lawn of the property with bands, dancing, entertainment from the Tahiti Islands, a whiskey draw which is my favorite (I selected a lucky number that equated to a shot of a 1968 vintage drink...very smooth), various vodka bottles encased in an ice sculpture, warm Saki and of course wonderful food and friends.

300 Days and Counting

Today marks the 300th day until the beginning of the Bejing Summer Olympics.

Local Incorporation

We celebrated the formation of our local incorporation in China. This is a wholesale banking operation in Mainland China which now allows us to do business in the local currency (RMB). The celebration was attended by a couple hundred clients and employees at the Red Gate Gallery of teh Dongbianmen Watchtower. It was a beautiful night with great local entertainment, dinner, and cocktails.

Busy Times

Unfortunately our friends from PA had to delay their visit to Beijing until next month for sad reasons. The good news is that we will have some good friends to celebrate Thanksgiving with in Xi'an on weekend of the 24th.

This week we were visited by the CEO of the Chase Retail Bank and the CEO of the JPMorgan TSS business. JPM's celebration for obtaining a local Chinese Banking license is scheduled for Thursday night at the Red Gate Gallery of the Dongbianmen Watchtower.

Next week my Delaware Manager is coming with his wife. BF's best friend will begin her visit towards the end of next week. Then my NYC manager will visit us the end of October for a couple of days.

BF is going back to the US on Nov. 1 to be with MF who is getting a knee operation to repair his ACL. She will return with our friends from the US on the 14th. That ought to keep things lively around here for a couple of months.