Ajax Amsterdam

One week in China, but it feels like I have been here for weeks cause I did and saw too many things to write down on this blog. Yesterday was a great day, Ajax won 2-0 against some team which doesn’t need to be mentioned;) and I was able to watch this very important match in China!

Thanks to my dear friend Lulu in Amsterdam I know a few fellow Ajax-fans in Beijing, and because last Sunday was a very, very important day for Ajax, we were going to watch the match together. The match started at half past 12 in Amsterdam, so with a seven hour time difference it started in Beijing at half past 7. This meant for my Chinese friends that there was plenty enough time to have lunch, karaoke and diner before the match. For Dutch people there would only be time for diner and beers before the match. Ajax really reminds me of home and watching them play in the Amsterdam Arena, which is where I used to work, made me look back at the first week away from home.

This Sunday was not only a really great day because Ajax won one of the most important matches of the season, but for me personally as well. Because I gained a lot of insight in the sometimes big differences between the Dutch and Chinese culture. Food is one of the most important things in live for most Chinese people, and that’s why I have to write about Chinese food for the second time in a row. Yesterday it was the first time I’ve eaten at a round table in a private room, in a restaurant. We were already in the restaurant at 12 o’clock Beijing time to eat hotpot with beef, various vegetables, of which some I really didn’t know before and still don’t know an English name for, some snacks and some beers. Dining in a private room is something which is highly unusual for Dutch people, just like eating hotpot so I’ll explain it shortly. Hotpot, consists of a pot of boiling water or soup in this case (a hot pot) and in this pot of boiling soup you can put beef and vegetables, after a while its ready to eat and then there is sauce to dip it in. All together it seems a bit like Gourmet and with some chicken wings and other various snacks, which barely look like spring roles in Holland, is a very good and tasty lunch.

Karaoke or ktv is a bit different than it’s in Holland. In China this is very popular, more popular than football and they take this a lot more serious as well, they actually want to make a good performance. This made me a bit embarrassed cause I’m a really bad singer and have only done karaoke two times before yesterday, while almost all the Chinese could sing really good. Happily enough karaoke was also in a private room and so I was not the subject of the laughter for a big group Chinese people, only a small group:).

Yesterday I experienced a lot of Chinese hospitality and it made me feel a bit guilty in some way. Because in Amsterdam and most western cultures, but especially in the Dutch culture (going Dutch) everyone pays for his own expenses. If you go to a bar you’ll give beers to your friends but you know they will give you beer back in return so you still pay your own share in the end. But in China if you are a foreigner and you are seen as a guest you are not allowed to pay anything at all… Which is nice, but this is quite a big cultural difference and for me the first real culture shock I experience. Cause to be honest I’d rather pay for my own food… (some people reading this will not believe this, but it’s true)

Finally watching the match through internet in Beijing instead of in Amsterdam wasn’t that much of a difference as I thought it would be. In China there are the same emotions to a football match as they’re in Amsterdam, although I admit that I felt a slight feeling of homesickness, cause after all I could have been in the stadium if I wanted to be there. But on the other hand it didn’t really bother me cause I was quite happy and relieved that Ajax managed to win the match.

Oh one last newsflash as things are looking now I’ll probably move to Hefei in the province of Anhui on Friday. So let’s see how that works out… Can’t say that I can’t wait to go, but well the offer seems good so I should try it at least.