Mylène

She is there! Our little girl Mylène was born on Friday 23th September, 9:24AM. It was a long night before our little girl was finally there. It started at 1:00AM when Shiqi woke me up by shouting from the bathroom that her chorion was broken. After that, we immediately went to the hospital. The contractions started immediately and became stronger every time. I did not experience the actual birth, since Mylène came to this world with a Caesarean. But the process before Shiqi was taken to the operation room, has been difficult, very intense and unforgettable. Yet, as soon as we were holding the little girl in our arms, all was fine again, and we enjoyed being together so much!

Now, I feel that I can understand a little bit more of what it must be like to give birth to a child. And I think I agree with the opinion that a natural birth, if possible, should be prefered over a planned Caesarean. The process of giving birth is definitely not enjoyable, but without a doubt, worthwhile. To me, it felt like the final chapter of a nine month book, with the climax of the story on the very last page. I would not want to have missed it ... but it's an experience for a few times in a life time only, from my point of view.

During the rest of the weekend, we spend most of the time together, in the hospital, getting used to many new things, that will soon be part of our normal daily routine: changing diapers, feeding the baby, putting the baby to sleep, comforting her, and especially, just looking at her ... for hours.
I already found out that there is not much, which is more rewarding than being able to comfort your little baby. I definitely believe that the smile of your child is something that can make a bad day bright.

Now, on Sunday night, I am sitting behind my laptop in an empty appartment. I am already looking forward to tomorrow morning, when I will see my baby again. Only a few more days now, I hope, before Shiqi and Mylène will be coming home.
I can't wait!!

Baby is late

Since the calculated birth date last Friday, I have spent quite a bit of my time these days, answering people, phone calls, emails, sms, etc. by saying "no, nothing yet ... everything still quiet at home". It almost seems that the people around us are even more nervous about the coming birth than we are. I have to add here, that these inquiries never bother me; on the contrary, it's great to notice that so many people are thinking about us, and are looking forward to the arrival of our little girl (or boy...), just like we are.

One of today's comments was especially funny. "Well, Arnoud, it seems that you already cannot control your child before it's born."
What can I say? Perhaps I should have a word with the child, shortly after the birth ... after all, parents should provide their child with clearance at all time, right?

The whole thing does occupy me quite a bit: last night I dreamt about the baby. It was a baby girl, indeed. But with blond and curly hair. Needless to say this appearance surprised me a bit. But what surprised me even more, was the fact the child could already talk very well!
I do not remember the language she spoke, though.

For Shiqi, the days of being pregnant are becoming more of burden now, that's clear. So, especially from that perspective, it would be nice if our baby does not let us wait too long anymore.

We are ready for you, little one.

Do-it-yourself website

Yes. Trying to make your own website is time consuming. But really good fun! By now, I have set-up the blog part of this site in a way that should do for the coming weeks or so. I did not manage to get the frame shapes from the blogger format changed in the way I wanted to yet (changing the size of these rounded boxes has proven to be not easy for a rooky like me, with only MS Paint and the Mozilla Composer to my disposal), but ok ... I think it's time to focus on the contents of the blog for a bit.

Of course, suggestions for approval are welcome.

Everybody wins?

Always interesting to watch politicians right after the elections. Not that the information they provide in interviews and speeches is very helpful; it is the big picture that makes it worthwhile to observe. Especially today, after the "Bundestagswahl".

Today, almost everybody won, judging from the speeches of the key players. The CDU/CSU for becoming the biggest, the SPD for not loosing so much, the FDP and the Linke for gaining a lot of seats in the Bundestag, and even the Grünen, for staying over the 5% threshold.

The only ones that might not have won today, are the German people. Because the result of today will make the forming of a new cabinet very difficult ... if only the leading politicians did not exclude so many options verbally, during the past few weeks already.

For a foreigner like me, the battle during the coming weeks is going to be very enjoyable. But honestly, I don't think Germany can afford much more delay.

I moved!!

Well, not physically yet. That will probably still take a few months.
I mean, I moved my blog to this new location on the web ... to my newly registered own domain :-)

With this, I should be able to continue this blog after a physical move to China. That is, I hope it works ...
It just crossed my mind that I do need access to the blogspot web page, to conveniently update and maintain this blog. So, a big question remains: does that work in China???

So, what if it will be a boy?

Combining cultures (some would perhaps call it "fusion") can be fun. But try to combine Dutch and Chinese culture (or Western and Chinese culture if you will), when looking for a nice name for your baby ... it's not that easy.

In the end (about 5.000 web sites and many many searching hours later), we did manage to find a really nice European name, that would actually translate quite easily into a Chinese name (of course, I will not spoil the fun by publishing it now already).
How happy we were.

But then, as the calculated date of birth was getting closer and closer, I really started worrying about the fact that we only found (and only looked for, I have to add) a girl's name.

So, what if it will be a boy?
My suggestion for a perfect "fusion" name, Bruce Lee, was refused .... so, I vetoed Shiqi's suggestion, Elvis, as well. There were some other, earlier suggestions as well, that are not even worth mentioning.

Last weekend, we gave it another shot, but after several hours and more than a couple of web sites later, I gave up without writing a single new suggestion on a piece of paper.

So, it will be girl.
And if not, I decided today, the pressure to find a name after the baby has been born, will be so large, that we will find a nice one in no time ... perhaps even a nice "fusion" name.

I hope my decision was right.

Hosting my blog

***Published again***
Recently, I discovered that this blog cannot be read by people in China. I am not sure whether the blogs from blogger.com are blocked by Chinese (proxy) servers automatically.

As I was planning to use this blog to write down some of my experiences and observations on a life in China for the people at home, it occurred to me that it would be a weird situation if everyone but me would not be able to access this blog!! Not a good idea, when I think of it.

So, what is the solution? Any suggestions, anyone? I am considering to register my own domain, and hosting my blog there. I hope that works.

In the past few days, I have been following the discussions about the conviction of the Chinese journalist, and the support of Yahoo China in this matter on Fons Tuinstra's weblog. These stories clearly show the struggle between the Chinese goverment and the Internet.

Never thought I would personally experience the effects of this struggle so quickly.

Going to China?

***Published again**
After receiving an offer to go to China from one of the JVs of the company I work for, a very interesting time seems to be lying ahead of us. Not that we are fed up here in Germany, on the contrary. But going to China together has always been something, Shiqi and I were looking forward to very much, without really planning the period of time during which it should happen.

That time seems to have come. Before everything is settled, it will still take a while, and I realise very well, that nothing is certain before we packed our stuff and booked 3 one way tickets to Fuzhou. And even then, projects like the one I will be working for, are not always very stable: from one day to the other, the adventure may be over. But even when I am considering all those things, the chances that we will soon have to prepare ourselves for a new phase in our lives, are pretty large at the moment.

Of course, before anything, we are looking forward to another major event in our lives. And honestly, the thought that I will become a father soon, excites me more, every day.

Altogether, an exciting time is lying ahead of us .... and I am looking forward to it.

My first blog

***Published again***

I recently discovered "blogging". Immediately enthousiastic, I decided to start one for myself as well. Not a very original idea, as I found out quickly ... amazing what is already out there.

But, better late than never ... this is the start of my first blog .... it might come in handy in the near future.
But more about that, later.