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[Andy72]

yo guys!

i've been invited to an event organized by the government for foreigners in Hefei and local Chinese who lived abroad..

are you all laowais going to be there as well?

tomorrow afternoon from 2pm at some hotel.. have on idea.. but i'll be gonig with 2 chinese colleagues..

hope in food.. but the time of the day is weird.. maybe just.. speeches???

    

[rgeczi]

If they pay me, I will go.  To listen to some boring speeches, even if there is free food to be had, is not on high on my list of priorities.

They maybe invited you because of the field you are in, job-wise.

Anyways, SHOW ME THE MONEY, then I will attend, with earplugs plugged in. 

[Joeyhf]

Hi Andy

I attend this event every year .Goverment always want to show some of big projects to foreigners working in Hefei.After this is usually dinner with awarding of foreigners that contributed for Anhui development.Don't worry about food.

Enjoy  

Joseph

[Andy72]

sounds fun!!

not worried about money as well.. company hours and going with company people, so no deduction!

and i enjoy to see something different.. besides, i do not understand chinese anyway..

Joey, cool to meet you there..
if we meet..
i do not look like hte picture anymore ;-))))

for me.. free food always means "ready to go".. still.. even at my not so green age anymore!

:-P

[rgeczi]

I just don't see the interest in going to an event where the Government puts on a show about all the new projects going on, which in my eyes, might possibly need funding for.

But that's me. 

[Aussie Mike]

Some of my closest friends I met at these functions.

[rgeczi]

Mike, I agree, in life, you meet people in various places at various events, that being said, if I have a choice, which I do, I would rather meet people at an event that doesn't have the local Gov. putting on a show trumpeting what new things they have cooked up for Hefei, and throwing in an "award show" for foreigners as a way to tie them into the whole thing.

Meeting people at Soho Bar...now that is the way I would rather "roll in life". 

[Andy72]

i see your point, but i admit that being a newbie in china i am also curious to see some "propaganda" 
i think it is interesting as well, sharing or not their point of view or agreeing with them.

i was in beijing in 2008 for the olympics, living there for 3 weeks guest of a chinese family (my ex gf family) and it was an extremely interesting experience.

all will contribute to my learning about china..

 

[Aussie Mike]

True but I found that many foreigners who go to these events don't usually know about the social circles yet or choose not to go to bars, etc

I'm not saying to go only that there are advantages to attend these events if you can.

[Andy72]

it was quite a small thing..
except a quite large group of japanese and an even larger group of politician and officials, we were 4 foreigners, 3 germans of which only one living permanently here in hefei (he is working at hilton, you guys might know him.. Markus).

the other 2 were working for large german companies and doing like 1 month here - 1 or 2 weeks in germany..

the 3 speeches were quite short (the number 2 of hefei city, one japanese CEO of some large company and a woman super business person for construction - development, etc etc etc) then some exhibitions. quite nice.

small food (fruits and some cakes), no dinenr but a quite rich present (chocolates chocolates chocolates, of which 2 boxes or real Ferrero Roches!!!) 

all in all, better than stay at work and i love chocolate!!!

cheers!

[YetAnotherCanadian]

Sounds half decent!

I didn't realize there were so many Japanese people in An Hui (I'm guessing what you saw was only a slice of a larger population in Hefei?)

As you guys know, my wife is from An Hui.  We have Japanese friends here in Shanghai.  I suggested inviting them to my wife's hometown once to which she strongly objected, simply on the basis that the subject of Japan is still quite sensitive.  My wife said her neighbours might find it upsetting having our friends there.    Anyway, my wife's parents are cool with anything (thank God), but the town is small and very conservative.

[Andy72]

oh man..
you found in me a 100% japan lover!!

i am trying to start an Aikido dojo (i practiced aikido 15 years and by the way i will be in Shanghai this wekeend!! sunday practice, satuday friends and teppanyaki buffet at TaiRyo.. wanna join? 'll meet another very good german friend who lives in shanghai and my gf is coming too.. she is from anqing :-) )

also the wife of a colleague of mine is japanese.. and yesterday he got many contacts with the local ones, that really enjoy hefei and china :-)

besides, i got several japanese contacts in shanghai through aikido and the club i frequent is a great balance between chinese - japanese and western people!

a great life exmaple.. aikido is life! 

[Aussie Mike]

Yes, there are many companies such as Hitachi who employ lots of Japanese but we rarely see them. There culture is very work orientated and they virtually live at work and keep to themselves. I occasionally see groups arriving or leaving KTV.

The German companies such as Kurze rotate their technical staff every 2 weeks or so, they rotate between 2-4 places so they end up here for about 2 weeks out of 8.

The functions I've been to previously tended to have about 20-30 foreigners but they changed the format and don't advertise it or invite as many as they used to.

There are two Germans named Markus working at the Hilton. One often plays soccer with the HefeiExpat Internationals.

[Andy72]

that one, the football one.. he told me about soccer ;-)

[Aussie Mike]

Nice guy, been here a couple of years now.