In the very beginning....

I thought, why not put my CV on chinajob.com? That was perhaps a month ago. Now, I'm in paperwork up to my knees--and quite literally so when you consider that I've started to clean out my room in Amsterdam. I got the first of my vaccination shots, am working on the visa (and more so the immensely complicated health check I need for it--don't ask) and am planning all the things I could barely imagine doing about two weeks ago. As my mum says, "het gaat op z'n Anne's", it's going Anne's way. This means that things go rather unconventionally, that they have to happen fast, and are quite chaotic, but also that it will be ok. If everything goes according to plan, I will leave September 4th, arrive in Tianjin September 5th and stay there at least until the end of January.

My family and friends are all terribly excited for me, and so am I. My younger brother Stef is already planning to come to China, hurrah!
Of course, I would like to keep everyone posted of how I'm doing and I thought that keeping a blog would be much the simplest way. I just hope I'm not jinxing my trip by starting a blog before I'm even there--knock on wood.

I automatically began writing this in English, which is most practical as some of my friends don't read Dutch quite well, or not at all. I think I might add some Dutch messages for those who prefer reading Dutch, or simply because I want to use the word 'gezellig' or 'stroopwafel'.

Well, this was my first message on my first blog, and you might be the first person to read it. I'll keep you posted of what is going on. You do the same, ok?