Knocked down a peg

Morning coffee meetings are always much more intimidating than evening pint meetings.  Such was the case yesterday morning when we met with a man named Marcus Maher.  Marcus has been out and around China and Vietnam for 8 years or so after leaving the Australian military.  He found his way into business by writing a small pamphlet helping Vietnamese pass the immigration exam for Canada (which he figured out by temping for a friend in the business).  He has since started and sold 7 successful enterprises and is currently a majority shareholder for a wine bar/wine wholesaler in the Sheco neighborhood of Shenzhen.  

Tom is a minor player in the wine bar, and helped set up this meeting with us to discuss the basics of life out here in Shenzhen.  He's a no frills guy and listened to a tight-lipped version of our business idea and more or less blew it out of the water (something we were actually hoping for).  The guy knows his stuff, and while he took us down a peg, he also offered some very valuable advice and was keen on letting us know what it took to survive out here.  

There are so many small things we are learning every day and to be quite honest, many of them are quite frustrating.  One thing that I find as entertaining as it is frustrating is our current apartment search.  In the US back in the day, many landlords were hesitant to rent to foreigners, especially any from Asia due to either ignorance or distaste for the smells generated by a different culture's kitchen.  Neighbors were never keen on a foreign family or person moving into their building and there was always a bit of disdain towards them.   We have found two landlords pull the same thing on us, and some of the various eyes cast towards us ring similar to those back at home.  It is too bad because the unwilling landlord held an amazing unit, that we were really set on.  Such is life, but the irony here is definitely amusing.

Still no camera, but the weather is not picture perfect, so I am not too worried, the rainy season here is full underway and a good umbrella is on my to-do list.  Laptop is about ready to run out of juice, I will be back here soon.