Everyday I'm humblin'

I'm no Rick Ross, but that's neither here nor there.

VPN is (sort of) working at the moment, so let's get this up before it decides to shut itself down again.

Not everyday out here is difficult, in fact many aren't. As the three of us prepared ourselves for the transition into China, I wanted to keep everyone's ambitions grounded, and maintain a realist tone in our group of eager and ambitious go-getters. I warned that the trip would test the limits of our friendship, our bank accounts, and our patience, and that of these, none were guaranteed to hold up. Having said that, in the back of my mind, I was as ambitious as the others, and secretly imagined things would be ok.

It is certainly not easy, and while many days are smooth, the ones that are not good link together, forming arduous rough patches that test all three aforementioned issues we were worried about. I always write about payday here, and perhaps with too much hubris, or to tell myself things are going well. In fact, things are not horrible, we are all still friends, and my patience has matured over the last year, but it has been as difficult as I warned myself it would be. Every aspect of our business(es) has faced hurdles, and left us frustrated at some point in time, and every time we seem to devise a solution to either fix the issue, or at the very least, offset the damages. It is making us stronger, smarter, and for some of us, a bit more grounded in the reality of this kind of life. It is not all victories, as I had predicted, but the losses, the frustrations, as much as you can prepare for them in your head, are still just that.... frustrating.

Originally we planned for a 6-month minimum time slot out here, that has since been extended and tomorrow marks my completion of one full year here. It is looking like that will be extended another year, and how I feel about that is irrelevant really, as we have a duty to fulfill out here, and a responsibility to remain and see this through. It is not all bad, far from it, but it wears on a person, and I believe makes them stronger. Learning your weaknesses is important, overcoming them or correcting them is the true, and most difficult goal.

I miss Boston, America, and everyone I've had the honor of calling my friend in the last few years. I hope to return again in May for a couple weeks.

VPN Issues

My free VPN has decided to be rather fussy as of late and as a result my unfettered access to the interwebs has been limited to China-approved content. While this very humble little blog does not incite direct wrath of the censors, it is under the umbrage of .blogspot.com which is completely shut down on the mainland.

It's a good thing I've got a multiple entry visa into Hong Kong.

The last few weeks have been rather busy, hectic, and draining. Our bank accounts are on the Nicole Ritchie diet, and we've been pulling some long hours. Our first students have arrived, and we've been busy managing that as well, while also dealing with the frustrations of young, ambitious students, and recent grads who are trying to squeeze everything they can out of our internship program.

It is frustrating work, but I guess with any program where large numbers of students apply and only a few actually show, this is to be expected. We have been working very hard to find these applicants good spots, and perhaps it is time for us to look at what we offer, as maybe we have made some critical mistakes that are keeping students at bay.



On the slightly brighter side, I have moved in to my nice little apartment, and it is refreshing to live alone for a little while, although it can get rather quiet at times. I'll be posting pictures of it on Monday (which is when I'll be back in Hong Kong for some hopefully positive banking work).

Good afternoon from Hong Kong

Afternoon folks, The New Year holiday has come and past, as has the Lantern Festival which marks the end of the new year holiday (pretty neat huh?). Our province only reported a measly 19 deaths this holiday due to Fireworks-related accidents, and was considered an overall success.

Work on our end continues as normal, with some sparks of hope in the form of potential clients that disappeared and then suddenly reappeared. Always nice knowing we're being considered without our knowledge.

On a personal note I have just moved into a new apartment (solo this time) as I've realized that I need my own space out here. Things are going quite well with the partnership given that half of us are no longer in Shenzhen at this point, and it is merely a decision I made some time ago. I look forward to having my own little (45sq meters) place, and testing it out for a few months.


I'm also planning a weekend trip up to Shanghai, if anyone has contacts/recommendations/advice they'd like to send me way, I'd love it.